The regional partnership of the programme “Workplace Inclusion Champion”, funded by The Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC) of the European Commission, is delighted to announce the appointment of its local advisory Council Boards.
The local Council Boards will play an important role in advancing the Workplace Inclusion Champion program in Croatia, Romania and Slovenia.
The Romanian Council Board members bring a very diverse experience and demonstrate a real commitment to the values and benefits of this educational program. Their diverse backgrounds and skills will undoubtedly be an asset to the program in addressing the learning needs of signatory organisations in Romania.
In Romania, we are delighted to welcome Eugen, Gabriela, Luiza, Luminita, Dan, Alexandra, Irina, Claudia, Adina and Ingrid to the Romanian Council Board. Each one of them brings unique experience and knowledge to the local council board and we look forward to working with them on our learning and mentorship programme that will continue to support the Romanian Diversity Charter’ signatories to tackle and embed key diversity management dimensions into their policies and actions.
A graduate in law of the Faculty of Law of the Titu Maiorescu University of Bucharest, Eugen Crai continued his graduate studies in law at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, within the LLM program in comparative law. He completed with commendations the graduate courses in public management at the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies of Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in public policy at the University of Birmingham in the UK and a series of summer human rights courses at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. Eugen Crai has benefited of numerous training programs in the field of education and public policy in education of UNICEF or the World Bank Institute in Washington DC, USA. As a specialist in anti-discrimination legislation and policies, Eugen Crai worked as Program Manager in the first EC PHARE Program for Improving the Situation of Roma in Romania, where he was author of the Strategic Framework for Improving the Situation of Roma and co-author of the draft Government Decision for the establishing of the National Council for Combating Discrimination (the Romania’s Equal Treatment body). He worked for UNICEF Office in Romania coordinating UNICEF education and the child rights monitoring programs in Romania and worked for a short period of time, with delegation, for UNICEF Office in Turkmenistan. He was then the first Country Director of Roma Education Fund Romania, after which he continued to work as a freelance consultant whose portfolio includes clients such as UNICEF, Council of Europe, Roma Education Fund Budapest, World Bank Office in Romania or the Romanian Diversity Charter. Mr. Crai was several times a member of the team of human rights experts that supports in Romania the FRANET network of the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union. In 2016 he worked at the Ministry of Education as an advisor to the Minister of Education for vulnerable groups (where he worked on several regulations, including the Order of the minister of education 6134/2016 on the prohibition of school segregation). At the same time, he volunteered to support several human rights organizations in Romania. More recently, he works on a consultancy contract with UNICEF to develop the public policy framework for school desegregation. Eugen Crai is an Ambassador of the Romanian Diversity Charter.
Irina Costache is part-time professor at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Political Science and a researcher in the area of gender based violence, LGBTQI youth, and gender equality education. Irina holds a PhD in Gender Studies from Central European University (CEU) awarded in 2014. In 2011/2012, Irina was a Fulbright fellow at UCLA’s Center for European and Russian Studies (CEES). Upon her return to Romania, Irina helped grow a Romanian women’s rights organization (Association for Liberty and Gender Equality – A.L.E.G) into a well recognized, vocal and youth oriented feminist NGO. Irina served as the President of A.L.E.G. in between 2016-2019.
Irina Costache authored several research reports that capture the experiences of diverse youth such as: Un liceu sigur pentru toți: atitudini și percepții ale liceenilor față de persoane LGBTQI [A high-school safe for all: attitudes and perceptions of high-school students towards LGBTQI], Manuale de istorie din perspectiva reflectării minorităților [History textbooks through the lens of minority groups], Violența de gen în școli: vocile copiilor [Gender Based Violence în Schools: Children’s Voices], Mapping Digital Landscapes of Trans Activism in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Dan Crișan is a passionate leader on growing teams & businesses within regional Europe, having high-expertise from spirits, sport-lifestyle and FMCG industries. He is highly engaged in Diversity & Inclusion topics such as building D&I in the workplace, gender balance, women in leadership, Employee Resource Groups in the organization.
Gabriella Pacso is Director of Marketing at IBM Marketing Services Center, Europe & Middle East, Africa. She is a Diversity & Inclusion Champion with IBM Romania, a transformational leader with hands-on regional experience (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) and deep expertise in marketing, enterprise software and business strategy. Her 20+ years of experience in IBM helped Gabriela to gain strong business acumen that links marketing strategy and execution to business goals and results.
She holds an MBA from Henley Management College (UK) with a dissertation on how to “Improve marketing efficiency by driving Brand Performance in a Software Company”. Gabriela is motivated by success, achieving ambitious goals, working in high performing environments and enabling others to perform and grow.
