Keynote Speakers
Speakers
Biographies
Novak Djoković
Tennis Player
Biography
* If unable to speak in person, Novak will address the conference via video.
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player, who is currently ranked No. 3 in the world.
He won his first Grand Slam singles title at the 2008 Australian Open. After beating World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals, Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, becoming the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events.
He was the runner-up at the 2007 US Open and won the bronze medal in singles representing Serbia at the 2008 Olympic Games. He won the Tennis Masters Cup in 2008 and has won five Masters Series tournaments.
Tijana Arnautović
Chairman
International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2010
Canada
Biography
Ms. Tijana Arnautovic was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where her family lived until a civil War took over the nation. In 1994, aged 7, she emigrated from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Canada. Ms. Arnautovic was one of thousand immigrants who left the country in search for a better life.
Tijana graduated with the Bachelor's degree in International Business (Honours) 2009 at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
Ms. Arnautovic was just barely 18 years old when she was crowned Miss World Canada 2004. During her year as the Miss World Canada titleholder, Ms. Arnautovic focused her efforts and activities on motivating Canadian citizens to achieve their dreams through dedication, commitment and hard work. As she delivered her message of "Anything is Possible", Ms. Arnautovic sought to inspire individuals to achieve their goals.
As Miss World Canada 2004, one of her main priorities was to work with sick and disadvantaged children in Canada and Europe; a cause that will always be very close to her heart. Having lived through the civil war that ravaged her home country, she knows how tragic it is to have a rough childhood.
Ms. Arnautovic was provided her with the opportunity to travel around Canada and Europe and deliver motivational speeches in many different cities. Mr. Arnautovic has held speeches in Serbian, French, English and Spanish to many business corporations, non-profit organizations, and governments, and has conducted workshops and conference programs on the Youth Leadership Development. A master at motivational speaking, Mr. Arnautovic has been featured in many Canadian and European magazines, and has appeared on several Canadian and European TV Shows. Furthermore, as a member of ACTRA, she has played an acting role in the American movie " The Black Widower".
Ms. Arnautovic has received a "Distinguished Service Award", on the merits of her generous community contributions and charity work, from the Honorable Bob Chiarelli, former Mayor of Ottawa. At the present moment, Ms. Arnautovic has taken on a new initiative and has enrolled on a new project. She is the chairman of the International Diaspora Youth Leadership Conference 2009, which will be bringing together young leaders around the world, and devising and implementing innovative solutions to some of the most pressing youth challenges.
Miodrag Jakšić
State Secretary
Ministry of the Diaspora
Serbia
Biography
- State Secretary, Ministry of the Diaspora, from 2008 to present.
- Assistant to the Minister of the Diaspora, 2004-2007.
- Delegate of the Parliament of Serbia, 1993-1998.
- Published six books and over 100 articles in publications and magazines
- Author of over 200 architecture projects.
- Won several social awards in the field of art and culture
Luka Erceg
President & CEO
Simbol Mining Corp.
California, USA
Biography
Luka is co-founder, President and CEO of Simbol Mining Corp., a venture backed clean technology company focused on the production of lithium and other metals from brines and effluent streams. Since 2005, Luka represented clients in venture capital and strategic transactions as both an attorney and consultant. His experience includes 11 years of strategic development activities ranging from new business ventures, financings, mergers and acquisitions with companies such as El Paso Corp., CenterPoint Energy, Fluor Daniel and Philip Services Corp.
Luka received his M.B.A. in 2007, graduating as a Jones Scholar, from the Jones School of Management at Rice University. He also holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Houston Law Center, a J.D. from South Texas College of Law, a Bachelors in Marketing from the University of Guelph, and is licensed to practice law in the State of Texas.
Vasilije Tomić
Protopresbyter-Stavrophore
Toronto, Canada
Biography
Born on January 14th, 1949 on St. Basil, in the village of Koreniti, near Bijeljina to Stanko – Stajo and Ivka, nee Popović, farmers. On St. Ilya in 1956, he was taken to the monastery of the Holy Trinity, Tavna, to spend the summer with his aunt, nun Anastasia, the monastery regent. He developped a close relation with his aunt and stayed at the monastery.
He finished elementary school while living in the monastery: first four grades in Tavna, and the next four in Janja, near Bijeljina. When the School of Theology opened in 1964 in Sremski Karlovci, he enrolled in grade one, round one of the renewed school. He completed the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade in 1973. He spent the next two years on graduate studies in Germany, one semester at the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Regensburg, and the following three semesters at the University of Tibingen, studying religious pedagogy. He graduated from the Faculty of Philology in 1980, majoring in Serbo-Croatian language and literature.
He married his wife Gordana, nee Majstorović from Čačak in 1973. God blessem them with three daughters: Anastasia (born 1974), Dobrila (born 1976) and Jelena (born 1979). Their lives are enriched with eight grandchildren.
