Consultants

Aleksandar Andrija Pejović has more than 19 years of project management and institutional building experience in international affairs, European affairs, government initiatives, strategy drafting and public administration reform, EU and other international projects in Montenegro and the Western Balkans on various positions as Minister of European Affairs, Chief Negotiator, State Secretary for European Integration, National Coordinator for the Instrument for Pre-Accession, Ambassador of Montenegro to the EU as well as a diplomat holding key positions in the Montenegrin MFA. More than 10 years of leadership experience by leading a number of Government bodies, such as Negotiation Team, National Commission for European Integration, College for Negotiations, Rule of Law Council, PAR Council etc. He has been involved in substantial dialogues and communication with the EU institutions, the EC, the Council, the EP, as well as Member States conducting dialogue and negotiating his country’s path towards membership in the EU. As Chief Negotiator responsible for the establishment and setting up of the negotiation structure of Montenegro of over 1300 people he prepared and oversaw the opening of 30 and closing of 3 chapters of the acquis as well as oversaw the programming of €225 M of national IPA I funds for the period 2007-2013; as well as the €270,5 M of IPA II 2004-2020 funds. He was also the initiator of the creation of the first system of strategic planning and multi-annual work programme coordination in the Government.

Aleksandra completed Bachelor and specialized studies in the European Union legislation at the Faculty of Law, University in Belgrade. She worked in the Serbia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and from 2005 to 2008 she served in the EU Cooperation Bureau, as a Coordinator for TAIEX Program and an Advisor for private sector education on the topic of EU accession process. In 2008 she joined the team of Serbian European Integration Office (from July 2017 the Ministry of European Integrations) as the Head of Internal Market in the Sector for coordinating Serbia's EU accession process and monitoring the Stabilization and Association Agreement. In this period, she was appointed by the Government of Serbia as the Secretary of two Subcommittees for the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement - the Subcommittee for Internal Market and Competition Policy and the Subcommittee for Trade, Industry, Taxes and Customs. She is the author of numerous publications for the Serbian European Integration Office, as well as articles in the expert magazine “Pravni instruktor” (Legal Instructor) of the company Paragraf, on the topics of EU accession negotiations. From 2015 to 2017 she was engaged as a lecturer in the course "Serbia's EU Accession" within the Master studies of EU integration at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, dealing with the issues of competition policy, state aid and consumer protection. She joined NALED in January 2018 at the position of Public-Private Dialogue Advisor.

Daniel became in July 2015 Director EBRD in Serbia, which is responsible for annual investments averaging Euro 480 million per year. Daniel joined EBRD in 1995, coming from the US Department of Treasury, and served as Advisor in the US Executive Director for three years. In 1997, he transferred to full-time EBRD staff within the Banking Department, where he worked for the Financial Institutions Team. In 2000, he moved to Almaty Kazakhstan, where he developed the Bank’s operations across sectors. From Kazakhstan, in 2004, Daniel became Head of Office in the Kyrgyz Republic, managing the office and overall operations. He was then asked to assume a similar role in Albania in 2007, followed by a Director’s position for Bulgaria. In August 2015, he took over the role of Director for Serbia. Daniel is educated in the US, at Rutgers College and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Goran Svilanović is an expert on economic and political developments in South East Europe. He served as Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (2013-2018). Between 2008 and 2012 he was Co-ordinator of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities. In November 2004, he became Chairman of Working Table I (democratization and human rights) of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, where he served until the end of 2007. From 2000 to 2004, Goran Svilanović was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia/State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Between 2000 and 2007, he was a Member of Parliament. With Ph.D. in Law, from the Union University in Belgrade, Masters and undergraduate law degrees from the University of Belgrade, Goran Svilanovic has also studied at the Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, the University of Saarland in Germany, and the European University Center for Peace Studies in Staadtschlaining, Austria.

Jelena completed bachelor and master studies at the Faculty of Law, University in Novi Sad, department of Internal Affairs, gaining a master degree in law. She worked as attorney intern in Novi Sad, and after passing the bar exam she enlisted in the directory of the Lawyers of  Vojvodin and worked as a lawyer in the field of civil matters, obligations, labor relations and commercial law. In April 2014 she was appointed the Secretary of Municipal Assembly of Pećinci and served on this position for nearly two terms. She also worked as the Secretary of Municipal Election Committee of Pećinci. In the meantime she completed the program „Managing regional development through EU funds“, established by the AP Vojvodin, University of Novi Sad and the Fund „European Affairs“ of AP Vojvodina, and she simultaneously acted as the Project Coordinator in the Municipality of Pećinci, taking part in all phases of projects realization in the field of infrastructure, education, culture, sports, as a leader and team member. In October 2017 she enrolled in PhD studies at the Faculty of Law, University in Novi Sad, department of Public Law. She has been engaged in the Support Unit to Coordination Commission for Inspection Oversight since November 2018, first as Regulatory Advisor, and later as Inspection Reform Advisor.

