Dr. Patrick O. Connelly has over thirty-five years of direct experience in successfully managing credit risk and business development that span many industries, in markets around the world.

After an executive career going over thirty years, Professor Connelly has developed academic relations at various universities and recently designed the first university course, both undergraduate and postgraduate in Management of Commercial Credit Risk.

He is the author of Trade Credit Risk Management, Introduction to the Profession in theory and practice. Dr. Connelly introduced the subject of credit risk management in China in 2004 and has taught professionals, university students, teachers and governing parties during the last nine years and continues to do.

Recently he was awarded recognition as the most influential man in the field of credit and risk management in China. Internationally, in 2008, the professor received the famous "Centurion" award for his contribution to international trade.

Dr. Connelly has established a teaching style that blends an amalgam of knowledge and experience, discussed within an operational framework that has made the very effective results for both the participant / student and the company that allows participation. The teacher continues to regularly publish articles that directly benefit the companies involved in this challenging economy. Its materials are often integrated in the courses, seminars, workshops and consultancy to facilitate faster and better results.

Harry A. Strausser III is president of the Remit Corporation and Interact Training and Development where he oversees the operation of a full-service collection agency and coordinates the training programs of its educational subsidiary. Harry is active in both the Mid-Atlantic Collectors Association where he serves as President and ACA International, the association of credit and collection professionals, in which he is a certified instructor. He has instructed hundreds of programs for the ACA. At the International Conference in San Antonio, he was named "instructor of the year" for that organization and is a member of the International Fellowship of Certified Collection Executives and holds the Master Credit Executive distinction. In 2010 he is one of the first business professionals in the industry to receive the Credit and Collection Compliance Officer designation. He has served on the ACA International Executive Committee and held the position of President in 2004-2005.

Harry holds an MA in communication from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and a BS in business administration from the same institution. He has served as a full-time adjunct professor for the Department of Communication Studies at Bloomsburg University where he taught interpersonal communication, public speaking, and corporate communication. He travels extensively across the United States and internationally conducting educational and motivational programs for associations, private enterprises, conferences, and public seminar events.

Harry enjoys travel, music, working outdoors at his home, and spending time with his three golden retrievers, Hannah, Tindaqwae, and Ausha.

He is the only person on the African continent holding a Master Credit Executive designation from the American Creditors Association. Eugenè studied Law at the University of the Free State and completed his articles as attorney with Symington and de Kok.

He is involved in the Credit Industry since 1974 and did his MBA in America specialising in finance and credit related issues in America, Europe and South Africa.. He has worked for Philips Einthoven in SA, 2 major Banking Groups and various other Credit Grantors. He was involved in the debt recovery industry since 1986 and Chairman of Creditworx for many years. He served on Thebe Investment Corporation as an Executive.

He has developed Credit Policies for various companies like Dunlop, Mastertreads and Musgrave. He moderated on Credit exams and drafted the Professional Credit Practitioners syllabi for the Institute of Credit Management in Southern Africa. Over many years presented various papers to the Credit Bureaux, Debt Collectors Associations and the International Credit forums all over the world.

Eugenè was part of the drafting team of the Act, regulations and Code of Conduct adopted by the SA Government to regulate the Debt Collector, and served on the Debt Collectors Council for many years. He trained the National Prosecutions Division of Government to recover grants illegally obtained by individuals. In 2008/9/10 he did the investigations on behalf of the National Credit Regulator (Sec 25 appointment) under the NCA to see if Credit Providers adhere to the NCA.

Declan Flood, Founder and Chief Executive of the Irish Credit Management Training. He was Credit Manager at Green Isle Foods and Lever Industria. He is a renowned trainer, International Speaker and Author with over 20 years hands on experience in Credit Control and Credit Management with major Irish & International Companies. He is a graduate of the IICM Education program and a Qualified Business Coach. He received his Qualification in Training & Development from National University of Ireland and has been training in all aspects of credit management for over 13 years, generating a sense of enthusiasm and urgency that has been experienced by all who have been through the training experience. His approach is effective without confrontation and brings a whole new focus to Customer Service, and Profit growth.

Tony is a specialist in credit scoring, decisioning and risk management, and has worked for many years in the European, Australian and Asian credit industries. Tony has wide-ranging experience within banks and credit bureaus, and at IFC Advisory Services currently provides expert advice on all aspects of the development of financial infrastructure.

