IBDE

IBDE team is headed by an executive director who has extensive experience in the worlds of business and diplomacy.

The CEO is responsible for overall strategy development, fundraising and relationship with key stakeholders. He is also in charge of IBDE’s delivery of programmes and services, team management, administration and financial issues. An Advisory Board made up of Ambassadors representing all continents, distinguished ex-diplomats, businesspersons and academics from the field of International Business and Diplomacy supports the CEO.

Rudi Guraziu, MA | Chief Executive

Rudi Guraziu, founder and CEO, is based in London. He is also Editor of "Exchange: The Magazine for International Business and Diplomacy". Mr Guraziu has worked for a decade in the Balkans. Whilst in Kosovo he was one of the principals in the running of a large pharmaceutical business until the 1999 war. The realities of conducting business in a conflict zone necessitated negotiation skills in order to ensure his own survival whilst maintaining focus on business as usual. Mr Guraziu for many years has been actively engaged with members of parliament, business leaders and diplomats in the UK and the Balkans as a consultant on Foreign Affairs. His expertise covers international affairs with a particular focus on EU foreign policy, business and commercial diplomacy. For much of that time he worked with different parliaments particularly in the relationship between legislative bodies and economic operators. With a commitment to strengthening democracy in less strong states, he worked pro bono to initiate the establishment of the Centre for Business and Parliamentary Dialogue (CBPD) to encourage mutual understanding and exchange of information between parliaments and businesses for the public benefit. Mr Guraziu holds an MA in International Relations (with distinction) from Middlesex University, UK. He has often published on Foreign Affairs issues and presented papers at conferences on the subject.  He has lived and worked in Kosovo, the Balkans, Switzerland and over the past 10 years in the UK.

Alfred Kovaci | Deputy CEO

Alfred joined IBDE following his studies in International Corporate Governance at Harvard University. Alfred also holds a BSc from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) and a BA from the University College London (UCL). Whilst at university Alfred was very active, serving as President and Chairman in several student societies and associations where he organised many high profile events - including public lectures and conferences with Presidents, Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and other leaders from the world of business, diplomacy and academia. Alfred also worked in the UK Parliament as an assistant to a labour MP for about 6 months, before getting involved with the electoral strategy group at the HQ of the UK Conservative Party.

Professor Jacques N. Couvas | 'Exchange' Associate Editor

Jacques has been an Associate Editor with IBDE since 2010. He is a Visiting Professor of Management at Ozyegin University, Istanbul and Senior Lecturer of Strategic Management at Bilkent University, Ankara. He has also been a visiting academic at Koç and Sabanci universities, Istanbul. He began his career as a journalist, before serving for 30 years as a CEO, executive officer and board director with Information and Communications Technologies multinational corporations in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. His teaching and research interests are in strategy, leadership, international negotiations, and EU constitutional law. He is a member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Alice Campbell-Cree, MA  | Research Assistant to CEO

Prior to joining IBDE, Alice worked as a Research Assistant and Political Specialist for a New Zealand based Research Company. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in European Union and International Relations from Australia’s Monash University, her thesis being "the EU’s normative involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process" – for which she received the highest distinction. During the course of her Masters degree Alice was invited to join the prestigious Golden Key Society; received the European Union Award of Excellence; the Dean’s Recognition Award; and became an inaugural recipient of the European and European Union Masters Degree Scholarship.  Alice’s particular research interests are in the role of diplomacy and international business (including trade and investment) in conflict resolution.

Garnet Prah-Arthur| Finance

Ira Sopic | Intern

Ira Sopic join IBDE in October 2011. She finished journalism at the Faculty of Political Science Zagreb in 2010 and completed her MSc in International Relations at Kingston University London. Whilst at University in Zagreb/Croatia Ira worked as a TV journalist and was one of the supervisors of the volunteers in the presidential campaign of the candidate Dragan Primorac (former Croatian Minister of Education).