Speaker Biographies

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Dr. Ognian Shentov

Dr. Ognian Shentov is President and Founding Member of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) - an independent, non-profit, public policy research organization committed to fostering the stabilization of a democratic social and economic system in Bulgaria by encouraging an open dialogue between scholars and policy makers. CSD is the largest Bulgarian think-tank specializing in the areas of economic and legal reform, European integration, anti-corruption, and social survey research.

Dr. Shentov has written a number of publications on the issues of transition to democracy, democratic changes and stability in Eastern Europe. He is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the New Bulgarian University - Sofia. Dr. Shentov also serves on the Steering Committees of Coalition 2000 - an anti-corruption initiative of Bulgarian NGOs, the Judicial Reform Initiative, and the Bulgarian Internet Alliance for Economic Development.

He received his MA degree in International Relations in 1981, and PhD in Political Science in 1987.

Boyko Todorov

Boyko Todorov is Program Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and Director of the Information and Documentation Centre on the Council of Europe, Sofia.

Mr. Todorov has been Coordinator of CSD's European Program since 1995. He is member of the Supervisory Board of the European Movement - Bulgaria. He also serves on the Steering Committees of Coalition 2000 - an anti-corruption initiative of Bulgarian NGOs and the Judicial Reform Initiative. Mr. Todorov is Coordinator of the Executive Secretariat of the Southeast European Legal Development Initiative, an effort of leading not-for-profit organizations, representatives of government institutions and experts from the countries of Southeast Europe aimed at public-private coalition building for legal development in those countries.

Mr. Todorov received his BA degree in International Relations from the Higher Institute of Economics, Sofia, in 1989 and MA in International Relations from Florida State University, Department of Political Science, in 1994.

Alexander Stoyanov

Alexander Stoyanov has received his MA in Political Economy and Sociology from the University of National and World Economy (UNWE), Sofia, in 1982. Since 1983 he is assistant professor at the Department of Economic Sociology, UNWE. Since 1993 he is Director of Research of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Sofia and has been directly involved in the work of the Sociological Program of the Center.

Mr. Stoyanov has been managing and/or participating in a number of research projects commissioned by various international organizations, universities and research institutes, which have been devoted to privatization and economic restructuring, social and political aspects of transformations, human security, socio-economic stratification and others. Mr. Stoyanov is the principal author of the Corruption Monitoring System of Coalition 2000, which is being implemented in Southeast Europe and Bulgaria.