Hans Klemm has been US ambassador to Romania since September 2015. Previously, he served as acting director general of the Department of State; the Senior US Official to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum; coordinator of all U.S. civilian and military rule of law programs in Afghanistan; and as the US ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.

As a coach and consultant, Gordon supports visionary leaders in transforming their organizations and in producing breakthroughs in individual, team and organizational performance. He is bringing in additional resources in what they want to accomplish, drawing upon their cadre of outstanding senior consulting colleagues, whose approach is harmonious with his own and whose ability to perform is second to none. He is the founder of Starr Consulting Group, partner of The London Perret Roche Group (consulting firm specializing in organizational transformation) and senior executive of ComputerLand Corporation.

At the age of 33, Anubhav “AJ” Jain – a serial entrepreneur who ‘cut his teeth’ in Australia – has achieved an enviable level of success steering companies in a range of markets, including computer hardware, mobile apps, medtech and health products. Jain’s latest venture is GoDoctor, an online network he co-founded with his friends Rahul Shokeen and Nalin Ahuja in April 2015. Headquartered in Singapore, with offices in the UAE, India, and the US, the company is – in Jain’s words – “like LinkedIn and Facebook but exclusively for collaboration and knowledge sharing in the global medical community

Mark is a strategist, author, and entrepreneur. His work combines collective intelligence with AI, networks, complex systems, behavioral science and neuroscience. He works at the intersection of business, technology and society in areas including innovation, blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Mark is the CEO and founder of Vork, a business social networking app. He also founded Orcasci, a consulting firm designing scaling strategies with recent clients including the Varkey Foundation’s Global Teacher Prize. Previously Mark co-founded Imaginatik plc, a pioneer in crowdsourcing and collaborative problem solving for innovation.

Kirk A. Sigmon is an intellectual property lawyer at Banner & Witcoff, Ltd., a leading intellectual property law firm in the United States. Kirk has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in multimillion-dollar patent and trademark infringement lawsuits, has counseled Fortune 500 companies on intellectual property portfolio management and enforcement, and has worked on patent applications involving everything from video games to sensors used on the Mars rover.

Veronica Brejan is Executive Coach and Co-Founder at Fly Through Life®, a consulting company based in Paris operating across Europe, specialized in developing transformational leadership programs. Before co-founding Fly Through Life®, Veronica held top HR positions in London, Paris and Eastern Europe: Chief People Officer Europe (Pizza Hut, Yum! Brands), Global Head of Talent (Vodafone) and Senior Manager Talent, Capability & Culture (Vodafone), and internal HR advisor roles in KPMG, Cargill and Alstom. Her areas of expertise are: executive coaching, leadership development, talent management and organizational culture.

Arnaud Complainville is Research and Strategy Director, and co-founder at Fly Through Life®, a consulting company based in Paris, operating across Europe, specialized in developing transformational leadership programs.He has both a scientific background, with a master from Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon and a PhD in biology, and a business background, with an MBA from HEC Paris. Before co-founding Fly Through Life®, Arnaud worked as a strategy consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, and held several Senior Executive positions in the pharmaceutical sector, in strategy and Business Development (Cephalon, LFB, Therabel).

Ahmed worked for Orange telecom for 5 years in his early experience in the field of customer interface and business planning and transformation. He finished his MBA with excellent grade at 2009, having his own experience in consultation services of multinational organizations. His area of expertise are strategic planning, project management, performance management, ISO standards, and customer experience. Designed a successful management system awarded ISO9001:2008 from TUV Germany. He was judge member at Demo Africa Innovation Tour in conjunction with TIEC Incubation programs and active member of Hive Global Leaders Program.

Radu Georgescu is Founding Partner at Gecad Ventures. With over 20 years’ experience in creating and building companies, his primary focus is on Software, Internet, eCommerce. Some of the most successful exits that Radu Georgescu was part of include acquisition of Vector Watch by Fitbit in 2016, Avangate by Francisco Partners in 2013, ePayment by Naspers in 2010 and RAV antivirus by Microsoft in 2003. He is also Board Director and Adviser to a number of technology companies.

Ionut Georgescu is a waste expert with more than 20 years’ experience in entrepreneurship and 15 years in Waste Management, established in California in 2017. He started his activities in waste management and environmental protection in NGOs, the wish to change the system into a better one for the future, made him accept the job offered by the Romanian Environmental Minitry. His vision and technical knowledge lead him to become one of the most proficient businessman in the environmental field.

