FORUM

AAB Chairman
CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania

Mr. Pedrazzi took office as Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Intesa     Sanpaolo Bank Albania on 1st October 2013. Mr. Pedrazzi was previously the       Head of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) & South Mediterranean Area
Department of Intesa Sanpaolo, in charge to coordinate the Subsidiaries located in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Egypt. He started his career in the banking sector in 1978 working in different Italian savings banks and he joined Intesa Sanpaolo Group in 2000. In Italy, he held the duty of General Manager of Cassa di Risparmio di Spoleto and of Cassa di Risparmio di Ascoli Piceno. In 2006 he was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Banca Intesa Beograd (Serbia) and in 2008 as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Pravex-Bank (Ukraine). Apart from working for Intesa Sanpaolo Group, he is actively involved in the following key associations: President of Foreign Investors Association of Albania (FIAA); Board Member of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Albania; Board Member of Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA).

Deputy Minister
Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth

Mr. Demo has an extensive experience in coordinating European projects, such as Tempus programs, Erasmus Mundus, Erasmus +, IPA, etc. In 2010 he received the title “Doctor” from the University of Tirana with the topic “Crisis Management”. He attended postdoctoral studies at the University of Bologna “Measuring Performance in Higher Education: Harmonizing Strategies with Territory Needs”. Since 2004, he has been a full time lector at the Department of Management at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana. During 2012-2016 he has been the Deputy Rector of the University of Tirana for Scientific Research and External Relations. He has been involved in the Higher Education Reform and Scientific Research as a member of the commission who drafted the Law on Higher Education adopted in 2015. He also has participated in numerous scientific conferences at home and abroad. He attended Bachelor and Master Degrees in the UK. Mr. Demo holds the title “Associate Professor”.

Second Deputy Governor
Bank of Albania

Dr Natasha Ahmetaj currently serves as Second Deputy Governor of the Bank of Albania, since 6 May 2015, and member of the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania, since December 2014. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1987 from the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana and received a Masters in Economy in 2000 and Doctor of Sciences in Economy in 2004, from the same University. Dr Ahmetaj started her academic career in 1994. In the period 1994-2001, she was a lecturer on Macro economy; Micro economy; and Monetary economy. During this period , she advanced in her academic career serving as the Head of the Business Administration Department and later as the Dean of the Faculty of Trade, at Ismail Qemali University, in Vlora, Albania. In 2001, she started a career in banking upon her appointment as the Director of the National Commercial Bank (BKT) in Vlora. Dr Ahmetaj has advanced in her career in banking, and her progressively more senior positions included the Head of Network and later Administrator of the National Commercial Bank (BKT). She held this position until her election as a member of the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania.

General Secretary
Albania Association of Banks (AAB)

Mr. Brumbulli currently is the AAB Secretary General. During his 12-year career in the banking sector he has been in leading positions at the National Commercial Bank (Tirana and Kosovo), as well as at the National Bank of Greece (NBG Bank). Finally, he worked for the position of Director of Cabinet of the Minister of Finance. He was a professor at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tirana, while in 2011 he held the post of Rector at Tirana Busines University (TBU) and Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at this university. Mr. Brumbulli holds the title of Doctor of Science in Economics.

Deputy Minister
Ministry of Finance and Economy

Mr. Luçi earned his PhD from the University Staffordshire in England, 1999-2002. His dissertation was titled “Financial Intermediation in Transition Countries focusing on Albania”. At the same University, he received a Master’s Degree in Economics over the period 1997-1999. Mr. Luçi graduated in Economics at the University of Tirana, where is honored with the “Excellent Student” medal. He has held the function of Research Department Director at the Bank of Albania (2003-2006) and he has been external examiner at the Department of Economics in the University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics, (1996-2013). From October 2013, he is appointed Deputy Minister of Finance, responsible for the Macro Sector and Fiscal Expenses.

Senior Financial Sector Specialist, World Bank Group

UN Resident Coordinator

Prior to his assignment in Albania, Mr. Williams served as Chief of Financing for Peacebuilding with the UN Peacebuilding Support Office at the United Nations Secretariat in New York. Under his leadership, the Peacebuilding Fund has funded over $300 million to over 25 post-conflict countries, with a focus on those on the agenda of the UN Peacebuilding Commission. Prior to the work with the Peacebuilding Support Office, Mr. Williams focused on public health, in particular the global HIV crisis. From 2004 to 2008, he served as the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Myanmar. From 2001-2004, Mr. Williams worked at the UNAIDS Headquarters in Geneva in the country-support division. Since 1990, Mr. Williams has been involved in humanitarian assistance, governance, rule of law and post-conflict recovery in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. Mr. Williams has served as consultant for a number of United Nations Agencies and development organizations including the United States Agency for International Development and CARE International. Mr. Williams holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and an undergraduate degree in engineering from Harvard University.

