Dr. Pierre Casse is Leadership Chair at the IEDC-Bled School of Management and Professor at the Moscow School of Management (Skolkovo-Russia). He has a PhD in business administration, spent five years in Africa as a sociologist, 18 years with various international organizations (OECD, FAO, World Bank) and has been a business school Professor in IMD Switzerland. Pierre is also a social entrepreneur and has created his own foundation in Belgium. He has published about 15 books and worked as a consultant for many organizations. Until 2017, he was Visiting Professor at the IAE University Aix-en-Provence, France, and at the Kellogg School of Management. He held the Suez Chair of Leadership at the Solvay Business School from 2004 to 2006. From 1986 to 1994, he was Professor at IMD. He is Dean Emeritus at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership (Steinbeis University-Germany). His areas of expertise include organizational behavior, the global market and cultural differences, international negotiations and strategic leadership. Professor Casse has published more than 10 books about multicultural management, leadership, intercultural negotiations, and philosophy and business: “The Making of Culture” (2003), “The One-hour Negotiator” (2005), “Philosophy for Creative Leadership” (2007), “The Philosophical Leaders” (2009), “Challenging Leadership” (2012), “Testing Leadership” (2014), “Learning Leadership” (2015), “Leadership Without Concessions” (2016), “Negotiation For All” (2017) and “Handy Notes for the Busy Leaders” (2018). He serves as a consultant to many multinational companies and he is CEO of the Business Innovation Network (BIN-Switzerland) and President of a Private Foundation (PFPC).

Anita assumed the office of Governor in 2018, after almost twelve years of work experience in the institution, first as Chief Economist, and later as Vice-Governor in charge of the monetary policy, research and statistics. She is also Governor for the Republic of North Macedonia on the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and member of the Steering Committee of the Vienna Initiative 2, as representative of the six countries from the Southeast European region that are not yet members of the European Union. In 2019, she became a member of the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel. Previously, Anita worked at the IMF in Washington DC as a member of the IMF negotiation missions with member states, and providing technical assistance. She started her career at the Ministry of Finance, first as Head of the project for establishing a treasury system and then, as State Treasurer and State Secretary, coordinating processes related to the European integration, budget reforms and negotiations with international financial institutions. Her contribution to the development of public finances was acknowledged with an award granted by the US Embassy in Skopje in 2004. In 2015, she received her doctorate in economics at the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is the author of several expert and research papers. During her career, she has been engaged as a lecturer by many domestic and international educational and scientific institutions.

Gazi is an international serial business entrepreneur with extensive experience in identifying opportunities and establishing companies in diverse industry segments and markets. His current business activities include Albanian franchises for AVIS, Budget Rent a Car, and distribution for Opel. He is the owner of Landways International (previously the Albania Experience) – an incentive, event and travel company, which handles over 60,000 visitors travelling to Europe each year, with offices in Albania, Croatia and plans for Asia. Recently, Gazi became the land and port handling agent for MSC Cruises docking in Albania. He has established an Albanian driver trainer center, ensuring higher safety awareness and driving skills for major fleets travelling in Albania and internationally. He is a co-founder and shareowner of the POLIS University in Tirana and used to be a licence proprietor of “In Your Pocket” guidebooks of Tirana, Skopje, Pristine and Podgorica. In 2008, he was elected as a Young Global Leader at the DAVOS World Economic Summit and is an active member of that community. His academic activities include being an Associate at the Faculty of Entrepreneurship and Practicing Management at the IEDC-Bled School of Management in Slovenia (since 2006), and serving as Vice-President for corporate relations on the Board of CEEMAN. Gazi graduated from Tirana University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, earned his MIA degree at the Columbia University in International Affairs and further educated himself at INSEAD Fontainebleau and the Harvard Business School. His early career path included serving as an Aide at the Albanian Prime Minister's Office and as External Advisor to the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament. He also interned at the Currency Trade Department and Middle Markets at Merrill Lynch on Wall Street.

Deon is an international expert on government finance statistics (GFS) and macroeconomic issues, with extensive experience at the IMF and Statistics Netherlands. In the region, he is engaged as a GFS advisor. He advises compilers in various national institutions on how to implement GFS data reporting, both for the IMF and the EU, in compliance with the fiscal reporting requirements. Deon also collaborates with other international organizations, such as the World Bank and Eurostat.

At the CEF, he is working on developing programs in the thematic areas of Leadership for Managing Reforms, and Data and Analysis for Designing Polices.

Jana has served as Director of the CEF since 2017 and as Deputy Director since 2005. During this time, she has worked on or initiated a number of capacity development programs and projects in the fields of economic and fiscal policy design and implementation, internal audit, tax reform, health reform, and pension reform. Since 2011, she led the CEF’s strategic institutional capacity development that resulted in the CEF becoming a globally recognized regional knowledge hub. She was responsible for internal legal, organizational and HR-related issues that allowed for a smooth transition of the CEF to an international organization in 2015.

Before joining the CEF, since 1998 she worked for the World Bank in Washington DC, and prior to that, in the private sector in Slovenia. Jana holds an MSc in public policy and management from the University of London, SOAS. Her professional focus is on institutional capacity development, managing organizational change, public policy and strategy, public financial management, and international development cooperation.

Since 2000, Barbara has been working in the European Commission both at the Headquarters and in the EU Delegation in Croatia, dealing with pre-accession negotiations. She has been responsible for numerous negotiations with international organizations and for the implementation of financial assistance in the enlargement countries. Since January 2018, Barbara has been Head of Unit in DG NEAR. In this capacity, her work focuses on providing thematic support in the areas of economic governance, socio-economic development and public administration reform, as well as steering the use of financial instruments and the relations with International Financial Institutions (IFIs). During her career, Barbara’s professional focus has been on economic development and structural reforms in the countries covered by DG NEAR. Born in Budapest, she grew up in Vienna, where she obtained a Master’s degree in economics, specializing in macroeconomics and international finance.

Professor Danica Purg is President of IEDC-Bled School of Management, Slovenia, and President of CEEMAN, the international association of 200 management development institutions from 50 countries.

In 2010, Danica received the 2010 International Educator of the Year Award by the Academy of International Business (AIB) for her outstanding achievements in international business education. In 2017, the Global UN PRME Forum awarded Danica for her pioneering work in establishing the UN PRME initiative. In 2018, she received the highest French order of merit “National Order of the Legion of Honor” for her dedication and support in strengthening bilateral relations between France and Slovenia, especially in the field of management education.

Danica is also Professor of Leadership at the IEDC-Bled School of Management. She has authored and co-authored several books and numerous articles on leadership issues. Her research focuses on looking for inspirations for managers from art and other professions. She holds three Doctor Honoris Causa titles and two honorary professorship titles.

Peter is currently Secretary General of the Bled Strategic Forum and National Coordinator for the Western Balkans at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia. With 18 years of experience in the diplomatic service, Peter has held posts in Ankara, Copenhagen and Brussels. During Slovenia’s EU Presidency (2008), he served as Chair of the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CIVCOM). He was also posted to New York (2011) as Political Coordinator at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Slovenia to the UN, and worked as Advisor to the Foreign Minister of Slovenia (2009–2011) and as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Slovenia (2013–2014).