Lecturers

Salome Zurabishvili founded and has been heading the Local Network of the UN Global Compact initiative in Georgia since February 2016. She also serves as the Chair for the Regional Network Council for Eastern Europe and as a Member of the Global Network Council at the United Nations Global Compact. Salome is a Human Rights Lawyer with substantive academic knowledge and experience in the field of corporate sustainability. Her professional experience counts eleven years in the NGO, INGO, Public and Academic Sectors. Salome is a winner of Forbes Georgia 30 under 30, Class of 2020. She is a Swedish Institute Visby Programme Alumnus and holds Master’s Degree from Lund University, Sweden in International Human Rights Law and Labour Rights. Salome is the European Parliament's Sakharov Fellow.

Appointed in 2016, Resan currently serves as a CEO of the Exhibition Center – ExpoGeorgia. He is also Associate Professor of Management, Head of Management Studies and a PhD student at Ilia State University and a lecturer of Strategic Management at Business and Technology University. Resan has an extensive, 19 years of professional experience working in a private sector, in various industries in Tbilisi, London and Moscow. He has 10 years of experience on a C-level positions and 6 years international experience in banking, consulting, commodities-trading, real-estate and event management. Resan holds diploma of Imperial College London and Master’s degree in Business Administration from the same University. He also acquired MBA at ESM-Tbilisi and Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration at Georgian Technical University. His academic experience also includes courses attended at Manchester University, Stanford University , University of Trento and ESM-Tbilisi.

Lana Chkhartishvili is a Senior Manager at Global Compact Network Georgia, leading Government Relations and Educational Programs with GCNG Team since January 2020. Prior to that, Lana headed the cabinet of the First Vice-Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia engaged in institutional reform initiatives in the legislative branch of Georgia. With more than 15 years of professional experience Lana has worked in both Public and Private sectors, international and donor communities CSO’s and Academic Institutions. At GCNG Lana is running the Corporate Sustainability Academy and awareness raising, advocating Corporate Sustainability Values, promoting Sustainable Development Goals through Agenda 2030 and UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, integrating them into policy documents of Government of Georgia, partnering with businesses and civil society on Corporate Sustainability topic and promoting Business for SDG’s worldwide.   In 2003 US State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs granted Lana one year FLEX academic scholarship, where she graduated from US High School in 2004 and received US Highs School Diploma. Same year Lana applied for BA degree in Law which she completed in 2008. In 2009 she applied for MA degree at Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), which she graduated in 2011 receiving LLM in International Business Law. As a PhD candidate Lana is working on her thesis at Ilia State University expected to receive PhD degree in 2024.

Since 2007 Boris Janjalia is a Corporate Governance Officer at IFC, the World Bank Group. Seasoned professional with around 20 years of experience in Corporate Governance (CG), Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Risk Management (RM), Compliance and Regulation, Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT), Anti-Corruption, and Food Safety. Experienced in engaging with the business communities and national governments to determine corporate needs and developing effective solutions. He holds L.L.B degree in Law (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia) and B.A degree in Financial and Banking Management (Tbilisi State Institute of Economic Relations, Georgia), as well as L.L.M. degree in International Commercial Law with Commendation (University of Aberdeen, the UK).

Since September 2021, David Mchedlidze is an Acting Head of SARAS (MoF’s, Service for Accounting, Reporting and Audit Supervision) prior to which, in his role as head of Financial Reporting Supervision Department, (appointed in June 2017) with the help of his teammates, had a significant progress in successful implementation of the Reporting and Auditing reform in Georgia, overseeing the reporting of all commercial entities in Georgia, and making them public in the reporting portal - Reportal.ge; Prior to the public sector, from 2006, his main experience was in banking and microfinance sectors, where he gained significant experience while employed by Bank Constanta (The first Microfinance organization in Georgia, which obtained the Banking License) and TBC Bank, the largest bank in Georgia at that time. David has graduated from Caucasus School of Business in 2007. Currently is a CFA level III candidate and works as a lead of Financial and Managerial accounting courses at the Business and Technology University (BTU).

With more than 10 years of experience in Journalism and Psychology, Elene Kvanchilashvili currently serves as the Executive Editor of Forbes Georgia and is an author and a host of a weekly talk-show – Analytics with Elene Kvanchilashvili – which is produced by the BMG group and aired on TV Pirveli. Her beat in journalism is Business & Economics: policy, regulations, corporate responsibility, main trends and impact assessment. In psychology she focuses on mass and political communication. Her PhD in Psychology was on Nationalism among three South Caucasus countries: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Her Master’s Course on the Psychology of Political Communication was prepared with the help of UC Berkley, USA through the Carnegie Scholarship. Elene is a 2011 Carnegie Scholar. Her professional interest in journalism sparked after graduating CSJMM GIPA in 2003. Elene has the experience of working on policy documents as well – in 2019, she prepared a policy document of EPRC on Museum Commercialization perspectives for Georgia. Elene is an affiliated expert at GSAC. She has a husband and a daughter.

