About AAA
AUBG Alumni Association
AAA is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, serving as a coordinating structure for all AUBG alumni activities
MISSION
The mission of the AUBG Alumni Association is to function as a representative and organizational structurefor the AUBG alumni body, acting constructively in its common interests and development.The Association will promote the values of the American University in Bulgaria.
OBJECTIVES
To promote interaction among alumni through developing a communications network, projects and programs that enrich their professional, cultural and personal lives.
To enhance the continued growth and development of AUBG as a leading higher education institution in Southeast Europe by providing financial support and by contributing to the life and community of AUBG.
Current AAA Leadership
AUBG Alumni listed below are the current AAA leadership team
Valya Nadova
PRESIDENT
Valya Nadova (’13) is a committed professional with extensive experience within the venture capital sector. Her communication skills, calm and solution-oriented approach allows her to focus on positive outcomes and bridge gaps between stakeholders. She holds the role of President of the Alumni Association of the University.
Valya Nadova began her career in Bulgaria’s startup environment after graduating from the American University in Bulgaria in 2013. She worked at Eleven Ventures, where she supported early-stage startups. In 2018, she joined LAUNCHub Ventures as the Operations Manager. Valya’s work has been essential in supporting the growth of the startup ecosystem in the region. She was one of the founders of the Bulgarian Entrepreneurship Center, an NGO focused on building a knowledge bridge between Bulgaria and the USA. She is fully engaged in the NGO sector after joining the team of America for Bulgaria Foundation.
Her bachelor’s degree is in Business Administration and Journalism from AUBG and has an EMBA from Central European University.
Miroslav Arnaudov
VICE-PRESIDENT
Miroslav /Class ’11/ has been a trader in Alaric Securities for the past 6 years. He and his team design models and strategies that aim to bring bigger and improved risk adjusted returns. Miro’s ambition is for Alaric to become as big as Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater fund.
Miro devotes his scarce free time to salsa practices and acting classes.
Simona Stancheva
TREASURER
Agneszka Kellenberger
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Agneszka Kellenberger (‘96) was born in Poznań, Poland. She had the opportunity to be one of the first George Soros scholars and international students at AUBG. She majored in Business Administration, minored in Computer Science and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1996. After graduation, she made her MBA with a concentration in Finance in Texas Christian University. She, then, worked as a Consultant in McKinsey in Warsaw in 1998 and 1999, as a Manager in Procter and Gamble in Brussels between 1999 and 2003, and finally as a Head of Agreements and Economic Affairs in Ectrl also in Brussels between 2003 and 2023. There she had been a Member of a Pension Fund Supervisory Board for ten years.
Agneszka volunteers as AUBG Alumni Ambassador in Benelux and is very enthusiastic about the American University and about Bulgaria. She works on reconnecting alumni, building on AUBG’s values and encouraging the culture of “giving back.” Agneszka believes that the American liberal arts education engraves the values of democracy, free speech, citizenship and diversity into our hearts for a lifetime. Creativity, multidisciplinary knowledge and entrepreneurship make AUBGers truly unique!
Kristo Prifti
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Kristo Prifti (‘15) is a Software Architect with over a decade of professional expertise, specializing in mobile and web development. He is passionate about crafting innovative solutions and developing impactful software in both professional and personal pursuits. Eager to leverage his background by contributing to system optimizations, architectural design and team collaboration for continued excellence in software development. Currently he is working in a company founded by AUBG Almuni where he leads a team of software engineers to develop and maintain one of the top OKR solutions software in the field, Quantive.
Sevdalina Yaneva
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Sevdalina, class of 2013, graduated with a double-major in European Politics and Political Science and International Relations. She loves reading books, music & nature – these are her 3 top driving hobbies that recharges her energy and inspire her in her everyday life. Lately, she is focusing more over contemporary Bulgarian writers. In music she loves exploring new styles and combination between modern and folklore beats. Hiking is her passion and healthy lifestyle.
Her professional standing is as various as her interests – she gains experience both from the private and public sectors in order to understand better how the world is functioning and how and where it needs development. Sevdalina’s life in the past years have turned into constant elections and choices – national (supporting causes and reforms dear to her heart) and institutional (elected as our latest Director-at-large).
Monika Varadinova
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Monika Varadinova (‘23) is a committed HR professional and proud AUBG alumna, currently working as a Human Resources Assistant and Personal Development teacher at “Educational Technologies” Private Profiled High School in Sofia. She also holds the role of Director-at-Large at the AUBG Alumni Association, where she contributes to community engagement and alumni relations. Known for her organizational skills, group collaboration, and administrative abilities, Monika is passionate about fostering positive communication and building meaningful relationships. Monika holds a double BA in Political Science and Psychology from AUBG (Class of 2023), and has prior experience in recruitment and talent acquisition. She brings strong organizational skills and a passion for connecting people to every project she takes on.
Iliya Krastev
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Iliya is the author of the book “How CEOs get projects done successfully” (www.ceowaytogo.com). Currently, Iliya is SAP Labs ecosystem evangelist. He is responsible for the partnerships with both internal and external customers and partners. For the past 8 years Iliya is lecturing the course “Project Management” in master’s degree program “Management Information Systems” first at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics in Sofia University, and now at the faculty of “Economics and Business Administration”. As an author and consultant, he offers businesses and organizations the tools to create a successful transformation and meet strategic goals and long-term objectives
Mr. Iliya Krastev is a transformation and change management value advisor with many successful projects under his lead. He has hands on experience in all roles of the project completion success journey: as a customer, implementation partner, consultant, pre-sale executive, CIO, country manager, partner, advisor to a minister, and a vendor.
With his deep industry experience in telecommunication, fintech, hospital management, public sector, as well as manufacturing, Iliya brings tools, knowledge, and skills to companies around the world.
Finally, Iliya has started two businesses from scratch: a management consulting practice, and an IPTV provider.
Iliya Krastev holds a BA in Business Administration from the American University in Bulgaria (class of 2000), an MA in Rhetoric from Sofia University, and a Global MBA from Alliance Business School at the University of Manchester in UK. He holds various certifications in project management, as well as business technology software and IT architecture tools.
Krasimir Petrov
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Krasimir studied business administration and economics and graduated in 2006. He then jumped into the hardcore industry of commercial real estate. For all these years he took different roles and endeavors in more than 40 projects. Krasi openly admits that the biggest fun has always been the difficult ones, so he keeps looking for the next new challenges in the field.
Exploring and strategizing on new ideas and concepts is so tempting to him that he co-founded an organization for think-thanking and supporting of various projects of the associated members and friends, in fields like commerce, finance, real estate, entertainment, and others.
Krasi firmly believes in the AUBG “gene” and identity. He thinks that fellow alumni can never fail to be interesting and friendly to each other, so all alumni ought to search for and to contribute to the transformative potential of this unique network.
Dimitar Kumanov
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Dimitar Kumanov (’18) has graduated from AUBG with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics. Currently, he is a senior developer at the Norwegian scaleup Documaster dealing with software systems for long term preservation of documents and metadata.
During his student time at AUBG Dimitar has spent a lot of effort in building up the high tech and innovation club The Hub along with his peers. As an alumni he often goes back to support the club and the greater community as a mentor or competition judge for some of the annual events on campus like the MultiTalent Quest and HackAUBG.