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INNOWAVE SUMMIT 2023
BE DIGITAL. GO GLOBAL
Leadership
17 - 18 NOVEMBER 2023
PALACE OF CULTURE AND SPORTS - VARNA, BULGARIA
SECURE YOUR SEAT NOW
Welcome to Innowave Summit
Don't miss out on the opportunity to join over 5000+ digital leaders and world-renowned experts from the business world. Forge valuable relationships with like-minded professionals, potential partners, and future collaborators.
Expand your horizons, challenge your perspectives, and uncover innovative approaches that can elevate your ideas and business to new levels.
Network with industry insiders, exchange ideas, and build a support system that will fuel your continued growth in the business realm.
“The vision of Innowave Summit 2023 is to unite the digital leaders of Europe and boost the innovation ecosystems” – this is the common vision shared by the organizers of the event and the network that supports them.
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MEET THE FIRST ANNOUNCED SPEAKERS
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Carlos Cantu
A Creative Director who became a Marketer and is currently CMO at Freepik Company with the goal of empowering creatives and creators all over the world.
I lead the marketing and communications teams in charge of increasing brand awareness and business penetration of Freepik Company’s products (Freepik, Flaticon, Slidesgo, Videvo and Wepik) in strategic markets such as the US, Europe and Latin America.
Before Freepik I spent eight years at Twitter, first as Head of Brand Strategy for Spanish Speaking LATAM during 3 years and then, almost 5 years leading the Business Marketing team for Europe and the Middle East.
Prior to this, I was a Creative Director in the Advertising Industry for more than fifteen years. Started in traditional advertising and then became an integrated creative, developing traditional, digital, experiential and shopper marketing projects. I've helped build brands such as AB Inbev, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Danone, Heineken, Ford, Land Rover, Avon, Santander Bank, Greenpeace, Gatorade & Unilever among many others. -
Andrew Weld-Moore
A mission-driven leader with 20+ years of experience building teams, businesses and strong industry and customer relationships. 11+ years in Facebook running Sales and Operations at various levels and managing several markets (Nordics, Benelux, UK/Ire and CEE).
He is a Board Member of UNICEF Ireland where together with his board colleagues help guide the direction of the organisation.
Andrew Weld-Moore is Head of Sales for Central Eastern Europe - Global Business Group at Meta.
He joined Facebook after a number of years at UTV Radio, where he was responsible for strategic sales & marketing policies, driving revenue across the company’s portfolio of radio stations. In that role he helped build UTV’s radio network into one of the largest in the UK/IRE marketplace. He also sits on the board of UNICEF Ireland.
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Dex Torricke-Barton
Over the last decade he managed communications for leaders and organizations at the heart of global change, including Google, Facebook, SpaceX and the United Nations.
In May 2020, he was part of the founding team for Meta's Oversight Board, which was established to make binding and independent decisions on the most challenging content issues on Facebook and Instagram. As head of communications and public engagement for the Board, he represented the organization publicly to media, governments, regulators and civil society for 3 years.
In April 2023 he joined DeepMind, one of the world's leading AI companies, as head of global communications and marketing. DeepMind was acquired by Google on 2014 and operates as part of the Alphabet group.
Specialties: Reputational management, executive communications, thought leadership, corporate communications, crisis communications, media relations, public policy, product launches/events, social media, technology, strategy -
Matthew K. Cross
Matthew K. Cross is the world’s top priority strategist, an internationally renowned speaker, author, and CEO of LeadershipAlliance.com, working with Fortune 100 organizations and elite institutions including Stanford University, Bank of America, BlackRock, UBS, Allianz, Merrill Lynch, Early Warning, WebHelp, Wells Fargo, Netscout, Home Depot & Qlik.
A Deming Quality Scholar and Hoshin NorthStar author and expert, he facilitates transformational learning, innovation and strategic execution. A prolific author, Cross' next books include: The Greatest Business Success Story Never Told (applying the master principle behind every successful organization on Earth) and Peak Performance on Demand in Sports, Fitness & Life.
Matthew has partnered with innovative thought leaders such as Marshall Thurber, a key mentor to Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad) and Tony Robbins (Awaken the Giant Within). Graduates of his acclaimed masterclasses include thousands of executives across multiple industries, along with names like Barbara Dalio, wife of legendary Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio. As a Golden Ratio Biomimicry authority, Matthew’s expertise includes identifying and simplifying the key drivers of peak health, performance, abundance; longevity. These are shared in his Nature’s Secret Nutrient books, TEDx talks, and MicroMasterClassesTM. Matthew is committed to sharing his diverse life experiences in ancient history, priority strategy, competitive athletics, and genius activation in support of optimal leadership, life success, and happiness.
Innowave 2023 Keynote Topic Innovation Trinity: AI2 Leadership, Quality; Biomimicry Matthew shares the principles, practices, and vast performance potentials at the intersection of AI2, Quality. Leaders receive a transformative upgrade in how they think, plan, and act to achieve and enjoy desired results personally and professionally.
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Kasim Aslam
Kasim Aslam is the founder and CEO of Solutions 8, one of the world’s top-ranked Google Ads agencies. Recipient of the Arizona Interactive Marketing Association’s 2017 TIM Award for Person of the Year, Kasim was also named one of the Top 50 Digital Marketing Thought Leaders in the United States by The University of Missouri in 2020.
Recently, he is co-founded Driven Mastermind, an exclusive, invite-only community for high-performing entrepreneurs. He has been honored to be the WarRoom's 5X Wicked Smart Winner three years in a row– an award given to a War Room member who has presented their best proven and tested strategies to grow their business rapidly. With over a decade of experience in Digital Marketing, he is passionate about helping businesses grow and scale through Google Ads––whether that’s providing knowledge and resources they need or through Solutions 8, the best Google Ads Agency in the US.
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Michal Kramarz
Michal Kramarz graduated from the International Faculty of Engineering at the Lodz University of Technology and holds an Executive MBA from Towson University. He has been working in the Internet industry for 15 years. In 2015, he became the head of a team supporting the expansion of Polish startups in global markets. Previously, he was responsible for developing partnerships with companies in the retail, e-commerce, financial, and travel industries. He worked for the Bankier.pl group until 2006, when he joined the Google team, being one of the company's first employees in Poland.