Co-founder of Entrepreneurs' Organization Chapter (EO) in Romania at the beginning of 2016. The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) - for entrepreneurs only - is a dynamic, global network of more than12,000 business owners in 40 countries. Founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs, EO is the catalyst that enables entrepreneurs to learn and grow from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life (www.eonetwork.org). Founder of Intelligence, a Romanian IT company with a 60+ dedicated engineers that designs, builds and delivers best-in-class advanced analytics, business intelligence and digital experiences to help organizations achieve sustainable impact www.intelactsoft.com

Dan is a highly experienced senior executive with an excellent track record as CEO in IT&C, with multiple M&A missions, various Non-Exec Board and Advisory roles. Dan has been part of the executive board / Leadership Team of Microsoft Romania, after running the DX Team responsible for Start-ups and ISVs. After 12 years as CEO of GTS in Romania, Bulgaria & Moldova, of kpnQwest Romania, and 1 year as M&A and Business Development Director of UPC / LGI, Dan migrated from corporate world to Adviser, Board Director and/or Investor roles, in a number of tech start-ups. Dan is a well-known investor in a number of High Tech Start-ups, having a deep and broad understanding of High Tech and its trends, with extensive experience in Deal origination, M&A transactions, business turnaround and ventures acceleration.

Sergiu is a Business Growth Consultant and Associated Dean with Maastricht School of Management in Romania. He coaches and mentors entrepreneurs. Sergiu is an active Business Angel, with participations in a number of high growth local companies (frufru, Softelligence, 2parale, Hart, Intermedicas). Previously, Sergiu has been the Executive Director and Board Member of PE-owned REGINA MARIA in Romania, where he coordinated a growing healthcare business (12x in 6 years) and an expanding team of professionals, including acquisitions of smaller players. Before returning to Romania, Sergiu has worked for Amgen Inc, in Austria and Switzerland, playing an active role in the company’s expansion to CEE countries.

Claudiu Vrinceanu, co-founder of VP Connections, is a communication and investment consultant with a backround in media and business. He acts as a PR, Public Affairs and investment specialist for Romanian entrepreneurs and foreign companies. Claudiu graduated in Economics at ASE Bucharest and Political Sciences at SNSPA University. He studied a professional EMBA at Maastricht School of Management. As a deputy minister of Ministry of Economy, he managed Invest Romania, the foreign investment promotion agency, part of the Government of Romania, and also he was in charge with SME’s and Tourism programs and public policies. Claudiu Vrinceanu managed Wall-Street.ro, a business magazine focused on entrepreneurship, and organized many business events for entrepreneurs and investors.

Andreea Raicu, founder and CEO of andreearaicu.ro, is a Romanian TV personality with over 20 years of professional experience. Since 2010, she developed her activities as healthy living promoter. Public speaker and author, she performed at various TEDx talks. As certified holistic counselor and mind & body coach, she runs meditation & mindfulness workshops in a corporate environment.

Emanuele is an expert in the fields of collective intelligence, business modeling and social impact. He has pioneered application of open strategies and collaborative business planning, combining online crowdsourcing tools with tailored design thinking frameworks for the innovation programs of universities, accelerators networks and corporations in 4 continents.

Co-founder & CEO at Appticles.com - a multi-channel mobile publishing platform that helps digital publishers of all sizes (professional bloggers, newspapers or magazines) to better reach and engage their mobile users.

Daniel has a passion for electronics and a PhD in IoT and WSN for health-care. He is Lecturer in the Computer Science Department, University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, specialized on hardware design and wearable devices, and the coordinator of CISL Applied Electronics and Hardware design Laboratory. Daniel is also one of the first wizards of Innovation Labs and current program manager for the largest pre-accelerator program in Romania. In 2015 Daniel was part of Forbes' 30under30, while in 2016 Daniel mentored team ENTy - the winner of the Microsoft Imagine Cup Seattle '16 international competition.

Entrepreneur focused on building software solution in travel, automotive, GPS, Navigation and Mobile with extensive experience in outsourcing for automotive, travel and hospitality industry.

