KRISTIJAN BUK, Chairman of the Management Board of Allianz ZB d.o.o., a mandatory and voluntary pension fund management company He was born in 1972 in Rijeka. After graduating from the Faculty of Economics and Business, he started his professional career at Croatia Line d.d. Rijeka. After his transition to ADRIA osiguranje d.d. Pula to the position of chief financial officer, he gained adequate knowledge in various business areas of an insurance company. After Grawe Hrvatska d.d. took over ADRIA osiguranje d.d., he became head of the Sector for Finance and General Affairs in 2001, and in late 2004 he became head of the Controlling Department and the procurator of the company. In mid-2005 he transitioned to Allianz Zagreb d.d. to the position of director of the Controlling and Asset Management Sector, and in 2007 he became member of the Financial Management Board. In 2008 he became chairman of the Supervisory Board of Allianz ZB d.o.o., a manadatory and voluntary pension fund management company and he held the position until 2015. He is also licensed as a pension fund manager. In 2011 he was appointed head of the Working Group on solvency capital requirements Solvency II which is a part of the Croatian Insurance Bureau, and in 2012 he was invited by the Ministry of Finance to participate in the preparation of the proposal for the Insurance Act. Mr. Buk is a President of the Council of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency as a representative of pension funds.
MARIO STAROSELČIĆ, CFA Member of the Management Board of Allianz ZB d.o.o., a mandatory and voluntary pension fund management company He was born in 1978 in Zagreb, where he studied and graduated from The University of Zagreb's Faculty of Economics and Business, majoring in finance. In 2002, after finishing his studies, he started working as an analyst at the Allianz ZB d.o.o., a mandatory and voluntary pension fund management company. In the middle of 2004 he became a portfolio manager at Allianz Zagreb, and early in 2008 he took the position of Director of the Independent Financial Asset Management Department. In November 2008 he became Chairman of the Management Board of Allianz Invest. In April 2017 he was appointed to the Management Board of the mandatory and voluntary pension fund management company Allianz ZB d.o.o. He passed the broker, investment advisor, and pension fund manager exams and, after completing the CFA certification program, became a Chartered Financial Analyst.
ROBERT KNORR is the Managing Partner of MidEuropa and is responsible for the execution of the firm’s strategy and the day-to-day management of the firm. He also leads the Consumer sector and chairs the Management and Investment Committees. Robert joined MidEuropa at its inception in 1999 and has been instrumental in building the firm into a leading private equity player in Central Europe. Robert has been involved in numerous transactions over the past 25 years of his private equity career, including Optegra, Mlinar, Cargus, Hortex, Allegro, Profi, Imlek, Knjaz Milos, Bambi, Zabka, Energy 21, Calucem, SBB Telemach, Aster, Karneval, and Telemach / EON. Robert has Master’s in Finance from London Business School and Bachelor’s in Economics and Business from the University of Rome ”La Sapienza”.
ZVONKO KOSTANJČAR is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb (FER), specializing in the development and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in finance. He is the founder and head of the Laboratory for Finance and Risk Analytics (LAFRA), where he leads research, innovation, and education in advanced financial technologies. He established the postgraduate specialist programme Products, Digital Innovations and Technologies in Insurance (INSURTECH) and currently serves as Chair of its Expert Council. He contributed to the establishment of the Centre of Research Excellence for Data Science and Cooperative Systems, the first centre of excellence in the field of technical sciences in Croatia. He has led numerous nationally and internationally funded research and innovation projects and has collaborated with financial institutions and technology companies on the development of AI-powered solutions for finance and risk management. He has built an extensive record of scientific publications, including papers in leading journals and premier international conferences in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and quantitative finance.
DR. MARTINA DALIĆ serves as the President of the Management Board of Podravka, a position she has held since February 2021. She is responsible for the company's overall operations and strategic management. Holding a doctorate in economics and possessing extensive experience across the public, private, and international sectors, she has held numerous high-level positions throughout her career. She served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Minister of Finance, State Secretary and Assistant Minister of Finance, and as a Member of the Croatian Parliament. She also gained significant experience in the private sector, having served as President of the Management Board of Partner Banka and Chief Economist at Privredna banka Zagreb, as well as working as a resident advisor on public financial management at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
ŽELJKO KUKURIN graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business in Zagreb and began his career as an intern at Riviera Poreč in 2000 while pursuing his Master of Science in Marketing. From 2003 to 2009, he held various managerial positions in sales and marketing, developing strategic projects such as direct online sales and CRM. In 2010, he earned an Executive MBA from Bocconi University and became CEO of Istraturist d.d., collaborating with Meliá Hotels International and participating in the company's sale in 2014, after a successful restructuring. In June 2015, he was appointed president of the Valamar management board, where he led significant growth and investment, overseeing projects worth over 1 billion euros and earning a Doctor of Economics degree in 2020. Under his leadership from 2015 to 2019, Valamar repositioned its portfolio and doubled its enterprise value, becoming the best employer in tourism. Mr. Kukurin was named Businessperson of the Year in 2017 and has been an advocate for corporate responsibility and sustainable tourism. He holds key positions in the Croatian tourism sector, including deputy chairman of the supervisory board at Imperial Riviera d.d., and is actively involved in various professional and academic associations.
ANA ZORIĆ is an experienced legal professional with over 18 years in public administration, specializing in financial and economic regulation. Since February 2021, she has been serving as Head of the Directorate for Economic Affairs and Financial System at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia. In this capacity, she oversees the development of legislative and regulatory frameworks governing the banking sector, financial markets, including capital markets as well as accounting and auditing. Ana has been a leading force behind the development of Croatia's Strategic Framework for Capital Market Development 2025 - 2030, which aims to mobilize domestic savings and strengthen the role of capital markets in financing the Croatian economy. She leads the team that works closely with key institutional partners and financial industry in order to advance the broader agenda of deepening and modernizing Croatia's capital markets. Ana is exceptionally active in promoting financial literacy and consumer protection, processes in which she has been actively involved for the past seven years. She strongly advocates the position that adequate financial education benefits citizens at all stages of life, as well as society as a whole, serving as a necessary complement to the consumer protection system and the responsible behaviour of financial service providers. As the head of the Croatian delegation in October 2023, Ana successfully presented the legislative and institutional framework of the Republic of Croatia regarding financial consumer protection and financial literacy before the OECD technical committees (Task Force on Financial Consumer Protection and INFE).
GORAN ĐORESKI is Managing Director for Croatia at Digital Realty, a global provider of carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. With almost 30 years of experience in technology and operations, Goran built the first part of his career in the financial sector, working in payment systems and card processing, including leadership roles at Erste Bank and MBU (now EGCP). He later transitioned into the data center industry, where he has spent the last 16 years leading mission-critical infrastructure operations, business development and digital infrastructure initiatives. Based in Zagreb, he is actively involved in the development of Croatia's digital infrastructure ecosystem. In addition to his role at Digital Realty, he serves as President of the Croatian Data Center Association (HRDCA), where he works with industry stakeholders, technology providers, telecommunications operators and public institutions to promote the growth of digital infrastructure, connectivity and data center investments in Croatia. He regularly contributes to discussions on digital infrastructure, interconnection, AI readiness, data sovereignty, energy efficiency and the role of data centers in supporting economic growth and digital transformation
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