Peter is the co-founder and Global Director of CEED and has 14 years of experience working on economic development and private sector initiatives in emerging markets. Before launching CEED, Peter ran the Business Development Unit for SEAF overseeing technical assistance for all of SEAF’s portfolio companies. When he is not spending time with his family, he works with outreach organizations that assist the homeless and ex-offenders to adjust back to the community in the Washington area.

Barbara Bregar Mrzlikar is a VP at CEED Global. She supports entrepreneurs by providing know-how and networks they need to accelerate the growth of their businesses, to develop new markets and get access to finance. Prior to CEED, Barbara worked as an assistant at the Ekonomska Fakulteta in Ljubljana and then at, HERMES SoftLab, a leading Slovenian tech firm. She joined CEED to help growing companies and to help foster a more open, innovative and entrepreneurial society in Slovenia.

Jovan has fifteen years of experience working with development organizations such as USAID, UNDP and the EU. He has experience managing projects for economic growth in the areas of microfinance, equity investments and energy and the environment. Jovan is Certified Management Consultant and a Trainer in job search and strategic planning. Jovan was a co-founder of two businesses and is very familiar with the challenges that entrepreneurs face when trying to develop and grow their business.

Fernando is the Senior Impact Manager at CEED. From his position, he supports the organization in its global learning efforts and contributes to informing strategy through monitoring, research, and learning activities. Fernando is from Honduras and before joining CEED, he coordinated M&E for Alterna, a social enterprise accelerator serving Central America. There, he also provided impact measurement and management advisory to over 50 social enterprises in Guatemala in their preparation for receiving impact investment. He spends part of his free time doing pro-bono consulting for an education nonprofit in Honduras, helping set up their M&E systems. Fernando holds a MSc in International Business with a specialization in Sustainability from Hult International Business School and is also an accredited Associate Practitioner of Social Value and SROI.

As Director of Strategic Partnerships, Jeri works to scale SEAF and CEED’s work through innovative partnerships with corporations, foundations and international development organizations. She has been a leader in designing, developing and implementing partnerships that drive sustainability for corporations and other institutions and unleashing entrepreneurship as an inclusive economic development tool. She is an expert on market-led development programs that promote inclusive growth and has successfully attracted investment, funding and private capital to an array of projects and organizations. Prior to her role at SEAF, Jeri was Director of Partnerships for Social Justice at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University, where she scaled the breadth and impact of its portfolio of accelerator programs. She has held senior positions at several US government agencies and nonprofit organizations and led her own company providing strategic advice to US development agencies, social entrepreneurs and companies to help scale their impact. She held positions at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, where she led its efforts to form public-private partnerships with corporations and social investors, Vice President for Policy at the Initiative for Global Development, a nonprofit network of corporate leaders focused on strengthening Africa’s private sector, Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative at USTR, Executive Director for Trade Policy and Promotion at the Department of Commerce, Director of Inter-American Economic Affairs at the National Security Council and Strategic Advisor to the Chairman of the US Export-Import Bank. Jeri has a Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from Northwestern University.

Atiba is an international development specialist with 15 years of success in implementing private sector initiatives and developing entrepreneurs and agribusinesses.  Prior to joining CEED, he worked with TechnoServe Inc., where he delivered a broad range of technical services to entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises, academic institutions, industry associations and government agencies.  Atiba has also managed development contracts with both government agencies and private foundations.

Gjorgji has more than 20 years’ experience in entrepreneurship, education and workforce development. Since 1998, he has worked as an education and workforce development specialist for several EU and USAID funded projects. Gjorgji has developed several manuals and training programs for teachers, students and professional trainers and delivered numerous workshops for teachers, young entrepreneurs and business representatives.

Kreshnik Lleshi is a project management expert and has worked as a consultant for international and local organizations in Kosovo. Prior to joining CEED in 2009, Kreshnik worked for the Office Business Center Kosovo as their Business Development Advisor where he taught international entrepreneurs how to do business in Kosovo. Kreshnik has also managed projects at UNDP and worked as a Monitoring Officer for Special Spin Off’s at Corporate Governance, Kosovo Trust.

Wafa Makhlouf joined CEED Tunisia after serving as the president of the Young Entrepreneurs Association National (CJD), having been a successful entrepreneur herself. Wafa founded Proclean in 2003, an environmental services provider to public sector agencies that employs 70 individuals and is involved in a wide range of public area environment management in Tunisia. She currently serves as the International President of CJD. Wafa also acted as the Chairman of the Board for Enactus Tunisia.

Alexandra Mararu started working with CEED Romania in 2015, as an expert in two major projects developed by CEED at that time. Prior to CEED, Alexandra was National Director of IOCC Romania where she gained experience in NGO management and implementing projects financed by European Union and the U.S. Alexandra has experience in implementing major donor-funded projects that targeting vulnerable groups, promotion of SME start-up and SME development.

Prior to joining CEED as the Director of CEED Morocco, Fatima Zahra was a serial entrepreneur. She founded Transworld Protection which offers services to companies in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia and also launched a training company and press company in Morocco. Fatima Zahra has always been passionate about entrepreneurship and working with other entrepreneurs as seen by her work with the Young Business Leaders Organization, Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants d’Entreprise.

Before launching CEED Moldova, Anatolie was the co-founder and director of ProConsulting, and the co-founder and executive director of the Business Advisory Center. He has experience working in the banking system and more than 12 years of experience in managing and consulting national and international projects related to private business development and access to finance. He also has previous experience in development of industrial parks and start-up and business development.

