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Ivo Matser (Netherlands, 1961) is a specialist in managing and leading organizational change in the professional corporate world and private academic institutions. He continuously pursues to increase the organizational value bringing both the internal and the external perspectives into the process. He executes his profession from three different roles: as a senior executive manager, as board member and as consultant.

Ivo is an economist, a leadership expert and certified Expert Marketing Professional (EMP). He started his career in sports business and managed real estate, publishing and professional services companies. Since 2001, he has been in the position of CEO/President/Dean of private higher education institutions: SWOT Business School (NL), TSM Business School (NL), ISM University of Management and Economics (LT), GISMA Business School (D, UK). Ivo is also assessor for international institutional accreditations in several countries. Regularly he is a speaker at conferences and board room consultant at companies for designing and implementing strategies.

He has represented for more than 10 year academic institutions as member of ABIS and since 2017, he is member of the Board of Directors of ABIS.

Karolina Sobczak is responsible for the Professional Development  as well as Events and Opinion Leadership engagement areas at ABIS – The Academy of Business in Society. Building on her previous roles at ABIS, she develops discussion platforms, mentoring opportunities and learning experiences fostering our members' thought leadership on sustainable development. Passionate about leadership development and change agency, she is also exploring coaching approaches for personal and professional development. 

Prior to joining ABIS in July 2015, she worked for a change management consultancy in Milan. Karolina holds a M.Sc. in Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology from Bocconi University and studied as an exchange student at the University of Denver in the US and at the Jonkoping International Business School in Sweden.

Katarina works as a Senior Project Manager at ABIS, where she oversees the development, planning and execution of research and education projects. She also assists in design of collaborative projects and event management that empower change and foster sustainable development and innovation.

Before joining ABIS she worked in a marketing agency as a Project Manager, where she was involved in carrying out marketing strategies, event management and administered an educational platform for CEE countries. Katarina graduated from her studies at University of Economics in Prague in International Trade with a specialization in Commercial Communication. During her studies she had the opportunity to be part of two exchange programs in Germany and USA.

Antonino Mangano is Office Manager and Communication Support at ABIS – The Academy of Business in Society.

He develops the best strategies to deliver the administrative tasks of ABIS, dealing with administration, HR management, finance and legal affairs.

He also provides ABIS with communication counselling and management, developing the online and on-field brand awareness, consolidating the network relations.

Additionally, he supports the team in the implementation and execution of ABIS initiatives and event management.

He graduated in International Relations and Cooperation for Development in July 2017 at the University of Messina (Italy), and holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Global Marketing, Communication and Made in Italy issued by the Italia-USA Foundation. He is a recognised professional journalist in Italy and has experience in project management and facilitation of participatory community events. Before joining ABIS he worked for the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels and the Italian public administration.