Ecommerce and Retail Summit: Restart, Reconnect, Rechain

Paul Turner

Engineering Director for Retrieval Robotics, Ocado Technology

As Engineering Director for Retrieval Robotics at Ocado Technology, Paul is responsible for the design, development, testing and commissioning of the bots, grids, storage assets and associated systems required by our highly automated warehouse systems. Previously, Paul was our Head of Automation Development, responsible for managing the delivery of projects and products for the Ocado Smart Platform.
Paul is a Chartered Engineer with a Masters of Engineering in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has dedicated his career to designing, developing and delivering complex products. Before joining Ocado in 2017, Paul spent 20 years in technical and management roles within the motor industry focused on electronics, software and electric vehicles.

Ivan Aleksandrov

Founder and CEO of the online supermarket Ebag

Ivan Alexandrov is the founder and CEO of the online supermarket Ebag. His professional path in the years before was connected with the digital agency ilyan.com, which he joined in 2008. At the moment, the team of the agency consists of four people. Several years of rapid development followed In 2014 he left the agency and left a team of over 50 people with offices in Sofia, London and Bucharest.
Together with his partners, in 2013 he created the Capt'n Social platform, which allows businesses to create their own Facebook applications.
A year later, the idea for eBag was born. In 2015, Alexandrov started working with Fantastico on his project, and in 2018 Ebag started an independent business. Today the company is a leader in Bulgaria in the field of online shopping. It is differentiated from the others in this field with fast delivery and a wide variety of local, fresh and high quality products.

Ivaylo Tonchev

Director of Marketing, Media and Advertising, framar.bg

Ivaylo Tonchev is the head of the team of the "Media, Marketing and Advertising" department of framar.bg. He has been working for the platform since 2009. Thousands of health / pharmacy information campaigns have passed through the department's team. Framar is a chain of 34 pharmacies / drugstores located in Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Burgas, Svilengrad, Gabrovo, Sliven, Galabovo. framar.bg is an online pharmacy and information site on health and healthy living. The content of the platform is useful not only for professionals in the health sector, but also for anyone interested in medicine.

Emil Wagenstein

Marketing Manager, Ozone.bg

Emil Wagenstein is the second employee hired at Ozone.bg. He has been with the company since the beginning of 2008, and despite his formal position, which has changed over the years, he remains an active participant in the construction of the website, operational processes and technological developments of the group. He is responsible for the creation and integration of the company's ERP system - an internal project, which is built entirely on the processes and needs of the Internet trader.
Since 2017, Emil has been managing the marketing of Ozone.bg. He is responsible for the overall strategy of the brand and its manifestations in the online and offline space. He also manages the other two brands of the group - Pulsar Games and PCstore.bg. He believes that marketing begins and ends with good customer service.

Ivan Valev

Emerging Markets Sales Director at Isobar

Ivan Valev is the Emerging Markets Sales Director at Isobar Switzerland, a software consultancy company focused on marketing automation, CRM, and data science. With a rich history in B2C, Isobar is perfectly positioned to consult companies on their digital transformation journey.
Prior to joining the Isobar team in Prague (Czechia), Ivan was based in Salesforce EMEA's HQ in Dublin (Ireland), where he spent 5 years in various business development and sales roles. Most recently, he was a Territory Manager looking after Salesforce clients in the Middle East.
Now with Isobar, Ivan's primary responsibility is to grow Isobar's client footprint in key Emerging Markets and beyond.
Ivan holds an MSc in Organizational Psychology from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (The Netherlands).

Georgi Serdarov

Founder and General Manager at Cintelly

Georgi Serdarov is the founder of the SaaS for customer activity and loyalty analysis, Cintelly. The software helps online retailers worldwide to periodically track their health state, detect issues and opportunities in the earliest possible stage, as well as manage their customers better.
Georgi has more than 10 years of professional experience with customer service and management, customer activity and loyalty analysis and business consulting. Georgi has a proven track record of founding and managing successful startup companies by utilizing innovative and analytical approaches.
Among his many recognitions, Georgi has won a Forbes magazine award for his previous startup as well as has been among the finalists in Kapital’s (one of the leading business media in Bulgaria) Next Generation competition. He has a Master’s degree in Statistics and Market Analysis from the University of Gent in Belgium and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Inholland University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
His mission is to help online retailers develop by concentrating on their most valuable asset, their customers. Georgi believes that customers are the reason for the existence of every business and revenue is only the end product of their good management.

