Event: Harnessing Human Capital for Growth in Croatia

Ivan Vidiš currently serves as the State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family, and Social Policy in Zagreb, Croatia. With a Bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Zagreb, Ivan gained international exposure through academic exchanges at Lund University in Sweden and Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. His career path has included roles in both the public and private sectors. Ivan has worked at institutions such as the European Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in Croatia. He also gained practical experience in business operations as a Regional Manager at Naturhouse. Ivan returned to governmental roles, starting as a Blue Book Trainee at the European Commission before becoming an Advisor in the Cabinet of the Minister in Zagreb and now State Secretary.

Jehan Arulpragasam is the Country Manager for Croatia and Slovenia. In this position, he represents the World Bank in Croatia and Slovenia and oversees the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, operational, and knowledge program in both countries. Previously, he was Global Practice Manager for Social Protection and Jobs, both in East Asia and the Pacific and in Africa. Prior to that, he served as Advisor to the Managing Director of the World Bank. Mr. Arulpragasam is an economist with 35 years of experience working in international development in over 40 countries world-wide. His work has focused on inclusive growth and human development, covering a range of issues from macro-economic and fiscal policy to structural sector reform and social policy. An experienced leader with a decade of managerial experience, Mr. Arulpragasam has managed large World Bank lending and analytical programs and managed staff across multiple continents. He has a record of developing strong partnerships across Governments and with development partners to deliver results. Mr. Arulpragasam has a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Paolo Carlo Belli is Practice Manager (PM) for Social Protection and Jobs for the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region at the World Bank. Until 2023 he was PM for the Eastern and Southern Africa (AFE) region. In his career at the World Bank Paolo led several projects and analytical tasks in the human development sectors, mainly in the South Asia, ECA, and Africa Regions. He was Program Leader for over 5 years and helped lead and coordinate the work in human development, working across health, social protection, education and contributing to programs on youth employment and nutrition. Paolo holds a PhD in Economics and Social Policy from the London School of Economics. Before joining the World Bank in 2003, Paolo worked in Academia, in the UK, India, Italy and USA, and his research was mainly focused on improving public services, social protection and health and education financing reforms.

Danijel Nestić is a Senior Research Fellow and the Head of Labor Market and Social Policy Department at the Institute of Economics in Zagreb, Croatia. His research interests include pension policy, poverty, and inequality. Specialist themes include the minimum wage, industrial relations, and wage policy. He has participated in the number of research projects commissioned by science foundations and various ministries, but also served as a consultant to the World Bank, International Labor Organization, and the European Commission. He has been engaged in short-term macroeconomic forecasting for Croatia.

Tanja Pureta holds Master of psychology degree, and has specialized organizational and industrial psychology. She is certified NLP trainer and NLP coach. She has begun her career in Pliva JSC Marketing Department and continued as Integrated Marketing and Communications Manager in IBM Croatia. She is the holder of numerous business training certificates attended in the country and abroad (areas of organizational development, human resources, management, and marketing).

Since 2002, she is the founder and general manager of the Ramiro Ltd., consulting services company in the field of human resources management, organizational development and organizational design, as well as improvement of managerial, leadership and business skills of employees. Tanja was awarded with the “Primus Award - Counselor of the Year” in Human Resources, Education and Training category in 2011. She received acknowledgment “Marulić: Fiat Psychologia” for her special contribution to the development of applied psychology in Croatia.

Indhira Santos is Lead Economist for Human Development in the Europe and Central Region at the World Bank. She is a specialist in labor markets, skills, and social protection. In her career at the World Bank, she has been the Global Lead for Labor & Skills and has worked on the Africa, Europe and Central Asia and South Asia Regions since joining as a Young Professional in 2009. She was also a primary author of the 2019 World Development Report “The Changing Nature of Work” and the 2016 World Development Report “Digital Dividends”. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was a Research Fellow at Bruegel, a European policy think tank in Brussels, and also worked for the Economic Research Center of the PUCMM University and the Ministry of Finance (Dominican Republic). She was a Fulbright scholar at Harvard University, where she obtained her PhD in Public Policy and a Masters in Public Administration in International Development.