Michal Kramar leads Google for Startups for Central and Eastern Europe, which is the company's global division that supports the development of startups by providing them with knowledge about Google technologies, running accelerator programs, and working with mentors, investors, and the entrepreneurial community. -
Hakkı Okan Yeloğlu
Hakkı Okan Yeloğlu is the head of Technology and Management Deparment at Başkent University in Ankara, Turkey, since 2014. He earned his Phd from Başkent University and continues his research in Technology Management. He is interested in managing of technology, technology acquisition, technology management education, technology policies and digitalization. He’s the author of book which is recently published “Technology Management”. He has worked in many national and international projects in the areas of R&D Management, Innovation, and Innovation Management. He is also board member of the several conferences and summits in technology management and relevant ideas. His topic for the innowave summit 2023 is “The Role and Effect of Technology Management on the Digitalization of The Organizations.”
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Vlad Stoica
He is passionate about technology with a focus on digital transformation in the e-commerce space.
Vlad brings an analytical approach to projects and he follows the numbers to make the right decisions.
His goal is to explore relevant solutions for creating a long-standing foundation for digitalization. He is passionate about technology with a focus on digital transformation in the e-commerce space.
Vlad brings an analytical approach to projects and he follows the numbers to make the right decisions. His goal is to explore relevant solutions for creating a long-standing foundation for digitalization. -
Niki Kunchev
Since the establishment of Darik Radio in 1993, he has been a host in it to this day, and his show "Niki Kanchev Show" is broadcast every Thursday.
Niki Kanchev became a TV legend as the host of the cognitive show "Become Rich" when it aired on Nova TV between 2001 and 2014. In 2007, he was also the host of the show "One Against All". In parallel, Kanchev also hosted the show Big Brother (all seasons of the show between 2004 and 2018, except one - in 2008). In 2010 he hosted the TV show "SMS for Millions", and in 2011 - "Niki Kanchev for Hire". In 2012, he again hosted the shows Vip Brother 2012 and Big Brother All-stars. Since 2022, he is again on screen as the host of the show "The Big Chase".
In 2017, the Fashion Academy awarded him the prize for the most stylish and successful Bulgarian "BG Fashion Icon". In 2019, Kanchev is part of the detectives in the Nova TV show The Masked Singer. -
DRAYTON BIRD
In 2003, The Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton Bird one of the 50 people in the world who have shaped today`s marketing. David Ogilvy said he “knows more about direct marketing than anyone in the world”. Former Worldwide Vice Chairman and Creative Director of the agency now Ogilvy One he has had 60 years’ experience in 55 countries.
He has worked for some of the world’s biggest brands including Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, P & G, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.
As a writer, Drayton has helped sell a variety of products – from Airbus aircraft to the Peppa Pig animation. He has written 6 books, out in 17 languages, one “Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing” has been a bestseller since 1982. David Ogilvy also said his speeches are “Instructive and hilariously funny.” -
Alexander Morad
The award-winning Alexander Morad is one of Europe’s most sought-after marketing experts. Praised as the top 100 most popular presenter in Sweden, five years in a row. As the owner and founder of Bright Mind Agency, he has helped hundreds of companies with their campaigns on social media and also won TikTok Awards: Greatest TikTok in the Nordics.
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Sadia Kibria
She is ambitious to create a new paradigm for businesses to consider a strategic marketing direction while caring for all the direct and indirect stakeholders involved. She believe in Socialpreneurship, a practically implementable concept beyond triple-bottom-line and mere Corporate Social Responsibility - CSR. She think this will be the only way forward for businesses to compete effectively in the marketplace.
Recognized by Asia Pacific Times as one of the best global marketing minds, She is passionate & driven to create disruptive marketing experiences & programs to improve the state of women, living beings & the planet.
Her association with Professor Philip Kotler uniquely positioned me to implement the concept of Socialpreneurship in 50+ countries around the globe. As the CEO of Kotler Impact, She have worked with brands globally to transform their business strategies for better care of their stakeholders. These strategies include but are not limited to, delivering growth in marketing, brand recognition, disruptive innovation, and creativity.
Creating value in a diverse cultural environment places me uniquely as a strategic business leader within my specialized domain. She developed strong and resilient teams with expertise and knowledge spanning ideas around business ethics covering environment, customer care, marketing, collaboration, timeliness of analytical thinking, and critical decision making.
As a firm believer in continuous improvement through learning, innovation, and creativity, her focus is always pushing to raise the bar to achieve results beyond my initiatives and my business partners' expectations.
Her love for philanthropy and community service encouraged me to establish a non-profit in Canada to support single women and their families in need.
She have extensively voiced (via authored publications, created-events & speaking) on the topic of ‘Socialpreneurship’, impacting global leaders & researchers from international organizations, government institutions, and corporates. She have presented alongside the world's influential business leaders like Philip Kotler, Father of Modern Marketing & Russ Klein, CEO of the American Marketing Association.
She look forward to creating a global impact by creating experiences & voicing on Socialpreneurship, Personal Branding & Women Empowerment. -
Gerald Haman “Solutionman”
Solutionman is the #1 Most Connected Innovator in the World on Linkedin. Haman founded SolutionPeople.com, InnovationTraining.com, InnovatingMeetings.com and the THINKubator. He was an executive at P&G, Arthur Andersen, and a Northwestern University professor. Over 1,000,000 innovative people belong to Solutionman's 50 Innovation Groups on Linkedin. Haman was recognized as one of the “Most Influential People Online” by FAST Company magazine. He is the author of the award-winning KnowBrainer Thinker Tool that increases creativity by over 530%. The KnowBrainer is available in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
He is recognized by clients as “Solutionman” because of his ability to help people quickly develop breakthrough solutions. Solutionman set the world brainstorming record by facilitating 8,000 people in a THINKathon at the Singapore Stadium to generate 454,000 ideas in less than 60 minutes. Over 3,000,000 ideas produced an ROI of $2 billion.
