Andreja Kodrin

Andreja Kodrin is the Founder and President of Challenge:Future global youth think tank and competition for innovation and sustainability.

Andreja obtained Master's degree in 1997 and is now working on her PhD thesis focusing on strategic performance management. In the last fifteen years she has conducted several postgraduate research projects in the field of investment, performance and strategic management and has attended several executive programs at INSEAD, Harvard Business School, IMD and IEDC-Bled School of Management. She is also a frequent lecturer and speaker at universities and conferences worldwide.

Prior to founding Challenge:Future, Andreja served as Group CFO and Board Director of private equity corporation AKTIVA HOLDINGS BV, the Netherlands, for eight years. She is/was a member of several supervisory boards of companies, venture funds, banks, pension funds and charities in the Netherlands, USA, UK, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Serbia, and Slovenia.

Danica Purg

Professor Danica Purg is the President of the IEDC-Bled School of Management, Slovenia, and the President of CEEMAN, the association of 200 management development institutions from 50 countries, established with the aim to enhance management development in Central and Eastern Europe. She is also leading the European Leadership Centre (ELC), established with the aim of assessing and promoting European leadership through the organization of forums, workshops and research.

Prof. Purg is professor of leadership and effective management at the IEDC-Bled School of Management. Her special field of interest is looking for inspirations for managers from art and other professions. In 2010 prof. Purg received the 2010 Dean of the Year Award by the Academy of International Business (AIB) for her outstanding achievements in international business education.

She authored and co-authored several books and numerous articles on leadership issues. In 2004 she edited and jointly wrote with professors Lynn Isabella, Pierre Casse, Paul Claudel and Arnold Walravens the book Leaders and Teams – The Winning Partnership. In 2010 she contributed a chapter for the Slovene edition of the book Hidden Champions by Prof. Hermann Simon. She is a frequent guest speaker at European and American universities and international conferences.

Prof. Purg is Fellow of Academy of International Business (AIB), fellow of the International Academy of Management (IAM), Doctor Honoris Causa at Moscow State University of Management, Estonian Business School and MESI - Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and IT, and honorary professor at Moscow International Higher Business School (MIRBIS). President of the Republic of Slovenia awarded her with the “Honorary Order of Freedom” for her contribution to management development in Slovenia and CEE. By the American Chamber of Commerce Prof. Purg was chosen for a business leader role model of young professionals.

Prof. Purg is also member of several international advisory boards of well-known business schools, member of European Cultural Parliament (ECP), a member of the Steering Committee of the UN Global Compact Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), and President of UN Global Compact Slovenia.

After graduating from the Faculty of Political Science in Ljubljana, she completed her Ph.D. at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade, and extensively studied at Harvard Business School, IMD Lausanne, INSEAD Fontainebleau, Technological University Delft, London University, Sorbonne and at Kalamazoo College, Michigan.

Helmut Karner

Professor Helmut Karner shares his time between management education projects, management consultancy, and university lecturing, while contributing to the leading Austrian think-Tank "Föhrenbergkreis".

Born in 1947 in Baden, Lower Austria, professor Karner studied Technical Mathematics and Computer Science at the Technical University of Vienna, and later continued his education in management at Harvard Business School, IMEDE Lausanne.

Karner's first employment was in Austro Olivetti, Vienna where he worked as Systems Engineer for Data Base/Data Communication Systems and Software Director. In 1979 he took the position of European General Manager in Northern Telecom Inc. (now Nortel Networks). He continued his career as Managing Director first at Austro Olivetti, Vienna and afterwards at Olivetti International Education Centre, London, U.K.

Prof. Karner shares his knowledge at Danube University Krems where he works as a Visiting Professor in the fields of telecommunications, new media and digital economy. In 1998 he became Dean and Managing Director at Polytechnic University Salzburg (Techno-Z-Fachhochschule) for Information Economy. Since 2004, Helmut considers himself a ‘portfolio worker,’ splitting his time between a number of projects and initiatives.

Pavlo Sheremeta

Pavlo is a Chairman and Group CEO of Eastern Europe & Central Asia Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Institute. Prior to that, he has been the President and Institute Senior Fellow of Malaysia Blue Ocean Strategy Institute in 2008-2011. In Ukraine, Pavlo is most known as a Founding Dean and CEO of kmbs, country’s best and most innovative business school. He was ranked as one of the top 15 Ukrainian managers. Pavlo was a Board Chairman of Universalna Insurance Company (Goldman Sachs’ portfolio company) and a Vice President and a Board member of CEEMAN. Prior to founding kmbs, Pavlo was a Project Manager at George Soros’ Open Society Institute in Budapest. He also worked as an Advisor to the Ukrainian MP who later became Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. Pavlo completed Executive Development Programs at Harvard Business School, Mintzberg’s Roundtables for Practicing Managers, Insead Blue Ocean Strategy Institute, China Europe International Business School, J.Welch Leadership Development Center at GE.

Danijel Rebolj

Danijel Rebolj is Rector of the University of Maribor (since 2005) and professor of Construction and Transportation Informatics at University of Maribor, as well as coordinator of the international postgraduate program in Construction informatics. In 2009 he has been visiting professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University. His research interests involve issues on system integration, product and process modeling, automated building, mobile and ubiquitous computing, web based collaboration and communication, virtual design and construction as well as other high potential IT for Architecture, Engineering and Construction.