Scott Blacklin is Principal and founder of Blacklin Associates, LLC, a specialized consultancy for businesses committed to developing and emerging countries. Blacklin Associates also provides accelerator and capitalization services for early-stage technology companies seeking to enter the U.S. market.
Mr. Blacklin has devoted virtually all of his professional life to furthering commercial and political ties between the United States and emerging markets, with particular experience in Russia and Eastern Europe. Mr. Blacklin began his career with the U.S. Department of Energy, where he managed energy technology issues and cooperative agreements with the USSR, Eastern Europe, and the Peoples Republic of China. He subsequently spent over ten years in Eastern Europe and Russia, leading the Moscow offices of several U.S. companies, including WJS Incorporated, Westinghouse Electric, and Motorola’s International Cellular Infrastructure Group. Mr. Blacklin culminated his work in Russia in 2001 as president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia.
In the U.S., Mr. Blacklin served as Director of the International Division of the State of Maryland, working to increase Maryland exports and attract foreign investment, and subsequently as Vice President for Cisco Systems Emerging Markets, and was responsible for driving sales of Cisco technology and services to public sector organizations in over 130 countries.
Mr. Blacklin graduated in 1975 from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and completed post-graduate work in Soviet Studies at The George Washington University. Mr. Blacklin also studied at Leningrad State University and speaks fluent Russian.
Sam has more than 15 years of investment banking, corporate finance and startup experience and provides capital structuring, financial modeling and investor due diligence support to growth stage technology and real estate companies. Sam is currently Finance Director at Olis Robotics, a Seattle-based startup developing next-generation software for pilot controlled robots. He is also a Director at Harvest Partners (HPCA LLC), a private equity and business advisory firm focused on technology enabled service companies. His diverse experience includes roles at Lehman Brothers, PwC, Expedia, Kymeta and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development where he managed finance functions and board level reporting for high profile investors including Bill Gates and Barry Diller. Sam received his BBA in Finance, summa cum laude, from The George Washington University and his MBA in Technology Management from the University of Washington.
Alex is an investment banker who worked for several premier investment banks, financial authorities and advisory firms:
• French, 24 years advisory experience
• M&A, financing advisory and emerging markets services
• Managing Partner and co-founder of Alexander Partners (Paris) - www.alxpartners.com
• Previously worked for Commercial Bank Qatar (Doha), Abu Dhabi Investment Company (Abu Dhabi), Rothschild (Paris, Abu Dhabi), Peregrine Capital (Hong Kong/Singapore), Lazard Freres (New York)
• HEC-ISA (MBA), Ms. ChE. Umass Amherst, Eng. ENSIC
• French, English. Notions of German, Russian, Arabic
• Implemented fundraising (2009-2010) for part of Sochi Olympic 2014 real estate developments and was in charge of the management of the 600M USD Qatar Pearl Real Estate Fund which developed the Qanat Quartier (2011-2013).
Michael assists clients with business strategy, organizational development and executive coaching. Michael has served as Senior Managing Director at Fujitsu Consulting and as the regional head of its financial services practice. At McKinsey & Company, he developed transformational leadership training and worked on corporate strategy. As Director of Strategic Planning at KPMG Asia Pacific, Michael developed strategy for building KPMG’s consulting practice in Asia and served as an adviser to business and government leaders. As Executive Vice President of Twenty First Century Venture Partners, Michael invested in and advised early stage technology companies.
Michael advised the major political parties in Taiwan, and organized and moderated that nation’s first election debate. He was a major party candidate for the United States Congress from New York. Michael has worked with several notable visionaries including Buckminster Fuller and Dr. Jonas Salk, and has provided policy advice to U.S. political and economic leaders during the recent near collapse of the financial sector.
Michael was awarded a B.A. with honors in economics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he was the President of the Student Government. He also has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
NEBI HOXHA was born in 1964 in Skopje. He has a Master degree in Electrical Engineering. Comes from a family that deals with the processing of gold jewelry, since 1965. After graduation he continues with development of family handcraft workshop into known jewellery company, Smaragd 1969.
Since 2003 Nebi Hoxha also is a founder of American School of Kosova. ASK is K-12 education school accredited in Washington.
Since 2006, Hi is a founder of three furniture factories: Tefik Çanka, Divani and Deko.
Except production, Nebi Hoxha also is a founder of the company “Rubin Invest”, that deals with construction. Since 2006, it has built dozens of high residential and business buildings.
Since 2018 he is a founder of the newest innovative trading complex in Kosovo, FRV( Ferizaj Retail Village).
