18th ANNUAL ASSEMBLY & NALED BANKET: DigitAl Acceleration

Janko Odović was born in 1986 in Pljevlja. He finished elementary school and high school in his hometown, and the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, as an excellent student with an average grade above 9. During his studies, he was awarded for excellent success in gaining knowledge. He is the winner of the "Milivoj Jovanović and Luka Ćelović Endowment" award for the best student work. In The Hague, he received training in the field of drafting laws, and in Germany in the field of constitutional protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. He attended multidisciplinary undergraduate studies at the Belgrade Open School, whose vision is a society based on freedom, knowledge and innovation. After completing his basic studies, he volunteered at the People's Office of the President of the Republic. He started his career in the Constitutional Court where, as the highest judicial body, he acquired legal knowledge. His further career directed him to finance and financial law, so he was a senior adviser for representation at the Securities Commission and, among other things, participated in the working group for the preparation of the Negotiating Position for Negotiating Chapter 4 in the accession of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union. He continued his career at the National Bank of Serbia, working in the supervision of banks both in the area of prudential control and in the area of market operations (conduct supervision). He was a member of the negotiating group working on Chapter 9 and involved in the implementation of the global regulatory framework for more stable banks and banking systems, Basel III. He stayed at the National Bank of Serbia from 2017 until returning to his homeland, in order to contribute to its development from the position of State Secretary, and then Minister. He speaks English, German and Russian.

For over three decades Goran Samuel Pesic has been an influential figure in business, politics, defence, and national security. As the CEO and Chairman of the Samuel Group of Companies, he oversees a diverse portfolio of businesses and organizations.Goran serves as a registered lobbyist in both Washington, D.C., and Ottawa, where he manages influential government relations firms such as the Samuel Group D.C. in Washington and Samuel Associates in Ottawa. His other business enterprises also include Samuel Technologies, which specializes in international technology transfers; Quantox Canada, a software development and engineering firm; Samuel People, which focuses on HR management and workforce transformation; and Samuel Strategies, known for its expertise in crisis management and strategic communications.Dedicated to societal progress, Goran founded and leads the Samuel Institute, an NGO that aims to cultivate future leadership across various sectors, emphasizing HR strategies and education. He also leads the Policy Insights Forum (PIF), a strategic think tank that engages in public policy discussions on subjects like industrial defence diplomacy, emerging technologies, and the evolving challenges of the environment and economy.In the earlier stages of his career, Goran played a key role at the Canadian Commercial Corporation, where he developed and implemented international trade strategies that facilitated successful government-to-government projects in energy, infrastructure, and foreign military sales to allied nations.His professional experience extends to the Middle East, where he was instrumental in setting up CAE Inc.'s Defence and Security Regional Office in the UAE, to serve the GCC military markets.In the political arena, Goran has offered important insights and leadership as a senior political advisor to the Minister of International Trade at Global Affairs Canada and the federal Minister of Public Safety.Before his political roles, he led influential think tanks like the Atlantic Council of Canada and the Council on Transatlantic Relations.An academically accomplished U.S. National Security Fulbright Scholar, Goran studied at the University of California and earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto.‍His career exemplifies his steadfast dedication, visionary leadership, and commitment to service.

Vladislav Cvetkovic is Director of Advisory Services in “PricewaterhouseCoopers” in Belgrade since 2013. He served as the Director of Privatization Agency from 2009 to 2013, managing all activities on the Serbian privatization agenda, including the improvement of privatization-related legislation. From 2001 to 2007 he was engaged in the National Bank of Serbia and the Agency for Deposit Insurance, as Advisor to the Governor and the leading advisor for privatization of banks. During this period, he led a number of projects related to banking sector reform and was directly engaged in formulating and successful implementation of the strategy and privatization of significant financial institutions in the country, also leading on several of the largest privatization projects in Serbia so far. From 2004 to 2005 he was a Council member in the National Bank of Serbia, and the Managing Board President in Komercijalna banka AD Beograd from 2006 to 2009. His professional career started in financial consulting in “Deloitte”, Belgrade, in 1994-2000, as well as in academia, as he was a lecturer at the Faculty of Economy in Belgrade, at the Business Finance and Accounting department.

Dragan Penezić holds a PhD on the topic "The modern concept of business through the development of Public and Private Partnership (Comparative study of PPP models in Europe - Solution for Serbia)" in 2010, and graduated from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade in 1999. He joined British American Tobacco in 2016, where he started as a Government Affairs Manager and currently holds position of the Head of Legal and External Affairs for Serbia and Montenegro. Prior to his career in BAT, he held the position of the Secretary General of the Commission for the Protection of Competition of the Republic of Serbia, where he spent seven years and has been a member of the Negotiating Group for Chapter VIII (Competition and State Aid) in the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union. Dragan has extensive experience in public administration, first as Assistant Minister in the sector for concessions and public - private partnerships in the Ministry of International Economic Relations, and then in the Ministry of Trade and Services as Assistant Minister in the sector for trade, prices and consumer protection. He is a President of the NALED Assembly since 2017 and President of  FIC’s Anti-Illicit Committee from 2018.

Violeta started building expertise in local economic and rural development and standardization, upon graduation in 1998, as an expert and team leader in USAID programs in Serbia and the region, through the design and implementation of complex development projects worth over 10 million dollars. As the first employee of NALED, and its Executive Director since July 2007, she was instrumental in growing an independent membership organization, which later grew into the largest public-private association focusing on building a favorable business environment in Serbia. She is a graduate philologist and gained further education in the field of economics and project management in specialized training and study programs in the United States and Europe. She is engaged as a motivational speaker and moderator at professional conferences around the topic of women's entrepreneurship and leadership in the country and abroad. She has gained international experience as a consultant in the field of certification and intellectual property protection. She actively contributes to the preservation of traditional heritage of Serbia and employment programs for women through the role of the founder and president of Ethno Network.