10.01.2023 Iliya Karanikolov and Ivan Cerovski join Bulgarian Development Bank’s Management

Banker Iliya Karanikolov and private equity expert Ivan Cerovski join the management of Bulgarian Development Bank. Both will become members of the Management Board after being appointed by the Bank’s Supervisory Board.

After a careful review and evaluation of the candidates, BDB’s Selection Committee proposed to the Bank's Supervisory Board the appointment of Mr. Karanikolov and Mr. Cerovski. In accordance with the requirements of Regulation 20, the documents of the two candidates were submitted to the Bulgarian National Bank for pre-approval.

This is the first fully transparent and organized process for appointing Board members for the credit institution, where the candidates are publicly announced by the Supervisory Board of the bank before being officially appointed.

The two new members of the Management Board will be tasked with strengthening the institution's operations and its alignment to Bank's development objectives and priorities as per the BDB Act.

Iliya Karanikolov has over 20 years of experience in banking and finance, as well as  substantial knowledge of BDB from his position as a member of the Management Board and Executive Director during the period 2011-2013. From 2007 to 2011 he was part of the Eurobank Bulgaria (Postbank) Team.

His professional career includes working at the Ministry of Economy and Energy as well as the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. He has comprehensive expertise in public administration, European integration, EU strategies and programmes. He has lectured on topics such as cost-benefit analysis of large infrastructural, municipal and private projects, control of structural funds, financial instruments, etc.

From 2016 to 2017, he was part of the Fund of Funds’ Management, where he held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Management Board and Executive Director, and in 2021 - Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Fund. He is BDB’s Head of Financial Instruments since 2019.

Karanikolov holds an MBA from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia and has specializations in Artificial Intelligence (University of Helsinki), Management of Financial Instruments (London), Credit Risk (Prague), Management of Structural Funds  (Brussels, Maastricht, Dublin) and many others.

Ivan Cerovski has 18 years of experience in banking and private equity. His professional career took him through the German financial institutions such as Commerzbank, Deutsche Börse and Dresdner Bank. Cerovski was an associate investor in the UK private equity fund Argus Capital where he was responsible for the Bulgarian market, and also a Vice President of the Bulgarian equity fund Delta Capital.

He was part of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) team from 2011 to 2021, where he was the head of the EBRD's Local Entrepreneurship Programme, responsible for the development of the SME sector in Bulgaria.

Ivan Cerovski holds a Master's degree in Management from Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany, and a Bachelor's degree in Macroeconomics from the University of National and World Economy.