Almira Ahmetovic is a Global Service Delivery Manager at ADP, a global provider of human resources management software and services. Previously she was the Press Assistant for Senator Dick Durbin’s campaign, where she led projects in research opposition, press releases, campaign finance, as well as managed and created content for the Senator’s social media accounts. In her various roles, Almira has advised and collaborated with cross-functional global teams to ensure completion of all commitments made relative to project scope, delivery and deadlines have been met.
Almira was born and raised in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and Political Science, with a minor in Arabic Studies from DePaul University. Almira held various board positions in multiple non-profit organizations and has been a speaker and Organizational Director on the board of the North American Bosniak Community where she planned high profile events, conferences, and Bosniak community-related events. Recently, she became part of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Council (NDECC) where she contributed to several open letters regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina’s regional role, the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the ethnic community coalition council regarding the incoming United States Presidential administration.
Merisa Cano has over a decade of experience in digital marketing and social media consulting and is the founder of a boutique agency, Covet Media, based in Los Angeles. Covet Media creates and manages content for multiple clients, tactfully grows user engagement, oversees ad campaigns, and consults for website design.
Merisa graduated magna cum laude from DePaul University in Chicago with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce in Business Marketing. Merisa was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and lived in Slovenia for 2 years before relocating to Chicago with her family in 1994. Having previously worked at the Bosnian Consulate in Chicago and growing up in a household that was highly active in fundraising efforts within the Bosnian community, Merisa is excited to be a part of Congress of North American Bosniaks and continue to stay connected.
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.
Emina Sehovic works as an Associate Attorney for the Boyer Law Firm, P.L. in Jacksonville, Florida. Emina is currently admitted to practice law in all Florida courts, specializing in international law, business law, contracts, and general litigation. Emina attended the University of North Florida, where she double majored in Psychology and Criminal Justice. She also holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Florida State University College of Law.
During her time in law school, Emina discovered passion for helping the vulnerable population and has dedicated her service to career paths which allowed her to fulfill that passion. Her previous experience includes, working as an intern at the Office of the Public Defender in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as working a legislative intern for Senator Audrey Gibson. During her time in school, she also spent a semester working as a student lawyer at the Florida State University Public Interest Law Center, particularly at the Children’s Advocacy Clinic, to help some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens. During her last semester in law school, Emina worked as a legal extern for the Innocence Project in Florida. The passion to peruse legal justice also presented her with the opportunity to spend a semester at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, where she studied international law.
Although Emina came to Jacksonville as a refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the late 1990s, today she consideres Jacksonville, Florida to be her home. Her hobbies include spending time with family, friends, reading, and traveling.
Hasan Kajtezovic is a 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.
Vehida Spiodic works as the Assistant Vice President, Core Commercial Manager at CHUBB, in Chicago, Illinois where she leads a team of Underwriters and is charged with driving profitable growth across the Chicago Core Commercial portfolio. Vehida graduated from Denison University with a double major in Economics and International Studies, where she also earned a minor in Spanish. He professional background includes working in medical education before launching a career in Commercial Insurance in 2011 with C.N.A. Financial. While Vehida has built and enjoyed a successful career in corporate America, she also has a strong affinity and passion for community service and activism.
Having survived the Srebrenica genocide that took place in July of 1995, her family moved to United States. Given this opportunity, Vehida took advantage of educational, and professional opportunities and quickly became a well-known figure in the Bosnian community for her activism, community service, and educating the local community about the genocide in Bosnia. At the age of 19, she was selected by the Bosnian community leaders to be the main speaker in Chicago commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, an active role that she maintains today. Some of her most notable work includes working with the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center to pass the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission Act and is regularly invited as a guest speaker at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Today, she is active in several non-for profit educational and charitable organizations in the greater Chicago area, and works to sponsor orphans of Srebrenica.
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.
Kemal Sabovic works as a real estate entrepreneur in the greater San Diego, California. Since graduating with a bachelor’s degree of Science-Commerce, from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, Kemal has used his knowledge to grow and run the operations of the family business which he currently leads.
This proud father of four daughters appreciates spending time with his family and enjoys the extracurricular activities offered in Southern California. Equally passionate for his immediate family members, he is often drawn to his ancestral homeland of Montenegro where he is visiting and exploring real estate potential as an investor. Kemal is passionate about sharing his experience with others and believes in being a socially responsible individual by giving back to the community in which he lives. His goal is to preserve the heritage of his natives by being a vehicle of information for future generations while instilling in them a sense of personal responsibility and the importance of giving back to the community.
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 North American Bosniaks, 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.
Mirha Hreljic is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Missouri, in Saint Louis, Missoury and works as an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri. Her teaching focuses on International Relations Theory, International Ethics, Political Economy of Security, International Organizations, and Normative Change. Scope of Mirha’s work is on understanding the costs and consequences of war, foreign policy, decision making, post-conflict peacebuilding, socioeconomic security, and civil unrest in advanced democracies. Mirha holds a Master of Political Science in International Economic Policy from the University of Missouri – St. Louis, an MA summa cum laude in International Studies and Public Administration from Lindenwood University, and a BA in Law and International Relations from Maryville University in Chesterfield, Missouri.
Mirha has conducted fieldwork in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Southeastern Turkey, and Northern Ireland where she focused on understanding concepts of peace in post-conflict regions. She has consulted and taken part in several development initiatives including those of CARE, the UNDP, OSCE, and the International Political Science Association.
Ajla Alunovic is a partner at The Schechter Law Firm, P.C., a firm based in Saint Louis, Missouri where she practices exclusively in family law. After graduating with a degree in Accounting from Saint Louis University, Ajla pursued her studies in Valparaiso University School of Law. Since completing her formal education in 2014, she has devoted her practice to domestic relations matters.
Ajla has been selected for the 2020 inaugural edition of ‘Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch’ for her work in Family Law and has also been selected by Missouri Lawyer’s Media 2020 ‘Up & Coming’ award recipient. Some of Ajla’s notable work includes hosting a nationwide continuing legal education audio webinar on the topics of “Pre-nup Agreements: Avoiding the Top Mistakes.” She has also coauthored “Maintenance and Child Support Issues” with Michael Schechter, Fall 2020, St. Louis Bar Journal.
Nedžad Avdović is originally from Sandžak, but has obtained most of his formal education in Bosnia and Turkey on the matters of Religious and Foreign Language studies. He is fully proficient in English, Bosnian, and Turkish languages and has moderate fluency in Arabic, German, and Russian.
Today, Nedžad works as the Head Imam at Belmont Islamic Center in New York City where he has loyally and proudly served the community for two decades. In addition to providing weekly congregational services, he has contributed countless hours to public service by hosting interfaith dialogues, offering family counseling sessions, sponsoring special community projects, mentoring and advising the youth, and hosting community leaders as well as notable guests.
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.
The Board of Directors of the Congress of Bosniaks of North America conducts the affairs of the organization. The Board, led by President Eldin Kajevic, consists of successful professionals who are committed to promoting Bosniak heritage, culture, history, and national interests.