Jelena graduated from Faculty of Economics of the Belgrade University in 2002, department Statistics and Informatics. Jelena has gained professional experience with the Ministry of finance, in the Department for Macroeconomic and Fiscal Analysis and Projections, where she has been working for 17 years. She got professional development on numerous courses and seminars, in country and abroad, organized mostly by the International Monetary Fund. Jelena has been Assistant Minister in the period September 2007 – March 2016. Main duties and responsibilities were focused on preparation of strategic documents, such as Fiscal Strategy, Economic Reform Program, Budget Law, Budget System Law, etc. Also, she was involved in the process of introduction fiscal responsibility principle, fiscal rules, defining the fiscal measures related to the public finance consolidation Program, improving the process of statistical reporting on the fiscal position of the country in line with the international standards. Jelena was active member of working groups related to the negotiating process on the EU enlargement (chapter 17 and 33). She had a very proactive relationship with Serbian and foreign organizations and institutions, such as the IMF, World Bank, European Commission, Rating Agencies. From March 2017, Jelena has continued to work as a Senior advisor for coordination and managing of the EU own resources, related to the chapter 33. She joined NALED in September 2019, as Policy advisor.

Jelena is a former State Secretary within the Ministry of Finance and National Authorising Officer (NAO) in charge of financial management of EU assistance provided to Serbia, and of IPARD entrustment process (2016-2018), technical coordination of the process of preparation and implementation of the Economic Reform Programme and Public Finance Management Reform Programme, member of the Serbian Negotiating Team for the EU accession and Head of the Negotiating Group 32 - Financial Control. She also held the position of the Assistant Minister of Finance/Head of the Central Financing and Contracting Unit (CFCU). Since 2005, she has been improving her knowledge and upgrading her expertise in the area of regional cooperation and development, cohesion policy and European integration in the country and abroad, working in the Serbian public administration, European Commission (DG REGIO) and Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Brussels Liaison Office. She managed various EU programmes in the field of economic and social development, as well as technical assistance projects supported by the EU and other donors. She is highly experienced in preparation of operational programmes and evaluation and selection of project proposals, preparation/implementation of macro-regional strategies, design of multi-level governance architecture in macro regions, etc. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics at the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Economics, and obtained a Master degree in European Economic Integration at Vrije University in Brussels, Belgium.

Jovica has a degree in the field of law, and 20 years of working experience in providing trainings and technical assistance in the field of local economic development, project management, local government reform, establishment of service centers and construction permitting centers, improving the administrative procedures, strategic and action planning and inter-municipal and regional cooperation in more than 100 local governments in Serbia and the region (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, BiH, Montenegro and Ukraine). He gained his professional experience mostly in international humanitarian and development organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Danish Refugee Council (DRC), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), German Development Cooperation (GIZ), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), EU programs and projects etc. Jovica Damnjanović has been World Bank's longtime associate and contributor for the procedure and system of construction permitting in Serbia, and he has also worked with NALED for many years as a legal advisor, lecturer and evaluator/verificator in the BFC SEE process, and he is an accredited trainer for local government staff of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Government. 

Lidija has worked in the Support Unit to Coordination Commission for Inspection Oversight since July 2017, first as IT Support Advisor, and later as Inspection Reform Officer. She is a member of Implementation Team within the eInspector project. She graduated from the Faculty of Forestry in Belgrade, department of Ecological Engineering for the Protection of Land and Water Resources, later completing specialist studies in electronic business at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences. She gained her first work experience as a Marketing Assistant in market research agency “Delfi“. In 2003 she joined the team of internet provider company VeratNet as Marketing Assistant. She stayed in the company until 2013, serving as Sales Engineer for Key Business Accounts, and later as Marketing Manager. She took part in the one-year project for digital archiving implemented by Open Society Foundation. Since 2013 she has also engaged in online and social media promotion of brands from various industries. She has completed courses in Facebook Management and Search Engine Optimization.

Ljiljana is a consultant with over 15 years of professional work experience in the public, private and CSO sectors. She joined NALED in 2019 as an adviser for finance and project management.

