On the face of it where I am now has nothing to do with where I started. Just on the face of it because graduating a high tech university such as Aerospace Engineering prepared me to take on any intellectual challenge with an open mind. I spent more than two decades in management consulting and financial markets, and I was privileged to work both on the buy-side and sell-side of financial services.
As of March 2016 I have been the CEO of the BCR Pension Funds Manager, after two years as Chief-Economist of BCR, one of the largest Romanian banks. Starting from October 2016, for 3 years, I was the Vice-President of the Romanian Independent Directors Association, being as well one of its founding members. In the spring of 2014 I had the honor of being elected for a two-year term the Chairman of the Romanian Association of Financial Banking Analysts which I helped set up as a founding member. As of 2017 I have been a member of the Executive Board of the Romanian Pension Funds Association (APAPR) to become the President of APAPR since 2018.
Before that, the ten years I worked with ABN AMRO Securities and ABN AMRO Bank (Romania) coordinating the research departments, were followed by six years in the Eureko Pension Funds Manager (Romania) as Chief Investment Officer and Deputy Director.
It is my great pleasure to put on the table and debate on financial topics with students, and IMD Lausanne, ASEBUSS Bucharest [Romanian-American School of Business] in partnership with Kenesaw University, ASE Bucharest [Academy of Economic Studies], Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien and other educational establishments provided such opportunities. Starting from May 2017 I have been an Associate Professor at ASEBUSS for the MBA and EMBA programmes.
Those wanting to know more about how a graduate of a top tech university can end up working in financial markets after being schooled in the UK, Romania, USA, the Netherlands and France can find out more on my LinkedIn page.
This blog was launched in August 2015, in a Romanian version, with the aim to provide balanced and professional comments on European and global developments with a particular focus on Romania. Ever since it has been read by an increasing number of visitors and has been quoted by the local media frequently. Comments are made on topics such as economics, financial markets, geopolitics and occasionally on social or financial education matters. I like to have guests to discuss mainly topics which are not in my particular area of expertise.
The English version was launched in April 2018, by including some of the most popular posts of the past. Since the launch, I have posted simultaneous English translations for all the Romanian comments and analyses which I considered to be relevant for a foreign reader.