Annual Business Forum Industry 4.0 2019

Tomislav Donchev

Deputy Prime Minister

Tomislav Donchev was born on August 6, 1973 in Gabrovo.
Donchev holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the Veliko Tarnovo Univesity St. Cyril and St. Methodius with a second major in Journalism. In 2006 he received a second Master's degree in Business Administration from the same university. In 1998 Tomislav Donchev completed a training course in Political Science at the International Summer School of Political Science and International Relations in Poland. In 2001 he completed a training course in Support of High-Tech Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Research and Development Start-Ups at the Institute in Negev, Israel. In 2005 Donchev completed a course in Business Mentoring at the Academy of Business Mentoring in Oxford, UK.
From 1995 to 2000 Donchev worked as a volunteer, member of the management and staff of various NGOs in the field of Education and Science and was also contributor to a sociological research agency.
From 1997 to 1999 he worked as a teacher at St. Cyril and St. Methodius High School of Humanities in the town of Veliko Tarnovo, where he taught psychology, logic, ethics, and philosophy.
From 1999 to 2000 Donchev worked as editor at Radio Gabrovo.
From 2000 to 2004 he was Executive Director of the High-Technology Business Incubator -Gabrovo, and from 2004 to 2007 - a program director at the Open Society Institute.
In 2007 he was elected mayor of Gabrovo. The main priority in his work as mayor was to attract external funding and develop quality project proposals, through which Gabrovo Municipality became one of the most successful beneficiaries in Bulgaria in terms of management of EU-funded projects in all areas of social and economic life. 21 proposals were prepared in only 2 years. Of those, 19 received funding.
In March 2010 Donchev became Minister for Management of EU Funds in the government of Boyko Borissov.
From May 2013 to May 2014 Donchev served as MP from GERB in the 42nd National Assembly.
From May to November 2014 he was Member of the European Parliament from the EPP Group. He was elected Deputy Prime Minister for European Funds and Economic Policies on November 7, 2014, by the 43rd National Assembly.
From November 2014 to January 2016 he was a Deputy Prime Minister of EU funds in the second government of Boyko Borissov.

Vladislav Goranov

Minister of Finance

He finished Geo Milev High School of Mathematics in Pleven. In the period 1994 - 1999 he studied at D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics in Svishtov in the specialty of economics and has a Master's degree in accounting and control.
From 1998 to 2001 he was a Specialist at Extra-budgetary Accounts and Funds Division; an Expert and Director of Financial Policy Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Agrarian Reform. In 2001 he took the position of Chief expert at Financing of State Bodies, Programs and Insurance Funds Directorate of the Ministry of Finance. From 2001 to 2009 he was Head of Social Expenditures Division of the Ministry of Finance, Public Finance Management.  From August 2009 to April 2013 he took the position of Deputy Minister of Finance. He was a member of the 42nd National Assembly which he left at his own will in February 2014. After that Mr. Goranov was appointed as Executive Director and Member of the Management Board of Municipal Bank Plc.
November 2014 - January 2017 - Minister of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria. After a short break, resumes holding the position of Minister of Finance in May 2017.

Rosen Plevneliev

President of Bulgaria (2012 - 2017), Member of the Board of Directors, AUTOMOTIVE CLUSTER BULGARIA

Ivan Totev

Mayor of Plovdiv

Eng. Ivan Totev holds a Master's degree of Engineering with Diploma from Technical University Sofia, speciality Computer Systems and Technologies. Also in May 2010 he graduated from the Faculty of Law at Plovdiv University "Paisiy Hilendarski", speciality Public Administration, Master's degree. He received excellent mark for his Thesis on "Regional policies of the European Union on security and stability. The Black Sea Synergy – the new EU initiative in the Black Sea region". Ivan Totev started his career in 1997 as a graphic designer in a Publishing House. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as Project Manager in a software company. From 2004 to 2007 he was a Technical Director in a hotel complex. In November 2007 he became mayor of District "East" at Plovdiv Municipality. From August 2009 to October 2011 he was the Governor of Plovdiv Region. In October 2011 he was elected Mayor of Plovdiv as a candidate from PP GERB. Four years later he was re-elected for a second mandate.