Prof. Jorij Abraham

Managing Director, Ecommerce Foundation

Prof. Jorij Abraham has been part of the international e-commerce community since 1997. He was an e-commerce manager at Bijenkorf (supermarket chain), TUI (Europe's largest travel organization), an online publisher at Sanoma Media, the largest media company in the Benelux ) and Consulting Director at Unic (European e-commerce implementation and strategic planning firm). In parallel with these activities, he co-founded two companies, eVentures Europe and vZine.
From 2013 to 2017, he was Director of Research and Consulting at Thuiswinkel.org (Dutch E-Commerce Association) and Ecommerce Europe (European E-Commerce Association with 25,000+ members in 20 countries). He is currently the Managing Director of the Ecommerce Foundation, whose mission is to promote global e-commerce. He is also a professor of e-commerce at the University of Applied Sciences, TIO.

Milena Dragiyska

CEO, Lidl Bulgaria

Milena Dragiyska has been managing Lidl Bulgaria since 2007, when the chain entered the Bulgarian market. He started his career at Lidl Germany in 2002 as Regional Sales Manager for the Stuttgart and Karlsruhe regions, after which he continued his professional development at Lidl's headquarters, where he was responsible for various international projects for Lidl International. He is a member of the Management Board of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

Stefan Chorbanov

Founder, Stenik

Stefan Chorbanov is the founder of the leading e-commerce company in Bulgaria Stenik and Certified Magento 2 Solution Specialist. He has participated in the development of online stores of dozens of major Bulgarian brands, and to this day, in addition to managing Stenik, he also works on projects to keep up with new trends in online commerce.

Dimitar Dimitrov

Sales Director, Stenik

Dimitar Dimitrov is an e-commerce consultant and partner in Stenik, as well as Facebook Certified Media Buying Professional. He has advised dozens of major offline retailers and retailers on how to take their first steps in online commerce or how to improve it to be successful.

Stefan Kolarov

Operational Director of eMAG Bulgaria

Stefan Kolarov has been Operational Director of eMag.bg and FashionDays.bg since their entry and positioning on the Bulgarian market. He is responsible for the operations in Bulgaria, customer service, logistics and deliveries, organization and maintenance of services of both online trading platforms. Stefan has a master's degree in Management and Marketing from the University of National and World Economy – Sofia, and a master's degree in law. He has more than 10 years of experience in e-commerce, its entry into the Bulgarian market and the introduction of new online products and services for customers.
 

Svetlozar Dimitrov

Managing partner, Inaut Trade Ltd.

Svetlozar Dimitrov has over 10 years of experience in the field of trade and courier services. In 2012, Mr. Dimitrov established Inaut Trade Ltd. - probably the only Bulgarian company specializing in courier and fulfillment services for online stores. Today, the company operates under their new brand euShipments.com and offers its customers land courier services from and to 10 EU countries, as well as Pick, Pack & Ship service or so-called Fulfillment. They provide this service in 10 separate warehouses in Europe, and thus the number of countries to which they deliver increases to more than 20.

Vanya Manova

Mastercard manager for Bulgaria, Northern Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo

Vanya Manova is responsible for the development and implementation of Mastercard's local strategy, including maintaining the growth of card and electronic payments in both markets, introducing Mastercard innovations and technology solutions, and establishing stable partnerships with key customers, government and the public sector. After 20 years of experience in the banking sector, Vanya Manova joined the Bulgarian team of Mastercard in 2008 as a Customer Relationship Manager. In recent years, she has managed the company's representative office in Bulgaria and worked for the positioning of Mastercard as a strategic partner of business, government institutions and regulators. It also launches and supports the development of contactless payments in Bulgaria and Macedonia - an area in which Mastercard is the undisputed leader in both markets.

Elina Zheleva

Executive Director and Managing Partner at launchlabs Sofia

Elina Zheleva is an Executive Director and Managing Partner at launchlabs Sofia- an international business redesign studio with offices in Sofia, Berlin, Basel and Bangalore. Elina has worked on large-scale projects related to innovation and redesign of the customer experience with companies such as Raiffeisenbank, Telenor and Accenture. She graduated from the leading institutes of design thinking at Stanford University and is an evangelist for the introduction of the methodology in Bulgaria and the region.

Marian Kolev

Founder and CEO of Hippoland

Krassimir Tsonov

Founder and CEO of Sport Depot

Krassimir Tsonov is the founder and executive director of the Sport Depot and District sporting goods chains. He graduated from the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Institute in Sofia (MEI), was a lecturer and graduate student. After the changes in 1989 he turned to the private sector, and in 1998 he entered the business of trading in fitness equipment, which marked the beginning of the subsequent dynamic development in the segment of sporting goods, footwear and clothing.

There are 29 Sport Depot and District retail outlets in the country, and e-commerce has about a 20% share in the business. In 2019, Sport Depot opened the largest sports store in Greece.

