SPEAKERS

Tzvetanka Mintcheva
Tzvetanka Mintcheva began her career at UniCredit in Bulgaria as an intern in 2001. Over the years, she has held various sales and management positions and completed an MBA program in International Business at MIB School of Management in Italy.
Since 2007, Tzvetanka has been involved in the coordination and development of alternative distribution channels, being recognized for her significant contribution and the introduction of innovations. Since 2013, she has been the Director of Retail Banking and a member of the Management Board. In 2017, Tzvetanka became the Director of Global Banking, successfully implementing numerous strategic and transformational projects. Between 2020 and 2021, she held the position of Deputy CEO of UniCredit Bank Romania. Since September 2021, she has been the CEO and Chairwoman of the Management Board of UniCredit Bulbank. In 2022, she was elected Deputy Chairwoman of the Management Board of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria.
In 2023 she was announced as “Manager of the Year 2023” at the 16th edition of the competition for top management achievements.


Ivan Chernov


Kristina Georgieva
Kristina Georgieva, Vice President of Operations at TELUS Digital, oversees operational and customer excellence across Bulgaria, France, Ireland and Türkiye. With over 18 years of experience in the digital and business services industry, she started on the frontlines, gaining deep insights into operational challenges and client needs. Today, she leads over 5,000 professionals, managing operations for 50 global brands across Europe and driving success in Hightech, Fintech, E-commerce, Travel & Hospitality, and Trust & Safety. Kristina fosters a collaborative culture, empowering teams while streamlining processes to enhance alignment, efficiency, and service quality locally and globally.


Kalin Dobrev


Ana Ferreira


Teodor Panayotov


Fabrice Bernhard


Ulrich Guddat, PhD


Mira Ganova, PhD


Tommy Ver Elst


Mario Bakalov
Mario Bakalov is one of the most distinguished Bulgarian pilots with international recognition. On October 16, 2016, he made his mark in Bulgaria’s aviation history by landing the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380, in Sofia for the first time.
Since late 2022, Mario has been flying the Airbus A320 and continues to be the only Bulgarian captain at Germany’s largest airline.
In addition to his extensive aviation experience, he is a highly regarded international speaker, a long-standing human factors instructor, and an active participant in various initiatives aimed at advancing both society and business.

Elena Drecheva


Dimitar Karaivanov
Dimitar Karaivanov is a Lean-thinker and a Kanban practitioner with a solid background in the areas of software development and process improvement.
His expertise was gained through more than 15 years of career development at companies like Johnson Controls, SAP and Software AG. Dimitar has envisioned and brought to life the idea of Businessmap as aimed at solving problems in the way companies manage big initiatives spread across multiple teams. Through the success of his company, he has proven that Kanban can be used for product development and not just change management activities. He is passionate about achieving extreme performance at scale and applying Lean / Kanban outside IT. Dimitar is a keynote speaker and author of ‘Lean Software Development with Kanban’. He is an active member of the Lean / Kanban community and supporter of initiatives, which aim to promote it.


Maria Topchiyska


Vasil Petrov
Vasil Petrov is a management consultant with over 12 years spent in implementation of business process improvement methods and practices across leading companies from different industries in Europe, Asia and USA.
His experience includes lean thinking and practices implementation (lean transformations), Six Sigma, Change Management, Business Analysis, Current State Assessments, Automation of Processes (incl. RPA), PMO setup, Project Management, Strategic Planning and Supply Chain Optimization.
In 2014 Vasil starts Lean Institute Bulgaria, which soon becomes a market leader in training and consulting services related to lean transformations, improvements and process automation.
Vasil is certified in Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. He has gained an MBA degree from an international program in Germany, Australia and India and speaks English, German and Russian.


Georgi Nenov
Host