The Bishop of Zvornik and Tuzla Longin (Tomić) ordained him at the monastery in Tavna, on November 29th 1975, into rank of deacon and on December 1st of the same year into the rank of priest. Apointed priest for the Parish of Tuzla, where he served until the Assumption in 1977. He moved to the Archdiocese of Beograd and Karlovac and becomes part of the brotherhood of the temple of the Holy Trinity in Belgrade. In October 1978, he moved to the temple of Saint Marco, where he serves until moving to the Diocese of Canada, on July 1st, 1985. The Canadian Archbishop Georgije, apointed him for the priest of the Niagara Parish. On October 1, 1987 he moved to the church Saint Sava in Toronto, where he has been serving since.
He has contributed to a certain extent with all church media. For a brief period, he was the editor of the publication “Pravoslavlje”, and he has been the editor of the publication of the Canadian diocese “Istočnik” for almost 20 years. In 2002, he wrote a book titled “Fire in the heart rekindled”. He is a member of the Association of writers of the Republika of Srpska and the Association of writers of Serbia.
Ph.D. Radomir Baturan
Editor
"Ljudi govore"
Toronto, Canada
Biography
Radomir Baturan was born in Srpska Piva (Babici) in 1948. He obtained both his MA and PhD from the University of Belgrade, and his theses included analyses of the works of Borislav Pekic and Rastko Petrovic. Dr. Baturan is a scientific associate of the Center for Russian and Eastern European Studies at the University of Toronto, and of the Institute for Art and Literature in Belgrade. He is a member of the Association of Writers of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska. Dr. Baturan lived in Krusevac before coming to Canada. He has written and edited a large number of books, and has contributed to all the significant journals in Serbia and former Yugoslavia.
Dr. Baturan currently lives in Toronto and is dedicated to his scientific work, writing and teaching. He is the editor of the literary and cultural journal Ljudi govore which is published quarterly. The authors and subscribers of this journal are Serbs from all over the world, from New Zealand to Sweden, from Moscow to Toronto and Vancouver. The main criteria of this journal are: esthetics, ethics and Serbian spiritual unity.
Miroslav Parović
Contributing Editor
"Dveri Srpske"
Serbia
Biography
Miroslav Parovic completed his masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia in 2008. He has received the "Electromreze Srbije" award for the "Best Student of Power" at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad.
Miroslav is currently employed at Energonova, Belgrade as Assistant Director evaluating potential sites for building small hydropower plants.
Katarina M. Vasiljević-Galić
Calgary Service Point Coordinator
The Business Link, Business Service Centre
Calgary, Canada
Biography
Katarina M. Vasiljevic – Galic, MBA, coordinates the Calgary office operations of The Business Link, Alberta's Canada Business Network office which serves entrepreneurs across the province.
With almost 10 years experience in SME and International business development, she brings a lot of knowledge and expertise to those who are looking to start-up a business and set-up an office in Alberta.
While working in Singapore as an International Business Development Manager for Europe and Asia, she was also a member of the World Business Group and had also dipped into entrepreneurship by managing her own trading company. After four years, she dissolved her company and moved to Canada to start her own family.
She had experience presenting in Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada and is presently presenting at institutions such as the Canada Revenue Agency, Mount Royal University, Athabasca University, Calgary Chamber of Commerce, and many other.
As well, Katarina had been volunteering with many organizations including the Canada’s Federal Elections 2006 and the United Nations (Serbian team).
Katarina, MBA, is a strong promoter of Serbian heritage, history and culture. In 2008, she had orchestrated a “comeback” of the Serbian Community in Calgary and it’s participation at the Canada Day national celebration (after almost 30 years of stagnation), focusing on Serbian treasure and heritage. In addition to this she is also involved in many charitable initiatives helping orphaned children in Serbia.
Katarina was born in the heart of Sumadija, the city of Kragujevac (Serbia), and had been living in Belgrade, London (UK), Prague, Paris, Singapore and Calgary. She had studied in Belgrade, London, Prague and Paris where she had obtained her BBA and MBA in International Business.
She loves to travel and has been exploring all parts of the world, including 40 countries and almost 200 cities. She enjoys spending time with her husband and 3 years old son, Dimitrije!