Luminița Florea is Director of People & Culture at Philip Morris Romania. Luminița has almost 18 years of experience in Human Resources in various roles and in very different fields, from telecom, to oil & gas, pharma and tobacco. In 2012, she joined Philip Morris Romania, and in 2017 she took over the position of People & Culture Director for both Philip Morris affiliates in Romania (factory and commercial entity) and is responsible, together with her team, for defining and implementing the human resources strategy.
Luiza Banyai has 20 years of experience in the field of Human Resources & Managing Change, held in her career various managerial HR roles for business like: Telecom, Pharma, BPO, IT software, Production, Energy Utilities companies & Gamming. The greatest gifts that Luiza has received in her career: being an engineer working in HR, leading great teams, supporting with her personal example, using both: her heart and her mind and always doing this with patience and kindness.
She has local and international exposure on: People Engagement, Cultural Change, Talent Management, Diversity and Inclusion, Development of people capabilities and Organizational Behaviours, Employer Branding, Change Management, Rewards and Recognition, Retention and HR Strategy Development.
Her belief: We’re all different and unique. This is the key ingredient for me in working on building people capabilities and creating positive impact in my life!
In her role as head of communication and public affairs for Citibank Romania, Alexandra Oniceanu-Becuț coordinates the bank’s communication activities in relation to the various external and internal audiences, in support of the leading global bank’s strategic priorities on the local market. Alexandra is a communication professional with over 12 years of experience in public relations, internal communication and employee engagement, employer branding, corporate social responsibility, events management and advisory to senior leaders. Alexandra has a special interest in diversity management and she co-chairs Citi Women’s Network Bucharest, an internal employee platform advancing diversity principles inside the organization, with a particular focus on women representation and leadership.
Adina Alionte joined Société Générale in 2017 as the COO for one of IT teams in GSC RO and Transition Project Manager. Since 2019 she is the Chief Operations Officer for the Transformation Office team in Bucharest, also coordinating strategic projects and initiatives. She has an experience of 20 years focusing on Project and Process Management. The areas of expertise include Public Relations, Logistics, Online Research, Training and Teaching as University Associated Expert professor. Her first passion is related to People, her second, “guilty” passion is chocolate and she loves them both in all colors, dimensions, flavors, and shapes!
Ingrid Enache is the Marketing and Communication Assistant at UtilDeco, a Work Integration Social Enterprise owned by the ADV Romania. She attended the „Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi, specializing in English / Spanish Language and Literature and is currently enrolled in the Marketing and Marketing Management courses at Business-Academy Romania. Ingrid is a person with disabilities and her mission is to promote the work integration of people with disabilities both through her personal example and through the initiatives developed by UtilDeco and Close to You Foundation (ADV Romania).
Through her activity as a legal adviser, counselor in “Equal Opportunities and Psychological Harassment at Work”, and as a trainer of the course: “Expert in Equal Opportunities”, authorized by the Ministry of Labor, and the Ministry of Education, Claudia Cristina Berghezan promotes an anti-discrimination policy in the workplace. She graduated from the Babes Bolyai Faculty of Law in Cluj Napoca, and holds a Ph.D. in Law, from the University of Salamanca, Spain, with the theme The principle of equality and non-discrimination in labor law in the European Union. She has written a number of articles in the field of equality and non-discrimination and published a book entitled The Treaty of Amsterdam and equal opportunities in the labor market in the European Union. In 2020 she contributed as an expert to the elaboration of the ”Guide Psychological Harassment at Work”, to implement “Law 167/2020” in Romania, which aims to reduce stress and exhaustion at work. In order to improve her ability to actively aid and incorporate innovative techniques, she also branched out and became a Mindfulness MBSR Teacher. The path of obtaining and implementing a real diversity and equality of opportunities in the workplace, can be beautiful and simpler than imagined, bringing you the greatest satisfaction by building a guide to well-being in a company.
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The programme “Workplace Inclusion Champion” will be implemented in the next two years bringing together a wide range of stakeholders and expertise. The main achievement of the project consists of a 7-modular Diversity Charter Champion Training Programme and a Regional Diversity Mentorship Scheme, a powerful learning and mentorship framework for the Charter’ signatories in Croatia, Romania and Slovenia, enabling them to address more practically and strategically the principles stated in the Charters.
The project will achieve multiple learning outcomes, including the development of signatories’ knowledge, skills, and attitude, enhanced self-knowledge, enhanced organizational cultures, improved skills to work with different groups.
The programme is designed to enable signatory organisations to embed diversity on a more strategic level, taking a step forward from one-off initiatives. It will equip participants with the necessary tools, knowledge and skills to step away from improvisations and to approach D&I more strategically.