The Aleksander Foundation
The Aleksander Foundation was founded in 2005 by Acad. Aleksander G. Petrov, Ph.D., currently Director of the Institute of Solid State Physics, Sofia and Aleksander A. Petrov, Ph.D, CFA, an alumni of the FEB, Sofia University and currently Senior Practice Expert at McKinsey. The primary goal of the foundation is to promote and support the development of the Bulgarian university education through a number of initiatives including the organisation and sponsorship of conferences, seminars, workshops, short study exchanges and summer schools for highly qualified applicants.
The Aleksander Foundation was founded in 2005 by Acad. Aleksander G. Petrov, Ph.D., currently Director of the Institute of Solid State Physics, Sofia and Aleksander A. Petrov, Ph.D, CFA, an alumni of the FEB, Sofia University and currently Senior Practice Expert at McKinsey. The primary goal of the foundation is to promote and support the development of the Bulgarian university education through a number of initiatives including the organisation and sponsorship of conferences, seminars, workshops, short study exchanges and summer schools for highly qualified applicants.
Founders
Mr Petrov is a Senior Practice Expert at McKinsey & Company in Milan. He is advising banks and institutional investors on their asset portfolios and strategies. Before joining McKinsey, Aleksander was Executive Director at the Global Estate Group in Lehman Brothers in London/Moscow, responsible for equity real estate investments in Russia. Prior to that, Aleksander spent four years on the Structured Finance Trading Desk at Lehman Brothers trading all types of European structured products - residential and commercial mortgage backed securities, sub-prime mortgages, credit cards etc. His focus was on highly credit-intensive, non rated equity pieces and desk proprietary positions. Initially Aleksander spent three years as a structurer in Lehman's Real Estate Group working on the due diligence and quantitative modelling on a number of innovative commercial real estate deals. Before joining Lehman, Mr. Petrov worked in the Private Banking Department of Merrill Lynch, Vienna and also pursued an internship as a corporate finance analyst with Vienna Capital Partners AG, Austria. He has held teaching assistant positions at Sofia University and the University of Vienna. Mr Petrov has a Ph.D. in Finance and is a CFA ® Charterholder. He has studied at the University of Vienna, Austria; Central European University, Hungary; Sofia University in Bulgaria; the University of Antwerp, Belgium and the London School of Economics.
acad. Petrov quick bio
1948 Born in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria (May 27, 1948)
1966 Graduated from Ivan Vazov High School, Stara Zagora
1970 MSc in Atomic Physics from St. Kliment Ochridski Univ. Sofia.
1974 PhD in Physics from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.
1987 DSc in Physics from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.
2003 Fellow of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (academician).
Recent positions:
Professor, ISSP-BAS (1990) Head of Biomolecular Layers Department, ISSP-BAS (1991 - ); Director, Institute of Solid State Physics - BAS (1999 - ).
Guest-Lecturer and Visiting Professor in Leipzig Univ, TU Munich, Nottigham Univ., Univ. Paris-Sud, Syracuse Univ., Calabria Univ., Buffalo Univ.