Mariam joined CENN in September 2019 as a Green Economy component lead within the ADC funded project – “Promoting Sustainable Forest Management for Climate Resilient Rural Development in Georgia”. From December 2019, she works at CENN as a project manager of EU funded project – “EU4Youth: Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development Program for Green Growth in Borderline Communities”. During 2013-2018, Mariam worked at State Audit Office of Georgia. As a head of Strategic Analysis Unit at SAOG, she was responsible for strategic planning reporting and monitoring; She also participated in several projects regarding anti-corruption work, engagement and empowerment of citizens to hold the government accountable. Mariam holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Ilia State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from Caucasus University. She was also an exchange student at Tallinn University of Technology and has visited Columbia University in the City of New York for short courses.

Maya Kobalia is the Head of the Environmental and Social (E&S) Division in the biggest Georgian financial inclusion organization - MFO Crystal. Prior to joining Crystal, Maya served as the Executive Director of the Georgia Alliance for Safe Roads. She has studied Masters Studies at the University of Tartu (Estonia) and the Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany). She holds BA degree (with Honors) in International Relations from Ilia State University (Georgia). Her studies and career interests have also taken her to the University of Lodz, Poznan University of Adam Mickiewicz, Krakow Jagiellonian University, to India, Zambia, the U.S., etc. She was a mentee in the Vital Voices chapter of Poland's Leadership and Mentoring Program for Women Leaders. The Vital Voices was established by First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Maya is also the Open World Leadership Program Alumna (Atlanta. Georgia | USA). Her interests include foreign languages (She speaks 5 languages: native Georgian, English, Polish, Russian and Estonian), women economic empowerment, inspirational-motivational speeches, youth-related and social activities with positive/tangible results, as well as music (Maya is playing piano and a guitar), yoga, mindfulness practices, walking and horseback riding. During her spare time, Maya also reviews English books in Georgian. Maya is the UN Global Compact Young SDG Pioneer. She was the first SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) local Winner from Georgia.

is the General Counsel at Georgian Stock Exchange and Georgian Central Securities Depository since 2018. She has over 10 years of professional experience at various publicly accountable enterprises in Georgia, as a project lawyer in the UK, as an external consultant lawyer with foreign investors and international contracts, as an invited trainer on Corporate Governance. She holds Bachelor / Master degree in International Law (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University), Master's degree in private law (Caucasus University), and Master’s degree in Commercial and Corporate Law (Queen Mary University of London). Areas of specialization: Her knowledge and specialization include the following fields: Corporate governance for listed and non-listed companies; Stock exchange regulations; Legislation of capital markets and securities; Compliance; EU Directives in Corporate Law; Standards of Corporate governance recognized by the international organizations; Financial and banking law; International Investment Law;

is a strategic and corporate sustainability communications professional with up to 17 years’ of working experience. Nino is a Senior Manager of Sustainability and Partnerships at the Global Compact Network Georgia. Before she served as the Head of Strategic Communications and Public Relations Department at the Ministry of Defence of Georgia (2019-2020). With extensive experience in international development, for up to seven years Ms. Kvantrishvili worked at the Embassy of Georgia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands (2011-2014; 2016-2019) and Parliament of Georgia (Head of PR and Civil Actions Planning Division, (2015-2017). Nino is highly skilled in Corporate Sustainability, Strategic Communications Planning, Budgeting and Resource Management; Countering Disinformation, Tracking and responding to disinformation and anti-European propaganda; Community Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement; Media Management; Event Management; Online Communications and Social Media; Writing and Editing; Research & Analysis. With B.A. in TV Journalism from Tbilisi State University (2001-2005), Ms. Kvantrishvili pursued her graduate studies in Communications at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (M.A. in Media Communications and Management, 2006-2008) and as Stan Storeman’s Scholarship fellow at Webster University Leiden (M.A. in Media Communications, 2012-2013).

Rati Zautashvili joined GCNG team in 2020. He has a higher education in business management. With 12 years of working experience, Rati has implemented dozens of international and local projects in both the private and public sectors. He is now actively working to support and integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the business sector, which will help develop corporate sustainability in Georgia.

The Honorable Sergo Nozadze is the Chairman of the INSTITUTIONAL AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT CENTER and Founder and Shareholder of the HICDC - Executive Consultancy and Advisory Company. At the same time Mr. Nozadze is serving as a President of the HR Professionals` Association - HRPA Georgia and as an Honorary President of the Association for Trainings and Development - ATD. Mr. Nozadze previously served as a Director for HR and Organizational Development in leading financial institutions such as Bank Republic - Société Générale Group and MFOs Crystal where he was responsible for Strategic Human Resources and Organizational Development, Strategic Talent management, Strategic Workforce Planning, Strategic HR Budgeting & Compensations and Benefits, Strategic HR Business Partnership, People/Talents Development. Besides a wealth of experience in the Private Sector, his background also covers Public and NGO Sectors, where he held Executive Managerial Positions. Sergo Nozadze is a Highly skilled individual with a proven track record of achievement in Strategic Organizational Development, HR / Talent and People Development and Leadership Development.

Tamar is the Chief compliance Officer at Bank of Georgia, she joined the bank in 2014. Tamar leads AML and Compliance Teams. Prior, she was deputy head of legal department at NBG; she also served as a financial expert for Council of Europe. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in International Law from Iv. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. After three years practice in insurance industry, she decided to continue her studies in the Netherlands and obtained Master’s degree in International Economic and Business Law at the University of Groningen. She holds International Diploma in Governance, Risk, and Compliance from International Compliance Association. Tamar has guest lectured on various topics, including ABC and compliance.