22nd ISPI EMEA Annual Conference
Performance Improvement in Turbulent and Transitionary Times
September 26 - 29, 2023 - 1st Hybrid Event
Tbilisi, Georgia and Online
Overview and Registration
Program and Sessions
Senior Executive Panel
One of the perennial highlights of ISPI EMEA conferences is the Senior Executive Panel. Participants in the conference will have the opportunity to hear from and interact with three (3) panels of senior executives (one per day) with diverse backgrounds, in a special 75-minute session format. During these highlighted events, participants will hear directly from experienced senior executives about the challenges and opportunities facing organizations today, with a focus on “Performance Improvement in Turbulent and Transitionary Times,” and their thoughts on how we as performance improvement professionals can potentially contribute to organization results in a meaningful way.
Questions to guide this discussion will be created from ideas suggested by conference registrants in advance of the conference and at the conference through our Discussion Space, which will be available whenever the Conference is in session. There will also be time within each Senior Executive Panel session for questions and comments directly from session participants, as well as the Panelists themselves.
2023 SENIOR EXECUTIVE PANEL MODERATOR –
#1 Performance Improvement in Turbulent and Transitionary Times.
Juan Pablo Ortiz Jiménez
Senior Consultant, Coach, and Facilitator at YesP
Juan Pablo has been responsible for numerous performance improvement interventions and change processes in Europe, Asia, North and South America. He is a valued partner in helping organizations, teams, and leaders achieve measurable and meaningful results. Juan Pablo combines theoretical and empiric knowledge with strong training and facilitation skills. He has led leadership development programs in multiple industries and multicultural environments around the globe. Earlier in his career, Juan Pablo held a CEO and other executive positions in the e-commerce industry and worked for several years with the United Nations Development Programme. He has formal education in journalism and communication. Juan Pablo has lived and worked in Mexico, Colombia, Sweden, the United States, and China.
As a member of the International Society for Performance Improvement since 2004, Juan Pablo has attended many conferences. He has been facilitating the Senior Executive Panels of the ISPI EMEA conferences since Sweden (2010).
SENIOR EXECUTIVE PANELISTS – Panel #1
David Dzebisashvili
HICD Program Manager, Mission Gender Advisor, USAID Georgia
With 30 years of experience in international development, David has been with USAID since 2009. Over the years, he has been working in multiple fields of international development, including strategic planning and development, institutional performance, gender equality and female empowerment, poverty reduction, governance, and humanitarian assistance. David has worked in Georgia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and the UK. He holds an MSc in Development Management from the Open University, UK.
Nino Jorbenadze
Georgian Railway
Irakli Babukhadia
CEO, Georgian Water and Power
Andrew Kaiser
Founder and President of Kaizen, A Tetra Tech Company
Nino Latsabidze
Rustavi Mayor
2023 SENIOR EXECUTIVE PANEL MODERATOR –
#2 Performance Improvement and Transitioning to a Green Economy
David Tsiklauri
Senior Private Sector Development Advisor, USAID Georgia
SENIOR EXECUTIVE PANELISTS – Panel #2
Rolande Pryce
World Bank Regional Director for South Caucasus
Kamel Bouhmad
Deputy Country Director, ADB
Giorgi Cherkezishvili
Head of Secretariat, Investors Council, EBRD
Head of the Investors Council Secretariat, Giorgi Cherkezishvili worked on different high-level positions both in the public and private sectors, before joining the Investors Council Secretariat. He served as Chief Investment Officer at Wings & Freeman Capital; Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia; Head of Investment Department at JSC Partnership Fund; and held different positions at Corporate Banking Department of JSC Bank of Georgia.
Giorgi Cherkezishvili holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, specialization in Global Management from Grenoble Ecole de Management and Caucasus School of Business (Joint MBA Program); as well as Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in International Economic Relations from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
David Advadze
Head of the Division of Sustainable Development Promotion, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia
Givi Jgarkava
Board Member, Energo-Pro Georgia
2023 SENIOR EXECUTIVE PANEL MODERATOR –
#3 Performance Improvement and Supply Chain Resilience
Aleksi Aleksishvili
CEO, PMCG
Aleksi Aleksishvili, Chairman and CEO at Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG), has 20 years of working experience in the public finance and economic development policy sector as a high-level government official and the government adviser responsible for budget and financial policy, tax and customs policy reform, business climate improvement and doing business environment.
While Minister of Finance of Georgia between 2005 and 2007, he successfully conducted a series of reforms in the domains of public finance, tax and customs policy and administration as well as economic deregulation and liberalization domains. Georgia was ranked by the World Bank “Doing Business” survey as the world’s top reformer country in 2005-10. Georgia also rose from 132nd place to 18th in the ranking of “Ease of Doing Business” by the World Bank between 2004 and 2007.
As a result of comprehensive policy reform, during the Aleksishvili tenure Georgia’s GDP growth rate in 2005-2007 reached over 10% on average (2005 – 9.6%, 2006 – 9.4% and 2007 – 12.3%) while the country’s FDI increased from USD 250 million in 2004 to USD 2.1 billion in 2007.
As the Chairman of the United Nations Commission of Sustainable Development (2005-2006), he has addressed issues related to energy, climate change, air pollution and industrial development, successfully adopted by the Commission and UN General Assembly.
