Communications and Development Department

During her career Milica has gained unparalleled experience working for more than 15 years with the private, public and civil sectors in Serbia and across the SEE region. As a marketing major, she was first engaged by Link group a leading company in IT education, to design product placement mechanisms and promotional materials. From 2007 through 2010, Milica held a post in USAID’s Municipal Economic Growth Activity (MEGA) program where she developed specific expertise in the field of local economic development and investment promotion as marketing advisor to more than 30 local government in Serbia. She continued her career as marketing manager in NALED, and soon grew to become Communications and Development Director. As a prominent member of NALED’s senior management team, Milica is in charge of NALED's strategic communications and positioning, public advocacy campaigns and events, creative solutions and membership development. Since 2021 she also serves as a Team Leader of the National initiative for cashless payments. She holds a master's degree from the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, with certificates in business planning, marketing (Academic Training Association) and investment promotion (FIAS, World Bank). She attended professional development programs in the USA, China and India. She is a member of Mensa and NALED’s Ethics Committee.

Ivan joined NALED team in May 2012 as a Media Advisor, contributing to the organization's media visibility with his vast and years-long experience in journalism. He is in charge of media relations, develops press releases, monthly newsletter, business journal Synergy, coordinates media appearances for NALED and other activities aimed at promoting the work of the Alliance. He started working as a journalist in 2003, in the economic section of daily newspaper Danas, being promoted to Editor position of the same section in 2009. In April 2011 he started working in NIN as the Editor of economic section of this weekly magazine. Very soon he moves to the function of Editor of economy in the best selling newspaper in the country – Blic, where he worked until joining NALED. He attended professional development programs organized by Reuters and the European Journalism Centre in Brussels. He received the award for the best young economic journalist in Serbia in 2008 (National bank of Serbia). He also won the European Young Journalist Award 2010, awarded by the Directorate-General for Enlargement in the European Commission.

Višnja received her Bachelor degree from the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, studying Polish language and literature at the Slavic department. She gained expert training and fifteen years in various positions and jobs in the banking sector, while strengthening her managerial skills as a Branch Office Director.  She joined NALED team in July 2015 as Membership Development Manager. Her main responsibilities at this position include the designing of membership development strategies, developing cooperation with the existing members, attracting and engaging new members from the local government, business and CSO sectors, promoting NALED's values and ideas, and defining new activities and programs for members.

Maja is marketing professional who has been working 20+ years in Marketing and Communications with several national and global companies, in domains of branding, advertising, digital marketing, CSR, leadership and crisis communications. She has joined NALED in 2021 as Head of Marketing Unit. Maja earned her PhD degree on the subject “Importance of Establishing Brand Cultures” at The European Carolus Magnus University in Brussels in 2009. She successfully obtained Master of Science degree and Bachelor at Belgrade Faculty of Economics in the field of Marketing as one of the best students in her class. Her first job was with the New Moment marketing agency, and position with Serbian Chamber of Commerce followed. In 2008, she accepted Head of Marketing role in, at the time, newly established KBC Bank. She continued working in Serbian finance sector in AXA, one of the leading global insurance company, famous for its strong brand and innovative approach. Maja spent nearly three years as a Marketing Manager in BDO Serbia, member of international network of public accounting, tax and advisory firms. Working in ASUS as Marketing Manager for Balkans was her latest role. She has written several expert articles, published in various marketing magazines in Serbia.    

Jovana has been working in NALED since 2012 as Marketing and Communications Assistant, becoming Marketing Coordinator in April 2018. Within the Marketing team, she participates in promotional activities, event and campaign management, preparation of materials, communication through digital channels and translates all printed and online materials. With excellent knowledge of English, since the beginning of her studies she has been working as a translator in various areas, developing expertise in this vocation. She gained previous experience in the civil sector, working on the projects of education in the field of reproductive health and rights for vulnerable population. She is particularly interested in online marketing, marketing research and entrepreneurship. She graduated from the Faculty of Philology, group Spanish language and Hispanic literature. Wishing to expand her education, after graduating, she completed Master studies in the field of Marketing management at the Faculty of Economy in Belgrade, with Master thesis "Contribution of Destination Marketing to Investment Promotion". She expands her knowledge at various trainings such as the "Certificate Course in Performance Management" in New Delhi, India. 

Milica gained professional experience in communications and marketing during many years of work on the development and implementation of external and internal communication strategies, brand management, corporate responsibility and public relations program planning, both in smaller and multinational companies. Milica gained experience in promoting and improving the business environment, developing and organizing events, as well as establishing and nurturing relationships with member companies while working in the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce. Milica speaks English and German fluently, and she edited all communication channels and bilingual publications of the chamber. She joined NALED in November 2021 in the position of manager for communications, events and CSR.