Mark Harrison has been involved in Credit Managment for more 30 years and constantly focussed on raising the profile of the Order to Cash stream.
His career spans a range of industries across EMEA and includes the transition and development of successful Order to Cash functions in the Shared Services sector in Central Europe.

Being a firm believer in the shared services concept and its potential, Mark is a regular presenter at workshops, forum and conferences across Europe sharing his first hand operational experience, passion and enthusiasm.

Mark is the founder of the ACCEE (Association of Credit for Central and Eastern Europe) holds a degree in Credit Management from the University of West London, is a Fellow of the UK CICM , a founder member of the Association of International Credit Directors (AICD) and is trained to Catalyst level in Lean / Six Sigma methodology.

ACCEE are actively engaged in the “internationalisation“ of the Credit profession and the ongoing development of an education programme that covers all aspects of O2C from Fundamentals to MBA level including a company process review.

Both of these initiatives are in conjunction with the Irish Institute of Credit Management(IICM) and AICD and are specifically adapted for SSC’s.
The Association of Credit for Central and Eastern Europe s.r.o. is committed to training and education because it is a fundamental part of our goal to develop qualified Credit experts.

ACCEE delivers a range of flexible training courses in most European languages and an innovative study programme leading to professional qualifications.

As specialists in the credit market, we understand the demands of this challenging environment and how industry specific qualifications are fundamental to this objective.

ACCEE is the only organisation in Central and Eastern Europe that co-ordinates the delivery of best practice in the business critical Order to Cash stream from training to technology including the acclaimed annual Credit Matters conference.

Josef was involved in the setting up of the Malta Association of Credit Management (MACM – www.macm.org.mt) and has been administering the Association since its establishment in June 2001. MACM provides a central national organisation for the promotion and protection of all credit interests pertaining to Maltese businesses. He was later appointed Director General of MACM.

Josef has been a member of the Council of FECMA - Federation of European Credit Management Associations (www.fecma.eu), representing the Maltese trade creditors in this European forum, since MACM joined FECMA in May 2003. He is an active council member and since 2004 Josef has been elected Vice President of FECMA.

Josef has sixteen years experience in the Financial Services Sector, starting his career as a bank official and later joined a leading Maltese financial services company, specialising in financial advise. He is also a qualified financial advisor.

Josef read Marketing obtaining a Post Graduate Diploma of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK), and later became a Member of the Institute. In 2007, he has been awarded Chartered Marketer status by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

Josef has obtained his Masters in Business Administration - Henley Management College (UK), focusing his thesis on ‘Granting and Managing Trade Credit’. In recognition to his work in the field of credit management, both in Malta and in Europe, the Institute of Credit Management - ICM of the UK awarded him with Honorary Fellowship.

Josef is an intuitive lecturer and speaker, specialising in trade credit management strategies that enable the credit function to gain and sustain competitive advantage in the market, whilst ensuring sound cash flow and long-term profit.

He lectures Credit Management and other Business Studies Modules of the ICM Diploma in Credit Management of the ICM at MACM Training Centre – An accredited lecturer of ICM - The Institute of Credit Management (UK).

He contributed to a number of seminars and leading international conferences and conducted business workshops and in-house training for companies in a number of countries, including Antwerp, Dubai, Dublin, London, Malta, Mexico City and Paris. Josef is a regular contributor of business articles to local and foreign business press.

Andriy Sichka is an international credit manager with 20 years of experience. Managing partner of A. Sichka Consulting and Development Director of The Association of Credit for Central and Eastern Europe. Accomplished training and consulting projects in companies like JTI, Electrolux and Golder Electronics. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and the Association of International Credit Directors. Andriy is a speaker, panelist and author of publications on credit management topics including «Happy Customers Faster Cash. Eastern Europe edition»

Presentation Credit Management in the Eastern Europe covers particularities and issues of doing credit in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, including:
- country risk and business climate overview
- local business culture
- credit features’ overview

Dr. Anghel majored in economics (Faculty of Economic Cybernetics, Statistics and Economic IT) at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. Following the completion of a Master’s degree in 1997, he received a Ph.D. from the same academic institution in 2002. Dr. Anghel also attended post graduate courses at Georgetown University, USA and an executive development program coordinated by HEC Montreal.