Haman has been profiled in over 50 major news publications including FAST Company, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsweek Japan, The Australian, Singapore Straits Times, China.org.cn, The International Herald, US News World Report, Investors Business Daily and Training magazine. SOLUTIONSpeople has helped over 100,000 people from 200 of the FORTUNE 500 companies in more than 160 countries. The Association for Talent Development awarded SOLUTIONSpeople a Learning Excellence Citation for their innovation training results. An entire chapter was published about SOLUTIONSpeople's successful business practices in the book, Creating Customer Evangelists. He earned a Masters Degree in Communications and Training from the University of Minnesota and graduated from the Honors Program at the University of North Dakota. -
Travis Wright
Travis Wright is a top marketing technologist, author, keynote speaker, blockchain advisor, tech journalist, and growth hacker. He is the former global digital and social strategist at Symantec for the Norton brand. Wright is the author of the book Digital Sense.
With Joel Comm, Wright cohosts two of Apple’s top 100 ranked business and technology podcasts, The Bad Crypto Podcast and The Nifty Show. The Nifty Show is all about NFTs and digital collectibles. They advise several NFT and blockchain projects with marketing and strategies.
Wright and Comm have minted over 1 million NFTs on WAX and were invited to join the Wax Advisory Board.
Wright works with company executives and tech leaders on digital transformation, marketing technologies, and social business best practices for digital marketing, social selling, account-based marketing and content advertising.
While at Symantec, Travis demoed and worked with over 500-600 marketing technologies and now helps marketers and IT build their own ideal MarTech stack.
Travis has given over 160+ keynote presentations since 2012 and has spoken internationally in 18 countries in the past 18 months on Marketing Technology, Paid Search & Social Advertising, and Social Business.
Over the past 20 years, Wright has created, co-developed, optimized, and led marketing initiatives, as well as managed the social media presence for 100s of companies, and build many teams, full of digital badasses.
Travis Wright is a shit-figure-outer. |If there was a problem... Yo! I'll solve it!|
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JOHN TSCHOHL
Called the “Guru of customer service” by USA today, Times and Entrepreneur magazine, John Tschohl is a internationally recognized service strategist and President of service quality institute, the global leader in Customer service.
For the last 34 years he has solely focused on helping organizations drive a service culture and create a customer experience through his technology built on practicality, simplicity and common sense.
With his credibility and focus on empowerment and the power of the social media he has the ability to emotionally communicate the power of the service strategy from Top executives to the total workforce.
Tschohl is dynamic, hard hitting, and inspirational. He will create an emotional Buy-in using measurable data that CEO’s respond to.
His books are recognized and highly esteemed by Senior executives as the most powerful must-reads in Customer Service.
John’s message is based on common sense built around his 44 years in speaking, designing training programs and developing a high performance workforce.
He is featured on major television shows from Good Morning America, CNBC and PBS to USA Today’s cover story, newspapers, radio stations, and magazines from almost every corner of the world. John’s technology and books are translated in 11 languages, represented in over 45 countries, and 90 percent of Service Quality Institute’s business is international. -
Gabriela Blaga
Gabriela Elena Blaga is a Romanian Leading Change Strategist and Leadership Coach. She has a strong background in business administration and management, with various leading roles in international corporations from Fortune 500.
Gabriela has collaborated closely with people and teams from all over the world. Her work has included coordinating an array of large global SAP ERP and digital transformation projects in multiple countries such as the UK, Spain, Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Malaysia, and Romania.
Two of her outstanding international projects included the implementing of the electronic invoicing for British American Tobacco and coordinating the creation of Procurement Hub for EEMEA region for the tobacco group. Through her leadership capabilities, project management and relationship building skills, she set the stage for improving efficiency and the agile transformation of the organisation. Her various roles afforded a unique window into individual and organizational vulnerabilities, courage, and the universal desire for productive harmony.
She is the author of VUCA²: Tap The Power Within You, the book and masterclass based on her original system for managing and mastering a world filled with Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. Her next book Audrey Hepburn: Reach For Your Stars, A 45-Day Empowerment Journal (to be launched in spring / summer of 2023) gifts the reader with the priceless opportunity of having Audrey—in her own words–– as an inspirational coach. This combines with Gabriela’s insightful questions in a profound yet simple field book for transformation.
A former co-producer and moderator of the BiziLive TV program Tell Me Your Story, she’s also a gifted journalist.
In the past six years, she has been mentoring business men and women to become the founders of tomorrow, with a focus on authenticity, and courage.
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Dale Howarth
Dale helps those in business achieve their goals. As a business mentor he gives them valuable advice and explains what needs to be done, when and importantly how. His approach is practical, proven and responsible for the growth and success of many leading and award-winning companies.
In addition, his expertise and unique insights make him a frequent lecturer at conferences, leading universities and as a contributor to a number of publications.
At Innowave Summit 2023, Dale will deliver a unique perspective on how to organise sales and marketing for business competition, with an approach that will be a breath of fresh air, eye-opening and a must for any business looking to make the most of its market potential. -
Marc Wesselink
Marc is a serial entrepreneur who started 12 companies and failed 4 times between 1994 and 2008 and invested in over 150 between 2004 and 2018. His purpose in life is to help as many entrepreneurs become successful founders of companies which can create an impact. He is active in Europe & Africa.
As one of the founding partners of Startupbootcamp, he was part of the global roll out and recruited over 160 companies for the Amsterdam & Cape Town programs and have helped them raised over 150 MIO EUR funding. He was responsible of managing the portfolio of Startupbootcamp with a value of over 500 MIO EUR.
Since October 2018 he started his next challenge since the investment landscape in Europe & Africa is still in need of one: How to improve investment in Pre-Seed, Seed & Early Stage companies. He has created an entire digital way of investing in early stage companies at large scale and de-risk it at the same time. The platform will be capable in investing > 150 companies a year by using automated processes and follow on investment based on real time data. The fund will also offer execution power with a network of experienced professionals who will help single founders, founder teams & corporates to start & scale a company.