Aleksishvili is a member of the Caucasus and Central Asia Advisory Group (CCAG) of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Middle East and Central Asia Department (MCD). He has advised numerous governments of countries such as Albania, Mongolia, Kosovo, Mozambique, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan to enhance their respective business enabling environments by providing valuable assistance and delivering specialized experience of a transitional country.
SENIOR EXECUTIVE PANELISTS – Panel #3
Olesya B. Zaluska
COP, Competitive Economy Program, USAID Ukraine
Olesya has considerable experience in management positions in business development, investment, and strategy at international companies and governmental policy design. Having a law degree and being a Stanford Center for Professional Development graduate, Olesya is a digital transformation expert and women empowerment advocate. Throughout her career, Olesya worked in both business and public sectors, including leading roles at Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine, PwC Ukraine, and GiZ.
Irakli Kervalishvili
PACE
Gabriel Abraham
COP, Governance and Local Accountability Program (Hoverla), USAID Ukraine
Lyudmila Firsova
DCOP, USAID Trade Central Asia Activity
Julian Fernandez
Managing Director, APM Terminals Poti, Poti Sea Port Corporation
PREVIOUS SENIOR EXECUTIVE PANELISTS
Dr. Davit Narmania
Chairman of Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Commission (GNERC) and Professor at Tbilisi State University
Online Conference, 2022
Louise Shixwameni
Deputy Executive Director, Ministry of Public Enterprises of Namibia
Online Conference, 2022
Robyn Hayes
Head: Group Strategy, Wits Health Consortium, Johannesburg/Pretoria, South Africa
Online Conference, 2022
Dr Jerry Gule
CEO, Institute of People Management (IPM), NPC Director, Gule Executive Coaching (Pty) Limited
Online Conference, 2022
Aleksi Aleksishvili
Chairman of the Board and CEO at Policy and Management Consulting Group
Online Conference, 2021
Elton Black
Director, Thrive Consulting Group
Online Conference, 2021
Karin Koritz Russberg
Vice President Global HR & Sustainability at Vitrolife
Online Conference, 2021
Shirley Zinn
Author of "Swimming Upstream", and Non Executive Director on multiple Boards
Online Conference, 2021
Jason Kap Kirwok (Kap)
Director Board of Directors at Kenya Trade Remedies Board, Kenya
Online Conference, 2020
Andre Venter
Pack Leader (CEO), NVNT
Online Conference, 2020
Matts Agelii
CEO, Inserve Technology AB
Online Conference, 2020
Ruud Janssen
EMBA, CFO, Sysmex Middle East FZ LLC
Online Conference, 2020
Alp Er Tunga Ersoy
General Manager at TAV Urban Georgia
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2019
Viktor Mizo
Managing Director KOSTAL Macedonia
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2019
Vasko Kroneski
CEO Nextsense
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2019
Angelka Peeva Laurencic
Managing Director ImagePR
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2019
Dan Timotin
General Manager at CCH Czech & Slovak
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2019
Peter Grönberg
Senior Vice President Culture and Leadership Volvo Group
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2018
Stina Möller
COO South West Sweden Espresso House
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2018
Mladen Pilipovic
Director of Engineering (Tribe Lead) Spotify
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2018
Monica Crusner
Owner/Founder Crusner Advokatbyrå
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2018
Giorgio Ferrandino
General Manager Sew-Eurodrive Italy
Bologna, Italy, 2017
Francesco Raphael Frieri
General Manager of Resources, Europe, Innovation and Institutions Emilia-Romagna Regional Government
Bologna, Italy, 2017
Oronzo Lucia
Corporate Automation and Control Manager Fameccanica Group, Italy
Bologna, Italy, 2017
Mardia Niehaus
Sr. VP, International Carrier Sales & Solutions Deutsche Telekom
Bonn, Germany, 2016
William Bowers
Global Vice President Commercial Sales SAP
Bonn, Germany, 2016
Ahmet Hancer
CEO at Enocta, Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey, 2015
Nilgun Langenberg
Managing Director Korn Ferry – Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey, 2015
Mumin Kahveci
General Manager IETT, Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey, 2015
Robert Grader
General Manager at Warsaw Marriott Hotel, Poland
Warsaw, Poland, 2014
Dorota Dabrowski
Managing Director at American Chamber of Commerce, Poland
Warsaw, Poland, 2014
Adam Tomczak
Founder and CEO Xpress Courier, Poland
Warsaw, Poland, 2014
David Lee
President Magticom, Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia, 2013
Farooq Siddiqui
General Director, Rustavi Metallurgical Plant, Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia, 2013
Michael Cowgill
President at Georgian American University, Georgia
Tbilisi, Georgia, 2013
Kristijan Danilovski
CEO / Co-Founder at fx3x, North Macedonia
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2011
Ognen Cubalevski
Former COO Seavus, North Macedonia
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2011
Blagoja Samakoski
President Mikrosam, North Macedonia
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2011
Daniel Szasz
CEO Makedonski Telekom, North Macedonia
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2011
Valentina Taseva
CEO at Semos Education, North Macedonia
Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, 2011
Kerstin Renard
Sr. VP Human Resources, Volvo, Sweden
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2010
Göran Bille
CEO and Group President, Lindex, Sweden
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2010
Josephine Rydberg-Dumont
Chief Executive, IKEA - Sweden