Working with the largest financial group in Romania for over 19 years, Dr Anghel is currently the President of the Executive Committee at BCR Banca pentru Locuinte. Until December 2015, he held the position of Chief Executive Office at BCR Pensii (pension fund subsidiary of BCR Group- since October 2012). Previously he was Chief Economist of BCR, Head of Strategy and Research Division, coordinating the strategic programmes of BCR Group. Also, for almost two years, he held the position of Deputy Executive Manager of the Treasury Division of the bank. He was a member of the Supervisory Board of Erste Asset Management and BCR Asset Management for more than 5 years. In 2008, he co-founded the Association of the Financial Banking Analysts in Romania and serves in the board as the first Chairman. He was appointed as Foreign Investors Council expert within the economic re-launch Programme: “Program for Economic Growth” and also served as external expert for the World Bank. In January 2012, Dr. Anghel has been elected by the shareholders as President of the Board of Governors of Bucharest Stock Exchange. His 4 years mandate was renewed starting with January, 2016.

Dr. Anghel is an associate professor at the National School of Administration and Political Science of Bucharest. He co-writes professional financial books and publishes in professional journals and magazines.

Catalin Pauna is the Senior Economist of the World Bank Office in Romania. His responsibilities include monitoring of macroeconomic and sectoral developments; preparation of economic assessments and studies, including standard World Bank products such as Country Economic Memorandums, Public Expenditure Reviews, Country Partnership Strategies, the EU 10 report, etc.; risk and exposure analysis; economic forecasts; sectoral studies. Mr. Pauna has been with the World Bank since 2000. Before joining the Bank, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Essex, UK, and as economics consultant for institutions such as the World Bank, the OECD, the EC, and international companies and consultancies. He has written extensively on the economic transition of Central and Eastern European countries. Mr. Pauna holds a PhD in Economics from the Romanian Academy of Sciences, a MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics, an MA in Economics from the State University of New York and the Central European University and an MSc in Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.

Mr. Sergiu Oprescu has an extensive career in banking and capital markets covering a period of more than 20 years. Currently he holds the position of Executive President in Alpha Bank Romania, one of the top commercial banks operating in Romania and President of the Romanian Banking Association. Previously he held various managerial positions in the Romanian financial sector ranging from Executive Vice President responsible with Retail in Alpha Bank Romania, CEO and Vice President of the Board of Directors of Alpha Finance, the investment banking arm of Alpha Bank Group in Romania, to that of Chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange during 2001 - 2006.

Mr. Oprescu is also actively involved in local and international professional organizations such as the European Mortgage Federation (member in the Executive Committee, since 2009) and European Banking Federation’ board member since 2015.

Olivier Nifle is the Country Manager CESCE for France and the Benelux. CESCE is spanish credit insurer 4th world wide leader of the industry. Previously he had been acting as the Country Cluster Manager for the Belux region at Coface for 8 years. He has almost 18 years practice in corporate management and business development. Olivier has extensive experience in international business, human and process capital optimization; and as well in credit services and related risk management and cash flow program implementation. Olivier has been nominated in 2014 by the French Governement Conseiller du Commerce Exterieur de la France. He is also board member of the Spanish chamber of Commerce in France. He also holds a PhD title of La Sorbonne - Paris and an MBA from HEC France. He has been lecturing extensively for more than 15 years, providing seminars and workshops, and developed a training career in financial risk management and enhancing operations performance at HEC. He accumulated extensive experience as a conference key-note speaker and mediator of important financial forums and events.

Georg Kovacs is Managing Director of EOS KSI Romania since the company entered the Romanian market, in 2002. The local EOS branch is part of the Eastern Division of the EOS Group, one of the leading companies in debt collection sector in Europe, America and Asia and part of the German Otto Group.

Georg Kovacs developed and implemented the long-term strategy of EOS KSI Romania and succeeded that in less than two years to impose the company as market leader on the Romanian debt collection market, currently holding a market share of about 26%. Among the services offered by EOS KSI to its customers, we mention receivables management (both pre-legal and legal collection), cash flow management (purchasing portfolios of receivables) and international debt collection.

At present, EOS KSI Romania has over 650 employees and has national coverage trough its 13 regional offices.

From 2013 until 2014 Mr. Kovacs hold the position of Regional Director inside EOS Group, being responsible for EOS business development in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania.

As well, Georg Kovacs has been elected for 2 times President of AMCC (Romanian Association of Debt Collection Management) and he has been holding this position since 2012. The Association has 14 members and its mission is to represent its members at national and international level, to promote the concept of credit services management and support it in the national legislation.