Vanja Djurić
Doctoral Student
Kent State University
USA
Biography
Vanja Djuric was born on July 28, 1986 in Bosnia-Herzegovina and emigrated from Bosnia to Serbia due to the civil war. Later, the family moved to the United States by way of Chicago before settling in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
Ms. Djuric attended The University of Akron where she studied business with a focus on international business and pre-law. She received her Bachelor of International Business/Pre-Law at the age nineteen (19), making her the youngest business graduate from the University of Akron in the school’s history. While attending university, Vanja worked as a legal researcher in the area of bankruptcy, real estate, corporate law, labor law and international law. By successfully completing her undergraduate studies and with several years of work experience, Ms. Djuric chose to enhance her education by attending graduate school. As a result of her academic excellence she was awarded with a full scholarship to Kent State University, where she studied business. Vanja graduated with a Master of Business Administration and graduated at the top of her class. She is currently working on obtaining her Doctorate degree, focusing on International Business & Law studies.
In conjunction with Ms. Djuric’s academic and professional success Ms. Djuric found success competing in pageants; in 2009 she received Ohio's Tourism title as Miss Buckeye State and will go on to compete at the nationals for the U.S. title. This opportunity gave her a chance to exemplify well balanced success. Ms. Djuric is known for being very involved in the Serbian community. Since 2006, she has been the president of the St. Demetrius “Ostrog” Folklore Group, where along with many duties this status entails, she has focused on assisting and educating youth in professional development. As a Serbian-American Ms. Djuric is an ideal citizen who not only succeeds academically, but also enjoys giving back to her local and international community.
Jelena Adžić
Host
CBC News Network and CBC TV local news
Toronto, Canada
Biography
Jelena Adzic is the face of arts and entertainment coverage for CBC News Network.
Through her hourly reports on CBC NN, and her appearances with Peter Mansbridge on The National, she plugs Canadians into the latest news in film, books, music and pop culture.
Since joining CBC Televison in 2002, Adzic has served as an arts reporter and critic, providing special live coverage from events such as the ‘Toronto International Film Festival’ and the ‘The Academy Awards’ in Los Angeles.
Previously, she served as the award winning host of Vision TV’s weekly current affairs program, ‘360 Vision’, and she also worked as the national reporter for TechTV and the host of The Biography Channel Canada.
On the other side of the lens, Adzic served as the Senior Series Producer of ‘Workforce’, a career show for youth that aired on TVO, and expanded to reach an international audience. She also traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean Islands, as a producer on the show, ‘Suite and Simple’, a CTV travel series that also aired on the Fine Living Network in the U.S.
Born in Belgrade, Serbia, and later raised in Toronto, Canada, Adzic earned her HBA university degree in political science and business administration. She also received formal training in documentary film production, and then applied her studies abroad, working for a newspaper in Korea, and later on film sets in Finland.
From her exclusive interviews with leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire - to authors the likes of John Irving, Deepak Chopra and Salman Rushdie - to celebrities including Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman and Brad Pitt - Jelena Adzic anchors the human connection.
Mladen Obradović
Actor, director, drama teacher and theatre producer
Toronto, Canada
Biography
Mladen Obradović teaches for several drama schools in Toronto and Mississauga, including TheatrePeace, Arts Express, Centauri Summer Arts Camp and Shakespeare in Action Project. His Canadian acting credits include Andrei in Chekhov's Three Sisters and Conspiracy Theorist in Draft89's production, FOE, as well as the lead- Lalo, in Pulse Theatre's "Night of the Assassins". He worked as an actor in Belgrade for seven years before coming to Toronto. He has over twenty shows, seven films, several theatre and radio shows as well as directing and producing work on his resume. He is the founder and the Artistic Director of Pulse Theatre. Education: MFA in Acting, York University, Toronto; Diploma in Specialist Studies for Musical, University of Belgrade, 2004; Finished three years of English Language and Literature at Philology Faculty at University of Belgrade; BFA in acting, BK University, Theatre Department, Belgrade, 2002.
Originally from Podgorica, Montenegro, he lives in Toronto with his wife and two sons - Matija and Vuk.
Saša Petričić
Correspondent and videojournalist
CBC Television's The National
Canada
Biography
Saša Petricic is an award-winning Videojournalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship national newscast, e National. He not only reports, but also uses his skills as videographer, editor and writer for the news stories and documentaries he presents from across Canada and around the world. His stories have taken him to every continent, from the Americas to Africa, from Europe and Asia to Australia. He was the first CBC correspondent to report from Antarctica in 2006.
For CBC-TV, he covered the tsunami in Southeast Asia, reported on genocide in Rwanda and the 9/11 attacks on the US, and followed Canadian troops into combat in Afghanistan. He has also worked on special projects for BBC Television News and appeared on CNN. Petricic is known for his clear, personal style and innovative approach. In 2008, he was nominated for a Gemini Award, one of the highest honours in Canadian TV and film (the equivalent of an Emmy in US television), for his coverage from ailand. He has also won awards for his investigative and foreign reporting from the Canadian Association of Journalists and Canada’s News Directors. Petricic is based in Ottawa, where he spent almost a decade reporting on Canadian national politics, including frequent travels with the Prime Minister. Petricic has a Bachelor of Journalism degree with combined honours in Soviet and East European Studies from Carleton University, Ottawa. He has also studied at Hope College in Michigan and the University of Quebec. As an expert television journalist, he has worked as a teacher and trainer in Canada and overseas. Since 2008, he has been a seasonal professor at the University of Rwanda in Africa. He has also taught courses for the Canadian Screen Training Centre, and worked as a regular trainer for CBC Television. Petricic was born in Belgrade in 1963.