All these companies are part of the "OXA-Group", where he is also a founder and member of the board of directors. At the same time, in addition to the private sector, he was also active in the non-governmental sector as a member of the Board of Esnaf Association, member of the Board of Directors of the Albanian foundation for scholarships, Chairman of the Balkan Association of Jewelers, four years as a Board Member of the Economic Chamber of North – West Macedonia and almost eight years as a President of ECNWM. Six years as managing board member of South East European University. Three years sa a board member of FEMSH(Pan Albanian Economic Forum).
Nebi Hoxha during his career is certified in business administration certified by International Trading School (ITS) - Professional Forex Trading dealing with currency and gold trading.
Nebi Hoxha speaks Albanian Language as a mother tongue, Macedonian, Serbian and English fluent, while in Italian and Turkish medium.
His passion are hiking and diving, both with long experience.
Andreas is a former Deloitte & Touche Europe, Director in Corporate Finance focusing on acquisitions, capital-raising, and financial consulting. Outside consultant on project by project basis with such institutions as Abu Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC)/InvestAD, Deloitte, and good working relationships with the principals of European, Canadian, Chinese and American public companies as well as with boutique investment banks in Europe and Asia.
Academic work includes undergraduate and graduate studies in international relations and economics from the School of International Service (SIS) / American University, in Washington, D.C (both thru the Fulbright program).
Andreas set up a small foundation (non-profit initiatives which are supported entirely by him and without any financial benefit or outside funding):www.andreaskaras.com
Andreas has CFA Level II passed and his main hobby is learning languages: Greek (native); English and Russian (fluent); French and Spanish (well); Portuguese, Arabic and Chinese (basic).
Mr. Kohler is president of Ridge Global and has served in the past in a number of roles for its affiliates including as Chief Innovation Officer for Ridge Global and Risk Cooperative and prior to that as Chief Executive Officer for Ridge Global Solutions and principal advisor to the strategic consulting practice. He previously served as the first president of Space Florida, a Florida Special District focused on economic development within the aerospace economic sector including the implementation of educational initiatives for students and educators centered around science, technology, engineering and math STEM using space-based technologies as the focal point. Before that, Mr. Kohler was the president of Winner Global Defense, a privately held company focused on military and non-military applications of aircraft countermeasures based on laser based detection technologies. Earlier, he served as senior vice president for Corporate Advisory Services for CB Richard Ellis/Pittsburgh. Mr. Kohler also served, then-Governor Ridge as Director the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Governor's Action Team, where he was responsible for the Team’s configuration of financial incentive programs for industrial and business expansion projects throughout the Commonwealth. He holds a BA in Urban Studies from Edinboro University (Edinboro, Pennsylvania).
Karen is CEO and Founder of Konscious Konsulting LLC. Karen promotes the business paradigm that focuses on people, planet, purpose and prosperity. She has over 20 years’ experience working with global brands including managing projects for celebrity brands such as George Foreman, Bob Marley and Akon. She is an MBA graduate of Thunderbird – School of Global Management, is bilingual and has travelled to over 70 countries. In 2014, Karen launched her own consulting company to support organizations with business development, sustainability strategies, marketing and communications, events and strategic partnerships. One of her first projects included a C-suite position at Akon Lighting Africa, which brought solar energy solutions to over 1 million rural households in over 10 countries. Here she managed communications, strategic partnerships and was the connector between governments, Heads of State and businesses to create public private partnerships. She is advising Akon on strategic partnerships for his Smart City initiative in Senegal. Karen is passionate about supporting scalable technology solutions such as those impacting clean energy and ocean plastics. She has attended the Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) on Sr. Richard Branson’s Necker Island and she is an Ambassador for the Global Blockchain Business Council. One of Karen’s many skills is her ability to foster strategic partnerships between like-minded organizations. In her spare time, Karen supports youth education and entrepreneurship programs such as the Tony Robbins Global Youth Leadership Summit and the Cherie Blair Foundation providing training for 100,000 female entrepreneurs.
Larisa studied English and Political Science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. After her studies, she worked for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for the Secretary of Agriculture, and later for the Governor of Pennsylvania, specializing in public policy. Larisa has spent the last several years working for the Royal Family in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in several capacities. She was responsible for business development with a focus on sustainability, as well as building a large non-profit foundation, working with children in refugee camps in the Middle East and Africa.