Now he is cofounder at Venturerock - digital venture capital platform and ecosystem of founders, backers and venture builders. -
Claus Raasted
Director of The College of Extraordinary Experiences. External Advisor at McKinsey. Former Ruby Hunter. Marketing Wizard. Innovation Strategist. Playfulness Preacher. Experience Design Pioneer. Keynote Speaker. Event Designer. Author of 37 books. With more than a thousand talks, workshops, etc. to his name, Claus Raasted has been called “a cross between Thor, Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga”. He also has a past in reality TV, but these days, who hasn't?
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Michael Leander
Michael Leander is an accomplished digital marketing entrepreneur and an award-winning marketing speaker with a global footprint. A recognized thought-leader in Martech; and marketing innovation for growth, he has delivered great experiences to audiences in 51 countries on 6 continents. This has earned him a reputation as a “great marketing speaker and marketing trainer”. He currently heads up MarkEdu- an innovative marketing training institute headquartered in Portugal with local operations in Europe, East Africa and Iran. Michael Leander is also the principal data-driven marketing consultant at Gidma; - a boutique data-driven marketing consulting firm helping companies grow.
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Larry Biehl
Larry Biehl graduated Stanford University. After developing his own business in Silicon Valley, he starts helping young entrepreneurs to do the same. For over 50 years, he is a financial advisor and investment manager for different startups all over the world. He is the founder of Interculture foundation which finances the project Bulgarian Entrepreneurship Center.
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MARIYA GABRIEL
Mariya Gabriel is former European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth since 2019 and former European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society (2017 - 2019). The overall objective of her overarching portfolio aims at the full realization of the Digital Single Market.
Her strategic vision has consistently placed European citizens at the center of the policies, helping them acquire digital skills to succeed in the digital transformation process. She has focused her efforts on putting forward an ambitious digital programme in the context of the next MFF, investing in HPC, AI, cyber security, but also the creative, audio-visual industries and media, bringing benefits to all European citizens. She has extensively engaged with external EU partners to enhance digital cooperation, in particular with the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region.
Mariya Gabriel served as Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to July 2017. Being the EPP Group Vice-President, she tackled issues related to EU enlargement, Mediterranean region, Middle East and Africa and focused on priorities, e.g. security, migration, women issues. Mariya Gabriel also has considerable achievements in the area of the EU visa policy - she is the EP rapporteur on 1/3 of all EU visa liberalisation agreements.
She was awarded twice the prestigious prize "MEP of the year" - in 2016 for the Development category, and in 2013 for the Gender equality category. She is the 2018 winner of the prize "Tecnovisionarie" awarding excellence in research, technology, innovation, and business. In 2017 she was honored with the Royal Spanish Order of Civil Merit for her contribution to the foreign relations of the country and 2016 - with the Columbian Order of San Carlos for merits to the country in international relations and diplomacy. -
Dimitar Vasilev
Eng. Dimitar Vassilev is a Bulgarian entrepreneur and investor with over 15 years of experience in technology and innovation. He is the founder of Innowave Summit, one of the most significant high-tech conferences in Southeast Europe, with a focus on the digitalization of business and the public sector. He has been nominated as the most influential person in the IT sector in Bulgaria for 2022.
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Svetlin Nakov
Svetlin Nakov is co-founder and the main inspirer of SoftUni (https://softuni.org) - the leading institution for training software engineering, IT and digital skills in Bulgaria, attended by tens of thousands of young developers.
Svetlin has solid professional experience (20+ years) as software developer and consultant, blockchain technologies, C#, .NET Framework, Java, Java EE, databases, JavaScript, Oracle, SQL Server, Web development, HTML, CSS, ASP.NET, JSP/Servlets, GWT, PHP, Python, software engineering and project management. Svetlin has been a technical leader of number of software projects with various technologies and platforms, including blockchain development. He is a speaker in hundreds of technical events, author of hundreds of articles and few books about data structures, algorithms, principles of computer programming, .NET development, Java, cryptography and information security. He is advisor in successful ICO projects and crypto-startups like LockTrip (raised 10M USD in 2017), Academy School of Blockchain (raised 50M USD in 2018).
Svetlin holds a PhD degree in Informatics and was a lecturer in cutting edge software technologies in Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Technical University - Sofia and New Bulgarian University. He is a Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Software Developers (BASD).
As a student Svetlin is winner in tens of National programming contests and has 4 medals from International Olympiads in Informatics.
In 2004 he was awarded by the Bulgarian President with the prestigious award "John Atanasoff" for his contribution for the development of the information technologies and the information society.
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Aleksander Petrov
Aleksander leads McKinsey’s work on risk advanced analytics in Europe. He supports clients across a range of risk topics, focusing especially on stress testing, recovery planning, and asset analysis. He maintains a wealth of experience in capital markets, derivatives pricing, and portfolio management from his consultancy work with clients and his earlier career in financial services.
Before joining McKinsey, Alek, who is a member of the US Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, spent ten years in quant and trading roles in the European fixed-income and structured-finance sectors. For his doctorate on finance from the University of Vienna, he studied stochastic volatility in equity derivatives.
Petrov is also a board member of the Aleksander Foundation, which seeks to promote the development of university education in Bulgaria. -
Georgi Malchev
Georgi Malchev is a Managing Partner at the Digital Marketing agency Xplora.bg. He has significant business and marketing experience - as a Board Member, Chief Operating Officer, Business Development Director for large holdings and companies. Has experience as a Management Consultant and is certified in Operations Management.
Georgi is a Partner and Mentor at Startup companies. Until recently, he was Head of Mtel's Digital Marketing, and before that was a key factor in the growth of a large digital agency. He teaches marketing, communications and advertising at New Bulgarian University. George is often a member of the Digital Marketing Awards jury, as well as a Moderator and Panelist on Management, Marketing and Advertising forums. Georgi was elected a member of the Board of Directors of IAB Bulgaria for 2016, and was re-elected in 2017. -
Ivo Iliev
Ivo Iliev is a specialist in the field of digital marketing and communications with over 17 years of international experience in digital projects for customers such as Generali, Reiffeisen Bank, KBC Group, NIVEA, Eucerin, CLINIQUE, Opal Transfer, BNP Paribas, FORD, NOKIA, Nestle, Lenovo and many others.