Susan Radojević
President
The Peregrine Agency Ltd.
Canada
Biography
Susan Radojevic, president of Toronto Canada based The Peregrine Agency Ltd. is a leading authority on Event Portfolio Management.
Susan’s Event Portfolio Management approach, Strategic Event Alignment© has received widespread attention. In 2007 and 2008 she authored a number of articles and executive whitepaper on Event Portfolio Management. Some titles include Strategic Event – The Strategic Delivery of Company Marketing and Policy Objectives, Paradigm Shift, Technology Track, Critical Pathway – KPMG Case Study, Executive Whitepaper - What C-Level Executives Need to Know About Improving the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Event Marketing.
A columnist, with her own column Open Channel© for M&IT Magazine, a frequent contributor to Maclean’s and Canadian Business, and published in MICE China, she has based her career on the art of conversation.
Educated in international business, psychology and Political Science was followed by careers in the fashion industry, financial services and hotel management before starting The Peregrine Agency Ltd. in 1990. The Agency evolved from logistic meetings management to strategic portfolio management and today, Susan travels throughout the world sharing her insights and leading alignment initiatives.
Susan is passionate about her work and her vision is to make meetings and events the number one tool used by organizations to improve organizational performance.
Susan enjoys running, horseback riding, tennis, reading, music and spends time working with her favourite charities. Spending time with her young niece and nephew gives her a youthful perspective on life – and keeps her on her toes! Of course, she loves to travel and has been fortunate to visit all four corners. Susan’s dream holiday would be to view this great earth of ours from space and see what else there is out there!
Slobodan Pešić
Professor
American Public University
USA
Biography
Slobodan Pesic is professor of Crisis Management and Emergency Planning at American Public University (APUS). He also teaches American Government at Argosy University.
Prior to teaching at American Public University, Slobodan Pesic served as Government Operations Consultant and Emergency Operations Planner for the Florida State Government, and Policy Specialist in the Pennsylvania State Government. Professor Pesic also served as Project Leader on a major state-wide deployment of provider management and reimbursement information system in Pennsylvania.
At the University of Pittsburgh, Slobodan Pesic served as Research Associate and Information Technology Consultant at the Ridgway Center for International Security Studies. He conducted research on the US, EU, and NATO defense and security policy. Professor Pesic has also served as consultant to governments and businesses.
In recent years he visited Argentina, Chile, India, Serbia, Slovakia, and Taiwan. In December 2007 in Taiwan, he gave a lecture on international relations theory and strategic culture at the Institute of Strategy and International Affairs, National Chung Cheng University.
Professor Pesic has participated in the proceedings of the International Studies Association and the American Association for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies. He has authored or co-authored a number of studies on international relations theory and practice, transnational organized crime, and strategic culture.
His 2007 book “The Future of Serbia: Restoring the Balance” (in Serbian) is published by the Institute of Political Studies (Belgrade). The book is available online at www.savetsrbije.org. Professor Pesic conducted doctoral work at the University of Pittsburgh.
He holds Master of Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and Bachelor of Science in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Belgrade.
Aleksandar Žigić
U.S. Correspondent
RTS (Radio Television of Serbia)
Chicago, USA
Biography
Executive Producer / Host, Radio Avala, Chicago
Adjunct Lecturer, Northwestern University, Chicago
Aleksandar Zigic has worked as a broadcast journalist for several major media organizations, including CNN, CBS, NBC and C-SPAN. He spent more than five years working as a producer / writer at CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta. During that time, he produced daily newscasts that were broadcast around the globe. Aleksandar also covered numerous crucial events in the U.S. and overseas. He has also reported on-air for CNN's global newscast, World Report.
When he was at C-SPAN in Washington, Aleksandar covered events on Capitol Hill. While in D.C., he spent three years anchoring radio shows on Voice of America, VOA. In recent years, he has been working as a news writer for Chicago television stations, including NBC, CBS and FOX.
Prior to arriving in the U.S., Aleksandar was an accomplished journalist in Yugoslavia. TIME magazine called his radio program Index 202 "the hottest radio show in Eastern Europe". He was just 17 when he hosted the first Top-20 countdown music program on national television, "Hit Meseca". Later on, he co-founded the country's first independent radio station, B92. Presently he is a U.S. correspondent for the main national television network in Serbia, RTS.