Before joining EOS Group, Georg Kovacs was Head of Risk at Vodafone Egypt and Vodafone Hungary. As well, he had been working for Intrum Justitia, one of the largest companies of Credit Management in Europe, at first holding the position of Collection Manager and then as Operations Manager for Central and East Europe (Poland, Hungary, and Czech Republic).

Georg Kovacs graduated from Bernard M. Baruch College in New York in 1998 and holds a degree in business administration with specializations Operations Management and International Business. He speaks fluently four languages - English, Swedish, Hungarian and German.

Before taking over in 2010 the top management position with Garanti Leasing (the brand under which the company Motoractive IFN SA operates), Okan Yurtsever was the Head of the Retail Banking and Banc assurance Division of Garanti Bank, since April 2007. He started his banking career in 1996 in Isbank Turkey, and the next year he joined Garanti Bank Turkey, where he had various assignments in areas like treasury, auditing, and branch management. Additionally, he was involved in long-term projects like Business Process Re-Engineering, with Garanti Insurance Group and Garanti Leasing. He graduated from the Political Sciences Faculty with the Ankara University and holds an MBA from the Kadir Has University in Istanbul.

Under Okan Yurtsever’s management, Garanti Leasing has extended its portfolio, increased its asset volume and has signed an important partnership with International Finance Corporation (IFC), member of World Bank Group, in 2014. The aforementioned transaction was a premiere in Romania at the time: it marked the first renewable energy loan that IFC granted to a local financial institution, as well as the first time since the 2008 crisis that IFC signed a lending agreement with a Romanian leasing company.

Okan Yurtsever played an important role in Garanti Leasing’s market share organic evolution, from 2.1% in 2010, to 4.5% in 2015. The company is currently the 8th financial institution on the leasing market, as well as the 6th owned by a banking group.

Under Okan Yurtsever’s leadership, Garanti Leasing followed a strategy of balancing its portfolio. As such, as of December 2015, the company’s portfolio structure, by asset type, consists of auto 45%, equipment 36% and real estate 19%, as compared to auto 71%, equipment 28% and real estate 1%, in 2010.

Moreover, Garanti Leasing’s total asset volume has grown progressively in the past years, from EUR 89 million in to 2012, to EUR 97 million in 2013, EUR 104 million in 2014 and EUR 126 million, in 2015, with RoE and RoA indicators consistently over the market averages in the last 5 years.

Experienced banking professional, with more than 15 years dedicated to Corporate Risk Management, restructuring distressed loans and legal recovery of NPLs. As the global crisis gradually spread in Eastern Europe, she focused on preserving value in banks’ portfolios, through early intervention and recovery of problematic loans.

Between 2009 and 2015, Georgina contributed to process adjustment and consolidation of senior teams, as well as carrying through some tough deals – both on Romanian market (for two major players - Raiffeisen and BRD-Groupe Societe Generale) and on regional level (as Head of Workout for Raiffeisen’s Network Units i.e. 15 countries - CEE, SEE and ex-CIS area). During the same period, she participated in several conferences, round tables and international trainings, in cooperation with the World Bank (focus Vienna Initiative), Insol Europe, DC Gardner (currently Euromoney Learning Solutions), SmithNovak and Ziarul Financiar.

Starting 2016, Georgina took on a new challenge, respectively to bring entrepreneurs, banks, lawyers and investors closer together, by acting as a liaison between them.

Understanding the decision-making resorts and specific motivation that lies behind each of the respective players is one of the most valuable expertise gathered during many years of working with distressed situations in a cross-cultural environment. Georgina believes in simplicity and pragmatism i.e. pinpointing the real nature of the problem, as the first step towards finding a feasible solution. Statistics and theoretical contributions are also welcome, as long as they facilitate practical results.

To achieve such ambitious goal, of assisting hard-working entrepreneurs to navigate through current stormy global weather, Georgina joined forces with a pioneering team of senior professionals, namely Chartered Debt Management. Together they are ready to design comprehensive solutions for any forward-looking (and down-to-earth!) business people.

Claudiu has started his activity in KRUK as Product Manager in May 2009, having a previous professional experience of over 5 years in Banking & Client Service. The expertise accumulated in his activity as Product Manager within the Operations Division has been very helpful when he joined the Sales Team. Thus, since 2010, he held the positions of Sales Manager, respectively Portfolio Acquisition Manager in the Sales Division.