Deputy General Director
Financial Supervisory Authority

Mrs. Kaçi is executive Vice-President and Member of the Board of the Financial Supervisory Authority. She was appointed by the Albanian Parliament in December 2014 with a four-year mandate. She is also a member of the Implementation and Evaluation Committee of the International Association of Insurance Regulators (IAIS Implementation and Assessment Committee). Her involvement in the academic field started as a Pedagogue at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana and continued at the European University of Tirana as a Pedagogue at the Department of Finance. Mrs. Kaçi is graduated from the University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria, with profiles of capital and insurance markets. She holds a Doctor of Science degree from the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana. In 2017, she also led the work on drafting the Financial Supervisory Authority’s Strategy “To increase consumer confidence / investors in underlying markets”

Director and curator
Museo del Risparmio Intesa Sanpaolo, Turin

Giovanna Paladino, PHD in Economics, is the Head of the Chairman’s Staff of IntesaSanpaolo, the largest Italian bank. She is also the Director and the Curator of the Museum of Saving, an educational lab located in Turin. She was young economist at the IMF, Jean Monnet fellow at the EUI and Adjoint Professor at LUISS University. She completed her graduate studies at the HEI (CH) and Brown University (USA). She publishes articles on international economics, commodity markets and corporate finance in leading journals, recently in Journal of Banking and Finance (2013), Journal of Financial Markets (2015), Journal of Empirical Finance (2016), International Review of Economics and Finance (2016) and Research of International Business and Finance (2018).

Director, Research Department
Bank of Albania

He holds a Ph.D. and a Master degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. His research interest covers the areas of monetary and international economics, as well as economic modeling. Altin joined Bank of Albania Monetary Policy and Statistics Department upon his graduation from the University of Tirana in 1993. Between 1994 and 2001 he served as the Chief of the Balance of Payments Division. He rejoined the Research Department of the Bank of Albania in the summer of 2006. Altin serves as a member of Monetary Policy Implementation, Financial Stability and Foreign Exchange Reserves Investment Committees. He is an affiliated assistant professor of economics at New York University of Tirana, Business and Economics Department. Altin is the author and co-author of several articles and papers focusing on monetary and international economics.

CEO
Junior Achievement

Suela joined the AADF as a CEO of Junior Achievement of Albania in January 2016. In 2013 she joined the senior management team at Save the Children International in Albania in the position of Manager for Program Development and Quality responsible for strategic development and fundraising. Her former professional experience includes working as Manager of Operations at Save the Children International in Albania, specialist of in-service teacher training
of ICT and Vocational Education at Regional Education Directorate of Tirana, part-time thesis adviser on education policy at Catholic University “Our Lady of Good Council” in Tirana. She holds an integrated B.A and MSc degree in Physics and Secondary Science and Mathematics Education from Middle East Technical University in Ankara Turkey.

Head of CSR
Spanish Banking Association

Beatriz is a lawyer, with a Master degree in Tax and Accounting.
She started her career as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers Spain and then moved to the Tax Department specializing in Financial Services. In 1998, she joined PwC London as a senior tax manager at the firm’s international structuring department. At the end of 2004 she joined Barclays Spain as Head of tax until 2011, when she was appointed Head or citizenship for Barclays Europe & UE where she remained until 2015.
She is currently working as Head of CSR at the Spanish Banking Association, Professor of Sustainability at the CUNEF University and Chairman of the Financial Education Group at the European Banking Federation.

Director
Payment Systems, Accounting & Finance Department
Bank of Albania

Ledia is currently Head of Payments, Accounting and Finance Department at Bank of Albania and is responsible for managing and ensuring the well-functioning of the processes carried out by the department in the area of ​​licensing, oversight and operation of payment systems; financial management of strategic planning and financial reporting according to IFRS standards. She is a graduated in finance at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tirana. She then attended the Master of Business Administration from the Enterprise Management Institute at Poitiers University, France. After a brief experience in France as a valuator of private investment funds at Societe Generale Securities Services she joined the Bank of Albania as Internal Auditor, where she has been engaged in evaluating and strengthening the Bank’s control system over an eight-year experience. Since 2017, she is responsible for running an important project for the Bank of Albania, for the implementation of the Program for Management of Activity Attendance.

