Collaborators

 

Adina Bigaș

works as external consultant, running her own business in HR services. With more than 10 years of strong expertise in HR management, she holds a master degree in HR and Organizational Psychology from the University of Bucharest and a Diploma in Management from the Codecs Open University. Email: [email protected].

Alexandra Duță

is the co-founder of 5 Senses Romania, that provides premium customized tourist services, bringing a new concept to the Romanian tourist market, the 5 senses vacation not for tourists but travelers in search of a multi-sensory adventure. 5SR offers them the choice of the finest ingredients for a true feast of thrills, thus having the possibility to select and combine those which best create the complete holiday experience. More details at www.5sensesromania.com.

Alexandru Bâldea

founder of Artmark Galleries and ArtSociety Cultural Centre in 2008, Managing partener of Artmark Auction House, art collector since 1998, investor in national heritage art since 2003, author of the Romanian Art Market Index and associated Professor at Art History Department – Faculty of History, University of Bucharest, since 2010.

Ana Maiță

is an activist for mothers’ rights for education and healthcare, the president of the White Cross Foundation, as well as vicepresident of the Romanian Alliance for Healthcare (the biggest federation of healthcare organizations in Romania). She is Country Representative for the European Network of Childbirth Associations, and Country Representative for the International MotherBaby Childbirth Organziation, as well as President and Founder of Mothers for Mothers Association.

 Andreea Acalovschi

is a native Romanian, born in Cluj-Napoca, who has lived several years abroad, in Germany, Scotland, Spain and The Netherlands. Upon her return to Bucharest, in 2008, in the pursuit to continue to be part of an international environment, she joined several expats/repats groups, also being in charge of a gourmet group that discovers new cuisines and restaurants in Bucharest. Professionally, Andreea applied her experience abroad, gathered during her MBA and consulting career, to co-found an interim management consulting company in Romania, Quest Advisors. In 2011, she decided, together with a friend, to spice up the entertainment landscape in Bucharest, and opened the hip Papiota Bar. She is also a sports fan, being a strong supporter and promoter of Ultimate Frisbee in Romania.

 Andrei Roth

is the general manager of Recognos Romania, a software development company based in Cluj. He is also involved in the local startup ecosystem, managing a startup accelerator and several educational programs in Romania. He studied in California at UC Berkeley and currently lives in Cluj.

 

Angie Arndt

member of the German Embassy, she left Berlin for Bucharest in 2011. Since then she has been living in the centre of Bucharest with her husband and their two sons (5 and 3). Angie works as a volunteer for NGO Chance for Live and is involved in social and art projects such as the ‘Colourful Bucharest’ Project.

 

Bogdan Popa

was born, raised, educated and still living in Bucharest. He has a PhD in history from the University of Bucharest and is a cultural and history consultant for City Compass.

 

 

Cătalin Mocuța

is a former investment banker who turned entrepreneur early 2007, when he started the Media Production Group – MPG – which specialized in media, sports events management and sports marketing and which organizes Romanian Corporate Sports. After more than 5 years of interaction with both professional athletes and amateur sports practitioners, he gained a particularly relevant image about sports in Romania, with a particular focus on recreational sports. Catalin holds an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh, USA (1993), a Diploma in Management from the IMC in Budapest (1992) and an MSc in Computer Science from the Polytechnic Institute in Bucharest (1984).

Claudia Sofianu

is the leader of the Human Capital team of EY Romania and senior tax manager. She has an extensive experience in expatriate services, covering individual taxation, domestic and international social security, immigration formalities, individual tax planning and compensation structuring.

 

Corina Chirileasa

is the founder & editor-in-chief of Romania-Insider.com, the most read English-language news and features website in Romania.  A business journalist and entrepreneur, Corina has also been the editor of this guide for the last three years.

 

 

Dan Ștefan

a young entrepreneur who co-founded Autonom Rent a Car, the largest car rental network in Romania. He strongly believes in family businesses, customer-centric companies, business ethics and values-based management.

 

 Frederic Vigroux

came in Romania in 2009 to work in the communication industry, then decided to study wines and spirits. He got his WSET 3 certificate and created his own company in the wine business. He is now the founder and managing partner of NumberWine, where he mainly works as a wine consultant – sommelier. He selects and imports wines that he proposes to his clients, which include restaurants, companies and individuals. He also organises wine tastings for corporate events, professionals of the HoReCa sector and individuals who are always welcome to his tasting store www.number-wine.com.

Holger Wermke

is a native German who has been living in Sibiu for three years, where he is a journalist for the Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung für Rumänien, a German-language newspaper. He also founded pluspole, an agency for communication and marketing.

 

 

Ioana Enache

is board member of the Asociația Redescoperă Sinaia, which aims to revitalize the town of Sinaia and reestablish it as an elegant, charming and green city with a good quality of life and rich cultural offerings.

 

James Longshore

is an accomplished American actor, writer and director. In L.A. he operated MadMan At Large Productions. Now living in Bucharest, he plays in international films and TV, teaches “Acting In English”, and dialogue coaches Romanian and international actors. James has reviewed movies since 7th grade for the school paper and has reviewed films on the radio and in print.