Ruslan Leteyski

Founder and CEO of Checkout X

Ruslan Leteyski is the Founder and CEO of Checkout X. In 2017, while managing his e-commerce business, he decided to start working on E-commerce software with his first plugin Upsell X. After getting more experience, he saw the marked opportunity to innovate in checkout experiences and thus in Sept 2018, Checkout X was launched.
Checkout X is building the Ultimate Checkout Solution for e-commerce by focusing on effective Up-selling and CRO techniques. By using the power of  Magic (technology), they provide a better checkout experience for customers and a complete checkout toolkit to merchants. Their products are used by thousands of stores worldwide and they're responsible for ~€300,000,000 worth of e-commerce transactions annually.
Before Checkout X, Ruslan has worked as a product designer for multiple startups in France and Bulgaria.
Started his company alone, now he manages a team of 12 people for less than 2 years and Checkout X continues growing rapidly.


 

Simeon Simeonov

eCommerce Key Account Manager for the countries in South Eastern Europe

Simeon Simeonov joined Schneider Electric 2007 and took various positions related to marketing communications and digital customer experience in the organization. From 2012 he became Digital Marketing Manager for Middle East Countries, which later expanded to Middle East and Africa. Since 2018 Simeon took on the role of eCommerce Key Account Manager for the countries in South Eastern Europe. He graduated Public Relations in Sofia University and subsequently Marketing in UNWE.
 

Andrey Petrov

Chairman of the Board of Managers of dm Bulgaria

Andrey Petrov is Chairman of the Board of Managers of dm Bulgaria. He has been part of the company's management team since its founding in 2008. He has held various positions - Regional Expansion Manager, Head of Logistics, and is currently in charge of Expansion and Sales. Graduated in MBA & Engineering at FHTW - Berlin.

The German chain dm operates in Bulgaria with 86 stores in 28 cities across the country. Its range includes over 13 thousand products from different categories, including 27 own brands.

Armen Matevosyan

Chief Commercial Officer, TBI

Armen joined TBI Bank in 2019 after a 15 year-long C-level experience in several banks leading their respective markets. His responsibilities include the development and implementation of TBI Bank's lending products, which can be easily adapted to the new environment at the speed of challenger banks. Armen has the typical can-do attitude and boasts an impressive track record in accomplishing a wide range of complex projects in diverse realms of commercial banking.
His banking career started in 2003 at Bank Republic in Georgia. After the bank’s acquisition by Societe Generale, Armen was promoted to the Group’s Paris headquarters to help integrate SocGen’s newly acquired subsidiaries in Eastern Europe. Finally, Armen was appointed as Deputy Director in Retail and Marketing of the Group’s largest foreign subsidiary – Rosbank, Russia.
In 2009 Armen joined the team executing the turnaround of one of Georgia’s biggest banks – Liberty Bank. As a Deputy CEO in charge for Retail Banking and Channels, he helped the bank to attract more than 1.5 million active customers – in a country with roughly 4 million population.
Armen earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the European School of Management, Georgia. As winner of George Soros Foundation scholarship, he did his third year of undergraduate study at the Montana State University and later continued his graduate studies with the same university – concentrating in professional accounting.
Armen has the typical can-do attitude and boasts an impressive track record in accomplishing a wide range of complex projects in diverse realms of commercial banking. He likes to lead by example and is a participative manager. Reading books and riding a motorcycle are Armen’s favorite hobbies.

Veselin Stoyanov

Founder and CEO, Transpress

Vesselin Stoyanov is the founder and manager of one of the leading transport and logistics companies in Bulgaria - Transpress. For almost 30 years he has been responsible for the strategic development of the organization, which today has a team of over 600 employees, a fleet of over 250 cars, 11 logistics centers in Bulgaria, and thanks to its partnership with international giant Dachser operates a network of 430 locations throughout Europe. Transpress provides transportation of over one million shipments per year and a full range of transport and logistics services. It has a leading position on the pallet shipments market in Bulgaria, and under the Green Courier brand it develops courier services for businesses and people with care for the environment.
As an entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience, Veselin Stoyanov has successfully implemented projects in the transport sector as well as in construction, trade and services. He is a strong supporter of the concept of "lifelong learning" and has a deep interest in the application of leadership models of coaching practices in management.

Bob Phibbs

The Retail Doctor

Bob Phibbs, is the Retail Doctor; a speaker, author of three books and retail sales expert of choice for some of the most legendary retail brands including, LEGO, Omega, and Yamaha. With over 30 years’ experience, beginning in the trenches of luxury retail and extending to senior management positions, he has been a corporate officer, franchisor and entrepreneur.
He and his work have appeared in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He also performs business makeovers for the Los Angeles Times. He received the highest increase in sales from South Coast Plaza, the highest-grossing mall per square foot. He is one of the top retail influencers in the world.  

Ivan Stoev

Marketing Director of Prestige 96

Ivan Stoev is the Marketing Director of Prestige 96, one of the biggest Bulgarian food producers. Ivan’s passion for marketing and consumer behavior began in 2006, when he joined the team of Germanos, at that time the largest hi-tech retailer in Bulgaria. His marketing experience includes leading companies such as Bella Bulgaria and Sandoz. From 2010 to 2016 he has completed his post-graduate diplomas in Strategic Marketing from CIM, UK, and in Leadership and Management from CMI, UK. Since 2015 he has been a free-lance lecturer in Strategic Marketing at NBU.

