Annual Business Forum Industry 4.0 2020

Lilyana Pavlova

Vice-President of the EIB

Lilyana Pavlova is Vice-President and Member of the Management Committee of the European Investment Bank (EIB). She is the first Bulgarian national to join the EU bank's Management Committee. Mrs Pavlova was appointed by the EIB’s Board of Governors at the proposal of the Finance Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria and with the agreement of the constituency of EIB shareholders composed of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. She succeeds Mr Vazil Hudák, whose mandate as Vice-President of the EIB terminated at the end of October 2019. Prior to her appointment, Lilyana Pavlova  held various public functions in Bulgaria, both in government and parliament. She has been Member of the Bulgarian Government since 2009, starting as a Deputy Minister and then twice as Minister of Regional Development and Public Works (2011-2013 and 2014-2017), the first woman to hold this function in Bulgaria. From May 2017 to December 2018, she was Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2018, the first time that the country held the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU. As such, she was responsible for the preparatory phase and the running of the Bulgarian Presidency, establishing the national programme and priorities, policy coordination, as well as relations with EU institutions. She was a Member of Parliament in 2013 and most recently, since January 2019, where she was a Member of the Parliamentary Permanent Committee on EU Affairs and Control of EU Funds and the Committee on Legal Affairs. Lilyana Pavlova is a Doctor of Economics and holds a Master of Public Administration and European Integration and a Bachelor in International Economic Relations.

Zdravko Dimitrov

Mayor, Plovdiv Municipality

Stefan Stoyanov

Deputy Mayor of Plovdiv

Deputy Mayor of Plovdiv for a second term since November 2011. During his second term he is responsible for education, business development and European projects. Actively participates in the development and establishment of the Thrace Economic Zone as a leading place for international investment. Since 2012 he has been working on the establishment of a business development department in the Municipality of Plovdiv, which works actively to attract and support investors in the region. For 7 years the department has been directly involved in the creation of over 5,000 new jobs and in attracting dozens of investments in Plovdiv and the region. With his team he develops a comprehensive concept for promoting the city as an investment destination and attracting strategic investors.
He actively participates in several innovative educational reforms, such as the creation of an Educational-Industrial Board, aimed at introducing business in vocational education and starting dual training, early career guidance and others.
He carried out a number of educational reforms such as the introduction of Montessori pedagogy in public kindergartens and schools, the introduction of cloud platforms in education through G suite and Windows 365 in schools, a program for innovative schools, programs for developing dual education in vocational schools and others.
At the end of 2016, he was awarded as one of the 100 innovators for Central and Eastern Europe in the prestigious ranking of Google, Visegrad Fund and Financial Times for his work on a number of reforms in public education.

Maria Topchiyska

Plant Manager at Schneider Electric

Successful professional who has worked for manufacturing companies in various sectors. A head of the process of turning the Schneider Electric Factory in Plovdiv into a smart factory. Currently responsible for the long-term vision and development of Schneider Smart Factory and the constant improvement of the management and maintenance systems of the company. Previous experience in large multinational companies and an expertise in:
• Improving the production processes and operations.
• Training people in different production methods and techniques
Specialties:
• Lean manufacturing
• Performance improvement
• Project management

Georgi Petkov

General Manager at BTL Industries

Experienced Executive Director with a demonstrated history of working in the medical device industry. Skilled in Management, People development, Process management, Reingeneering, Budgeting, Business Planning and Customer Service. Strong business development professional with a Master’s Degree focused in Industrial Management.

Dobromir Vasilev

Director Client Engagement at F27

Dobromir Vasilev is Director Client Engagement at F27 AD. Since January 2015 for 5 years has been Senior consultant at Business Transformation Services at Infosys. The Business Transformation Services practice at Infosys essentially focuses on driving process transformation through various in-house and external established approaches such as Business Value Realization, Process harmonization, Six Sigma/Lean, etc. This group also advises Clients on their Shared Services vision and provides comprehensive services right from design of future state model, location analysis, process evaluation, retained organization design and implementation of the Shared Services organization. Additionally, this group focuses on driving Innovation and Transformation for existing & new Clients. He was SSC Project Manager at Stenley Black & Decker, also AP Account at Accenture and Structural Fund Consultant at Foundation Euro-Most.

