Simon Anholt is an independent policy advisor, author and researcher who originated the concepts of Nation Brand and Place Brand in 1996. He is today regarded as the leading authority on public diplomacy and identity strategy for countries, cities and regions.
He is a member of the UK Foreign Office’s Public Diplomacy Board, and has advised the governments of more than 40 countries including Chile, Croatia, Finland, Latvia, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, the Faroe Islands, Jamaica, South Korea, Poland, Scotland, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Iceland, Botswana, Germany, the Baltic Sea Region, Bhutan, Mexico, Ecuador, New Zealand, Switzerland and Slovenia, as well as numerous cities and regions.
Anholt has also advised institutions including the UN World Tourism Organisation, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank, NATO, the United Nations, WIPO, the International Trade Centre, the International Olympic Committee, the International Security Assistance Force, the World Travel and Tourism Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers, the European Union, the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies and the World Technology Network.
He gives the highly acclaimed Nation Branding Masterclass series, supported by BBC Worldwide, which runs annually in London, Dubai, Singapore, Delhi and Accra. As a leading figure in the measurement of national reputation, he is the founder and publisher of the annual Anholt Nation Brands Index, Anholt City Brands Index and Anholt State Brands Index, three major surveys which use a panel of over 20,000 people in 25 countries to monitor global perceptions of 50 countries, 50 cities and the 52 States of the Union.
Anholt is the author of the best-selling marketing book, Another One Bites The Grass, and Editor of the quarterly journal, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. His book on the role of brands in economic development, Brand New Justice, was first published in 2003. He is a coauthor of Beyond Branding (Kogan Page 2003), Brands and Branding (The Economist 2003), Heritage and Identity – Shaping the Nations of the North (Donhead 2002) and Destination Marketing (Butterworth Heinemann 2001/2003/2009). His more recent books are Brand America, (Cyan Books 2004 and 2009); Competitive Identity: the New Brand Management for Nations, Cities and Regions, (Palgrave Macmillan 2007); and Places: Image, Identity and Reputation (Palgrave Macmillan 2010).
Anholt has a Master’s Degree from the University of Oxford and is a Parliamentarian of the European Cultural Parliament. He was awarded the Nobels Colloquia Prize for Economics in Trieste in 2009 and the Prix d'Excellence du Forum Multiculturel pour un Développement Durable (Award for Excellence in Sustainable Development), at the 7th Multicultural Forum at the Palais de la Découverte, Paris, in 2010.

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Nickolay Mladenov was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria by the 41st National Assembly on January 27th 2010.
Between July 2009 and January 2010 he was Minister of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Between 2007 and 2009, he was a Member of the European Parliament.
He served on the Foreign Affairs Committee – Security and Defence Subcommittee, and on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.
He was also Vice-Chairman of the Delegation for relations with Iraq and served on the delegations for Israel and Afghanistan. 
Since 2005 he has consulted the World Bank, NDI, IRI and other international organizations in South Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and Morocco.
Between 2001 and 2005 Mr. Mladenov was a Member of the Bulgarian Parliament where he served as Vice-Chairman of the European Integration Committee and sat on the Foreign and Defence Policy Committee.
During that period he was representative to the Constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe.
Previously he worked for the World Bank and the Open Society Institute for Bulgaria and South East Europe.
He was election observer in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, and Pakistan.
In 2008 he headed the EU election observation mission to Ghana. 
Mr. Mladenov has a MA degree in War Studies from King’s College, London, BA and MA - International Relations, from the University for National and World Economy, Sofia.

He speaks English, French and Russian.


 

Executive Director, Bulgarian Investment Agency

Borislav Stefanov is the Executive Director at the Bulgarian Investment Agency – department of the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, which promotes inward FDI to the country and assists current investors with legal, consulting, and other support.
Previously, Borislav worked for the Moscow office of the Boston Consulting Group, specializing in automotive, telecom, and consumer goods practices of the firm at various locations across Central and Eastern Europe, and Asia.
He has also worked at the Regional Logistic Center of DaimlerChrysler in Dubai, coordinating logistics projects for the Middle Eastern distributors of Mercedes, Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge.
Borislav holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, an MA in International Management from Regents College in London, and a BA degree from the American University in Bulgaria.


 
 

Consultant to the OPENCities project of British Council
Vladimir Shopov is founder of Sophia Analytica Ltd., a small research and consultancy company based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Some of his prior positions include: Manager, Social and Political Research, Alpha Research Ltd. (2006-2008); University Lecturer and Tutor in Politics, Sofia University (2004-2006); EU Policy Adviser, British Embassy, Sofia (2002-2003); Counsellor (Justice and Home Affairs, Human Rights); Bulgarian Mission to the EU, (1999-2001), Brussels, Belgium; EU and Diplomatic Adviser to Minister of Home Affairs, Sofia (1997-1999).
In the field of migration, I have had the following engagements: Consultant to the OPENCities Project of the British Council (2008-2011), Consultant on Security Policy in the Black Sea Region, Committee on Foreign Affairs, European Parliament (2007); Consultant, project title: "Bulgaria and Schengen: Measures, Influences and Impact", Institute for Euro-Atlantic Security, Sofia (2006); Policy Adviser to "NATO and International Security" Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sofia (2005-2006); Lecturer on Justice and Home Affairs, International Centre for Migration Policy Development, Vienna, Austria (2004-2005); Researcher and Consultant, project title: "Social and Economic Consequences of the Schengen Acquis in Bulgaria", European Institute, Sofia (2002).
Vladimir Shopov has an MA in Politics, Sofia University and an MSc in Comparative Politics form the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has also studied at Oxford University, the New School for Social Research, New York, London University (Queen Mary College) and California University at Sonoma, USA. Mr. Shopov lectures on European Politics at the New Bulgarian University and at the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Columnist at FORBES Bulgaria.