Larisa now serves as CEO of Phoenix Global, a business consulting firm, working with companies, foundations, non-profits and government agencies around the world, focusing on sustainable business planning and development, marketing strategies, developing breakthrough business models, reputation management, sustainability reporting, market analysis, etc. Understanding the potential and importance of sustainable development in Africa, Larisa works with the leaders of several African nations (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zambia and Ghana, specifically) to explore beneficial development, infrastructure and business opportunities. Additionally, Larisa is the founder of Global Impact Africa, a non-profit organization, which focuses on the promotion of education, entrepreneurism, apprenticeship and vocational education programs for youth in Africa.
D.W. Moffett Senior Advisor, Film & Music Studios
D.W. Moffett has amassed an impressive list of stage and screen credits. A native of the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Illinois, Moffett never gave a thought to acting until after he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in International Relations. After he went to work at Chicago’s Continental Bank, he enrolled in an acting class on a dare…and that was the end of his banking career.
Moving along his new career path, Moffett became a founding member of Chicago’s Remains Theatre Ensemble, where he starred in, directed and/or produced over 40 productions. He first came to national attention starring in Larry Kramer’s landmark AIDS drama “The Normal Heart” at The Public Theater in New York, opposite Brad Davis. Subsequently, he appeared on Broadway in “The Boys of Winter”, “The Real Thing” and "Contact".
Since making the move to Hollywood, Moffett has divided his time between Film and Television. Favorite movie roles include appearances in “Stealing
Beauty”, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, “Thirteen”, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, “Twisted”, directed by Phillip Kaufman, and Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic”, for which he won a Screen Actor’s Guild Award in 2000. Moffett’s television credits include the ground-breaking TV movie about AIDS, “An Early Frost”, as well as series regular roles in “The Oldest Rookie”, “Hidden Palms”, “Skin”, “For Your Love” (where he also directed 6 episodes), “Chicago Sons” and “Life is Wild” . In 2009/10 Moffett appeared as the memorable and reviled Joe McCoy on the iconic NBC series "Friday Night Lights”. D.W. concluded production in 2016 on the Peabody Award-winning ABC Family (Freeform) show, “Switched at Birth”, in which he appeared as series-regular John Kennish for all 5 Seasons. Recently, D.W. recurred on Beau Willimon’s HULU show “The First”, starring Sean Penn, as well as ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder”, NBC’s “Chicago Med” and the Fran Drescher TVLand Comedy…”Happily Divorced”. D.W. is currently featured in the Amazon Series…BOSCH…Season 6…. which dropped April 2020. D.W. previously worked with Mark Polish on the feature films “The Sweet Smell of Success” with Billy Bob Thornton and Tea Leoni as well as “Headlock” with Dianna Agron and Andy Garcia.
Moffett will make a return to network television this fall, in a recurring role, in Fox Entertainment’s much anticipated drama series about the country music business “Monarch”, along with country-music star Trace Adkins and Susan Sarandon, among others. “Monarch” is slated to be released in September of 2022. D.W. returned to the director’s chair in the Summer of 2017, helming a comedy short, the award-winning “Holiday Hostage. He also directed an episode of the above-referenced Fran Drescher show as well as 3 episodes of Switched at Birth and the penultimate episode of the popular Disney Channel show “Austin and Ally”.
In October, 2015, D.W. was invited to take part in a Director’s Lab at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and was asked to speak with Performing Arts students. In February, 2016, D.W. hosted 15 SCAD students and faculty on the L.A. set of Switched at Birth, returning to SCAD in May of that year to conduct an Acting Master Class. And the hook was set! D.W. returned in the Fall of 2016 to teach four classes at SCAD in Performing Arts as well as Film and Television, during which time he fell in love with his new life as a professor, mentor and professional guide to his students. It was also during this time that D.W. identified some opportunities and potential areas of growth in the Film and Television Department. He presented these ideas to SCAD Leadership in October of 2016 and was soon thereafter offered the Chair of the Film and Television Department in Savannah…a department with over 650 (now 900!!) students and 15 (now 21) full-time faculty.
The results of D.W.’s leadership have been immediate and wideranging….echoed in the positive student comments and a re-energized faculty. SCAD won the National Student Emmy for Best Scripted Series in 2017 for our multi-camera comedy, “The Buzz”; the SCAD film “The
Peak” was awarded Best Student Film at the TheWraps’s 2018 Shortlist Festival and in March 2019 a SCAD student team of 70 wrote and produced the national winner of the Coke/Regal competition, ensuring a SCAD student film played on 550 Regal screens for 6 months. This year SCAD announced the build-out of its Savannah Film Studio to include an 11 acre back-lot and studio complex along with the largest XR Volume of any academic institution in the world. SCAD’s most recent sit-com, GRITS (Girls Raised in the South) is currently airing on all Delta domestic flights and more content has been requested. SCAD FILM is certainly taking off.