Chief Executive Officer

Savings and Loans Association “FED invest”

Mrs. Konini was part of the first World Bank-sponsored micro lending program in Albania since 1992. During the past 26 years, Mrs. Konini has played a major role in reshaping the institution’s strategy to the ever evolving business environment, addressing via innovative and customer-centric solutions smallholders’ and small entrepreneurs needs in rural and semi-urban areas, access to finance of rural & urban population. Mrs. Konini’s contribution extends beyond Albania, with her engagements in development missions as part of microfinance programs in countries such as Moldavia (1998), Ivory Coast (2001), Mali (2003), Azerbaijan (2005), etc. She has been co-organizer and speaker in various conferences and workshops on microfinance in several countries Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Moldavia, Kosovo, Algeria, etc. and recently as a panelist in the international workshop “Financial Cooperatives and Financial Inclusion: Challenges and Risks” organized by the World Bank, CGAP, Rabobank, etc. Mrs. Konini is the recipient of many awards and honors, including “The Golden Bee” Award granted by the Ministry of Finance and Economy for the year 2017 in the “Women Entrepreneur’s” category, for her contribution in the field of agribusiness in Albania.

Operations Officer
Albanian Association of Banks

Junida holds a Master of Science degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor in Communication -Public relations. She also holds a diploma from the IAE Caen, University School of Management. During her studies she has worked in two Airline Companies and travel agencies as an IATA certified agent. She started her career as General Assistant to the Board of Directors at Banka Popular in 2004. She worked for the newly established Albanian capital bank up to July 2005 and then moved to the Albanian Banking Association as assistant to Secretary General. In 2009 she was appointed as AAB’s Operations Officer. Junida is currently in charge of trainings and financial education projects. She is a member of the Financial Education Group at the European Banking Federation. Junida communicates fluently in English and Italian and is married with two kids.

Head of Marketing Department
Credins Bank

She is a professional in marketing, communication and CSR. She has an extensive experience in management and marketing position in banking industry with local and international banks, including startup operations. Her career includes an active role as a Volunteer Board Member of various civil society organizations dealing with art, young people and vulnerable communities. Lauresha holds a Master Degree in French language, a Diploma ES from Hotel Management School of Geneva, Switzerland and a Certificate of Advanced Management Program from Ashridge Executive Education in London, UK. She currently works as Head of Marketing at Credins bank (www.bankacredins.com), one of the largest bank in the Albania and is responsible for marketing and PR activities. Lauresha communicates fluently in English, French, Italian and Albanian as mother tongue.

CEO
Albanian Securities Exchange

Artan is an expert in financial markets and securities industry both academically and professionally. Mr. Gjergji is the originator of the first securities exchange in Albania with a private capital which has been financially supported by Credins Bank. He has a degree in Capital Markets and Stock Exchanges from the Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey, and holds a masters degree in European Studies and Researches (politics/economics) from the University of Bologna, Italy. He has attended post degree courses at Warsaw School of Economics, Poland as well as at Georgetown University and George Washington University (joint degree) in the United States of America. During his career, he has been a lecturer of public finances, financial markets, investments and taxation at many universities in Albania. Moreover, Mr. Gjergji has developed his career of more than 10 years at some of the most prestigious institutions of the financial market in the country such as Bank of Albania, Tirana Stock Exchange, Financial Supervision Authority and Credins Bank.

President
Albanian Securities Trading Association

Blodin Cuci is the president of ASTA – Association of Securities Trading in Albania, an association that promotes the sustainable development and of the Albanian capital markets.From Novermber 2017, he is the owner and founder of Caesar Investment Advisory Services. Prior to establishing his own company, Mr. Cuci worked as Head of Strategic Asset Allocation and Counterparty Analysis for Bank of Albania, where he was responsible for the strategy of the reserve management and credit risk management of the Central Bank of Albania and different FINMA regulated Banks and financial institutions in Switzerland, where he specialized in financial engineering and structured products & derivatives issuance and trading. Mr. Cuci holds a Master of Science degree in Finance and Banking from Universita della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano Switzerland, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Universita; della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano Switzerland. He has also completed FMFC Certificate Programe from International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the University of Reading.