Evgeni Yordanov

MBI, Ph.D. Candidate, Chief Digital Officer of CloudCart

Evgeni is the Chief Digital Officer and a partner in the leading e-commerce software company CloudCart. With over 15 years of professional experience, he is a keynote speaker at a number of international digital-related events. He is a certified content marketing professional by Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, currently in the process of obtaining his Ph.D. in Search Engine Optimization. Graduated with honors from his engineering Master’s degree in Business Informatics and Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunication.
Prior to joining CloudCart, Evgeni served at different senior management positions in several agencies helping customers across the US, UK and Scandinavia such as Bayer, John Deere, BNP Paribas, Jaguar, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Oriflame, FoodPanda, Efbet, MrBricolage, etc.
Evgeni is also one of the drivers developing and nurturing young entrepreneurs on the Balkans with his mentorship work with the StartUP Foundation and on events such as StartUp Weekend and Rockstart Answers.
 

Hristo Hadjichonev

CEO, A4E

Hristo Hadjichonev with over 27 years of experience in the industry is a co-founder (2016) and CEO of A4E, a Bulgarian startup with a focus on automation of solutions and processes in the financial, insurance, trade, including fast moving consumer goods and wholesalers, telecoms and others. Spending his earlier days as a freelancer, in 1994 he co-founded Taurus, a company created to develop business software for Apple. In 1999 it moved to the start-up Rila Solutions, at which time it was the first foreign investment in the IT sector in Bulgaria and for many years the most successful software development in the country. In the meantime, he is completing a master's degree in analytical modeling of economic systems, building his interest in solutions based on AI and ML. As a senior developer and architect, he supplies several products in this field. It was at this time that he began his development in project management. In 2006, he joined HP as program manager at HP Global Delivery, managing some silver and gold deals for customers such as Anglo American and KONE. For a short time in 2007 his passion for AI and ML led him to the company Experian DA, which at that time began the development of its division in Bulgaria. As a development manager, he built a team of up to 100 software professionals delivering products with annual revenues of $ 80 million for mathematical modeling for decision making and risk management, financial performance development, fraud prevention, debt collection and customer management. In 2013, he took on the challenge of creating and managing a global team of 20+ business analysts responsible for setting the roadmap for Experian DA's entire software portfolio with annual revenues of $ 300 million. In 2015, he was invited to join the Experian DA senior management team as Project and Operations Director.

Valentin Borisov

Managing partner of Progressive Flow Bulgaria

Valentin Borisov is a managing partner of Progressive Flow Bulgaria - part of the Progressive Flow strategic business consulting group with headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel. Progressive Flow works with leading organizations around the world. Experience, knowledge, scale and scope of the group create conditions for solving the core challenges of the organizations and for achieving results considered impossible.
The basis of Progressive Flow's work is Theory of Constraints (TOC).
TOC is a holistic management philosophy based on the understanding that the results of any system are governed by only a few elements - system constraints. Finding and managing constraints accordingly leads to rapid improvement, stability and harmony throughout the system. There are specific solutions in TOC, for management and improvement of: Production operations, trade, supply chain, project management, marketing and sales, accounting, business strategy.
 

Tihomira Traykova

Head of Digital, Argent

Tihomira graduated in anthropology, but her great interest in the media took her in Y2013 to the sales department of Nova TV. Three years later, she made a turn in her professional development and moved from the air to the digital space, becoming part of Netinfo Performance team.
Since 2017, Tihomira has been part of the Argent team, taking on the difficult task to develop their portfolio of clients. In Y2019, she is at All Digital, the digital agency in Argent's communications group.

Svetoslav Dabov

Head of TV department, Argent

In 2004 Svetoslav graduated with bachelor and master degrees in Marketing from the University of National and World Economy.
His career started during his university years when he started worked as a digital expert in the first digital agency in Bulgaria - Publicis Modem Cybermark.
In 2006 he joined Argent media agency team and so far he has successfully developed agency's products and services. For the last 3 years Svetoslav is Head of TV department.
 

Mihail Dimitrov

Business Development Manager at OLX Group

Mihail Dimitrov is a Business Development Manager at OLX Group, responsible for the markets in Bulgaria, Romania and Portugal.
Mihail has been part of the company for almost a year, being responsible for some key projects in the development of OLX: the expansion of delivery partners, as well as the creation of a special business panel focused on the needs of online stores (business.olx.bg).
Prior to joining OLX, Mikhail worked for Nova Brokasting Group, part of the Swedish Modern Times Group, where he was responsible for the business development of the company's digital projects.