Having started her career in 2005 with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water-management, she moved to the national oil company NIS in 2007 working on financial reporting and after 2010 as a finance coordinator in the Project Implementation Unit "Research and Development" Ltd, where she worked until the end of 2013 on various projects for development of scientific research infrastructures, financed by the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank.

From 2014 she worked in the Ministry of Interior’s IPA unit as a Coordinator for project implementation and monitoring. In 2015 she joined the Governments Audit Authority Office of EU funds, with responsibilities related to the audit of EU IPA projects.

Since 2017, she works as a freelance consultant and cooperates largely with civil society organizations on capacity building for project management and has extensive coaching experience. This includes working as a financial manager and grant scheme coordinator on a regional project “Western Balkans Enabling Project for Civil Society Monitoring of Public Administration Reform – WeBER”; as a project preparation specialist on a UNDP project “Support to Strategic investments in Education”.

She is an economics graduate and has a master’s degree in Project Management from the Faculty of Organizational Science.

Maja Pinjo Talevska is a Senior Policy Analyst, with a long track of work in the sector of political organizations. She has worked in the Office for Monitoring IPA and Other Funds in North Macedonia since 2006, where she specialized in the area of strategic planning and programming of IPA and other bilateral donor funds, monitoring of strategies, programs and projects, coordination with donors and establishing national and regional coordination mechanisms for successful implementation of relevant strategies. In 2014 she joined the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), where she further specialized in international relations, government and non-government organizations, policy analysis and research. She graduated with a bachelor degree from the Faculty of Economics in Skopje, and earned a Magister degree in the field of European Union Institutions and Policies, at the Faculty of Law „Justinijan I“ in Skopje, and at Modern European Studies of the European Research Institute, University in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Marija completed her basic and master's studies at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade. After her studies at the faculty, she was engaged as a teaching assistant in the course "Principles of Economics" and at the same time she did an internship as an analyst at Yettel. She continued her work experience in the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, where she worked on the preparation of activities for the Action Plan for Public Administration Reform and led a team of two analysts in the process of reforming the salary system in the public sector. Marija's further experience is at the Center for Advanced Economic Studies, where as an analyst she worked on analyzing and summarizing the key points of strategic documents, assessing the impact of the implementation of the circular economy in Serbia and promoting EU values ​​in Serbian society by creating examples of improving the everyday life of citizens. After that, Marija returned to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, where she worked as an advisor (in the field of analytics) to the assistant minister. She joined the NALED team in June 2023 in the position of Digitalization Advisor.

Marko is an economist with more than 10 years of experience in major domestic and international organizations, in domains of economic research, banking and academia. He has earned his PhD degree on the subject of ‘’Factors of regional competitiveness’’ at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in 2015, as well as the master’s degree on the subject of ‘’Role of corruption in FDI attraction – case of Central and East European countries’’ at the same university in 2010. He has joined NALED in 2021, in the role of Head of competitiveness unit, after having spent two years as senior economist in CEVES, and in parallel as a Serbian national consultant with UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs. Beforehand, Marko spent seven years in banking, of which two in role of the asset liability manager and five as macroeconomist in Addiko bank. Apart from this, Marko regularly holds lectures in macroeconomics and finance at some of masters programs of the University of Nice, as well as on programs of the Mokra Gora school of management. He has authored a significant number of studies, analyses and scientific articles in Serbia and abroad. Marko speaks English and French fluently.

Milan is an expert in inspection oversight, administrative and criminal law, regulatory reform, business regulations and related topics. Milan graduated with a Master degree in law, holding a bar exam certificate. He completed bachelor studies at the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad (2004), later undergoing post-graduate studies at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade (2010), and passing the bar exam in 2006 in Belgrade. He completed a large number of trainings and curses in the field of law, economy and regulatory reform. He is an active user of English in daily business communication and tasks. Milan used to work in the judicial system, law offices, businesses, the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, the Government’s Unit for Comprehensive Regulatory Reform and a legal consultant for a number of international projects. From 2011 to late 2017 he served as a Senior Expert Advisor for USAID Business Enabling Project, being in charge of inspection reform. He is the author of numerous expert publications and articles, including the guides for the implementation of inspection, administrative and business-related laws. He held numerous trainings, seminars and presentations. As Policy and Inspection Oversight Advisor, Milan provides his expert contribution to continuing reforms and takes part in numerous activities for drafting and implementation of laws, other regulations, guidelines, methodologies and other documents in the field of inspection oversight, administrative and criminal law.