Ivo is a manager of two marketing companies: InteractAGE (www.interactage.com) and BOLANDILA TM (www.bolandila.com). Furthermore, he is a deputy chairman of the “Bulgarian Association of agencies for digital communications”, an associated member of “Bulgarian E-commerce Association” and an expert advisor in the Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria.
For more than ten years Ivo Iliev has been an organizer and a speaker at numerous business events in the digital industry. He is an active participant in business, startup projects and different social campaigns.
Ivo maintains a personal marketing blog (www.ivosiliev.com), where he shares a lot of his personal experience and practices. He also practiced as a teacher of the Masters from the New Bulgarian University, specialty “Public Relations in Social Media”, actively participates in practical exercises with students in marketing and communications.
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Stiliyan Zaporozhanov
Stiliyan Zaporozhanov is an entrepreneur, investor, speaker & digital marketing expert with 10 years of extensive practical experience and more than 10,000 participants in his paid workshops, and digital & offline events. In 2020, he was recognized by Forbes as one of the young and promising entrepreneurs under 30 years old in Bulgaria.
Back in 2013, he co-founded a digital marketing agency called Zapomedia. Since 2017, Zapomedia has been building its own educational brands such as DigitalPRO, InvestPRO, SalesPRO (recently sold to an American company), and F5 Conf, which are some of the largest educational programs in Bulgaria.
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Boyan Moskov
Founder of InteractiveOrb, a digital agency with a team of 15 people managing an advertising budget of around 6 million leva per year. Owner of ConvertBuilder - software that allows anyone to create their own sales funnel, online store or website without the need for programming and design skills. Founder of Masterclass.bg, an online marketing and business creation academy that has helped over 7,000 people create and grow their businesses.Creator of MentorMax - the only mentoring program for startup businesses in the country with a guarantee of at least 400% return on investment. Creator of the largest digital marketing conference in Bulgaria for 2022 - Marketing Hackers Conference. Owner of Moscorp Publishing. Speaker at the leading business conferences in Bulgaria
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Elitsa Mihaylova
Elitsa Mihailova is the founder and creative director of Social Freaks, the only creative agency outside the capital. A graduate of the University of St. Kliment Ohridski, she also holds an MBA in Marketing from the City University of Seattle. She started her journey as an entrepreneur with a small web design studio in Sofia when she was 19 years old. She has been a speaker and judge at conferences and competitions in the communications, marketing and advertising sectors.
Elitsa founded Social Freaks in 2011 in. Sofia, with the business idea to work as an agency to maintain social media profiles for clients. Quality work and success with creative campaigns for Bulgarian and international companies developed the company into a creative agency. The agency team combines art and logic in their advertising campaigns, guided by the highest quality standards in every service they perform. Over the last 12 years Elitsa has worked on dozens of campaigns and the Plovdiv-based agency has over 90 clients in its portfolio - shopping malls, retail brands and parks, industry and B2B, real estate, automotive brands, financial sectors many more. -
Prashant Natarajan
Prashant Natarajan is Senior Director & Product Maker at H2O.ai where he is responsible for AI products & solutions for industry verticals. His current areas of focus span health insurance, drug discovery, precision medicine, and the opioid crisis. He is a recognized industry expert, hands-on product manager, and best-selling author of books on big data, analytics, machine learning, and cancer informatics. He is passionate about helping organizations with innovation and business transformation using AI.
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Denis Rothman
Denis Rothman, is the author one of the first Artificial Intelligence Cognitive NPL Chatbots. He also designed Automated Planning Systems and Artificial Intelligence software for corporate industries and online solutions.
Author of the book "Artificial Intelligence by Example". -
Georgi Hristulev
Georgi Hristulev is Sales Coach, NLP Master Practitioner. Since 2009 he is the owner of Web Direct digital agency, partner in QBS accounting company, manager of "Law and Finance Agency".
After the success of his first book, "From Love to Sales" which in three years was translated into Italian, English and Spanish. A year ago Georgi published a second book "Business without competition"
For years Georgi has been conducting author training programs to improve sales skills called "Sales Virtuoso" , "Sales Virtuoso" level "Mentalist" , "Double your sales in six months" and '"Business Accelerator"
He studied film directing and says about himself that he can direct the success movies in the heads of his clients!
His life slogan is "Do what I can do to get what I want"
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Evgeni Yordanov
Professional with 15+ years of experience in different top-management and marketing positions across several US- and Europe-based companies in different sectors. His current focus is SaaS and e-commerce technology. Entrepreneur, engineer, Ph.D. candidate, public speaker and professor.
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Lazar Radkov
Lazar Radkov is a man who believes that once you manage to cover your basic needs - the only thing left is to try to make the world a little better. Founder of Live To Lift sports club, which has emerged as one of the most successful personal training and healthy habit building clubs in the last ten years, the campaign has motivated over 50,000 Bulgarians to exercise and campaign.
Caps for the Future, inspired over 700,000 people to collect plastic caps and recycle over 140,000 kg of plastic in just a year and a half, and use the funds generated to purchase and donate couches to 11 small community hospitals, which have already helped over 100 babies. Lazar believes that the world can change when many people do small but meaningful things every day.
In recent years he has devoted himself mainly to educational work and has taken up the godly mission of enlightening the masses. He has conducted seminars, lectures and trainings at Telerik Academy, HP, SoftUni, "I Can Here and Now!" Academy, Seeburger, Grinders, Kizombaholics BG, Center for Addiction Work and others. He believes that most people don't even cover two of the following bases - adequate exercise, nutrition, rest and fun.
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Soumyasanto Sen
Soumya is a Digital Strategy, Transformation, and Excellence leader with almost 20 years of experience in advisory, management, and research in technology and transformation (people and organizations) across various large firms worldwide in America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific.
Author of "Digital HR Strategy" | Keynote Speaker
Recognized as a Top Influencer and Thought leader in the area of Digital HR, HR Tech, Transformation, People Analytics, and the Future of Work
Strong experiences with people and digital HR strategies, operating models, cloud HRIS, talent & workforce management, employee experience, change management, leadership development, organization culture, automation, analytics & planning.
Lead implementation of SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, SAP HR, Mobile solutions, and analytics solutions.