Kiril Traykov

Director Risk Advisory at Deloitte

Kiril Traikov manages risk management services at Deloitte Bulgaria, including cyber security services, internal audit and strategic risks and sustainability. He is a professional in the field of information technology with 20 years of experience in information systems auditing, information security, risk management and corporate governance and significant experience in information systems development, internal and external audit.

He previously led digital innovation initiatives for Coca-Cola HBC and was the company's IT audit director. Master of Macroeconomics and Bachelor of Computer Science. He owns CISA, CISM, CISSP, ITIL 4, CSM, member of ISACA Sofia Chapter and the Institute of Internal Auditors in Bulgaria.
 

Halil Demirdağ

Smart Energy Chairman of the Board

Halil Demirdag has a proven executive experience in the solar energy sector since 2009 with international projects.
Smart Energy which was founded in 2009 in Bulgaria by Halil Demirdag; operates in the solar energy sector with investor and engineering service provider identities. Having signed many local and global projects, Smart Energy has become one of the leading company which has completed the vertical integration by starting high quality solar panel production in a short time.
Demirdag, the Chairman of Smart Energy and GENSED (Solar Industrialists and Industry Association), acts as a bridge between public and private sectors and undertakes the mission of making solar energy an important place in the world.
With his Bogazici University - Industrial Engineering identity, business personality of Halil Demirdag can be described as; achieving the best results by continuous optimization, self-motivated and result oriented person with strong communication and management skills.

Hristo Gilishtarov

Manager of FANUC Bulgaria

Hristo Gilishtarov is responsible for the regional business development of FANUC Bulgaria EOOD, including Greece, Cyprus, North Macedonia and Albania, with headquarters in Bulgaria. FANUC, as one of the main manufacturers of industrial robots, is focused on the development and support of industrial robotics and automation in various industries worldwide.
The main priority for Hristo is to increase the population of industrial robots by combining and adapting different business models in accordance with the technical requirements of the specific industry and region.
He graduated from the Technical University of Sofia, holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from the City University of Seattle, and a postgraduate degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Alexander Kaschiev

Commercial Director, Rital

Alexander Kaschiev has been Rital's sales director for 10 years, and before that he was Product Manager at the same company for 3 years. He graduated from the Technical University of Sofia.

Georgi Stoev

Macroeconomist and chairman of Trakia Tech

Georgi Stoev is a Macroeconomist and Chairman of Trakia Tech - a platform for digital transformation of finance and industry. Creator of the series of regional profiles "Investment destination". Initiator of the Educational-Industrial Board and of the program "The Entrepreneur as a Discoverer".

Alisa Rupenya

Senior researcher at the Automatic Control Lab, Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich

Dr. Alisa Rupenian is a Senior Researcher at the Automatic Control Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and Chief Executive Officer of the Advanced Control and IoT Group at Inspire AG, a technology transfer company between ETH and the private sector in Switzerland. In these roles, Dr. Rupenyan leads research projects concerning methods for industrial control and optimization of production processes through the implementation of machine learning and robotics-based methods.

Damyan Petrov

Manager, Prolift

Ognyan Georgiev

Редактор, вестник Капитал

Long-time editor of the economic section in "Capital", ex-head of "Capital Cities". He is back in Sofia from a year in Boston, where he spent some time in MIT as a Fulbright Research Fellow in the field of Urban studies and planning.