Aleksandar has a Master's Degree in Television-Radio from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He also has a Bachelor's Degree in English from the University of Belgrade. He has received an Award in Feature Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. Aleksandar was one of the 15 global participants in a media study tour organized by the U.S. Information Agency. He was featured in TIME Magazine and the book "Lighting the Night, Revolution in Eastern Europe."
Dr. Milica Radišić
Assistant Professor
University of Toronto
Canada
Biography
Dr. Milica Radisic is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto. She obtained B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University in 1999, and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004. Before joining University of Toronto in 2005, she was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology. Dr. Radisic received a number of awards and fellowships including: Presidential Graduate Fellowship (1999, M.I.T.), Poitras Pre-doctoral fellowship (2004, M.I.T.), 2007 Early Researcher Award from the Ministry of Research and Innovation (Ontario), 2008 MIT Technology Review Top 35 Innovators under 35 and 2009 Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award by the WISE Club, University of Toronto. In 2006 she was featured on the cover of the book Changing our world: True stories of women engineers.
Toronto Star named her one of the people to watch in 2010. Dr. Radisic’s research is in the field of cardiac tissue engineering and biomaterials. She utilizes heart cells in combination with biomaterial scaffolds and bioreactors to cultivate functional heart tissue in vitro. Her research on electrical field stimulation was featured on the cover of Toronto Life magazine in the piece titled 25 Ideas That Are Changing the World and CanadaAM in December 2009.
Her research interests also include development of injectable biomaterials for cardiac regeneration, microfluidic cell separation and development of in vitro models for cell injection and drug testing. Currently, Dr. Radisic holds research funding from NSERC, CFI, ORF, NIH, CIHR and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. She is a Section Editor-Bioengineering for the International Journal of Artificial Organs. Her research findings were presented in 60 research papers, reviews and book chapters.
Ph.D. Nebojša Petrovački
Engineering Manager
Powerwave Technologies
USA
Biography
Assistant Professor
University of Novi Sad
Serbia
Professor Nebojša Petrovački, PhD was born in Novi Sad, Serbia on April 24th, 1977. Nebojša graduated with the highest honors at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Novi Sad with 9.41/10 GPA.
Nebojša accepted a PhD fellowship from University of California, Santa Barbara in Fall 2000, and completed graduate coursework and PhD thesis research at this academic institution. After working on his PhD thesis on a grant from Texas Instruments, Inc, Nebojša defended his doctoral thesis on December 27th, 2008, as the first doctoral student to do so under Bologna Programme in the Republic of Serbia.
For the last four years, Nebojša works as an Engineering Manager at Fortune 500 companies. From 2006 to 2008, he worked at Danaher Corporation, the largest manufacturing conglomerate in the world, and since October 2008, Nebojša is with Powerwave Technologies, Inc. Powerwave is the premier global source for end-to-end wireless infrastructure solutions.
Nebojša also works as an Assistant Professor at the University of Novi Sad, where he helps in teaching on part-time basis, and mentors graduate students on their master and doctoral theses.
Nebojša frequently visits his hometown of Novi Sad. He enjoys spending his time with his mother Ljiljana and father Dušan, both Full Professors at University of Novi Sad. The most joy Nebojša has is to watch his nephew Mihailo (8) and his niece Ana (1) grow. Mother of these two wonderful children, Nebojša's sister dr Bojana Petrovački-Balj, mr. sc, lives in Novi Sad, where she works as a Specialist in Child Neurology.
Ph.D. Michael R. Samardzija
Counsel
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
Houston, USA
Topic
The Serbian community has a large number of people engaged in highly technical fields of study, but the transition of those areas of learning and ideas to business is very challenging. Michael will discuss about intellectual property and entrepreneurship in particular how an entrepreneur can create and protect value.
Biography
Dr. Samardzija’s practice focuses on the prosecution of patents in biotechnology and the lifesciences, specifically physiology, molecular biology, cell biology, immunology, pharmaceuticals, biologics and diagnostics.
Dr. Samardzija served as Director of Intellectual Property at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Office of Technology Commercialization. During his tenure, Dr. Samardzija reviewed over 300 invention disclosures and filed over 100 provisional patent applications. One of the high points of his tenure was being involved in policy discussions with members of Congress regarding patent law reform.
For four years, Dr. Samardzija was the sole in-house attorney at NeurogesX, Inc., a specialty biopharmaceutical company in San Carlos, CA focusing on pain. At NeurogesX, he restructured the intellectual property department; prepared and prosecuted U.S. and foreign patent applications in the areas of pharmaceuticals, drug delivery and medical devices; prepared patentability, infringement and freedom to operate opinions; conducted due diligence on potential in-licensing candidates; negotiated and drafted agreements; and provided legal support to NeurogesX’s regulatory affairs, clinical, biological sciences, pharmacological sciences and business development departments. Prior to this, he was an associate with Skjerven Morrill MacPherson LLP.
