Leadership

Mirza Prses is an Associate Director with Guidehouse in Chicago, IL and has over a decade of experience in the energy, sustainability, and infrastructure sector. He earned both a Bachelors in Economics and MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).

Prior to his current role, Mirza worked for the United Nations in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he led the nationwide implementation of energy efficiency projects on public buildings (hospitals, schools, universities, etc.). He worked and negotiated with all levels of BiH government and the projects have resulted in a significant reduction of carbon emissions, increase in jobs, and improved occupancy conditions. He was also a member of the Council of FK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo.

Additionally, Mirza has a passion for soccer, considering he has played soccer for the UIC Men’s Team, Zeljeznicar Sarajevo youth academy, and the U17 BiH national team. He spends most of his free time with his wife and two boys, enjoying the outdoors and traveling.

Lejla Pekarić is an experienced senior leader and owner of a business consulting firm specializing in strategic, leadership and operational matters for privately-held businesses.

Lejla is a CPA-CA with a Masters degree in professional accounting with over 15 years of advisory experience, including over 10 years in senior leadership roles in prominent professional services organizations. She started her career at KPMG, and then moved into the Director, Operations for Western Canada of Grant Thornton where she led various initiatives such as integrating over 20 M&A deals, spearheading the creation of new departments, and leading multiple national projects.

Lejla is also a certified Professional Project Manager, Change Management Professional and Leadership Coach and has also contributed to academia by teaching at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business.

Alongside her professional expertise, Lejla’s lifelong passion for art fuels her innovative and creative approach in supporting clients. She is fluent in English, French and Bosnian.

Mirela Imširović holds a PhD in International Relations from the School of Politics and International Studies at Wuhan University in China and is a doctoral dissertation candidate at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo at the Department of Security and Peace Studies. She has a master’s degree in international relations at the Chinese University of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, as well as in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian language and literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Faculty of Philosophy in Sarajevo.

Her work is focused on development of democratic culture, improvement of security and peace aspects in cooperation and international relations. Currently is a part of the work team of the research project: Globalization, Illicit Trade, Sustainability and Security, University of Groningen, Netherlands. Through the years she is engaged in the Council of Europe in Strasbourg as a consultant on projects for the development of democratic culture. More significant projects in the Council of Europe, Strasbourg are: With the implementation in Kosovo, Project FRED, Fostering Rapprochement through Education for Democracy and Language Learning, Project Strengthening Education for Democracy, Project Online resources development – LEMON Learning Modules Online.

In the course of research, she received several scholarships. Imširović published research papers related to international relations, as well as peace and security aspects in international relations. She has rich international experience in the field of geopolitics, international relations and development and improvement of teaching. She is a member of the Institute for Geopolitics, Economy and Security BiH.

Ajdin is in his final year of law school at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Prior to law school, Ajdin completed an Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

Upon entering law school, Ajdin was awarded the Canadian National Scholarship in Law. During law school, he volunteered for Student Legal Services and provided legal information and support to the low income community in Edmonton. Ajdin has also kept active and engaged with his fellow classmates by playing for the law school intramural basketball team. When he finishes school, Ajdin is excited to return to British Columbia to complete his articles.

Ajdin’s family hails from Srebrenica where they survived the genocide in 1995 and afterwards came to Canada. Ajdin and his family now call Abbotsford their home. In his free time, he takes every opportunity he can to travel. He especially likes visiting BiH and the Adriatic Sea. At home, Ajdin enjoys the outdoors of the Pacific Northwest where he goes skiing.

Admir Muratovic was born and raised in Slovenia, where he obtained his bachelor and master’s degree in law. He received a “Best thesis award” by the UN Association for Slovenia. He spent two semesters on Erasmus+ student exchange programs at Istanbul University, Turkey and Ghent University, Belgium, and successfully competed in international law moot-court contests around the world. For two years he was part of a university’s pro bono legal clinic providing free legal aid.

As a junior legal advisor, Admir interned in the Sarajevo office of Trial International, an NGO headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, fighting against impunity for international crimes and assisting victims of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina in their quest for justice. Before moving to the US, he was a legal assistant in the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, working on issues of succession amongst the republics of the former Yugoslavia. In 2021, he started an LL.M. (Master of Laws) program at Wayne State University Law School, where he was a research assistant in international law.

Admir is particularly interested in the history of Bosniak immigration in the US, going as far back as the end of the 19th century. Even at his young age, he managed to establish a wide rapport by visiting many Bosniak communities throughout Europe and in the US.

Sabina holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Spanish from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and a Master of Science with an emphasis in Educational Leadership from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. She is certified in lean methodology and trained in Disney Institute Perfect Service Principles.