Konstantinos Diamantopoulos

has lived, studied and worked in Greece, the UK, Switzerland, Hungary, Turkey and Romania. He has been living in Bucharest since 2001, when he came for construction management projects. In 2003 he set up his own real estate company, Marathon Invest, which buys, renovates, rents and does the property management for apartments in Bucharest. He is also involved in construction project management and consulting for residential and hotel projects in Romania, Greece and Turkey. He has investments in the technology and finance business in Romania. He speaks English, French, Romanian, Turkish and Greek. Get in touch at: [email protected].

Lorelei Freeman

is British and has been living in Bucharest for the past three years with her husband and two children. She is enjoying exploring Bucharest, Romania and the wider region.

 

Mariana Ganea

holds a PhD in Economics and she has worked in banking and financial training for 15 years. She is currently a freelancer, an authorized trainer in soft skills & financials, an evaluator and communication consultant. She was a senior training consultant, banking researcher and associate professor. She studied economics, finance and banking, communication, sales, NPL, coaching and transactional analysis. She is passionate about education, writing and reading, travel, history, politics, cultural events and photography.

Matt Sampalean

was born in Romania and grew up in a world of ration cards and clandestine Radio Free Europe broadcasts. He immigrated with his parents to Toronto, Canada in 1991 where he spent twenty years before returning to Romania as co-founder of a technology startup.

 

Mihail Chirilov

has been the Artistic Director of Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) since the first edition in 2002. He is a renowned film critic and artistic director of the Making Waves Romanian Film Festival in New York, organized by Romanian Film Initiative. He curated various Romanian film programs abroad (the most famous being the 2011 film program at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY) and co-organized the complete Lucian Pintilie retrospective at MoMA, in 2012. He wrote for various publications and he was the editor-in-chief of the English-language AperiTIFF magazine, focused on the recent Romanian cinematic output and produced by the ICR. He co-authored, together with fellow film critic Alex Leo Serban, the book Lars von Trier: The Films, the Women, the Ghosts, and contributed to the collective volume From Comrade Ceaușescu to Mr. Lăzărescu, published in 2011 by Polirom. He translated from English to Romanian three novels by Chuck Palahniuk – Choke, Diary and Snuff. He was a member of various famed international film festivals: Hong Kong, Karlovy Vary, Berlin, Goteborg, Chicago, San Francisco, Palm Springs and Moscow. In 2013, he supervised the production of the DVD boxset Pintilie Cineast, which contains the complete cinematic works of the Romanian filmmaker and which will be launched during TIFF 2013.

 

Rachel Sargent

heads a team who specialize in gourmet food and wine paired events at the London Street Atelier, probably one of Bucharest’s best kept secrets – a stylish yet cosy private dining location. The London Street Bistro is the little sister with inventive cooking, a wine list full of gems and seasonal weekly food on offer.

Simona Cioacătă

has 10 years of experience as print and online journalist. After years in a press agency and at a financial newspaper, she became an editor at economic news website Incont.ro.

 

Sorana Burtilă

is the general manager of Ultima Frontieră complex in the Danube Delta, a hotel she has been running for the last four years.

 

 

Steve Borncamp

is the co-Director of Construction21.eu, Managing Director of Living Future Europe, Chair of the Europe Green Building Council Network’s Education Taskforce and Founder of the Romania Green Building Council. He helped develop seven Green Building Councils in Europe, an innovative “green mortgage” program and building projects targeting the stringent “Living Building Challenge”. He is the author of the “Green Building Professional” lifelong learning program and a graduate of the University of California, San Diego and the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy.

 

Thorsten Kirschner

holds a master’s degree in International Business and Cultural Studies and has been working as an international development and export consultant for more than ten years all over the world. He has been living in Romania since 2009 and is passionate about traveling. He is co-founder of TravelBuzau, the tourism development association of Buzau county, and of Carpathian Tourism Cluster Romania. Since 2012 Thorsten has been a partner at City Compass and responsible for tours & events within the group.

Valentina Sâmbotin

started her professional life being a circus acrobat in France when she was 17.
After seven years in that job and no regrets for choosing it, she decided to return home and started working with the foreign services and in diplomacy for almost 2 years, as an Embassy collaborator. In 1996, she entered the healthcare field and has since worked with companies such as Eureko, Signal Iduna, Medicover and Regina Maria in different departments. She is currently the country manager of Marie Stops International, where she helps women, couples and families to access health education, prevention and everything related to quality family planning and reproductive healthcare.

 

Volker Moser

is a Partner and Co-Founder of City Compass Group and runs its media business services. He also works as a City Compass Intercultural Training Consultant and is specialized in trainings, workshops and consulting services, targeted to the needs of international executives and their families coming to Romania.

 

Ximena Reyes

is a City Compass Cross Cultural Partner and Director. Her international experience spans over 15 years working and living in various parts of the world, from Scandinavia to the Middle East, South America and Russia. Back in Romania since 2013, Ximena speaks Swedish, English, Spanish and Romanian. She is a mother of 3 and group leader for expat group Bucharest Moms.