As co-founder of BOGDAN & VAN BROECK, Oana Bogdan has been questioning the traditional role of the architect, advocating new ways of looking at how to organise the spatial presence of mankind. Next to that, she is member of the Unesco Experts Committee for the City of Bruges and a regular jury member for awards and architecture competitions. Oana has been guest tutor at various architecture programs at the University of Leuven, member of the Advisory Committee for Architecture and Design of the Flemish Government and of the Royal Committee for Monuments and Landscapes of the Flemish Region. She won Europan 7 in 2004 and the Bucharest Architecture Bienale in 2010, and has been twice nominated for the Mies Van der Rohe Award.

Diana Popp is a Co-founder & Vice President of Smart Everything Everywhere (SEE); she was a Counselor – Chancellery of the Prime-Minister of Romania. She worked with EU Commission’s Directorate General Communication Networks, Content and Technology in Brussels on innovation hubs and technology’s impact on democracy. She also worked with Junior Achievement Romania where she was in charge with the entrepreneurship learning by doing programs and publications.

She’s young and courageous and she’s building a career in product management. after 3 years in a corporate environment she decided that entrepreneurship fits her better. she start making ideas happen, tackling the social area and evolving towards the edgy tech startup scene. An educational AI conversational robot called Woogie is the most recent project, the one that moved her life almost 1 year to London to attend an international IoT accelerator. she came back with a failed crowdfunding campaign, yet no regrets and tons of learning.

Paula Rusu has dedicated her life to activism and to raising public awareness about how the Romanian medical system must better address the issue of tuberculosis, or TB. Paula previously had a successful journalism career, including as a TV anchor and producer.

Food blogger, semi-finalist of Bake off Romania, creator and owner of laprajiturela.ro
Over the past 3 years laprajiturela.ro has been in the top 30 most influential food blogs in Romania

Edy Chereji is one of the people who created and nurtured UNTOLD, the best European festival but also the newest festival organized by the Black Sea, NEVERSEA. Edy is Head of Marketing & Communications and leads the mark-comm division of both festivals, a young and creative team, where the average age is 30 years old! How did he managed to run some of the best festivals in Europe? After 6 years of being marketing manager and part of the management team of some of the most important projects of IuliusGroup in Romania, he wanted to become an entrepreneur and started, in 2013, THE PLAN COMMUNICATIONS, a company specialized in retail marketing, communication and events.

Alex Dona has been the managing partner of satire website Times New Roman since 2012. He has worked for many years in sales, for companies such as Audionova, and then in the media field at The Money Channel, Telesport and Sanoma Hearst. He also hosted a radio show at Rock FM.

Razvan Crisan is co-founder and CEO of M60 Group comprising M60 Face, Kane and M60 Space. The group was founded in 2014. For more than 12 years, he has been involved in entrepreneurship projects.

Andrei Botescu is the man behind the revival of the iconic Pegas bicycle, many a Romanian’s favorite childhood buddy. Relaunched in 2012, under his supervision, in 2017 the company managed to get a complete portfolio for each and every category of bike, from urban to e-bikes. Moreover, it launched Romania’s first electric bikes, as well as several brands for other outdoor products such as vintage skates, electric transportation – electric scooter and electric longboard, and kendamas. Last year Pegas launched three new mono-stores in Bucharest, Timisoara and Ramnicu Valcea.

Ramona Predescu (Iacob) manages IWG operations in Romania, the group who owns flexible workspace concepts Regus and SPACES and the creator of the 'workspace revolution' concept. Prior to her current position, Ramona developed a extensive experience with IWG in Romania, as out of her 10 years’ experience with Regus, she has spent the last 5 as Country Manager of the company. Currently, Ramona manages the implementation of SPACES, the Amsterdam-born creative workspace pioneer, which is opening its first two locations in Bucharest at Unirii View Tower with 3000 m2 (1st, 2nd and 3rd floor) on Corneliu Coposu Bd. 6-8; and Campus 6, with 3100 m2 (1st and 2nd floor) on Iuliu Maniu 6 Bd.

Tamina is a young architect and partner at Wolfhouse Productions design studio. During her architectural studies, she had international learning and professional experiences in Belgium and Shanghai. In 2012, she was a member of Calup project, a series of cultural events aiming at temporary reconversion of unused buildings of Bucharest. In 2015, Tamina co-founded Nod makerspace. While in 2016, she co-founded Grassrouts/La firul ierbii, a public debate center

Corina Angelescu is a Learning Designer at The Alternative University in Bucharest, a community for young people who are eager to take the responsibility of their own learning journeys. In contrast with the classical approach to education, they are building a university run by students, where they are replacing standardisation, control and competition with self directed learning, collaboration and hands on challenges. While The Alternative University reflects her passion for quality education and learning, Corina is also coordinating Social Impact Award in Romania, an international competition for young people who want to address the most pressing social issues through social entrepreneurship.