He received his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2001. Before entering law school, Dr. Samardzija worked as a Senior Research Scientist with Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. where he developed and analyzed drug delivery experiments and coordinated all experiments dealing with novel drug candidates. Once he received his doctorate, Dr. Samardzija worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California at San Diego and the Bockus Research Institute in Philadelphia. His work focused on the modulation of contraction in vascular smooth muscle strips and cultured cells. In doing so he employed a number of biophysical, biochemical, cellular, and molecular tools.
Milan Valčić
Founder
Leadership 2.0
Canada
Biography
Milan Valcic, M.B.A., is a leadership consultant with 16 years of international management experience in Canada, United States, and Serbia. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada, and is conducting training sessions on Peak Performance Leadership and consulting on sustainable leadership and management practices.
Milan was born in Leskovac, Serbia, and has also lived in Nis and Belgrade, as well as Hackensack and Los Angeles, USA, and Toronto, Canada.
Before founding his own leadership consulting business, Milan worked with one of the premier hotel and leisure companies in the world, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, holding various executive level positions. Most recently, Milan was the Director of Six Sigma for multiple Sheraton, Westin, and Le Méridien properties in Los Angeles and later Toronto, responsible for leading innovation initiatives and managing large scale change projects.
Milan received his MBA degree from the University of Guelph, Canada. He has been involved with both formal and informal coaching and mentoring programs designed to develop young managers, and was also a member of Starwood’s Grow Global initiative which develops and fast-tracks company’s global leaders.
He and his family recently spent a year in Serbia, “building the bridges” for his two children as leaders of the future. He gave presentations at several leadership conferences as well as colleges and faculties in Belgrade and has become an informal mentor to several Serbian students. He also gave a series of two-day seminars on “Leadership and Management in the 21. Century” in four Serbian cities and one in Republic of Srpska. He writes a regular column on Leadership & Management for the “Turisticki Svet” magazine.
Radivoje Petrikić
Partner
CMS MS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz
Vienna, Europe
Topic
Mr. Petrikić will discuss the current economic climate in Serbia, existing opportunities for Canadian companies, how to find business support and first hand experience of a company currently doing business in Serbia.
Biography
Radivoje Petrikic is partner at the international law firm of CMS Vienna and heads its CEE operations. As a renowned expert in the field of mergers and acquisitions as well as corporate finance in the entire CEE region, he has more than 15 years of distinguished working experience. He advised many international clients during their market entries into Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina as well as Romania, including Deutsche Bank, Henkel, Gazprom, IBM, Imperial Tobacco, InBev, Intercontinental Hotel Group and Michelin.
As managing partner of the first international law firm in Serbia (1999) Radivoje and his team have been advising in most important M&A transactions and privatisations with international participation in Serbia as well as many large-scale privatisations in the Western Balkans region. In the fall of 2008 he had been appointed as the legal advisor to the Serbian Ministry of Economics for a comprehensive redrafting of the Serbian Company Law in line with EU law.
Radivoje obtained his university Masters and PhD degrees at the University of Vienna and the University of Belgrade and speaks German, English, Romanian, Russian and Serbian. He is a qualified lawyer in Austria and Serbia and author of several publications on Serbian civil and corporate law.
Milosh Kostić
Senior Financial Analyst
Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Walgreens Company
USA
Biography
Milosh Kostic is a Senior Financial Analyst, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) with Walgreens Company, the largest drugstores and retail chain in the United States of America.
As an Illinois State Scholar and Dean’s List recipient of the most prestigious Accountancy program in the U.S, he graduated in 2003 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He worked for several years in Option Care’s M&A Department until it was acquired by Walgreens. As M&A Senior Analyst, Milosh has extensive experience with inner-workings and successful business models of many companies all-over the U.S. acquired or merged with Option Care and now with Walgreens Co.
Milosh has invaluable M&A Industry experience in on-sites, hospital joint ventures, specialty pharmacy, durable medical equipment, and retails. His specialties are in identifying entity formation for start-ups; enter-exit strategies for companies looking to sell; financial modeling for projection valuation of companies from EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) multiples, discounted cash flow models, and internal rate of returns from initial investments. Identifying ways to make prospective companies looking to sell get the maximum return on the sellers’ investments; identifying the correct environment in which to sell and/or acquire companies; identifying tax implications for structure of deals; structuring purchase, management and earn-outs agreements; including benefits and disadvantages for different M&A types of transaction, including asset and stock deals, and joint ventures partnerships.
Milosh was born in Belgrade, Serbia, but raised and educated in the United States. He likes to travel, watch sports and socialize with friends and family.