Currently, she provides leadership and oversight of strategic communications to empower and engage Humana’s community of nearly ten thousand nurses and social services professionals. She employs creative strategies to drive nurse connections to the nursing community of practice, the organization, and each other. This promotes a culture that engages, values, and inspires clinical professionals while impacting the health outcomes of the people and communities they serve.

Sabina is a proud Bosniak-American and fluently speaks her native Bosnian language and Spanish. She resides in North East Wisconsin.

Selma Porca is the first woman to be named Executive Director of the Congress of Bosniaks of North America. Selma wears many hats in her role as ED including managing large scale national projects, consulting and educating Bosniak-American communities on advocacy matters, writing opinion and policy papers and advocating on behalf of the Bosniak-American community in Washington D.C., among others. Selma regularly meets with US government officials advocating for the interests of Bosniak-Americans and is building a network of likeminded organizations and other diaspora communities across North America.

Prior to joining CBNA, Selma worked in the public accounting sector for over a decade, between PwC and Deloitte. She worked closely with multinational companies in organizing the global movements of their mobile workforce, ensuring companies and taxpayers comply with global tax regulations. Her focus was on tax process review and development in addition to engagement and project management.

Selma graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelors of Business Administration majoring in Accounting and a Masters of Professional Accounting majoring in Tax.

Selma has served and currently serves on Boards of several non-profit organizations. She has always been an active member in the Bosniak community of Seattle. Selma’s experiences as a child refugee from Banja Luka contributed greatly to her community activism and her unwavering commitment to social responsibility.

Arnela Mahmutović is a Bosniak-American visual artist and educator working as an Instructor of Creative Arts at Siena College in Loudonville, New York. A vocabulary of narrative, history and displacement found in diasporic experience is at the root of her creative language. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions along the East Coast of United States, most notably at the New York State Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland, Maine.

Arnela is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for emerging artists. She holds her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Maine College of Art and completed a master’s degree in Studio Art at the University at Albany.

Hasan Kajtezovic is a Senior Supply Chain Manager at Arthrex, Inc. a global medical device manufacturer headquartered in Naples, Florida. During his decade-long tenure with the company, Hasan played a key role in the development of a strategic supplier relationship management program. Hasan’s work has fostered and promoted supplier flexibility and agility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace that helps Arthrex release more than 2,000 new orthopaedic products annually. Hasan double majored in Accounting and Finance at the University of Northern Iowa, and holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). In 2017 he co-founded an industry trade group that partnered with FGCU to successfully launch a Supply Chain degree program. In 2019 Hasan was invited to join the Lutgert College of Business faculty to help educate and inspire the next generation of Supply Chain leaders as an Adjunct Professor.

Hasan is a member of the Growing Associates in Naples class of 2019; serves on the Employer Advisory Committee for FGCU, and serves on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce. He was also recognized as one of ’40 under 40’ by the Gulfshore Business Magazine for 2020.

Enid Curevac is a Doctor of Pharmacy currently supporting the Marketing and Commercial Strategy team at Nevakar Inc. in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. Enid has previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry on Bayer Healthcare’s Product Development and Innovation team in addition to Janssen Biotech’s US Medical Affairs Oncology team.

Enid also brings extensive healthcare experience from working at Cooper University Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit and Johns Hopkins University Medical Center Hospital Administration team. He is currently a candidate for the Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) program with Rutgers Business School.

Murat Muratovic works as a Lead Application Developer at Mercy Technology Services in Saint Louis, Missouri. Murat holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Missouri. Throughout his career, Murat has held several board member and leadership positions spanning across non-profit organizations whose aim is to improve the status of the Bosnian community in the United States. Such organizations include Congress of Bosniaks of North America, an organization that promotes civic, educational and cultural programs designed to further the knowledge of Bosniak history, language, and culture.

Additionally, Murat is one of the founders of Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina, an organization dedicated to promoting relations between United States and Bosnia & Herzegovina. He also helped to co-found Sevdah North America, a non-profit organization formed to preserve and promote traditional Bosnian music on a grassroots level. Murat volunteers his subject matter expertise in digital promotion to organizations such as Bosnian Heart, Spirit of Bosnia. Entrepaneourial in spirit, Mr. Muratovic ran and published Bosnian newspaper “Dijaspora bosnjacka,” and hosted “Radio Behar,” Bosnian radio program in St. Louis.

Amir Ovcina is a licensed and practicing attorney working for the IceMiller Legal Counsel, based in Chicago, Illinois with primary focus on corporate governance matters, mergers and acquisitions and other forms of strategic investment transactions.  Amir graduated in 2001 from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and in 2008 with a law degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Illinois College of Law.

Prior to attending law school, Amir worked as a strategy consultant and was part of a management development program at one of the largest privately held corporations in the Chicago area. He is active in his local Chicago Bosnian community.