Dr. Eng. Rumen Kostov

Casting and Extrusion Plant Director, Alcomet AD

Dr. Eng. Rumen Kostov is Casting and Extrusion Plant Director at Alcomet AD. Under his supervision are also Investment projects management, Maintenance, QA, Administration and R&D.
He has graduated in 1993 from Sofia Technical University with Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering - MSE. In 1998 he hold a Master of Business Administration degree in the University of Nice "Sophia Antipolice" in France and in 2012 he has graduated from Varna Free University and has PhD degree in area of Business study and Management. In February 2018 he has  published his first book "Practical aspects of Business Management".
Alcomet AD is the largest Bulgarian manufacturer of rolled and extruded aluminium products.

Ekaterina Karpouzova

Managing Director and Country Commercial Lead Pharmaceuticals Bulgaria

Ekaterina Karpouzova assumes a position of Country Commercial Lead Pharmaceuticals Bulgaria since September 2016 and acts as Managing Director since August 2019. She started with Bayer in 2007 as a Project manager and marketeer. Later on, a three-year period at the Global Pharmaceutical Headquarters in Berlin, Germany follows where Ekaterina is part of the Business Operations team for Central and Eastern Europe.  Before coming back to Sofia she spends two years in Bratislava, Slovakia as Chief Operating Officer for Bayer, spol. s.r.o. since Sept 2020 is at the board of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce.
Ekaterina Karpouzova has a master degree in macroeconomics from the University of Augsburg, Germany and a marketing MBA from City University of Seattle.

Martin Danovski

Chairman, State Agency for Research and Innovation

Yavor Nikolov

General Manager, Sensata Technologies Plovdiv

Yavor Nikolov is an international manager specialized in managing large-scale manufacturing
operations, R&D and new product introductions in the automotive, healthcare and electrical
components industry. He worked for 9 years at Siemens in Munich, Monterrey and Shanghai,
before moving to Bulgaria to head Sensata Technologies’ operation in Plovdiv in 2019.
Yavor is passionate about making manufacturing in emerging countries a more collaborative,
engaging and enriching environment, thus driving competitiveness and long-term value creation.
Having grown up in Bulgaria and completed his education in Germany and the United States,
Yavor recognizes the crucial role international experience has played in his personal and
professional growth. As member of the NGO Tuk-Tam, he is helping other Bulgarians study
abroad and later contribute to the development of their home country, wherever they are.

Vasil Takev

Head of Drive and Robotics and Discrete Automation at ABB Bulgaria

Vasil Takev is a professional with over 20 years of proven experience in sales of products and services in the fields of power supply and electrical equipment, drives and robotics. His extensive experience in automation and optimization of industrial processes and the strategic strengthening of the company's market presence prove his contribution to the development of the industry and his desire for a safe, intelligent and sustainable future.

Dimitar Nikolov

Mayor, Burgas Municipality

Dimitar Nikolov has been the mayor of Burgas since 2007. In 2006 is a manager of "KBS" Ltd. - Burgas. In the period 1998-2006 he was the executive director of Pobeda AD. He graduated from the Higher University of Economics and Economics - Moscow, has a professional diploma in management and a professional certificate in management - Open University and NBU.
Master of Financial Management - Svishtov Academy of Arts.

Tanya Hristova

Mayor, Gabrovo municipality

Since November 2011 to present she has been the mayor of Gabrovo municipality.
10 years of experience in preparation and management of projects with external financing in the field of regional development - social, tourist, educational and cultural infrastructure, tourism, healthcare, youth activities - pre-accession instruments and European funds
Experience in conducting international negotiations and key participation in the processes related to setting priorities in the context of the European Cohesion Policy for the next programming period 2014-2020.
In-depth knowledge in the field of European and Bulgarian legislation related to the preparation and management of projects under the Operational Programs 2007-2013. / Decrees of the Council of Ministers, Regulations, etc./, conducting public procurement and managing contracts, including the contractual terms of FIDIC
Participation in the development of a number of information and methodological materials in the fields of preparation and management of projects with external financing
Lecturer in numerous seminars and trainings