Žiga Novak, CEO

In recent years, Žiga has been involved with a number of projects in event management and tourism. Upon returning from postgraduate studies in the UK (2005), he first worked as a project manager with The Slovenia Times, the only English language newspaper in Slovenia. Among other projects, he also organized a demanding award campaign called Guest Star 2005 - in search of the most remarkable expat personalities in Slovenia. After the successful final event of the Guest Star campaign Žiga became an independent consultant in 2006. His first major project was developing MICE services for the Postojna cave company, the biggest tourist attraction in Slovenia. Early in 2007, he was awarded a 3 month British Council scholarship and stayed with the Leeds Metropolitan University, where he started an ongoing project From story to experience. Upon returning from Leeds, he is busy establishing Mice ltd as well as with establishing a brand new museum&tourist centre Park of Military History. Žiga has a MSc in Politics of the World Economy from London School of Economics (LSE) and a BSc in Political Science from Ljubljana University. In the past, he worked for the Slovenia Press agency, Slovenian national TV and Slovenian Student Organization. His experiences abroad include a year of undergraduate study in the USA, internship with the UNHCR in Mostar, project work for EBRD and BBC in London, as well as other studies and travels around the world.

Maša Budnar, consultant

Maša graduated on the topic of event’s efficiency at the Faculty of Social Sciences at University in Ljubljana with specialization on cultural studies. She is continuing with her study at the post graduated program of tourism at Turistica – Faculty for Tourism Studies. She is complementing her knowledge with professional educations in the field. Maša started her professional career in 2006 as an assistant in Artizana agency, oriented towards the communication and event management. Before, she was getting experiences as a co-organizer of events on an amateur level and as a journalist for various newspapers. Her work included creative conceptualising, consulting, planning, organizing and managing of the events. She managed events of different types – receptions, anniversaries, openings, launch events, touristic events, product events, internal events, road shows … She understands events in a holistic way and places a big stress on the story that events carry. At her post graduated study she has been more deeply involved into the “Eco farm – the real experience” project by which she took an active part at the International Conference Encuentros 2008 in Portorož, Slovenia. Her interests in tourism follow destination management and the significance of quality in tourism.