Interview
Winter 2018 / Issue 56
their communities. The opportunity
to bring that experience to a lead-
ership position in my own country
was one I simply could not pass on. I
am a fierce advocate for responsible
business and social progress and I
am bringing those convictions to the
job. I believe that a society cannot
achieve prosperity unless all parts of
it are lifted up and supported to reach
their full potential. Society is not com-
prised of institutions and systems,
society is comprised of people and I
will utilize my position to try to make
life better and easier for everybody.
ACM: Having lived in several
different countries, what in your
experience can we as a busi-
ness community learn from other
countries?
An important thing we can learn
from other countries is that we do not
have a monopoly on issues and prob-
lems. Problems abound throughout
the world. Us Macedonians are very
fond of saying “This can only happen
in Macedonia” but that is so far from
the truth. I’ve seen far worse prob-
lems and crises, such as the Russian
incursion into Ukraine and the military
coup in Thailand. In both situations
businesses did not take it as the end
of the world but continued to do their
best under the circumstances. I think
our business community needs to
learn resilience and to remain nimble
and flexible so they can adapt to
changing circumstances.
Another important thing that we
could learn both as a business
community and as a society is to
remain optimistic in the face of pro-
longed hardship and to take per-
sonal responsibility and be agents of
change. Change will not be delivered
to us, we will have to make it happen
ourselves, each and every one of us.
It will not happen overnight and it will
not be easy, but we need to under-
stand that small changes add up
to big impact and that incremental
change is usually longer-lasting than
sudden shifts.
ACM: Since you are familiar
with the history and the mission
of our organization, what plans
do you have to move AmCham
forward?
I am immensely grateful to Michelle
Osmanli, AmCham’s previous Exec-
utive Director, for leaving me with a
stable and sustainable organization
ready for growth and an incredible
team who really know what they are
doing and who produce the work of
a team five times that size.
Under my leadership AmCham
Macedonia will continue to be the
voice of the business community
in Macedonia and a partner to the
government in creating policies that
improve the business environment
and spur economic growth. I will also
be working with the civil society sec-
tor on creating coalitions for projects
that benefit the people of Macedonia.
As I firmly believe in doing business
responsibly, I will work to encourage
and promote our members’ Corpo-
rate Social Responsibility practices.
The Chamber’s day-to-day activities
will be directed by our members’
needs and interests, as always.
ACM: What do you anticipate
will be your greatest challenges
and what are you most look-
ing forward to upon taking the
position?
I do not anticipate any major
challenges. The organization is in a
solid shape, I have the support and
know-how of our team and Board of
Directors to lean on, and our mem-
bers are interested and engaged. I
am really looking forward to meeting
as many of our members as possi-
ble as soon as I arrive and creating
and implementing our work plan
for 2018. On a personal level, I look
forward to exploring the beauty of
Macedonia, down to the very last
village and mountain stream, renew-
ing old friendships and creating new
ones, and indulging in the delicious
Macedonian food that I have missed
so much (burek forever!).
New Member Highlight
Gentherm Macedonia is the 2nd
production facility in Europe that is
part of Gentherm Corporation, with
headquarters located in Northville,
MI, USA.
Macedonian facility currently is
producing seat, steering wheel and
interior heaters, cable systems, bat-
tery thermal management products,
thermo-electric devices and blowers
for automotive industry. Gentherm
Macedonia has already invested
more than EUR 33 mil, with over
1.250 employees. The company is
finalizing the latest expansion of the
facility, reaching a total area of more
than 22.000 m2.
Gentherm (THRM) is the global
market leader and developer of inno-
vative thermal management technol-
ogies for a broad range of heating
and cooling and temperature con-
trol applications. Gentherm has over
13.000 employees in their facilities
in the United States, Germany, Can-
ada, China, Hungary, Japan, Korea,
Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, United
Kingdom, Ukraine and Vietnam.
AmCham Macedonia Magazine
7