Andrej has been an entrepreneur all his life, starting in high school when he learned computer programming and found his passion for sales – he immediately sold his first piece of software to local small businesses. When his company eventually went public on the Milan stock exchange, Andrej decided to sell his share and look for other challenges. After years in the CEED Slovenia network as a member, he joined the team as an Associate in 2016, and he became the Director after two years.

Nikolay is a co-founder of CEED has been CEED’s Bulgaria as Executive Director since 2005. He has more than 15 years of experience in entrepreneurship, finance, private sector growth, SME development and loan guarantees. While at USAID as a Senior Private Sector Advisor, he developed and implemented a successful $50 million firm-level assistance program. Nikolay has received various honors including numerous Meritorious Honor Awards, a Franklin Award and numerous Federal Certificates.

Maria Anselmi, is the Vice President of Data Acquisition & Partnerships at Dun & Bradstreet. Before taking this position she was she was the CEO of Bisnode Slovenia, where she led the company from a small local company and grew it to the market leader in CEE. She became a mentor at CEED Slovenia already at its beginning in 2009 and continued to support the CEED mission in helping enterpreneurs in their growth as a mentor as well as partner and later as the Board member of CEED Slovenia. From the beginning her company supported CEED to gather data and measure impact, proving that companies that are gathered with a community of enterpreneurs are much stronger as individual companies, as well as the whole economy. As she moved to Switzerland, she continued to support CEED also in its expansion to other countries as a global mentor, speaker and advisor.

Nicholas Colloff is the director of the Argidius Foundation, a private family foundation. This is focused on advancing enterprise development in emerging economies as an approach to poverty reduction. It adopts a venture philanthropy approach to developing key market leading organizations with potential for reaching effective scale. As a venture philanthropist and a starter of things, he has helped found organizations in financial inclusion, literacy, mental health & development and yoga in prisons. He has also worked on strategy and innovation in Oxfam GB, a large and complex international NGO; effected a complex merger of microfinance institutions in Russia; and, rescued an arts & spirituality centre in Wales. He studied philosophy and theology at university in London, contemplated religious life and though, on balance, thought not remains contemplatively engaged and when not meditating or reading can be found either surveying an art gallery, walking in a forest or swimming in a lake. Nicholas has been a supporter of CEED for over 5 years first in Moldova, then with our expansion into East Africa.

Mr. Eastham is a senior executive with extensive experience managing private sector business transactions in the U.S., as well as economic development projects in Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Former Soviet Union. Within USAID, Mr. Eastham served as Division Chief-Economic Growth for the Europe and Eurasia Bureau, and earlier as Director of USAID’s Office of Investment, managing USAID’s global Private Sector Investment Program. He also served as Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University from 1995 to 2002, teaching courses in economic development. Prior to his international career, Mr. Eastham served as President of Finalco Group, Inc., an early-stage technology and financial services company which he helped build from early-stage to IPO, financing over $2 billion of capital assets. Mr. Eastham has also served as a board member of several other private sector businesses and non-profit foundations, and as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Mr. Eastham received a B.S. and J.D. degree from Indiana University.  Currently he is on the Board of Trustees for the Albania American Development Foundation. Steve was the founding supporter/advisor and mentor to CEED since we were founded almost 15 years ago.

Jeff Hoffman is a successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker. In his career, he has been the founder of multiple startups, he has been the CEO of both public and private companies, and he has served as a senior executive in many capacities. Jeff has been part of a number of well-known companies, including Priceline.com. uBid.com, CTI, ColorJar, and more. Today Jeff serves on the boards of companies in the US, Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. He supports entrepreneurs and small businesses on a worldwide basis, serving on the global advisory boards of Global Entrepreneurship Week (supporting entrepreneurship in over 130 countries), the US State Department’s GIST program (Global Innovation through Science and Technology, working in 49 emerging nations), the APEC Startup Initiative (the Asia Pacific Economic Council’s 21-member nation association), and many others. He supports the White House, the State Department, USAID, and similar organizations internationally on economic growth initiatives and entrepreneurship programs. Jeff is a frequent keynote speaker, having been invited to speak in over 50 countries. He speaks on the topics of innovation, entrepreneurship, and business leadership, and is currently writing a book on how to scale a business, which will be published worldwide in the summer of 2014. Jeff also teaches innovation workshops to major corporations on a regular basis. Jeff is a featured business expert seen on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, CNN International, Bloomberg News, CNBC, ABC, and NPR, and in publications including Forbes, Inc., Time, Fast Company, the Wall Street Journal, and more. Jeff received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the national CEO council for his contributions to the field of entrepreneurship, as well as receiving the 2012 Champion of Entrepreneurship Award from JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, and Rising Tide Capital. Outside of the world of technology, Jeff has produced movies in Hollywood, has produced musical events including concerts, tours, and charity events with such artists as Elton John, Britney Spears, NSYNC, and others, and serves on numerous charity and non-profit boards. Jeff has been an advisor and mentor to CEED for nearly 8 years.

Jane has over 20 years of experience working in private sector development across sub-Saharan Africa catalysing economic growth through market based interventions and inclusive business models. As Head of Enterprise and Livelihoods at the Vitol Foundation Jane focuses on building co-funding partnerships to support innovative investments which improve incomes and support job creation across Africa, Asia and Latin America with a primary focus on SGBs and agricultural livelihoods. She also supports the Vitol Group on their CSR interventions. Prior to joining Vitol, Jane headed up Comic Relief’s Trade, Enterprise & Employment and Social Investment work focusing on agricultural supply chains and enterprise development. She previously worked with the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Now based in London, Jane spent 10 years living in Zambia working in both the non-profit and private sectors, having previously worked in marketing communications before moving into the development sector. She holds an MSc in International Development. Jane currently supports CEED in Thailand.