Evangelizing Human+Machine | Culture Hacking | Future of Work.
Mentor for Start-ups and Accelerators, Experience with Research
Investor for high-potential startups, private equity, stocks, and crypto projects.
Building ventures in Web 3.0, DeFi, NFT, Behavioral Finance, AI, Education, Private Equity, and Metaverse space.
Soumya is also the Founder of People Conscience, providing advisory, research, mentorship, and coaching to start-ups, entrepreneurs, leaders, and organizations for creating a better and sustainable future by leading and adopting Innovation, Transformation (Digital & Business) with the right mindsets, strategy, leadership, and cultural change.
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Peter Ivanov
Peter Ivanov is Manager, Entrepreneur and Virtual teams Expert with over 20 years of international experience. His book “Virtual Power Teams” is translated in 6 languages and is Amazon Top 3 in the category-international management. Born in Bulgaria he graduated Mathematics and joined a multinational company as Data Analyst. He quickly became IT Manager for Bulgaria andgradually worked his way up to IT Services Manager for Eastern Europe, MiddleEast and Africa.
Peter recognized the growing importance of the teams in multiple locations and developed an innovative method for leading Virtualteams. In 2007 the Team led by Peter won the “Best of the Best” award for outstandingProject management in establishing global Shared services. In 2012 his Team won the “Global IT Connect Award” for excellent Engagement in a global cross-functional environment. In 2013 Peter founded “Virtual Power Teams” and started new career as Keynotespeaker and Executive coach on New Leadership.
He actively supports young Talents in the fields of mathematics and sports. In his dynamic keynote speeches and master classes, held in English, German,Bulgarian and Russian, Peter uses the experience he has gained as Manager,Athlete, Entrepreneur and, yes, the father of five little girls, to show you how to build up and lead your own successful Virtual Teams.As an expert in New Leadership Peter supports managers to retain the gravity of their Team despite the geographical distance, age and cultural differences, and deliver Top business performance. -
ROD BANNER
Rod is a MADtech lifer – Marketing Advertising and Technology. He founded the technology marketing group, „Banner Corporation”. It had grown to become the largest Business to Business agency in Europe. In 2014 Rod made it into the TechCity Insider 100 list and the 2014/15 Fresh Business Thinking Power 100. In 2015 he was chosen as one of The Maserati 100 – A list of UK-based entrepreneurs who are giving back to the next generation. Rod is also an angel investor – specialising in MADtech Specialties: Architecting and building brands. Discovering and telling corporate ‘stories’. Monetising social media, mobile and marketing automation. 25 plus years in creating tangible, marketing-driven success for technology companies located in EMEA.
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Dimitar Savov
Dimitar Savov is a seasoned marketing master with 19 years of experience behind his back. He has worked with over 250 businesses, has campaigns in 65 different countries and through his agency has generated over $570 Million with digital marketing campaigns. His agency Startup Masters is among the top 1% worldwide in terms of performance boasting a lifetime ROAS of 12 to 1. He began his teaching career at the Software University in 2014 and Founded Masters Academy in 2020 where he has educated over 55,000 professional marketers. Dimitar has important contributions to the fields of Digital Marketing and Business Strategy through his work on the development of the Digital Performance Marketing model as well as various other tools for business & marketing planning. He is also the founder of Skillplate inc. an e-commerce platform for digital products.
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Magarditch Halvadjian
Maggie Halvajian has shot over 450 music videos and commercials and is one of the most successful in the production business. He has been actively involved in directing since 1992 and producing since the mid-90s.
In 1996, he founded "Max Group - 1", which produced the TV shows "Point of Intersection" and "Fatal Attraction". In 2002 he founded production companies "Global Films" and "Global Frame", united under the name "Global Group".
Over the years, Maggie Halvajian and his team have created some of the most recognizable television shows to this day. They made the Hidden Camera "Sweet Revenge" which aired on national bTV from 2000 - 2004 and 2006 - 2008 (5 seasons, 204 episodes); season 6 (4 episodes) aired on NOVA in 2020, but cancelled shortly after due to the COVID-19 emergency.
In 2002, the show Sea of Love aired for ten years. "Russian Roulette" followed, which has about 209 aired episodes.
In 2003, the iconic show "Lords of the Air" was launched. In the period 2005 - 2009 Halvadzhian was the producer of more hit shows such as "Star Akademi", "You've Got Mail", "Complete Change", "Game for Millions", "Everything by 10", "Clairvoyants", "The Magnificent Six", "Fear". In 2009, one of the most iconic comedy shows of the camera was launched - "Full Madness".
From 2009 to mid-2012. Maggie Halvajian is the president of the Association of Film and Television Producers (A.F.T.P).
Maggie is the producer and director of the series Sea Salt (2004) and Seven Hours Difference (2011).
In 2010 and 2012 she was a jury member of the reality show "Bulgaria's Got Talent". In the spring of 2013, another favorite show of the Bulgarians - "Like Two Drops of Water" was launched on the air of Nova TV. The same year the second season of "X Factor" was launched in Bulgaria. In 2014 he was the producer of the show "Great Hopes" on Nova TV.
In 2019 he produced a new successful music show "The Masked Singer" and the series "The Path of Honour" on Nova TV.
In 2022, he will also start producing The Stars Inside Us. -
Vlad Grigoras
Vlad is best described as a charming writer of European projects and guide, project manager, charismatic trainer and coach, lover of nature, working towards innovating in education. Vlad is а generous connector and door opener. Vlad’s core strength is creating connections, boostingcreativity and filtering impactful ideas into action, getting naturally the role of the enabler.
He has been training in coaching and NLP with several mentors and inspiration models and went after to facilitating learning at grassroot level in various context from formal education in primary school to English teacher in summer camps, in Vietnam, and more recently facilitator of non formal education in Erasmus+ projects.
In 2019 he founded Innovation Education Lab, building a strong team of like-minded and diverse people. Together they are driving innovation, transformation, sustainability and meaningful change into people's lives. A main focus of his work are young people and offering them space and tools for tailoring their paths, acquiring their resources and making those work for him. -
Jordi Gili
The company that he currently works for as a Country Managing Director and Chief Product Officer (Execus) for (Webidoo) helps B2B sales teams design and execute their strategies to develop more business using social networks.
Throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia they help with Social Selling Consulting and Training, Linkedin presence and Marketing campaigns outsourcing and Sales systems integration.
He is really interested in the evolution that Social Selling is continuously experiencing in Professional Social networks and new tools have radically changed the traditional establishment.
He considers that today we are living the third revolution in Selling in modern history. Now we have the tools to connect and target a single person within our universe. And every sales professional and organization should be using these tools to boost sales.
Partner at Social Health, the Revolution of Social in Health Care.
Senior Start-up Advisor at Lead To Win.
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Nikola Ilchev
Nikola Ilchev is one of the most influential eCommerce people in Bulgaria. He started working on his first eCommerce projects in 2011, and in 2016 he founded eCommerce Academy.
The organisation is responsible for more than 70 significant eCommerce events, 2 published books and the only niche eCommerce competition in Bulgaria. Nikola has a significant influence in the development of the eCommerce ecosystem in the country.
He strongly believes that every business should be digital and strives to provide useful information and contacts to anyone embarking on the eCommerce journey. He has a podcast and well developed YouTube channel with tons of valuable content.
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Marius Ghenea
Marius is serial entrepreneur and business-angel with successful investments in many CEE countries, ranks in Forbes fortune Romanian survey. He is Co-Founder at VentureConnect and SchoolforStartups Romania, president of the Romanian Association of Online Stores. Also he is the author of “Entrepreneurship”, first Romanian entrepreneurship book, one of the Romanian Dragons from the TV show Dragons’ Den; Co-organizer of the BusinessDrive mini-MBA program, professor of Entrepreneurship. Marius is awarded with “Investor of the Year Romania 2016” by Central European Startup Awards.
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Lukasz Zelezny
Lukasz Zelezny, top 10 UK social media influencer, UK search awards judge and former director of organic performance at ZPG. Previously leading his team he is responsible for the uSwitch.com, Zoopla.co.uk and PrimeLocation organic visibility, conversion rate, traffic and engagement. Lukasz is a hands-on person; he spends lots of his time keeping up to date with the changes in the technology of online marketing. Lukasz started his career in 2005 and has since been responsible for the organic performance of a number of companies including HomeAway, Thomson Reuters, The Digital Property Group and Fleetway Travel.
He is a graduate from the Silesian University of Technology with a BA in Marketing.
He travels up to 75,000 km a year speaking at many SEO and social media conferences including ClickZ Shanghai China, ClickZ Jakarta Indonesia, SiMGA Malta, SES London in the United Kingdom as well as conferences held in Europe; Marketing Festival in Brno, Brighton SEO in Brighton, UnGagged in London. Every year he is actively participating in 10 to 20 events as an SEO/Social Media keynote speaker. Additionally, he organizes workshops and meetups where he is sharing tips around SEO, Social Media and Analytics. -
Vladimir Vulic
Vladimir Vulic is a digital transformation strategist working with organisations both large and small on navigating the challenges and opportunities presented by the digital age.
He was a keynote speaker at 170+ conferences and corporate events in 24 countries across 4 continents, from Peru to Taiwan. He is also a three-time TEDx speaker.
Vladimir is the co-founder and President of Digitalizuj.Me, a non-governmental organization helping citizens and organisations in Montenegro to understand and realize exciting new opportunities for social change and business in the digital environment. His clients are global and regional brands across multiple sectors including telecommunications, government, pharmaceuticals, financial services, retail, tourism, beverages, and advertising. He has done work for clients such as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Government of Montenegro, Regional School of Public Administration (ReSPA).
He has an extensive experience in delivering training programs for clients including The Coca-Cola Company, Roche, AstraZeneca, MSD, Trebjesa Brewery Nikšić (a Molson Coors Company), Crnogorski Telekom (member of Deutsche Telekom Group), Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS), Erste Bank Serbia, S-Leasing Serbia, UniCredit Bank, OTP Bank Serbia, Delhaize Serbia, Bambi, British Embassy Belgrade, UNIQA Insurance Montenegro, GRAWE Insurance, Triglav Insurance, British Council Montenegro. -
Manuel Riva
George Emanuel Calin (Manuel Riva) - Born on August 19, 1978, in Tulcea, Romania, George started his musical journey as a guitar player and songwriter when he was 13, then started studying music production, electronic dance music and DJ-ing, in his early 20s.
His songwriting, production and remixing credits include: Alexandra Stan, Fedde Le Grand, Nervo, Lindsay Lohan, Kelli Leigh, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Morgan Page and many more. Manuel Riva’s songs have been included in set-lists of renowned artists such as Tiesto, David Guetta, Armin van Buuren, Cosmic Gate, Oliver Heldens and more.
With three of his singles charting in the Billboard Dance Club Songs and Billboard Hot Electronic Songs, he was awarded Best Romanian DJ at the MMA 2017, and was also nominated for MTV EMA Best Romanian Act. -
Simeon Prusiyski
Simeon is an experienced Project Manager, Coordinator, and senior Web developer with over 15 years of professional experience. Recently his focus has shifted towards building and scaling his new ventures - Skillplate.com & Masters-academy.com by building the teams, tech, sales, and funding.
Over the past few years he has led various projects ranging from online gaming to online gambling portals, accounting systems and ecommerce SaaS platforms.2 years ago he co-founded his second company, Startup Masters, where he currently hold the position of CEO.
Simeon is the main organizer of BizzIT - the largest charity IT event in Bulgaria, which raised over 10 000 BGN for the treatment of children in need.He has also been a lecturer for the past 2 years, teaching eCommerce and back-end development in Sofia and in the Webrika Academy in Pleven, which he co-founded. Also, Simeon is regularly teaching, organizing and hosting seminars and conferences in the IT and eCommerce fields. Simeon Prusiyski is a co¬founder & CTO at Startup Masters and an active supporter and Vice-president of the Startup Foundation Bulgaria. -
Martin Popov
Martin Popov is the Managing Partner & Client Service Director of Interactive Share.