Andras Kadocsa

Partner, MCKINSEY & COMPANY

András Kadocsa is a Partner, co-leader of McKinsey Digital Manufacturing, McKinsey’s global initiative on Industry 4.0. Since joining the Firm in May 2007, he has served automotive OEMs and suppliers, industry and energy clients. He focuses on Industry 4.0 / digital manufacturing transformation, operational performance improvement, product and production design and long term strategy planning

Prof. Dr. Sama Mbang

Head of Digitalization & Simulation of Manufacturing Load Cases, DAIMLER

Prof. Dr.-Ing Mbang is Head of Digitalization & Simulation of Manufacturing Load Cases in the TecFactory of Mercedes-Benz Cars Operations (Daimler AG). He is high-level expert in digital transformation and digitalization technologies, covering topics such as AI, Big Data, IoT, VR/AR, etc. and their applications for example in autonomous systems, industry 4.0, MES, Digital/Virtual Engineering & Manufacturing, etc. He is coordinator of the Horizont2020 EU funded project ALLIANCE (Affordable Lightweight Automotive Alliance), with the support of EUCAR (European Car Automotive R&D). He has studied Mechanical Engineering, deepened in Technical Informatics, Multi Body Systems and Neural Networks and got his PhD in modeling intelligent and integrated process chains. He is lecturer at the Technical Institute Sofia (Bulgaria) and at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany). He is an executive Coach in the area of transformational Leadership and agile organization covering architecture, governance, people development and agile mindset & methods In is "free" time, he is promoting a "Digital-Transformation Alliance", to accelerate the adoption and mastering of digital transformation and engineering for a sustainable inclusive digital economy.

Jair Ribeiro

Senior Artificial Intelligence Business Strategist, VOLVO GROUP

Jair Ribeiro has several years of experience in high technologic environments in Europe, where he has been leading teams and projects in companies like Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and IBM. He is currently leading, inspiring and helping the Volvo Group to innovate through the power of Artificial Intelligence, with a broad technical background and relevant experience in Business Analysis, Solution Design, Management, and Consulting. Performing his role of AI Evangelist, Jair has been a very active speaker, present in several international Conferences and Summits, always engaged in popularizing not only Information Technology but also Leadership, Multiculturalism, and Career Management skills.

Sarper Arslan

Senior Head of Corporate Services, HUGO BOSS IZMIR

Sarper Arslan graduated from Ege University Textile Engineering Faculty in 1996. Arslan was one of the team members who had taken a role in Hugo Boss İzmir’s foundation in 1999. At his 23 years of business life, he has been the leader of several departments like Engineering, Quality Systems, Organization Development and Production management. Arslan had been the director of the HUGO BOSS PLANT for seven years, and now for three years, Arslan is the Senior Head of Corporate Services. Arslan had taken the responsibility of managing several transformation projects like reorganization development, new manufacturing lines establishment, technology development, new plant construction. Also, he coordinated the lean manufacturing technics and 6 sigma projects. As a Senior Head of Corporate Services Arslan is also responsible for Technical Product Design, Product Development, Maintenance & Energy, Corporate Projects, Technology Laboratory departments. Currently, Arslan is the leader in Digital Transformation, Robotic and automation systems according to the HUGO BOSS IZMIR 2020 "Smart Factory" strategy.

Roberto Migliorini

Associate Partner, MCKINSEY & COMPANY

Stefan Stoyanov

Deputy Mayor of Plovdiv

Remi Borel

Managing Director, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC BULGARIA, Plovdiv Plant

Current Managing Director of Schneider Electric Bulgaria, Plovdiv Plant. Coming from Supply Chain and Lean field. Over the years, Remi had held several positions as Consultant, Transformation Project Leader and Operations manager. Passionate about #Emotion Management# and #People Development#. For the past two years leading as well #Industrial Excellence Academy by Schneider Electric# in Bulgaria

Martin Danovsky

Economic Policy Advisor in the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime-Minister Tomislav Donchev

Tanya Karageorgieva

Head of Financing І Real Estate, Project & Structured Finance, UniCredit Bulbank

Tanya Karageorgieva is Head of Financing at UniCredit Bulbank, Bulgaria, responsible for Real Estate, Project and Structured Finance. Before that she was heading the M&A advisory business for UniCredit Bulbank and Deloitte BG with over 18 years in the area of investment banking, including mergers and acquisitions, capital markets origination. Tanya has graduated the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) and is a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA), founding member of the CFA chapter in Bulgaria.