Bulgarian Principal Investigator, British Council Academic Link with Nottingham University (1991-1996); Bulgarian PI, NATO Collaborative Research Grant with Sheffield Hallam University (1994-1996); Bulgarian PI, Royal Society Collaborative Grant with Nottingham University (1996-1997); Visiting Scholar, Leipzig University (1997); Bulgarian PI, NATO Linkage Grant with Nottingham University (1999-2001)
Publications:
Over 150 refereed original papers on liquid crystal physics, membrane biophysics and biomolecular electronics in international journals and conference proceedings. Invited reviews in Mendeleev Journal of All-Union Chemical Society (1983), in European Biophysics Journal (1994), in EMIS Datareviews Series (2001), in BBA-Biomembranes (2001) and in Analytica Chimica Acta (2006). Monographic review in Progress of Surface Science (1984). Monograph "The Lyotropic State of Matter: Molecular Physics and Living Matter Physics", Gordon & Breach Publs. NY-L (1999). Over 1050 citations
Honours, Awards and Professional Services:
Scientific Secretary, 2nd Liquid Crystal Conference of E.European Countries, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria (1977); Scientific Secretary, International School-Colloquium "Lyotropics and Biomem¬branes", Varna, Bulgaria (1984); Vice-Chairman, 5th European Liquid Crystal Conference, Borovets, Bulgaria (1987); Guest-Editor, Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals (1987); Member of the International Advisory Board of the European Liquid Crystal Conferences (1989- ); Member of the International Advisory Committee; 2nd Liquid Matter Conference of EPS; Firenze (1993); Advisory Editor of European Biophysics Journal (1991- ); Member of the Administrative Council, Union of the Physicists of Bulgaria (1992- ); Vice President, Union of the Physicists of Bulgaria (1995-01); Member of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Republic of Bulgaria (1994-97); Chairman of the Scientific Council, ISSP-BAS (1995-99); Member of the Editorial Board, Europhysics News (1995-2000); Member, Research Board of Advisors, The American Biographical Institute (1998 - ); 1999 and 2005 Awards, National Council “Scientific Studies”, Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria (1999, 2005); Member, Intern. Adv. Board, Lyotropic Liquid Crystal Conference, Ivanovo (2000); President, Bulgarian Liquid Crystal Society (2000 - ); 2000 Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Biennial Award in Physics (2000). Winner of the Freedericksz Medal of the Russian Liquid Crystal Society for “outstanding results in liquid crystal physics” (2004).
Trustees
Mr Dokov is an Investment Analyst at SAC Global Investors in London, UK. His focus is on equities in Emerging Markets. Prior to that, Plamen was in the Principal Strategies Group at Morgan Stanley and in the Mergers and Acquisitions Departments at Morgan Stanley and Lazard. He started his career at HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Mr Dokov holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Economics and is a CFA ® Charterholder. He has studied at Sofia University in Bulgaria and Universitaet des Saarlandes in Germany.
Yordan Nedev
quick bio
Yordan Nedev is a Partner at the management consulting company MMD Partners (Bulgaria). He is in charge of the financial consulting activities at the firm, rendering advisory services to clients on internal financial management and means of financing the business. Parallel to that he is heading a daughter company of MMD Partners - MMD Scale, devoted to implementing IT enterprise solutions – ERP, CRM, BI, HRMS. Previously, Yordan managed a licensed investment intermediary in Bulgaria set to manage clients’ portfolios built on assets traded on the Bulgarian stock exchange. Further back in time he led as a CEO the biggest Bulgarian internet media for economic and financial news and forums - Investor.bg - through the first real going public procedure in Bulgaria. Yordan started his professional career at Roland Berger Management Consultants, working on two huge privatization deals for two years.
Mr. Nedev holds a Master's degree in Finance from the London Business School and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Sofia University in Bulgaria. He has also studied at the International Management Center (IMC), Hungary and Complutense University, Spain.
Ralitza Petrova
quick bio
Ralitza Petrova is a member of the board of directors and the business development director of Interservice Uzunovi, a family business with 18 years experience in the retail of home appliances and furniture (over 320 employees and EUR 12mm turnover). Mrs Petrova is also the general manager of Intersolar Varna AD, active in the Bulgarian solar energy sector. Prior to that she was the executive project manager of Mall Varna - the first retail mall development in Varna. The mall was sold to an international investor and was the largest Bulgarian commercial real estate deal for 2007. Mrs Petrova was involved from the project inception to managing the acquisition; unification and re-zoning of the land; receiving construction permits; tendering for general contractor; overseeing of building process as well as all leasing negotiations with key tenants.
Ralitza has BA from the European Business School, London and an MSc in Political Economy from the London School of Economics. Ralitza speaks Bulgarian, English, Spanish, German and Russian.
Program Director
Lyuben Ivanov is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business in Sofia University, Bulgaria. Previously, he was a Macroeconomic Analyst at the Economic Research and Forecasting Directorate of the Bulgarian National Bank in Sofia. Further back in time, Lyuben worked at the Institute for Market Economy in Sofia after having started and successfully managed his own business for a few years. He had also held teaching assistant positions at Sofia University prior to getting a tenure. Mr. Ivanov holds a Master's degree in Macroeconomics and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Sofia University, Bulgaria.