He has 20 years of experience in digital marketing and advertising and is one of the leading digital marketing experts in Bulgaria.
For over 13 years his company has been one of the leading digital agencies in Bulgaria.
The focus and strength of the agency are to implement large-scale and integrated campaigns in the digital environment to increase the revenue of their partners.
Over the years, Martin has participated and organized dozens of conferences and seminars on digital marketing and advertising, a jury at a number of competitions and a frequent guest in TV business broadcasts.
For many years Martin was a member of the board of IAB Bulgaria, where he actively helps the development of the digital industry in Bulgaria.
Martin is one of the top internet marketing consultants. Many big companies and small&medium business seeking his strategic advice - how to plan and execute effective digital advertising campaigns. -
Andrew Wroble
Andrew is a social entrepreneur, adviser and coach, host and author, who collaborates with organisations worldwide, providing support in multiple areas such as digital transformation, technology and innovation, global business services and site selection, foreign direct investment, nation branding, sustainability, media, and cross-cultural communications.
In 2013, after ten years of working with Central and Eastern Europe in different roles, Andrew established Emerging Europe, a social enterprise and growth hub with a clear mission: to contribute to the social, economic, and democratic development of the 23 countries in the region.
He is a leader of Tech Emerging Europe Advocates, a community of tech enthusiasts managed by Emerging Europe, part of the Global Tech Advocates network, which has over 40,000 members worldwide. In 2023, He co-founded Emerging Founders, a community for start-up founders in emerging Europe.
Andrew is also involved in speaking engagements, hosting events, moderating discussions, and serving as a juror in international business competitions. Additionally, Andrew provides training on location promotion and media coaching. He has written and contributed to several international business and investment publications, as well as market intelligence reports. -
Nick Chakarov
Has over 50 000 sales on eBay, Amazon and online stores in Bulgaria
Author of the physical book for starting a business - "Online Business From Scratch"
Author of the most read digital book on starting an online business with over 7,000 readers "Build an Online Business from Scratch".
Creator of the first online courses for eBay and Amazon in Bulgaria
Guest author of the first printed book about online business in Bulgaria "Mission Online Business"
Co-author of the largest online commerce event in Bulgaria - Online Business Conference 2019
Speaker at the social "Entrepreneurs Workshop" where he meets with unemployed and students to help them start building their extra income online.
He knows how hard it is to start from scratch on your own and that's why he shares his experience with other people willing to change their lives. Nick believes that if everyone becomes responsible for their personal finances - we can build the country we deserve. The country we can proudly bequeath to the next generation.
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Temelko Dechev
Temelko Dechev is an Entrepreneur, Managing Partner at ExpandX Marketing & Web, TEDx Speaker, YTILI Fellow. Temelko has extensive international business experience gained over the last 15 years. He has majors in Economics, Marketing, International Finance and Business Administration from universities in Bulgaria, Portugal, Austria and England.
Temelko has built his first website with a classmate of him in 2005 and made his first deal for a property management project in 2008.
ExpandX is now a global, award winning, full-service digital agency, marketing and web solutions provider delivering impressive ROI to its clients since 2014. For the past 5 years ExpandX is delivering services to a number of businesses in North America, Europe and Middle East helping them to thrive and expand their commercial activities on selected markets and within specific industries.
Recent awards:
ExpandX Recognized as a Top Digital Agency in the US for 2022 by USA rating agency Clutch
ExpandX awarded among Top 1000 Global B2B Companies for 2022 by USA rating agency Clutch
ExpandX Awarded “Agency of The Year” by Ad Word Masters
Prior to founding ExpandX Marketing & Web, Temelko was Sales and Business Development Manager at one of the largest real estate companies in the UK, Martin & Co Group. In 2 years, the value of the property portfolio of the London Bridge-based office he managed has risen to over £50 million (2015)
Temelko Dechev has also worked on business projects as a management consultant at Frenus GmbH with clients from leading telecommunications conglomerate operating in the DACH region and international companies operating in the sectors manufacturing, IoT, banking and automotive. Temelko was also involved in the global expansion activities of OSM International Group as Business Development and Marketing Manager in Italy, Spain, Portugal and other LatAm markets.
Temelko is a honorary delegate of the 15th World Business Dialogue, a YTILI Fellow of the US State Department, a TEDx speaker, founder and board member of JCI Bulgaria – World Federation of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs. He has conducted numerous trainings with external and internal teams in sales, marketing and business development topics, seminars and master classes in UK, Portugal, USA, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Serbia, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Romania and other countries.
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Adrian Miu
For the past 7 years, Adrian has been deeply passionate about creating and delivering transformational experiences for individuals. During this period, he has given presentations at conferences, including TedX Galaţi, facilitated team-building sessions for hundreds, and conducted trainings and workshops that, in total, amount to over 10,000 hours of engagement with people. With a background spanning 3 years in acting, 3 in contemporary dance, and another 2 in improvisation, Adrian is well-equipped to guide people through memorable experiences, whether online or offline.
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Konstantin Konstantinov
Konstantin has been in eCommerce for over 10 years and has over 17 years of experience in technology. In his role as Chief Technical Officer at SpinUp Digital, he is responsible for technical sales engineering, systems and process planning, overall build, and delivery of eCommerce solutions. Some of the clients Konstantin has worked with are international retailers such as Pandora, La Prairie, Ralph Lauren.
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Coming soon
Topics
Business Development
How to grow and scale your business in 2024
Customer Support and why it’s important
Proves success strategies
Building relationships with clients
Benchmarking & Marketing Research
Leadership & Talent Management
Marketing
Future of Advertising and Branding
Community building
User Generated Content
Brand Advocacy
Storytelling & Influencer marketing
Metaverse
AI in Marketing
eCommerce
D2C Strategies
Personalization & Customization
B2B Strategies
Customer Retention
Conversational Marketing for eComm
E-commerce Automation
Omnichannel strategies
Email & SMS Marketing
Implementation of AI in eComm
Conversion rate optimization
Innovation & Technology
Blockchain
Fintech
BigData
Digital Health
Innovation in Tourism
Web 3.0
Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI
Machine learning
Deep Learning
Robotics
Internet of Things (IoT)