Antonia Mavrova

Regional Head of Automotive and Industrial Sector, KINSTELLAR

Antonia Mavrova is the Regional Head of the Automotive and Industrial Sector at Kinstellar and Partner at Kinstellar international law firm. She has more than eighteen years of experience as a legal adviser with a particular focus on the automotive and real estate sector. Antonia has represented automotive and industrial corporations and automotive suppliers on their market entry and establishment of their operations in Bulgaria. Her special expertise encompasses structuring of investments, acquisition and disposal of large portfolios of commercial properties (production facilities, office buildings, commercial centres and hotels), leasing and property management arrangements. Her clients include Old Mutual Properties (the acquisitions of the office buildings Polygraphia Office Centre and Megapark), Marriott, Meridiam, Global Trade Centre, Garitage Investment Management. Antonia represented Kinstellar at the largest CEE industry event in the automotive sector in 2018 – "CEE Automotive Forum", covering 15 countries and bringing together all the leading players in the CEE automotive industry, including OEMs, T1 and T2 suppliers. She also took part as a key note speaker in the first automotive event in Sofia, organised in cooperation with AUTOMECHANIKA, the largest international forum in the automotive industry.

Filip Genov

CEO of F27 and Co-founder of Sophia Lab

Filip Genov is a Member of the Advisory Board of the FinTech Summit.
Mr. Genov is a senior banker with 20+ years of executive experience in Bulgaria and numerous other markets, where he initiated and created a wide array of innovations, new business lines, products and companies in the financial services area. His main areas of expertise are strategy, innovations, business development, change and risk management. In 2013 he became the first Eastern European manager to be elected to the Executive Committee of the Factors Chain International, being responsible for the R&D and innovations. In 2003-2006 and in 2012-2014 Filip has been launching and implementing various business development projects and initiatives for UniCredit Group throughout Italy, Germany and the countries of the Central and Eastern Europe. Filip is also an avid supporter, business angel, mentor and investor in startups of young entrepreneurs. He holds an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and the London School of Economics and an UniCredit Executive master from SDA Bocconi.

Florian Anderhuber

Manager External Affairs, Aurubis AG

Florian Anderhuber is a Manager External Affairs at Aurubis AG, the largest European copper producer. Mr. Anderhuber is based in Brussels and is responsible for advocacy in the fields of supply chain transparency, trade issues, financial markets regulation. Before joining the Group, he was EU regulatory compliance consultant at Bearingpoint, Frankfurt and Policy Analyst at the European Parliament, Brussels for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Mr. Anderhuber started his career as a Researcher for China Energy Fund Committee in Shanghai. He is Master in International Politics from the Fudan University, Shanghai and Master of European Affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Yavor Nikolov

General Manager, Sensata Technologies Plovdiv

Radoslav Gaydarski

Chief Customer Success Officer, ScaleFocus

Georgi Stoeff

Chairman of the Board, Trakia Tech

Georgi Stoeff is a co-founder of Industry Watch, a strategic consultant of Trakia Economic Zone and a co-creator of the educational program Entrepreneur as a discoverer. He graduated from the University of Leuven, Belgium, and began his professional career in the Institute for Market Economics. Georgi Stoeff is part of the circle of Bulgarian economist, who have been strongly defending tax cuts, pro-market reforms and minimal state intervention in the economy.

Iravan Hira

Managing Director, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Operated by Selectium

Iravan Hira is Managing Director, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Operated by Selectium. Under the leadership of Iravan Hira Hewlett Packard Bulgaria has been positioned among the top leaders in the IT sector in the country and achieves significant business results which took the Bulgarian branch of the company to the leading position in Central and Eastern Europe. Hewlett Packard Global Delivery Bulgaria Center is among the largest employers in the ICT industry in the country with more than 6000 highly qualified employees and export of services worth of BGN 260 million in 2014. Iravan has worked in Hewlett Packard Bulgaria since the establishment of the company in the country in 1998 and has held various sales and management positions. For high professional successes was honored twice with membership in the "Achievers Club" of global Hewlett Packard Company. Among the priorities of Iravan Hira are strengthening the hi-tech industry in Bulgaria, the introduction of innovations for sustainable economic growth, development and promotion of corporate social responsibility as an important public function of companies and encouragement of entrepreneurship in IT in the country. Because of its active work in these areas Iravan Hira was elected as Chairman of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum in 2013. He is also member of the Board of Directors of American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham), Junior Achievement Bulgaria, the Consultative Business Committee of University of Finance, Business and Entrepreneurship (VUZF) and the Expert Committee of Sofia University etc. Iravan Hira holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the Technical University in Sofia. He has special expertise in the field of new business development, sales management and corporate transformation. Married, with two children

Ivan Mihaylov

Director Sofia Technical Center, Visteon Bulgaria

Hristo Gilishtarov

CEO of FANUC Bulgaria

Vladislav Dimitrov

Director of the Network Architecture, Planning and Construction Directorate, Vivacom

Dimitar Tomov

Founder of DesignFirst