Master Classes 2017

THE SOFIA BUSINESS SCHOOL-2017 OFFERS A CHALLENGING AND INSIGHTFUL VISIT TO THE GEOPOLITICAL AND ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE OF TOMORROW

The Master Classes will equip the public sector stakeholders and corporate players in Bulgaria and the region with the anticipatory knowledge to get their bearings in a world swept by political, economic and technological transformations.

For a sixth consecutive year an impressive line-up of international intellectual celebrities and business pundits will take part in the Sofia Business School to provide knowledge and ideas of what the future global geopolitical and economic architecture will be like. Delineated by the deepening crisis in the Euro-Atlantic region, each of the seven days of the School (24 June – 30 June 2017) will explore a different facet of the dynamic complexity of relations interweaving the global players on both sides of the Atlantic. The shock waves generated by Brexit and the US presidential election last year, the deadlock in the conflict-ridden Middle East, the watershed referendum in Turkey and its aftermath, the elections in France and Germany set to determine the future of the EU, and the world-transforming 4IR will only prop up the talks and discussions between keynoters and participants in an attempt to find the crossing point of disruption and security. As in the previous editions of the School, all the topics will be narrowed down to identifying the risks and opportunities of global developments for Bulgarian society, businesses and entrepreneurship.

TOPICS & KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

• THE GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM AND THE GEOPOLITICS OF MIGRATION
Mr Alex Alexiev – Editor-in-chief of BulgariaAnalytica.org; Chairman of the Center for Balkan and Black Sea Studies; Expert on international security and radical Islam; Honorary member of the Reform Union Club

• THE PRECARIOUS STATE OF THE BANKING SYSTEM IN THE EUROZONE – WHAT LOOMS AHEAD
Mr Gordon Kerr – Investment markets expert and financial guru; Founder of the Cobden Partners (London-based think tank specializing in banking systems and risk management)

• THE GEOPOITICS OF 2017
Mr Enders Wimbush – Senior geopolitical analyst; Former director at the German Marshall Fund and Senior vice president of Hudson Institute (2004-2010)

• THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THE NEW DIMENSIONS OF TRANSATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP
Prof. Dimo Dimov – Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the School of Management, University of Bath

• THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE – HOW IS IT IMPLEMENTED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC
Dr Steven Hayward – Professor at a number of US universities; Member of the American Enterprise Institute, the Pacific Research Institute and the Fraser Institute; Author of the influential study “Almanac of Environmental Trends”

• TURKEY IN A STATE OF FLUX: CHALLENGES TO THE EU AND NATO
Dr Daniel Pipes – Founder and President of the Middle East Forum (Philadelphia)

• CORPORATE GOVERNANCE FOR FAMILY BUSINESS – STRATEGY, SUCCESSION AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN TIMES OF DISRUPTION
Mr George Horozov – Managing Director of Rüschlikon Capital Management GmbH (Zürich)

• SOLUTIONS FOR BULGARIA’S FUTURE
Mr Rossen Plevneliev – President of the Republic of Bulgaria (2012-2017)