Stefabni has been working more than 15 years within civil sector and domestic companies. Initiated cooperation with international organizations as a Field Coordinator on USAID /CRDA program, being in charge of four municipalities in Western Serbia. Responsible for coordination, management and reporting on all projects within regional office. As a team member, participated in the development of one of the first municipal LED strategies in Serbia. After short-term engagement in Group 484 at the position of Project Coordinator Assistant, she continues her career at pharmaceutical company Inpharm, later moving to the position of MoneyGram Team Assistant, dealing with introducing money transfer services into the Serbian banking market. She has gained specific work experience working at the biggest media company in the Balkans - Adria Media Group at the position of General Administrative Coordinator and Personal Assistant to CEO. She became NALED team member in 2015, taking the position of Administrative Assistant, later holding the positions of Project and Administration Assistant and Membership Officer, maintaining continuous contact with NALED members and partners. She graduated at the Polytechnic Academy in Belgrade, holding Bachelor degree in Economy. Attended courses and trainings in the field of LED, project management and negotiation techniques. Speaks English and Greek.

Andrea completed her graduate studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University in Belgrade, as well as master studies in politicology, defending a master thesis "Political parody as a form of election strategy". During her studies, she was an active member of non-government organization Student Union Vršac, organizing sport manifestations and educational workshops for students. She was one of the founders of the first students' web portal in Vršac. She took part in the organization of major dancing competition and festivals. She gained practical knowledge in the field of marketing and journalism through internships in marketing agencies and the media, and she is currently one of the organizers of Vršac online conference wwvrsac. She joined NALED in October 2018, first as an intern in the Communications team, undertaking the position of Communications Assistant after six months. 

Aleksandra joined NALED first as an intern, and later as Public Relations Officer, actively taking part in the development of media content, promotional activities and other tasks within the PR unit. She gained her first work experience in the non-govenment sector, on the topic of improving the regulatory framework for doing business, in American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) as an intern in marketing and communications. During her studies in the field of literature, she was an active member of the debate club GSM Niš, which won the first prize in 2015 for the project Debattlefield within the program Centrifuga supported by Erste Bank. The same year, she had the first appearance in the business community, at the Summit of 100 Young Leaders of South East Europe, being one of the youngest participants and talking about raising awareness about the importance of the culture of speech, open dialogue and critical opinion. She has won several recognitions for creative writing and poetry. 

Jelena graduated from Faculty of political sciences in 2019. During a Bachelor's in International Relations, she had shown visible interest for journalism. Therefore, she attended training in investigative journalism and got a praise for her article about temporary employment. It was the first story she ever wrote. Jelena also attended Digital Media Internship, a young talents project organized by Ringer Axel Springer. During internship, she took online media and journalism classes, but also worked in the best selling daily newspaper in Serbia, known as Blic. At that time, Jelena was the only intern in Foreign affairs section. She joined NALED in December 2020 as PR intern.

Anja completed her basic studies at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences of the University of Belgrade, majoring in Management and Organization. She continued her master's studies at the same faculty, on the Project and Investment Management module. During her studies, she was a member of the student organization ESTIEM LG Belgrade, within which she organized various projects and thus gained practical experience in the field of project management, marketing and public relations. As part of the organizational team, she took part in the world IT conference called "eMagine Conference powered by Robert Bosch". She successfully completed the course "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People powered by Methods and Franklin Covey", and has a certificate of successfully completing the real business simulation "Cesim Global Challenge Business Simulation". Too, as part of the organizational team, she was involved in the projects: Case Study Show, EduFair and Serbia Open. She joined the NALED communications and development team in July 2021, in the position of intern for membership development and CSR. 

Sanja completed her undergraduate studies at Singidunum University in Belgrade in the field of information technology, where she acquired knowledge in graphic design, CMS and digital marketing. During her studies, she gained experience in digital marketing as a freelancer. She gained work experience in marketing in the company that deals with business training - Dale Carnegie, where she received a certificate in presentation skills "High impact presentation" and organized the event "Learn leadership strategies that drive workplace culture of engagement" in cooperation with the US embassies in the Ex-Yu region. She joined NALED in March 2022 as a Communications Officer in the Communications and Development Department. She is fluent in English.

Nada completed her basic studies in journalism and communication studies at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade. During her studies, she participated in the organization of important lectures, panel discussions, as well as visits to various media companies, thereby improving her skills in communication, public speaking, and event organization. In the last year of her studies, she did an internship at local television as a journalist-reporter. Nada has been engaged in the ongoing activities of the Public Relations Unit in NALED since December 2021. 

Igor is in his final year of study at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, majoring in management. Igor gained his first work experience at Ipsos Strategic Marketing as a field researcher. Igor then moved to the position of marketing intern at Marklab, where he worked on web design, social media management, as well as testing and optimizing user experiences. His last engagement was in of the biggest media agencies in Serbia Media House, where he, as a marketing assistant, mostly dealt with media planning and leasing of online and offline media. He joined NALED in February 2022 as a communications intern in the Communications and Development Department.