Executive Director and Staff

Arian ZEKA

Executive Director & Authorized Representative

Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce is responsible for promoting the public image of the Association by serving as the Chamber’s “ambassador-at-large,” and liaising on behalf of its members with other leaders of Kosovo and international business community.

Tea BLAKAJ-HOXHA

Secretary General, Arbitration Center

Arbitration Center is a subsidiary unit of AmCham Kosovo, established in 2011. Arbitration Center is responsible for administering arbitral proceedings in accordance with the Kosovo Rules of Arbitration adopted by the AmCham Kosovo and mediation proceedings in accordance with the Laws of Kosovo. Arbitration Center is overseen by a Steering Council, whose members are appointed by the Board of Governors of AmCham Kosovo.

Anila SYLAJ

Executive Assistant

Shkendije LOSHAJ-KRASNIQI

Membership Manager

Ardita HAJRA

Policy Officer

Marigona Zejnullahu

Junior Communications Officer

Altin Zogaj

Finance and Logistics Officer

Xhavit Gashi

External Advisor

Fatos SYLAJ

Chief Technology Officer

Mentor BISLIMI

Chess Master, Woodrow Wilson Chess School

Edita Karavidaj

Arbitration Center Intern

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He was appointed in the position of Executive Director of AmCham in 2012, promoting the public image of the Association by serving as the Chamber’s “ambassador-at-large,” and liaising on behalf of its members with other leaders of Kosovo and international business community. Under his leadership, in 2013 AmCham Kosovo was the Chamber with the largest membership acquisition among 43 AmChams in Europe. Also, under his leadership, AmCham established Charity Foundation (2012), Woodrow Wilson Chess School (2016), and Theodore Roosevelt Institute of Economic Research (2017), whereas has further strengthened the capacities of the Arbitration Center, where he also sits as an ex-officio member of the Steering Council.

Arian is a Member of AAB College Steering Council; Member of the Advisory Board of the Law Faculty of University of Prishtina; Member of the Board of Directors of SCARDIAN Insurance Company; Member of National Trade Facilitation Committee; and Member of Steering Council of the National Qualification Authority.

He is a Senior Lecturer at the Society of Certified Accountants and Auditors of Kosovo, teaching management and strategic management certification modules since January 2009.

He served as Vice President of Kosovo CSR Network, Chairman of the Fiscal Consultative Council, Chairman of the Business Community Office at the Kosovo Assembly, Consultant at German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), Consultant at a World Bank funded program, Director of an International Film Festival, etc.

He holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Management, and is an alumnus of the U.S. Library of Congress Open World Leadership Program (OWLP) and Joint Vienna Institute (JVI). He is also a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

Xhavit Gashi is an External Advisor for AmCham Kosovo. During the last three years he served
as the very first Consul General at the Consulate of the Republic of Kosovo in Des Moines,
Iowa. Being the first Kosovar diplomat and leading the only diplomatic mission from Kosovo in
the State of Iowa, gave him the unique opportunity to accomplish many achievements together
with Iowa partners, but also a great opportunity to learn more. After serving for more than
twenty (20) years for Kosovo institutions, recently he has voluntarily retired.
While serving as a Consul General in Des Moines, his activities included connecting businesses
between Kosovo and Iowa either through Government institutions or via Chambers of
Commerce, including working with and coordinating many visits and activities with AmCham.
Brigadier General (Retired) Consul General ® Gashi served as the first ever Kosovo Security
Force/Defense Attaché to the United States. As a military/defense diplomat in Washington D.C.
except working with Pentagon and other defense or military and security institutions, he
coordinated activities and also cooperated with the U.S. Congress and Senate, U.S. Department
of State, DHS, FBI and other U.S. government agencies as well as NGOs and Think Tanks.
During his military and civilian experience, he has organized and co-organized many
conferences and workshops. Furthermore, he has also had the opportunity to be a moderator and
guest speaker in different panels, for various audiences from different institutions both in Kosovo
and United States of America, as well as in some other countries.

Altin Zogaj joined AmCham in October 2019 in the position of Finance and Logistics Officer. Zogaj has a bachelor degree from the University of Prishtina, in the Faculty of Economics, department of Banking, Finance and Accounting. He is currently pursuing his Master’s Degree in General Management at Kolegji Riinvest. At AmCham, his duties include preparing and maintaining a monthly roster of invoices to be used for financial and tax reporting. In addition, Zogaj is responsible for the logistic operations of AmCham.

Tea Blakaj joined AmCham in April 2017, to serve in a position of a Secretary General of the Arbitration Center.

Tea is a lawyer with a master's degree from the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she specialized in commercial arbitration, specifically arbitrator's ethics, which was a core of her masters thesis. Tea worked as an assistant professor of the Faculty of Law in Sarajevo, in the courses of Private International Law and Commercial Arbitration. She appeared as a guest lecturer at the University of Prishtina, in the course of Private International Law for few times during 2016.

Additionally, Tea worked in the various fields of law. She started as a young professional under the program awarded by the European Commission, within the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia where she stayed for a year working in the prosecution teams. Furthermore, she worked for a while as an associate in a legal consultancy firm in Prishtina, continuing working for the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo. She continues providing professional support to the Kosovo Judicial Council under the UNDP "Strengthening Rule of Law in Kosovo" project, assisting in drafting secondary legislation and building capacities within the Legal Department of this Institution.