His positive attitude in approaching the existing and potential clients of KRUK Romania, as well as showing a great importance to building a strong relation with them, led to a new professional challenge in 2012: managing the Sales Division as Director. First results did not cease to appear, being visible by attracting new customers, both in Servicing Area and in the Purchase of new receivables portfolios.

Since 2013 Claudiu is the Director of the Sales and Servicing Division.

Rayna Mitkova is the Managing Director of the Bulgarian subsidiaries of the leading international provider of financial services EOS Group – EOS Matrix and EOS Services. Today EOS in Bulgaria is a preferred partner to leading banks and non-banking financial institutions, telecommunications and utility companies, as well as to numerous other companies in the field of receivables management (debt collection, debt purchase and international receivables management). Currently, both companies have over 350 employees and hold a market share of about 25% on the local receivables management market.

Rayna Mitkova actively participated in the establishment of the Association of the Collection Agencies in Bulgaria (ACABG) – the only branch organization of this type in the country aiming at setting high standards in the receivables management industry and bringing more transparency in the sector. Since the establishment of ACABG in 2011 Ms. Mitkova holds the position of its president, being reelected in 2014.

In 2015 Rayna Mitkova joined the management body of the Federation of European National Collection Associations (FENCA). She was elected as a member of its Board of Directors and is responsible for the internal and external communication of the Federation.

Rayna Mitkova has a background in economics and an Executive MBA degree from Cortugli Business School, Croatia. She has over 15 years of management experience in international business development and strategic planning in the software, consultancy and receivables management sectors. In 2009 she became one of the finalists in the “Manager of the Year” contest by the leading Bulgarian business magazine “Manager” and in 2010 she won the “Young Manager” award by “Eureka” foundation. Ms. Mitkova has held numerous presentations both on national and international forums on the topics of debt collection, people’s management and leadership.

Thomas Voller was admitted as an attorney in 1982. His legal training includes time spent in the United States and England before setting up his own practice in 1987 in his home city of Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. His law firm practices in both national and international commercial and corporate law.

Thomas represents domestic and foreign firms both in and out of court and in all areas of business law including international debt collection. He is authorized to represent clients in local, regional and higher regional German courts. In addition, Thomas is also active as Mediator in the area of dispute resolution having trained as an Attorney Mediator (DAA).

Thomas is the founder of EuroCollectNet, an association of European lawyers offering a comprehensive cost-effective service for the collection of debt and related legal matters throughout Europe. In recent years the professional activity has been focused increasingly on the credit management of the clients. This includes on one side the membership in the Bundesverband Credit Management e. V. (Federal Association of Credit Management e. V.) and on the other side publications like “Outlines of Debt Collection in Europe” or “Compliance: Goods Dealer and Money Laundering” which has been published just recently.

Paul de Drée, an attorney-at-law (“Avocat”) registered with the French bar since 1987, has more than 25 years of business law experience, including 13 years as a partner of a major international law firm.

On January 1st, 2012, Paul de Drée has opened his law offices, “de DRÉE Avocat”, to serve, in particular, international clients.

de DRÉE Avocat practices general business and civil law, with a particular emphasis on international debt collections and enforcement proceedings, creditors’ rights, litigation, and bankruptcy/restructuring.

Paul is a board member of EuroCollectNet, an association of European lawyers offering a comprehensive cost-effective service for the collection of debt and related legal matters throughout Europe.

Bojan Markovic is Deputy Director at the Economics, Policy and Governance department of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where he is in charge of Turkey and South-East Europe.

He holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Birmingham (UK), and B.Sc. from the Belgrade Faculty of Economics.

Mr Markovic began his central banking career in 2000 at the Bank of England (London), working on monetary analysis and financial stability. He was in charge of the official model for forecasting UK inflation. In 2008, he moved to Goldman Sachs, where he was an executive director in private wealth management, focusing on investment strategies for exchange rates, short- and long-run interest rates, and equities, mainly in G10 countries. From 2009 to September 2012 Bojan Markovic was the Vice Governor of the National Bank of Serbia in charge of monetary policy, financial markets and payment systems. Until November 2013, he was visiting scholar in the IMF, and external expert on several IMF missions. He is also an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at the Cass Business School (London) and the University of Birmingham.

