ABOUT US

Core team:

Vladimir Shopov is founder and managing partner of Sophia Analytica Ltd. His previous full-time positions include Manager and Senior Analyst (social and political research) at Alpha Research Ltd. (2006-2008), Lecturer and Tutor in European Politics, Sofia University (2004-2005), Senior Fellow at the Institute for Regional and International Studies, Sofia (2004-2006), EU Policy Adviser at the British Embassy, Sofia (2002-2003), EU Counselor, Bulgarian Mission to the EU (1999-2001) and EU Policy and Diplomatic Adviser to the Minister of Interior, Sofia (1997-1999). He has worked with various committees of the European Parliament, with the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry and has been occasional speech-writer and adviser at the Ministry. Mr. Shopov has worked with a number of Bulgarian and European policy institutes and lectures at Sofia University and the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is occasional lecturer at various European universities. He has published on a range of issues: Bulgarian and European affairs, EU issues, security policy, history of ideas, etc. and is regular contributor to the electronic and printed media.

Mr. Shopov has an MA in Political Science from Sofia University "St. Kliment of Ohrid" and an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has also studied at Oxford University; Queen Mary College, London University; the New School for Social Research, New York and California University, Sonoma. Mr. Shopov has completed executive education courses at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and the Centre for Financial and Management Studies, London University.

Dimiter Vitchev is founder of Sophia Analytica Ltd. He has been co-owner and managing partner at Linex Ltd. since 1999. Prior to that Mr. Vitchev was political advisor to the Minister of Transport (1997 - 1999). He has also occupied various executive positions at two smaller companies. He has successfully managed a number of investment projects with numerous European companies (France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Poland).

Mr. Vitchev holds an MA in Political Science from Sofia University "St. Kliment of Ohrid" and an MA in Finance from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia.

Sophia Analytica Ltd. has as its associates the following people:

Dr. Daniel Nelson: President and CEO of Global Concepts & Communications, LLC, an international consulting firm based in Alexandria, Virginia and Senior Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation in Washington, DC. From 2002-2006, he was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Haven. From 1998 through mid-2002, he served in the U.S. Departments of State and Defense – during 1998 in the Arms Control & Disarmament Agency as the William Foster Fellow working on conventional arms negotiations and, in 1999, as Scholar in Residence at the National Defense University's National Security Education Program. Then, from January 2000 through July 2002, Nelson directed the curriculum in Civil-Military Relations at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany. From 1996 through 2003, Nelson was also Editor-in-Chief of International Politics, a scholarly journal published quarterly by Palgrave Macmillan. For Global Concepts, Inc., an international consulting firm in Alexandria, Virginia, Nelson was CEO from the firm's incorporation in 1992 until he re-entered government in 1998. From 1992-1999, he was founding Director and Full Professor in the Graduate Programs in International Studies at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA (USA). Nelson served as a foreign policy consultant for Senator Tom Harkin in his presidential campaign of 1992 and has provided policy assistance to Democratic candidates in House of Representatives campaigns. Earlier, he had been the Senior Foreign Policy Advisor on Capitol Hill for Richard Gephardt (D-Mo) when he was the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Kentucky. He also taught at Georgetown University, The Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies, and the George Washington University while in the federal government. Nelson has written six books, and edited or co-edited twenty other volumes. He is co-chair of the Progressive Foreign & Defense Policy Discussion Group, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the Atlantic Council of the U.S., other scholarly and professional associations, and serves on boards of the Austrian Institute on International Affairs, the British-American Security Information Council, the Institute for New Democracies, and other NGOs.

Dr. Garrison Walters: Senior Consultant with Global Concepts & Communications, LLC leading GCC’s Higher Education Practice and currently Executive Director of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, coordinating activities of a 33-campus public university/college system. Prior to coming to South Carolina in 2007, he was sequentially Senior Vice Chancellor and Interim Chancellor at the Ohio Board of Regents. Walters’ responsibilities in the 61-campus public system included academic review, research programs allocating about $20 million per year, workforce development, and information technology. He led the group that created OhioLINK, the state’s library and information system, oversaw a statewide doctoral review, and was the principal architect of “The Ohio Plan,” a comprehensive research, technology transfer and commercialization effort that provided the foundation for the state’s multi-billion dollar “Third Frontier Program.” He also led planning and development for Ohio’s path-breaking 1,600 mile "dark fiber" research and education network. Earlier, Dr. Walters was Assistant Dean of Humanities at Ohio State University where he was responsible for instructional staffing and budget in a college the size of many universities--fourteen departments teaching some 2,000 sections of 1,000 courses in a typical term. Dr. Walters, a Fulbright scholar, has a Ph.D. in the history of Eastern Europe and Russia from Ohio State University and is author of The Other Europe (Syracuse University Press, 1988) and The Essential Guide to Computing (Prentice Hall, 2001).

