New RIT Croatia Alumni Leadership Appointed; Nina Mimica, Alumni President: We will present our plan and program this Spring!

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Nina Mimica, Alumni Association President and Vladimir Dujić, Alumni Association Vice-President: As we are here to represent the Alumni community, we would like to call upon you for any ideas, suggestions or support needed from your side - please do not hesitate to contact us! We are looking forward to meeting you all in Zagreb on April 2 at our annual get together as well as looking towards the whole journey ahead of us!

You know how they say that all good things must end? In our case, we'd say - all good things continue! After 4 years of having "the one and only" Ana Jarak as our Alumni Association President, this community selected a new leadership team: Nina Mimica as the President (Class of 2007) and Vlado Dujić as the Vice-President (Class of 2006).

In March, our Alumni community voted for the new leadership. A total of 135 people voted for the following nominees for the presidential position: Grgo Aljinović (Class of 2005), Martina Batalija (Class of 2010), Lucija Bilandžić (Class of 2007), Nina Mimica (Class of 2007) and Maja Škrinjar (Class of 2005) and for the following nominees for the position of Alumni Association Vice President: Vladimir Dujić (Class of 2006), Marcela Ljubomirac (Class of 2005), Jasmina Bubalo (Šurjak) (Class of 2008) and Antonio Tolo (Class of 2006). We truly had great candidates in this campaign and would really like to thank all of them for their interest in being a part of this. We are also thankful to Ana Jarak for all her ideas, engagement and everything she did during her mandate.

The thing about our Alumni community is, the best ones - like all these people - continue to be engaged in the work of our association regardless of their positions.

We took this opportunity to talk to Nina and Vlado and we proudly present them to you:

1. Tell us something about yourself - your time at ACMT / RIT Croatia, when did you graduate, what have you done and what are you currently doing in your life?

Nina: Hello everyone J I am Nina Mimica from Zagreb, Croatia and I graduated from RIT Croatia (then American College of Management and Technology) in Dubrovnik in 2007. Within RIT Croatia I held the role of Yearbook team President (2006-2007), was a writer for the Newsletter, a student-mentor during the co-op period, and took an active role in various community activities (ex. college fair, community service day, children winter festival). Given my involvement, RIT awarded me with membership in the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honorary Society, which recognizes participation in activities, excellence in scholarship and active leadership. I love filling my spare time as an active citizen within my community - in line with that, this past year I was President of a Junior Chamber International Zagreb - this local organization of young active citizens, part of a worldwide nonprofit network, is focused on developing young people's potential and enabling them to make positive changes in their local communities. This year I will continue to be a Board Member within the same organization, along with being appointed as Vice-President of Junior Chamber International Croatia - the national organization composed of three Croatian local chambers. I would like to invite all Alumni interested in joining this network to reach out to me for additional information. Also, I am a volunteer member for the Croatian Association of Alzheimer's Disease. As far as my professional occupation, I used to work as an Account Manager in Digitel advertising agency in Zagreb and as Product Management Consultant in Electrolux Professional in Italy. Today I am working as a Senior Product Development Manager in Hrvatski Telekom in Zagreb. When I am not occupied with one of the above, I choose to travel, go to the movies, theater and museums, and spend time with family and close friends over a tasty meal.

Vlado: Hi everybody! I am Vladimir Dujić and I originally come from Vitez, Bosnia and Herzegovina. I enrolled at RIT Croatia in 2000 and graduated with high honors in 2006. I did two co-ops during my studies: 18 months at The Broadmoor and one year on a cruise ship. I live in Zagreb. After graduation in May 2006, I started my career in Sunčani Hvar Hotels, where after a few months in hotel operations I transferred to human resources. The second company I worked for was also in tourism, where I was moved to HR managerial role. After five years in tourism, I switched industries to oil & gas, INA company, where I worked for five years, split equally timewise in Zagreb and in Budapest, Hungary. Last year in June, I returned to Zagreb and accepted a position in Erste&Steiermärkische Bank as Head of recruitment and development. I am an active member of two Croatian HR associations and completed many volunteering hours for different causes. My passion is traveling and general socializing. J

2. How much has, what you have learnt here, helped in your careers later on?

Nina: I am very satisfied with my decision to enroll in this college and enjoyed my student life fully. Of course, college equipped me with core competencies and knowledge in certain areas, but the fact that helped me the most is that it provided me with many practical and business-needed soft skill qualities such as teamwork collaboration, leadership, presentation skills, and internship possibilities. These experiences made me more confident and practical. I received my diploma at age 23 and by that point I had completed three internships in total duration of almost 2 years - this was a huge differentiator among other candidates on the labor market!

Vlado: Without a doubt, the whole RIT Croatia experience helped my career in many ways: working with different people, completing different projects which I learned from practical assignment, soft skills that I gathered throughout my studies, such as presentation skills, teamwork, and many other.

3.What are the next steps?

Nina and Vlado: The first step is to define a concrete project plan for the next two years of our mandate, in cooperation with the college. It is very important to manage expectations and to set feasible action plans. It is also very important to communicate clearly and transparently with the Alumni community. We aim to communicate our plan and the next steps to the whole Alumni community throughout this spring.

Some initial ideas which we will try to accomplish are the following:

1. Have a minimum of one alumni gathering per year in order to meet, network and catch up

2. Have a minimum of one alumni driven community action per year where raised funds would go towards an agreed cause

3. Have additional activities throughout year where current students - alumni connections would be triggered - ex. alumni panel, alumni lectures, foster co-op opportunities within companies where alumni work…

4. Ask and listen to the alumni community and add a fourth action point in regards to alumni wishes and needs

4. Any messages to the rest of our Alums?

Nina: I see us as a VERY powerful group which could seize the benefits of mutual networking. We are the end "product" of our four-year investment and our careers/contacts/experience are a value we should take advantage of.

Vlado: Yes, we have an untapped potential in terms of networking, knowledge and experiences exchange.

Nina and Vlado:As we are here to represent the Alumni community, we would like to call upon you if there are any ideas, suggestions or support needed from your side - please do not hesitate to contact us! We are looking forward to meeting you all in Zagreb on April 2 as well as looking towards the whole journey ahead of us!