Milena was born and educated in Belgrade, she is a fashion designer by profession, and she gained experience in administrative work through her engagement in SBB as a contact center agent, providing full support in resolving technical issues, in the period from 2011 to 2014. She also specialized in administrative matters through work engagement in a construction company from 2009 to 2011. Through a variety of work engagement, she gained experience in the field of administrative work, document management, reporting, procurement planning etc. She has worked with NALED since 2017, being engaged on the reform inspection project supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as Administrative Officer in the Support Unit to Coordination Commission for Inspection Oversight. She is also engaged in the Working group for food, as its Secretary. As an extreme sports enthusiast, she also tried her hand as a speleologist in the odlest club in Serbia, gaining experience in planning logisitcal activities. She has also practiced professional photography since 2011, being a photographer at the „World Forum for Democracy“ and „European Youth Event“ organized in Strasbourg. She is fluent in English. 

Milica is a final year student at the Faculty of Economics, University in Belgrade, department of Trade Marketing and Management. During her studies she was engaged on various projects, such as the organization and participation at the fair “Education in Australia”. She also participated in a series of workshops for students on the topics of creative job seeking and career development, in cooperation with the Career Development Center. She completed an advanced course in digital marketing. She is fluent in English and speaks German. She has been engaged as an operater in the Contact center for national inspections within the project financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, since March 2020. Her main tasks include communication with businesses and citizens regarding the issues they are facing, related to inspection oversight. 

Miodrag has gained his professional experience ever since 1989, on activities in the field of electrical engineering. He continued his professional experience and development in a publishing company Novi krov, in the area of magazine editing, and in ads magazines Krov oglasi and Auto oglasi, as well as in the field of graphic design and pre-press activities. He was also in charge of server and IT equipment maintenance. He established his own company Inter System BG Media in 2012, with marketing as its primary field of work, later being expended to include the computer and IT equipment maintenance. As an IT consultant, Miodrag is engaged in larger organizations such as Adria Media Group and NALED, and smaller NGOs - Astra Anti-Trafficking Action and Forum ZFD, and he also cooperates with entrepreneurs and SMEs. 

Nebojša gained his professional experience in the private and state sectors, in the field of local economic development, upon graduating from Douglas College in Vancouver, Canada. He has years of experience in the field of private sector development, employment, international cooperation and project preparation and implementation. The most significant institutions he worked in include the National Agency for SME Development, Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, National Employment Service. His project experience is related to his work with international organizations such as the World Bank, SDC, GIZ. He joined NALED's team in January 2019, in the Project Development Unit. He works on project prearation and management, monitoring and identification of potential donors and funding programs, identifying and coordinating cooperation with partners. 

Vuk graduated from the Faculty of Law, University in Belgrade in 2002. He earned his Magister degree in international post-graduate studies at the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD), United Nations' University of Peace - department of European Union law and international commercial law. He started his careeer in 2002 in the City Administration of Belgrade, where he worked until 2012. During this period, he went the path from an intern in the Finance Secretariat, to the Coordinator of Utilities and Residential Matters Secretariat. In May 2012 he joined the newly established company Wholesale Market Belgrade, as the Head of Legal Department, where he stayed until late 2013. In January 2014 he was appointed Assistant Director of the Investment and Residential Matters Agency of the Belgrade City Administration, where he stayed until February 2015. He worked in NALED from March 2015 to May 2016, being engaged on various legal issues significant for businesses and local economic development, most notably he took part in the construction permitting reform. He joined Serbian Chamber of Commerce in July 2016, first as the Head of Normative Matters and Agreements Department, and since September 2020 as the Director of Legal Affairs Directorate.

Đorđe Vukotić graduated from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, department of Commercial Law, and specialized in International Trade Agreement at the same Faculty. He attended professional development programs abroad on several occasions (European College in Burge, World Bank Institute). He started his professional lawyer career in 1989 in Belgrade and specialized in the field of commercial and coprorate law. Since 2002, he has been engaged as independent legal advisor on multiple projects in the field of deregulation, regulatory reform, business registration reform, corporate restructuring and improving the business conditions in Serbia, under the auspices of the World Bank, USAID and other international organizations. He took part in the development of laws in the field of economic regulations. From 2004 to 2011 he was the lead legal advisor of the Government of Serbia's Regulatory Reform Council, being engaged in the analysis and providing opinions to more than 350 draft laws. He is a regular coauthor of NALED's quarterly reports on the regulatory reform status, also being engaged on he development of NALED's Grey Book.