Leading the Corporate Banking area at Bancpost, Vlad Micu is a financial services management professional with extensive knowledge of the local financial and capital markets and established experience in corporate banking, trade finance, business development, sales and credit. He has a proven track record of building and managing teams, establishing long-term partnerships, creating and implementing strategies.

Over the past 20 years, Vlad held various executive positions in banks, such as Deputy CEO and Head of Corporate Banking at OTP Bank Romania, Director Investment Banking / Municipal Credit and Structured Finance within Piraeus Bank Romania SA and non-executive ones, as President of the Board of Directors of ERB Leasing IFN SA, or Member of the Boards of Directors of Piraeus Securities Romania SA and Piraeus Leasing Romania IFN SA.

Vlad holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University Politehnica of Bucharest, a Master in Marketing and Business Communication from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and an Executive MBA from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

In charge with the Individual Segments and Personal Banking Sector at Bancpost, Kostas Tovil is currently managing the relationship with more than 1 million active customers. He is a Retail Banking professional, experienced in both distribution and lending, with diverse know-how and proven track record in product development, portfolio management, risk assessment, operations, service and especially Cards and Consumer Finance. He has been also successful in leading large teams and managing extensive portfolios of customers and distribution networks.

Currently he also holds the position of General Manager in ERB Retail Services one of the largest Credit Card and Consumer Finance companies in terms in Romania. ERB is a market leader in Point of Sales Credits with more than 400,000 customers active in the local market since 2004.

Kostas has a multi-country & multi-culture experience in growth & recession markets. Previously, he held positions of Executive Manager Consumer Lending Business at Postbank Bulgaria, Commercial Manager Consumer Finance, Credit Cards and EPOS Acquiring Business at ERB Retail Services Romania.

Kostas holds a BSc Degree in Applied Chemistry from the University of Greenwich and a Master Degree in Business and Marketing from the University of Middlesex.

Danny Thorniley is President of DT-Global Business Consulting GmbH (an LLC company) and co-founder of the CEEMEA Business Group corporate service (advisory for regional executives running Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa). DT-Global Business Consulting is Danny’s own consultancy company based in Vienna through which he works with some 230 key clients on business strategy in CEEMEA, global and emerging markets. The services of the Group include written position papers, presentation slides and private client meetings as well as in-house presentations. He is also invited to make some 60 speeches/presentations by clients across the world on global business trends, business operations, emerging markets, corporate best practice.

For 23 years (until the closure of the Vienna office) Danny was Senior VP at The Economist Group, Vienna on global corporate business trends, with specialisation in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), USA, Europe and emerging markets.

Danny is regarded as a charismatic speaker who can present detailed business and economic analysis in an easily digestible fashion with a great deal of genuine humour. Danny is renowned for not using powerpoint presentation slides --- never. Dr Thorniley has also given guest presentations at Executive MBA courses on behalf of Oxford University, the University of Chicago, IESE (Spain) and the Central European University in Budapest. The executive MBA students at Chicago rated him “best speaker” on 12 occasions out of 12 over 5 years. Danny has exceptional skill sets in global business strategy, business in emerging markets and CEEMEA and hands-operational knowledge of business operations, distribution, partnerships, investments and human resource issues.

He has worked on a personal basis with 260 companies operating in emerging markets for 23 years and has personal contacts with most senior western MNCs operating in the CEEMEA region and beyond. He makes frequent presentations at CEO and Board level (over 100). He has personal friendships with leading executives in Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble, Ernst & Young, Raiffeisen, Robert Bosch and many, many others.

He holds and has held a number of non-executive and advisory board memberships with major European and US corporations and among other current roles he is a member of the Global Advisory Board of the US company Aecom.

Dr Thorniley was educated at Oxford University. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, a diploma and a doctorate degree in Soviet political economy.

Sir John Major, the former British prime Minister has called Danny “The world’s leading business expert on emerging markets”

He has published three books, including one on Russia with Macmillan (UK/USA) and two with Profile books on Doing Business in Global Emerging Markets.

Aurimas Kacinskas is CEO of Creditinfo Romania. Creditinfo Romania is business information and credit risk management company with more than 10 years experience in Romanian market. Creditinfo provides solutions which help companies to create and modify their risk evaluation processes and build safer portfolio of the clients.

Aurimas graduated Vilnius Management School in 2005, and started his career in Clients Services for a large worldwide hotel chain.  After 3 years, Aurimas successfully opened and managed his own franchise company, selling products and services for one of the largest telecommunication companies in the Baltics.  Due to this success, he went on to work directly for this company in Customer Care and Business Client Development, significantly growing the business during his time there. 