Maša Mišić
Junior Consultant in PR Sector
Ministry for Diaspora of the Government of the Republic of Serbia
Serbia
Topic
The Integrated Communication with Serbian Diaspora Groups
Biography
Maša was born in Belgrade (Serbia) on December 14th, 1982. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences in 2007. She received Master’s Degree at the Belgrade Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Public Relations Management. Her Master’s thesis - “The Integrated Communication with Serbian Diaspora Groups” was assessed as excellent, very practical and useful for the respective field.
She has significant experience in the communication and politics. Since June 2007, she’s working in the Ministry for Diaspora of the Government of the Republic of Serbia as a Junior Consultant in PR Sector, where she organized numerous International Conferences - Conference on Diaspora and Homeland Development in cooperation with UNDP, International Conference of Young Leaders from Diaspora, Media Conference, Vidovdan Days of Diaspora, etc. In July 2009, she passed the state qualifications exam.
During 2005, she worked as a researcher in the Agency for Public Opinion Research “Strategic Marketing”. In 2006, she worked as a trainer on the project „The First Step Towards Career“ in the NGO Center for Civil Society Development “Millennium“, financed by EAR. Since 2003, she’s been active in NGO “Open Communication”, Belgrade University Debate Club, participating on international and state debating competitions.
Maša is an action-oriented and optimistic person. She has a strong drive to turn ideas into reality, especially when she is passionate about something. As a result of her experience, working as a volunteer in education workshops related to public speaking and community organizing, she strongly believes that willing people with ideas, knowledge and potentials, together, can change the world. She speaks English and French.
Zoran Golubovich
President
U-S Business Development, LLC
Chicago, USA
Topic
- Introducing Serbian-American Chamber of Commerce
- Serbia Waste to Energy Project™
- Waste management in Serbia today
- The Serbian Waste Management National Strategy
- Waste to energy technology
- Waste to energy investment opportunities in Serbia
Biography
President & CEO
Serbian-American Chamber of Commerce
Senior Technical Architect
AT&T
Over 20 years of IT (US) experience in telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and manufacturing automation industry sectors. Worked for major US corporations, including AT&T, Motorola, and Abbott Labs. Specialized in business process modeling, enterprise architecture, and IT technology strategy for large scale projects.
Mr. Golubovich is also one of the Serbian Diaspora leaders in the United States. He is the current President of the Serbian-American Chamber of Commerce, and former Vice President of the Serbian Unity Congress.
Mr. Golubovich is the Founder and President of the U-S Business Development (USBD) – “The United States–Serbia Trade Enhancing Company”. Its major project initiative is SERBIA WASTE-TO-ENERGY PROJECT™, which will build facilities to use municipal solid waste as renewable source of electrical and fuel energy in Serbia. This is a quite unique and rare type of project that brings strategically important benefits to the regional environment, energy and economy.
Jovan Strika
Chief Technology Officer
Netcelerate and Dotality Inc.
Ottawa, Canada
Biography
Jovan is a telecom and IT expert with more than 15 years of progressive experience spanning advanced e-commerce applications, satellite, voice over IP and video communications systems. Jovan is an accomplished leader and motivator of cross functional teams of technical, product development and pre sales teams.
Jovan is CTO of Netcelerate, Inc. one of the leading service providers, focused on delivering advanced communications systems to Canadian and international businesses. Jovan is responsible for defining and delivering an aggressive product roadmap
Prior to teaming with Netcelerate, Jovan founded Dotality Canada Inc. in 2003, leading provider of fully integrated, cloud based communications platform. The platform has successfully been implemented by service providers in Canada, US and Europe. Jovan has also held CTO positions at Exus Networks, a leading global satellite services provider based in New York, and Atlas Bank in Belgrade, Serbia.
Jovan received Masters Degree from Concordia University in Montreal Canada in 2004 and Bachelors degree from American University in London, UK in 1996.
Ph.D. Pavle Radovanović
Canada Research Chair
University of Waterloo
Canada
Topic
Building an academic career from ground zero: developing your own management style and getting the most out of students and co-workers, while making an impact in the scientific and general communities.
Biography
Professor Pavle Radovanovic obtained his B.S. degree from the University of Novi Sad (Serbia), and a M.S. degree from Georgetown University (Washington, DC, USA). He subsequently received a Ph.D. degree from the University of Washington, where he studied synthesis and properties of diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots, and published a number of highly-cited research papers. During that time he also received several prestigious awards including NSF-IGERT and David M. Ritter fellowships, and the awards from Sigma-Xi and the Materials Research Society.
Professor Radovanovic carried out his postdoctoral research at Harvard University, before joining the University of Waterloo as an Assistant Professor, where he was subsequently named Canada Research Chair in physical chemistry and spectroscopy of nanoscale materials in 2008. His expertise includes a rational design and synthesis of low-dimensional complex multifunctional nanostructures and their investigation using various spectroscopic, magnetic, and electrical transport techniques.