During the last six years of her professional legal career, Tea was engaged in the field of commercial arbitration through writing papers on various topics, mainly focused on the arbitrator's ethics. Her latest paper is titled "Exclusion of legal counsel in international commercial arbitration", where she referred to the issues involving conflict of interest cases between an arbitrator and the legal counsel of a party, based on the famous ICSID cases of Hrvatska and Rompetrol.

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Anila Sylaj is the Executive Assistant of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo. She joined AmCham through an internship as a Policy Assistant during July 2019. During her time working as a Policy Assistant she was committed to assisting the Policy Department, meanwhile, as an Executive Assistant, her work focuses on administrative tasks, including scheduling, corresponding and independent judgment of miscellaneous issues. Anila is a student at RITK (A.U.K) majoring in Economics, Management and Entrepreneurship. She volunteers her time for RIT Charity Club activities and is also involved in the RIT Kosovo Student Government as a Senate President.

Florian Zeka joined AmCham in September 2019 as a Communications Assistant. His duties for this role include
assisting his supervisor in organizing meetings and events, making phone calls to prospective members
and providing other assistance as requested. Florian holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing
and Business Administration. During his studies, he worked at different companies thus gaining
experience in several fields.

Ardita Hajra joined Amcham in July 2019 as Policy Officer.
Since 2016, she has been engaged in several non-governmental organizations and think-tanks,
where she worked as a policy researcher/analyst and project coordinator, while also conducted
few internships and apprenticeships in international organizations, including GIZ - Deutsche
Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit and OSCE Mission in Kosovo.
She holds a BA degree on Political Science. Her fields of interest fall under the scope of public
policies, with distinctive interest on education and economic policies.
During her studies, Ardita served as a volunteer to several institutions, such as American Corner
Pristina and American Advising Center. She has also participated in multiple national and
international conferences, seminars and trainings, including; Harvard Program on Negotiation,
European Forum Alpbach, Youth Peace Camp at Council of Europe, Global Leadership
Conference Women2Women, etc.

Bind Ahmetaj joined AmCham in September 2019 as a Policy Assistant. He is an undergraduate student at RIT Kosovo, majoring in Economics and Management with a minor in Public Policy. Bind has constantly been engaged in academic and student life at RITK by being the Secretary of the Student Government, arranging Math and English tutoring classes, and participating in the organizing process of TEDxRITK. His main areas of interest include Law-making and Political Economy.

Marigona Zejnullahu first joined AmCham in September 2019 as a Communications Assistant and later
got promoted to Junior Communications Officer.
She is currently in her senior year of studies, majoring in English Language and Literature at AAB
University. During her previous experiences she has worked as a control officer in a local translating
company and has engaged in writing publications that would be published in the official website of AAB
University. Marigona volunteers her time in lecturing pre-intermediate online English courses.
As a Junior Communications Assistant, her duties include preparing the Daily Digest, coordinating and
facilitating communication between AmCham, AmCham members and third parties. Drafting and editing
press releases and other statements and maintaining and updating AmCham website and social media
accounts.

Fatos SYLAj is AmCham Chief Technology Officer.

Shkendije Loshaj Krasniqi joined AmCham in October 2018 in the position of Membership and Protocol
Officer. Shkendije’s responsibilities at AmCham are acting as the first point of contact for all members
and prospective members for nonpolicy matters, increasing membership basis by reaching out to and
recruiting new members, continuously improving existing services provided to AmCham members,
planning, coordinating and organizing AmCham events.
Shkendije holds a Bachelor’s degree on English Language and Literature.
She started her career as an English Teacher at a Foreign Language School where she worked for six
years. During that time, she attended different trainings and conferences related to teaching.

Vesa Osmani joined AmCham as a Research Assistant at Theodore Roosevelt Economic Research Institute in April 2018 and later on she became part of the Policy Department, where she now serves as a Policy Officer. Her work within the Policy Department focuses on addressing members’ requests and policy-related matters, including members’ feedback for legislation amendments. She also coordinates the Committees of Services and Digital Economy within the Chamber. Prior to working at AmCham, she was a Communications Intern at the UN Development Coordinator Office. She is an undergraduate student at RIT Kosovo, double majoring in Economics and Public Policy.

Edita Karavidaj joined AmCham in June 2020 as an Intern at AmCham Arbitration Center. Edita has just graduated with a BAAS in Psychology and Public Policy, with a minor in Economics from RIT Kosovo. During her previous experiences, Edita worked as a Head Tutor at RIT Kosovo’s Academic Support Center, assisting students in their difficulties and organizing bi-weekly workshops. She also studied abroad at RIT in New York, NY, USA where she worked as a Student Engagement Assistant; helping international students become a part of the campus. She has also initiated and organized several events to raise awareness about the mental health of international students. Edita also gained knowledge about the banking sector by working as a Teller at TD Bank in NJ, USA.

Mentor BISLIMI - Mjeshtri i Shahut, Shkolla e Shahut Woodrow Wilson

Mirëjeta Ajvazi joined AmCham in December 2019 as a Policy Assistant. She is currently
completing her Master’s Degree in Management and Informatics at the University of Prishtina.
During her studies, Mirëjeta was involved in several Academia Conferences as a participant. She
also completed three internships in financial institutions. She is a highly motivated student
interested in leadership and bringing creativity to her work.

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