Dr. Lawrence DeNardis: Senior Consultant for Global Concepts & Communications, LLC. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he received a B.A. from Holy Cross College, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from New York University. His academic and public service has included an appointment as an associate professor at Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, Conn., 1964-1979; President, Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges, 1979-1980; Connecticut state senate, 1970-1979; delegate, Connecticut State Republican conventions, 1966-1982, and convention chairman in 1982; and, delegate, Republican National Convention, 1976. Dr. DeNardis was elected as a Republican to the Ninety-seventh Congress (January 3, 1981-January 3, 1983) and unsuccessfully sought reelection to the Ninety-eighth Congress in 1982 and election to the Ninety-ninth Congress in 1984. He has also been a visiting professor of government, Connecticut College, New London, 1983-1984; assistant secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, 1985-1987; guest scholar, Woodrow Wilson International Center, Washington, D.C., 1987; chairman, Connecticut Board of Higher Education, Hartford, Conn., 1991; faculty member and president, University of New Haven, 1991-2004; president emeritus, University of New Haven, 2004-present; chairman, Tweed New Haven Regional Airport Authority, 2000-present. Dr. DeNardis is a resident of Hamden, Connecticut.

Mr. Matthew Filipic: Currently the Senior Vice President for Business and Fiscal Affairs at Wright State University. He has held that position since July, 2000. Prior to coming to Wright State, he had made a career in Ohio state government. His work included five years in the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, which he left as Assistant Director; more than two years as the Legislative Budget Officer for the Ohio General Assembly; and fifteen years at the Ohio Board of Regents, largely in budgetary roles, where he rose to the rank of Senior Vice Chancellor. Before beginning his governmental career, Filipic completed a Ph.D. in political science at The Ohio State University. During his governmental career, he passed the CPA exam, earning the A.I.C.P.A.’s Elijah Watt Sells award for his performance.

Filipic has served on a number of advisory groups on a range of policy matters. Many of these have dealt with aspects of Ohio’s funding for higher education, but he has also served on the Ohio Higher Education Facilities Commission, the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Financing Student Success, the Community Leadership Committee of the Dayton Public Schools, the Greene County Port Authority, and the Financial Review Panel of the North Central Association’s Higher Learning Commission, among others.

Throughout his career, Filipic has viewed budget and financial issues from a broad public policy perspective, seeking to find solutions that address the larger goals of the state and the University and of the public that they both serve.

Bozhana Stoeva is lead associated consultant in the EU and Advocacy fields. Her previous positions include Project Manager, Focus Consultancy Ltd, Brussels; Project Manager at the Centre for Economic Development, Sofia; Associate Researcher at the Institute for Austrian, European and Comparative Public Law, Political Science and Administrative Law, University of Graz, Austria and Expert in EU Affairs at the Open Society Institute, Sofia. She has also worked at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, Sofia and Solac Ltd., Sofia. Mrs. Stoeva has consulted projects funded by the Manfred Woerner Foundation, FAO, Centre for International Enterprise, Washington DC and Freedom House, USA. She has publications in the fields of EU accession negotiations, EU local governance, economic development.

Mrs. Stoeva has an MA in International Economic Relations, University of National and World Economy, Sofia and an MA in Political Science and Public Administration, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain. She has a PhD in Political Science from the same university.

Mr. Stefanov has a BA in Political Science from Sofia University and MA in Political Science from the Central European University, Budapest. He has several other qualifications on campaigning and political parties from Germany and the Netherlands. Currently he is in the PhD program (Political Science) at Sofia University.

Luboslava Ruseva is lead associated consultant in the fields of public outreach and advocacy. She is a leading commentator at 'Dnevnik Daily' and has occupied various positions: deputy editor at 'THEME Weekly' (public affairs magazine), head of 'Comment and Analysis' section at 'Dnevnik Daily' and head of 'Comment and Analysis' at 'Glasove Weekly' (public affairs weekly). Mrs. Ruseva has also worked for electronic and printed media ('Standart Daily') and has taught at Sofia University 'St. Kliment of Ohrid'.

Mrs. Ruseva has an MA in Slavonic Studies from Sofia University 'St. Kliment of Ohrid'. She has also studied journalism in Seattle, USA.

Stoyan Faldziyski is lead associated consultant in the area of policy. He is involved with the TIME Foundation, Sofia mainly on climate change projects and sustainable (rural) development and has worked at Povvik-OOS Ltd., Sofia in the areas of sustainable development, regional development and environmental impact assessment. Mr. Faldziyski has also worked at the British Embassy in Sofia on various projects as well as with a number of Bulgarian and European NGOs. He has provided free-lance consultancy to a number of companies.

Mr. Faldziyski has a BA in Industrial Management from the Technical University, Sofia and an MSc in Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, joint degree by Queen's University, Belfast; Open University, Brussels; University of Chemistry and Metallurgy, Sofia and the Academy of Economics, Svishtov, Bulgaria.

Valentin Danchev is lead associated consultant in the fields of institutional and policy issues. He is also a lecturer in sociology at Sofia University "St. Kliment of Ohrid" and an analyst in the Association for Social Investigation. Mr. Danchev has also been senior analyst at Alpha Research Ltd, Sofia (public policy research, migration, corporate social responsibility and marketing). He has participated in various research projects and has published extensively in the fields of education policy, anti-corruption, public policy and social policy reform.

Mr. Danchev has a BA in Sociology and a BA in Library and Information Sciences from Sofia University. He has also attained an MA in Sociology from the same university.

The company also relies on a network of affiliated consultants in the listed areas of expertise.