Danilo Mandić
OSSI representative
Harvard University
Cambridge, USA
Topic
Danilo Mandic will speak on the behalf of OSSI - Organizacija Srpskih Studenata iz Inostranstva.
Biography
Danilo Mandic is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Harvard University and a member of the Organization of Serbian Students from Abroad (OSSI - Organizacija Srpskih Studenata iz Inostranstva). He was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University in 2007. He has researched and written on Serbian nationalism, the Yugoslav civil wars, US and European foreign policy towards the former Yugoslavia, and the “Kosovo question.” He organized and led “After Kosovo,” a unique community project that brought together over a hundred students from Serbia and Kosovo to participate in workshops aimed at participatory activism, grassroots education, community organizing, and inter-ethnic dialogue.
Nebojša Solunac
Aerospace Engineer and Research Pilot
NASA
USA
Biography
Nebojša Solunac is an accomplished international professional pilot with over 8300 flying hours in 24 different aircraft. Son of Serbian immigrant parents, Miodrag and Vladislava Solunac, Nebojša was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1965.
A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and former US Air Force Command Pilot; Nebojša has experience flying a variety of military, civilian, corporate, commercial, and private aircraft. Both a Federal Aviation Administration and International Civil Aviation Organization certified instrument flight procedures formulation specialist with broad experience in design and implementation of active flight practices and processes. Nebojša authored revolutionary instrument flight design and validation techniques using existing LiDAR and microcomputer technologies. A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and accredited Program Management specialist, Nebojša has extensive aviation safety, training curriculum development, quality management & assurance, and directives compliance experience. Post graduate studies completed at University of Texas at Austin and University of California at Davis, Doctoral candidate at Rice University, Texas.
Currently serves as a Research Pilot in the Aircraft Operations Division of NASA’s Flight Crew Operations Directorate at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Ana Vujanić
Public Relations Representative
SOYA - Serbian Orthodox Youth Association
Melbourne, Australia
Biography
Završila studije iz biomedicine - smer imunologije na Monaš Univerzitetu u Melburnu 2005 godine. Kao stručni saradnik radila za farmaceutsku firmu Fajzer godinu dana, nakon čega se odlučila na postdiplomske studije. Trenutno na trećoj godini doktorskih studija iz oblasti imunologije na Veterinarskom fakultetu, Univerziteta u Melburnu. Tema rada je proučavanje alternativh metoda primene vakcine protiv gripa sa akcentom na respiratorni sistem. Aktivni član i predstavnik za odnose sa javnošću Srpske Pravoslavne omladinske organizacije iz Melburna (SOYA Inc).
Ilija Perać
Secretary
SOYA - Serbian Orthodox Youth Association
Melbourne, Australia
Biography
Završio studije na tehnološkom fakultetu ’Svinburn’ u Melburnu 2008-god, diplomirajući sa duplim bačelorom u mašinstvu i menadžmentu. Praksu završio u Bošu u štutgartu i još dovršio praksu u automobilskoj industriji sa Bošom u melburnu i diplomski rad na formuli SAE (Formula SAE). Trenutno radi u Konsalting industriji.
Započeo rad sa SOJA-om 2009-g i decembra jednoglasno podržan za sekretara novo-formirane organizacije.
MBA, CFA Miloš Vuković
Vice President, Investment Policy
RBC Asset Management Inc.
Toronto, Canada
Biography
Milos is Vice President, Investment Policy, joined RBC in 2003 where he is responsible for developing investment mandates and implementing tactical asset allocation for various RBC AM products including mutual funds, pools, segregated and fund of fund products. He is also overseeing various activities directed at risk management, performance analytics and trading.
Prior to joining RBC Asset Management, Milos had gained extensive experience in the Financial services industry working with PricewaterhouseCoopers, TD Securities and Fidelity Investments.
Milos holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Schulich School of Business and earned the chartered financial analyst designation in 2004.
Aleksandar Milosavljević-Cook
Vice President
Maine Liquid Methane Fuels, LLC
Maine, USA
Biography
Mr. Milosavljevic-Cook has an extensive and varied background in project management and project finance in the United States and internationally.
Mr. Milosavljevic-Cook began his career in 1999 in international investment banking and corporate finance in Eastern Europe. From 2002-2004 he worked as an independent consultant in international finance, transport, and energy related projects. In 2006 he worked for the Olympia Companies managing a proposed $100M harborfront re-development project. In 2009 he joined Maine Liquid Methane Fuels as Vice President.
Mr. Milosavljevic-Cook graduated from Trinity College in 1998 with a BA in Economics.