Finally, D.W. was honored to serve as a consultant with AECOM in Skopje, North Macedonia from March to May 2017 to the Macedonia Support Initiative (MSI). D.W. consulted on pre-preproduction and production of two locally written and produced single-camera TV series, both of which were early attempts by the new North Macedonian government to serve more current tastes and move the media landscape away from “state capture”.
D.W. returned to Skopje in June of 2019 to direct the Ensemble of the Dramski Teatar Skopje in a Macedonian language production of NSFW, by Lucy Kirkwood. The play opened to rave reviews at the Ohrid Summer Theater Festival in July of 2019. He is currently working with FDI Global; and with STP Capital Partners Holdings on The Skopje Technology Park project to develop a major LEED certified Hollywood film, music and media studio in Skopje, North Macedonia called Stonebridge Studios.
Dr Nebojša Stanković is Attorney at Law https://nebojsa.com/NebojsaStankovicPhD.html the founder and principal of Stankovic & Partners Law Office, Niš, Serbia. www.stankovicandpartners.com is a pioneer in promoting international business, investments and law in Serbia & South East Europe, representing some of the most relevant companies working in Serbia, including several banks. More then 30 years of extensive experience in ICT law, banking, corporate, commercial, litigation and finance law are confirmed by results in various proceedings under Serbian and international jurisdiction. He participed in projects of the World Bank Group, the World Justice Project, ECHR and is a member of: AmCham Serbia, the Deutsch-Serbischen Wirtschaftskammer (AHK), Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie France Serbie (CCFIS), the Camera di Commercio Italo-Serba (CCIS) and Canadian-Serbian Business Association (CANSEE). University of Nis award for the best graduated student of generation at Faculty of Law. The doctoral thesis "The influence of normative regulation of foreign direct investment on sustainable development of Serbia". Lecturer at the Academy of the Bar Association of Serbia. Ambasador of Serbia at Global Blockchain Business Counsil (GBBC). Languages: Serbian, English and French. More on www.nebojsa.com
From an early age, Ivan was engaged with his father's private company, which main activity was trading large quantities of precious metals, foundries, and appliances throughout Yugoslavia. The son of a political dissident, Ivan and other members of the family were exposed to attacks perpetrated by Yugoslavian-Serbian politicians since 1982 when he was seven years old. The whole family was forced to fight to survive and flee the country which was ruled by a totalitarian regime. He and his family were seen as enemies of the very state in which they had grown up. They managed to leave the country during wartime and were granted political asylum in Cyprus via the UN. This meant starting a new beginning in a foreign country and being left without friends and relatives, property, or financial resources in a completely new environment, with members in the family suffering with health issues due to the persecution they had just escaped from. Ivan restarted in Cyprus in the hospitality business as a partner, at a small construction company, worked in trading certain major brands. It was through these struggles that Ivan, a holder of dual citizenship, both Macedonian and Serbian, became determined to re-establish his family in the Balkans. He decided to create a project with deeper meaning and impact that would help establish closer ties for the broader region. It should bound the people both economically and culturally, provide more economic and educational opportunities for the young population and open the bridges to the West - thus help ensure what happened to him as a young man never happens in the Balkans again. Ivan speaks Serbian, English, Macedonian and basic Greek. .
Charles Waterman is the Chief Executive Officer and founding member of Jefferson Waterman International. Mr. Waterman’s decades of experience in the international arena translate into an exceptional ability to forge favorable political environments for clients’ political and commercial ventures. At JWI, Mr. Waterman both oversees firm-wide operations and directly manages client representation, particularly those related to his areas of special expertise. These include Africa and the Middle East, as well as petroleum and mineral resources.
Before founding JWI, Charles Waterman held several leading positions within the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. As Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, he oversaw production of intelligence estimates on global issues to support Cabinet-level economic, political and military deliberations. As National Intelligence Officer for the Middle East, Mr. Waterman coordinated the intelligence input to policy deliberations in the Near East and South Asia. As a member of the Foreign Service, Mr. Waterman spent many years living and working overseas in Kuwait, Cairo, Beirut, Amman and Jiddah.
Mr. Waterman was awarded the CIA Intelligence Star and Medal and the CIA Meritorious Officer award. A recognized expert in the Middle East, Mr. Waterman has functional expertise in defense and petroleum industries, and has published extensively in foreign affairs journals.
Mr. Waterman holds degrees from Brown University in Rhode Island and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in the Middle East and was awarded the Christian Herter Fellowship for outstanding academic performance. He speaks Arabic and French.
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