Economic Committee

Gordan Gledec is a full professor at the Department of Applied Computing, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing of the University of Zagreb. He graduated in 1996 and earned his Ph.D. in 2004. He is the recipient of FER’s “Josip Lončar” Silver Plaque for a particularly successful doctoral dissertation in the academic year 2003/2004. His research and teaching interests include internet and web technology and natural language processing. From 2018 to 2022, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. In 2004, he became a member and in 2011, the president of the Management Committee for domena.hr, an independent expert body of the Croatian academic and research network CARNet, in charge of managing the domain space of the Republic of Croatia. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), deputy president of the Croatian Genealogical Society “Pavao Ritter Vitezović” and co-author of the book “Pred zagonetkom obiteljskog stabla” (author of the chapter on computers and genealogy).

Siniša Reljić was born in Zadar, and in 1980 he graduated in shipbuilding at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Rijeka. After his studies, he started working at Brodoprojekt in Rijeka, which was the largest state-owned design company in shipbuilding at the time. He is the founder of Navis Consult Ltd. and was a director for 25 long years, and since 2021, he holds the position of advisor. Since 2019, Navis Consult Ltd. operates as a part of Kongsberg, a group with more than 15,000 employees and annual revenue of 2.5 billion euros. Siniša Reljić is an experienced manager with a long history of managing a successful engineering company in the shipbuilding industry. He is an expert in the fields of project management, shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, and business management.

Mislav Balković graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing at the University of Zagreb, where he earned his Ph.D. in 2016. Since 1998, he has been associated with the field of education, and in 2009, he assumed the position of Dean of Algebra University College. He is a former member of the National Council for Science, Higher Education, and Technology (2010-2016), and the Accreditation Council of the Agency for Science and Higher Education (2020-2022). He is currently a member of the Commission for the Establishment of the Croatian Qualification Framework (HKO), the Commission for Drafting the Adult Education Act, the Scientific Activity and Higher Education Act, and the Quality Assurance in Science and Higher Education Act. He is the Vice President of the Croatian Association of Employers in Education (HUP-UPO).

Marin Bezić is an experienced management consultant with a deep understanding of the sector and expertise in building out blue-chip tech organizations. He spent 12 years at Microsoft, where he was crucial to product development and the force behind Microsoft’s first business intelligence application. After his first 8 years at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, USA, he moved to Microsoft’s London headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where he led the Application Platform business in over one hundred countries. In his spare time, he enjoys running and hiking. He owns a small olive grove on the Croatian island of Šolta, where he often spends his summer days with his family.

Vedran Kružić was born in 1974 in Rijeka. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business in Rijeka. From 2002 to 2012, he held the positions of manager for key business users, manager of business sales for the West region, and manager of sales to key business users and state institutions in Hrvatski Telekom d.d. In 2002, he was an assistant to the Minister of Economy for trade and the internal market. In 2018, he was appointed as Director of the Regional Development Agency of the Primorje-Gorski kotar County (Prigoda), a public institution whose activities are aimed at providing expert and advisory assistance in the preparation and implementation of projects and the creation of strategic development documents for public law bodies.

Ana Odak studied at the Faculty of Economics and Business and the Faculty of Croatian Studies at the University of Zagreb. She continued her studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb, where she earned the title of Master of Science in the field of social sciences, and the title of University Specialist in European Studies. She started her professional career at Europa Press Holding, and continued at the Ministry of the Interior. She then spent part of her career at the Ministry of Justice and the Agency for Regional Development of the Republic of Croatia. She spent most of her career working at the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, where for the last four years, she held the position of Assistant Minister in charge of the Directorate for Strategic Planning and EU Funds Coordination. In Gitone p.l.c., she held the position of Strategic Investments and Incentives Director, and is currently a Board member.

Irena Peršić Živadinov, Ph.D., assumed the leading position of the county tourist board in 2011. She was educated in Croatia, Italy, and the USA. She graduated high school in the USA, after which she studied business management. She continued her education at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Padua (Italy), where she studied economics. She earned her Master’s degree at the Faculty of Management in Tourism and Hospitality in Opatija, where she also earned her Ph.D. After completing her studies, she started working at the Milenij Hotels Group, where she actively participated in the construction and later operation of the hotel from the very beginning. She later assumed the position of finance director at SKG Ltd. and then transferred to the regional department for strategic infrastructure and development, where she works on EU projects.

Professor Emerita Slavica Singer is a retired professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business. She graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek and received her Master’s degree from Purdue University, Krannert Graduate School of Management, USA. She earned her Ph.D. at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Osijek, where she has been employed since 1973. Since 2002, she has been leading the Croatian research team in the framework of the world’s largest research on entrepreneurship, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). She was a member of the Board of Directors of the GEM consortium from 2010 to 2018 and led the Research and Innovation Advisory Committee at the global level within the Board. In 2008, UNESCO awarded her the only UNESCO Chair for Entrepreneurship Studies in Croatia. For her contributions to entrepreneurship research and the development of entrepreneurship education, the Turku School of Economics (Turku University) awarded her an honorary doctorate in 2010, and in 2021, Lund University awarded her the European Entrepreneurship Education Award.

Kristjan Staničić graduated from the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija. He completed a one-year study at the Diplomatic Academy and earned a Master’s degree from the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija. He started his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and he also has extensive experience in the tourism sector. He worked as an assistant director of marketing and sales at “Hoteli Novi”, and was also a member of the Management Board of the same company. He also held the position of president of the “Liburnia Riviera Hotel”, president of the Crikvenica-based hotel company “Jadran” and executive director of sales and marketing, and then president of the Bernardin Hotel in Portorož, Slovenia. In 2017, he was appointed Director of the Main Office of the Croatian National Tourist Board.

Ivo Usmiani was born on the island of Pag in 1953. He graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry of the University of Zagreb, where he further specialized in pharmaceutical technology (drugs production). He is the founder of the largest Croatian pharmaceutical company, Jadran-galenski Laboratory, and has been the company’s director since its founding in 1991 and President of the Board of Directors since 2015. As the President of the Board, he deals with the company’s strategy, vision, and supervision. In 2023, Primorje-Gorski kotar County awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award for exceptional achievements in the County’s economy, for his contribution to connecting the university and business community, and for the permanent promotion of the social responsibility of entrepreneurs.