With a number of years ongoing progression, Aurimas joined the Creditinfo in 2008, working at Creditinfo Lithuania as Head of Customer Care and Marketing, again supporting client growth by more than 50%. In 2014 was signed as CEO of Creditinfo Romania. 

Customer care is an integral part of the Creditinfo culture and customer value proposition. Aurimas’ experience in this field, along with his 8 years’ credit risk management expertise, business acumen and executive leadership skills are what have led him to be the youngest CEO within the Creditinfo senior management team.

Agata Szydlowska, has over 15 years experience working with financial infrastructure frameworks and credit risk management within emerging markets concept, with a broad expertise in credit information sharing mechanisms.  Prior to joining CreditInfo, her professional experience included working for one of the first credit bureaus in Africa Region – Credit Reference Bureau Africa Limited (currently part of TransUnion), where as a General Manager she launched its operations in Tanzania. This experience has been enriched by many years of being involved with international private sector at various finance and credit risk management positions, like the one working for international petrol company based in Geneva, Switzerland, overlooking Africa region. More recently Agata held the position of Financial Specialist Financial Infrastructure, Advisory Services at International Finance Corporation - IFC (part of World Bank Group), based in Nairobi, Kenya. As IFC Specialist she was responsible for complex credit bureau projects in Sub-Saharan Africa region, which provided her with additional credit information sharing and financial inclusion background. Throughout her whole career she has been exposed to Sub-Saharan Africa region visiting countries from West, East and Southern Africa and gaining valuable understanding of the regional demographics. Agata holds Masters in Economics and Management and Engineer degrees and she is certified Project Management Professional with the US Project Management Institute. She speaks English, French and Polish.  

Global Specialist on credit reporting and retail risk management in the Financial Infrastructure group, Finance & Market Global practice (World Bank Group) is in charge of Eastern Europe and Central Asia region.

Fabrizio began his career in the financial sector in USA (Chicago, IL) at TRANS UNION Corporation, working in the US arm of TRANS UNION Credit Bureau. As manager of the International Division he worked for establishing the first Credit Bureau in Mexico. Worked as a Director of Southern European TU.

In 1998 Fabrizio joined CRIF Spa, the major Italian Credit Bureau as Director of Strategic Planning and International Operations. In this capacity he covered several positions within the Group such as General Manger of insurance Bureau in United kingdom and Managing Director of Credit Bureaus in Czech Republic , Russia, Slovak Republic, Poland. He also led  other risk management services companies, operating in Decision Software, Analytics and Consultancy and Collection services in UK, Austria, Mexico, Poland, Germany, USA, and China.

He has been in charge of partnership relations with international equity partner companies such as Trans Union (US), EOS (Germany), KSV (Austria), Huaxia (China).

During these years, Fabrizio was a Member of the Board in all International Operations of the CRIF group, Chairman of the Board at Czech Bank Credit Bureau, Slovak Credit Bureau, Bratislava, Slovak rep.and member of the Board of Director at National Bureau of Credit History Moscow Russia, Board member at Magnum Communication Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and HuaXIa Co. Beijing China

Jonathan is responsible for advising on Loan Portfolio and Banking M&A projects across the CEE region. He has over 17 years experience of providing advice to Financial Services organisations globally.

Jonathan has been a key protagonist in the CEE NPL market over the past 3 years. Initially covering the region from London, he has recently relocated to Bucharest to join the CEE firm of PwC as the leader of NPL and banking M&A transactions across the CEE region.

In 2012 Jonathan joined PwC from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group where he spent 8 years in a number of senior management positions both in London and New York. Jonathan worked on the integration of ABN AMRO Bank into RBS and spent 4 years focussed on deleveraging non-core assets, overseeing 6 different banking disposals as well as over €4bn of loan portfolio sales.

Jonathan has led over 15 loan portfolio transactions in CEE in the last 2 years amounting to over €5bn in face value.