Flavia has studied at the Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan and has returned to Romania, keen on promoting local design at an international level. After working for several years as an Interior Designer in Milan and Bucharest, she has decided to embark on an entrepreneurial journey and partnered with her best friend and interior designer Andreea Batros to launch the Dare to Rug brand in 2015.
Dare to Rug is the first Romanian design brand that creates hand-tufted rugs, mixing craft and design inspired by traditional patterns. Dare to Rug has positioned itself as a creative brand that has the courage to engage in bold projects that fit its artistic core.

Oana is a Partner at Business Review, the leading english news platform in Romania. Oana is an optimist by definition, an enthusiastic professional and an entrepreneur at heart. For the past decade, Oana held senior roles in the publishing, advertising and event management industries. Recently Oana has been active in the blockchain industry and decentralisation movement, putting together blockchain conferences all over the world.

International tech entrepreneur, Stanford University alumna, and Forbes “30 under 30” innovator to watch, I specialise in new business creation, and product and service innovation. My background is in applied mathematics, and I recently founded a consulting company. Previously worked in EdTech/Future of Work, founded a technology start-up accelerator, and consulted and advised early stage start-ups and corporations in 10+ industries.

George Georgescu is the co-founder and CEO the Romanian e-health start-up Connected Medical Devices trough which he is bringing to the market The Human Link solution, aimed to better the lives of Alzheimer’s disease patients and their families. He has lead the company from the ideea, trough MVP, to product and sales by creating the team, signing partnerships and securing investments.He has a large experience in engineering, sales and management in both Romanian companies and large corporations. At the beginning of this year, George won the Changeneers Challange.

Gabriel is the CEO in Tapptitude and Marketing Associate in Spherik Accelerator. With over 10 years of digital experience, Gabriel has been at the intersection between marketing and product, for the last 5 years with a steady focus to help startup founders build better products and build sustainable businesses around them. Currently, Gabriel is the CEO of Tapptitude, a product agency focused on building mobile products.

Radu truly believes in the power of technology to change the world. He founded QUALITANCE in 2007 with Ioan Iacob and has been coordinating the company’s operations ever since. At the same time, he has been involved in mentoring the new generations of experts as a professor at Cybernetics/Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies.

Partner, 3TS Capital is a serial entrepreneur and business-angel with successful investments in Romania and other CEE countries. Currently handling a portfolio of 10 companies for the Romanian VC fund of 3TS Capital, Catalyst Romania Fund. Co-Founder VentureConnect and SchoolforStartups Romania, president of the Romanian Association of Online Stores. Author of “Entrepreneurship”, first Romanian entrepreneurship book, one of the Romanian Dragons from the TV show Dragons’ Den. Organizer of the Intensive Entrepreneurship Course and co-organizer of the BusinessDrive mini-MBA program, professor of Entrepreneurship .“Investor of the Year Romania” 2016 and 2017 award by Central European Startup Awards

Eduard has joined Danone Romania since 2013 as a Milk Sourcing Manager after a 2 years experience in Vietnam as Country Manager for a Fresh Food Danish Company. He is leading the Milk Sourcing Department in Romania and one of the unique entrepreneurial dairy projects in Europe - Chance for All.

Entrepreneur and mentor, Vlad successfully introduced the co-working concept in Romania in 2012, as co-founder and CEO of Impact Hub Bucharest. Having a strong background in marketing and business development, Vlad is passionate in supporting other entrepreneurs and start-ups in structuring their business model and development strategy. He is currently involved in starting a new company, 3house, aiming in creating a new human-centric business model for co-working and shared office spaces.

George Berar is an entrepreneur with a passion for successfully building a wide array of companies from start-up to exit. Beginning in Eastern Europe as a business owner with dreams of success in Romania, to his founding of a US-based international angel investment organization Benevolent Generation with offices in Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Dublin, Bucharest, and Hyderabad India. George embodies a perspective that is at the core of his company’s success: a deep belief in the unstoppable power of a good idea when paired with the right team and resources.