New Additions To Bulgaria Innovation Hub’s Board Of Directors

At BIH, we’re all about leveraging entrepreneurship, education and technology innovation to drive economic and social change in Bulgaria. As you can imagine, this takes expert minds willing to put their decades-long practical knowledge to good use to serve CEE’s innovation and tech growth potential.

This is why we’re happy to announce that we’ve gathered alongside us these accomplished professionals, who mark a significant milestone in our pursuit of excellence in innovation, and we are excited to leverage their expertise to accelerate our impact on Bulgaria's business landscape.

Especially in the context of our upcoming program, we are lucky to have brought together such a diverse and versatile team of professionals, whose commitment to deliver value to high impact businesses is crucial to our mission.

Welcome The New Board Members

Galina Antova

She is a visionary cybersecurity executive and digital transformation pioneer with a remarkable track record spanning over 18 years. Her extensive experience in leading growth strategies and spearheading large-scale digital transformations for Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, Siemens, and her groundbreaking work at Claroty make her a valuable addition to our team. Her dedication to advancing cybersecurity for critical infrastructure and her commitment to promoting diversity in technology align perfectly with our mission to foster innovation and drive progress in Bulgaria and beyond.

Galina is an advocate for diversity, a mentor and contributor to various organizations promoting and supporting women in technology. She is a Founding Member of Forte Group and Firstboard.io. She holds a BS in Computer Science from York University, Toronto, and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland.

Rika Nakazawa

She is a distinguished technology leader, VC investor, and best-selling author with a profound impact on the tech industry. Her role as Global Vice President at NTT's New Ventures & Innovation team, where she spearheads co-innovation practices for emerging technologies, including 5G, Edge Computing, AI, and IoT, exemplifies her forward-thinking approach. Furthermore, her dedication to sustainability as Head of Sustainability for Americas at NTT, along with her impressive recognitions in the tech world, underscores her commitment to driving innovation and sustainability hand in hand – a perfect fit for our mission at Bulgaria Innovation Hub.

Trilingual in Japanese, German, and English, Rika grew up in Japan and moved to the US to attend Princeton University. Rika has since worked internationally in senior executive roles in strategy, business development, consulting, and marketing with Fortune 500 companies - Accenture, NVIDIA, Capgemini, Sony - and Silicon Valley startups.

Pressian Karakostov

His remarkable achievements, including founding and leading PhoneArena and PubGalaxy, represent a wealth of experience and expertise that we are thrilled to have within our organization. As an angel investor and fervent supporter of the Bulgarian entrepreneurial ecosystem, Pressian's dedication is truly commendable. His roles as a board member at the Bulgarian Entrepreneurial Association, Bulgarian Innovation Hub, Bulgarian Expansion Bridge, and co-chair of the board of Endeavor Bulgaria make him an invaluable asset to our mission.

The outstanding success of PubGalaxy, which achieved remarkable recognition as the Most Dynamic Tech Company in Bulgaria, one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Central Europe, and as one of the 1000 companies to inspire Europe, highlights Pressian's extraordinary contributions to the tech and entrepreneurial landscape. His presence on our board fills us with pride and excitement for the future of innovation in Bulgaria.

Sim Simeonov

Simeon Simeonov is a distinguished figure in the technology and entrepreneurial landscape, with a stellar track record spanning entrepreneurship, venture capital, and cutting-edge technology. We’re extremely grateful for his partnership, as his start-up experience extends well beyond being the co-founder and CTO of Swoop, IPM.ai and several other successful companies. He is the CTO of Real Chemistry, which combines advanced AI with deep human insights to improve healthcare and patient outcomes. A former venture capitalist, he stays involved in the start-up ecosystem as a trusted advisor and angel investor supporting emerging entrepreneurs.

Simeon Simeonov has also made significant contributions in the world of venture capital, where he has identified, supported, and guided early-stage companies toward success. His insights into the start-up ecosystem are invaluable and align perfectly with our mission. On top of his business acumen, Simeonov is also extremely articulate and well spoken, and his ability to encapsulate complex technical ideas into actionable feedback is one of the main qualities recommending him for broader discussions on entrepreneurship.

We rely on our dedicated board members to steer the organization and its beneficiaries towards their goals. The strategic vision, networking capabilities, and advocacy efforts of our board members are instrumental in driving innovation, economic growth, and competitiveness, making BIH a central player in Bulgaria's innovation ecosystem. As we continue to evolve, the commitment and contributions of our board members remain essential to our success.

Shoutout to The Existing Board Members Who Made This Possible

Pavlina Yanakieva

Pavlina is founder and CEO of Bulgaria Innovation Hub. She’s an entrepreneur, board member, strategist, and advisor with 20+ years experience in growth strategy, ecosystem/partnership development, and fundraising for global technology companies and high impact organizations.

The entire vision and mission of Bulgaria Innovation Hub started with her idea to bridge the scaling gap between Bulgarian start-ups ready to expand to the U.S. market and Silicon Valley. Among her specialties, she is renowned for her ecosystem and partnership development skills, as well as for her passionate and purpose-driven fundraising when it comes to supporting promising initiatives and ventures, blueprint and go-to-market strategies. A lifelong learner driven by curiosity and hunger for knowledge, Pavlina is an advocate for diversity, an advisor to tech start-ups and organizations supporting female leaders and impact focused entrepreneurs. She uses education, tech and innovation to solve global problems from the ground up.

Bogomil Balkansky

Currently Partner at Sequoia Capital and the biggest driving force for Bulgaria Innovation Hub up until now, Bogomil Balkansky is known for his contributions to the technology industry and has held notable positions in various technology companies. He held various roles at VMware, including Vice President of Product Marketing. During his tenure at VMware, he was involved in promoting and advancing the company's virtualization and cloud computing solutions. Before joining VMware, he was Director of Product Management at Google.

With a background deeply rooted in technical roles, Bogomil has not only witnessed but actively shaped the transformative waves of technology. His commitment to staying at the forefront of innovation aligns perfectly with our mission to drive technology advancements in Bulgaria.

Ivan Dimov

Founder and Chairman at the Single Step Foundation and CEO at the Bulgarian Entrepreneurship Center, Ivan Dimov plays a crucial role in shaping the strategic direction of Bulgaria Innovation Hub. His visionary outlook helps guide our hub's efforts to foster innovation and support start-ups calibrate their offers for scale up.

As a Board member, Ivan is extremely grounded both in the local development needs of emerging powerful start-ups, and the U.S. ecosystem where he has spent significant time through his role of CFO at Edamam.

Helping Bulgarian Start-ups Scale To The U.S.

Most importantly, aside from being business-savvy tech specialists on an individual level, our Board members are a team of experts with complementary skills. Together, we genuinely care about the local tech community and its power to lead globally competitive businesses.

The roadmap to success takes a village to put together, and we’re genuinely excited to provide Bulgarian start-ups with the support they need to scale to the U.S. market.

If your start-up is looking for a place to start its journey for exponential growth, make sure to apply for our cohort this fall and join us in Silicon Valley for an intensive program.

The possibility for Bulgaria Innovation Hub to achieve these milestones is achieved with the support of America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF) - an independent, nonpartisan, and nonpolitical American grant-making foundation working in partnership with Bulgarians to strengthen the country’s private sector and related democratic institutions. For more information, please visit: https://us4bg.org/