From 1970 to 1982 Dr. Van der Walt worked in various accounting and financial management positions, in the private sector. From 1982 to 2006 he worked with Absa Bank in various senior positions in the Finance, Treasury and Credit Departments. Tjaart has Credit Exposure and experience in the areas of Credit Assessment – Retail and Commercial, Credit Scoring, Credit Bureau, Credit Collections and Recoveries, Credit Risk reporting and trend analysis, Credit processes, procedures and policies, Credit change project management, Credit Risk Management technology. From 2007 he practiced as External Consultant on Credit Risk Management to various credit providers and Affordable Housing Consulting. From 2008 to 2009 Tjaart was CEO of the National Debt Mediation Association. From then to today he has been Shareholder and Director of Corporate Rebels participating in activities on the Credit subject such as conferences, end-to-end consulting, end-to-end strategic analysis and consulting, training, Credit Bureau, Debt Collecting consulting and affordable housing consulting.

Matija Arapović is a Managing Director and Owner of Prima Solvent, Prima Bon and Prima Collect Croatia. All together a group of companies involved in credit risk management which count approx. 90 employees.Before founding Prima Group, Matija was Manager in Coface Croatia for a ten Years. Together more then 19 Years of experience in debt collection and credit report services as well as Credit insurance. Matija Arapović is president of Croatian Debt collection association (HUAN)and Secretary in Croatian Credit report association HUBA), representing HUAN at FENCA. Holds Croatian university degree as well as Henley Diploma in Management. Involved in almost all significant  debt purchase and debt collection projects on Croatian market.

Mirona Dolocan works at the Banca Comerciala Romana SA as Managing Director of the Corporate Recovery Division.

Her previous experience was gained in law firms and legal positions within banking institutions advising primarily on complex financing structures and M&A. Currently she manages the corporate recovery function in Banca Comerciala Romana, the largest financial group in Romania.

Mirona holds an Executive MBA degree from Instituto de Empresa Business School (Madrid, Spain).

Eugen Anicescu started his career in 2001, in Generali Insurance, as Head of Insurance.

Starting from 2007, he is working in Coface Romania, and he owned, over time, more strategic positions, such as Credit Insurance Manager during April 2007 - January 2011, Deputy Managing Director, during January 2011 - September 2012.

In October 2012, he was appointed as Managing Director and he held this position until March 2016, when he became the Country Manager of Coface Romania. 

Eugen Anicescu, 39 years old, graduated the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and he holds a Business Administration Master Degree within the same University.

Alina Popa started her career in 2000 in Allianz Tiriac within the Financial Risks Department.

She has been working in Coface Romania since 2011 and during January 2013 - March 2016 she held the position of Deputy Managing Director.

Since April 2016 she has been appointed Commercial Director.

Alina Popa is 38 years old and graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies.

With more than 17 years of banking experience, Elisa Rusu is the Head of Factoring Division in Banca Transilvania with a market share in factoring of 12%.

Previously she has been acting as the CEO for several financial institutions in leasing and factoring.

She also holds a BA title in International Economic Relationships as well as a MBA degree in Financial Management from City University of Seattle.

Ed Goos has a background in auditing and still hold a license as charted auditor (Register accountant) in the Netherlands. After working for an auditing firm he joined Ricoh and got familiar with the concepts of leasing and credit management. Ed started in 2006 in the auditing department of Euler Hermes in which he learned a lot about credit insurance in different countries. In 2008 Ed was appoint as board member in a joint venture Euler Hermes had with Rabobank in the Netherlands. In 2010 Ed became the CFO for all credit insurance and bonding activities of Euler Hermes in the Netherlands. In 2012 he was appointed as CFO for all activities of Euler Hermes in the Nordic countries, based in Stockholm. In 2015 Ed was appointed CEO of Euler Hermes for all activities in Central and Eastern Europe. In this function he is responsible for all activities of Euler Hermes in Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czech rep and Slovakia.

Dan Ostahie has been leading the strongest group of companies in the electro-IT industry in Romania. Throughout 20 years of entrepreneurship, he has proven to be a visionary leader having the capacity to identify and capitalize market opportunities or create them when needed, in order to make a change with significant impact on the Romanian market.

In 1994, Dan Ostahie launched the first Altex store, in Piatra Neamt. Ten years later, he tackled a dual-chain strategy, introducing Media Galaxy on the market, with premium electro-IT stores of over 2,500 sqm. Since its beginning, the company built by Dan Ostahie has been an industry pioneer, constantly bringing the latest technologies and developing best services and solutions for its over 12 million customers. Today, the two brands total a number of 92 stores, distributed nationally. Through the stores network and the online sales platforms, ALTEX and Media Galaxy offer over 16,000 products.