The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) Board of Directors was pleased to unanimously appoint six new positions based in the U.S. Current Board Member Trajko Papuckoski was promoted to Director of U.S. Operations, and five Regional Representatives were appointed, including Nikola Cuculovski, as the UMD Tennessee Regional Representative, Gjorgji Gjeorgjievski, as the UMD Seattle/Washington State Regional Representative, Mishko Josifov, as the UMD Miami/Florida Regional Representative, Konstantin Nakovski, as the UMD Cleveland/Ohio Regional Representative, and Dejan Petkovski, as the UMD Houston/Texas Regional Representative.
“The U.S. is home to close to half a million Macedonian-Americans, and growing UMD throughout the U.S. is an important goal to ensure UMD is in touch with our community to serve as a stronger voice in Washington, D.C.,” said UMD Chairman Stojan Nikolov. “UMD is very proud that these individuals have stepped up to get more actively involved in Macedonian-American affairs.”
“I’m honored the Board has entrusted me with expanding UMD’s U.S. Operations and I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with such a talented group of representatives to support UMD’s mission of addressing Macedonian-American interests before U.S. policymakers,” said UMD Board Member and U.S. Operations Director Trajko Papuckoski. “One of our key objectives will be to promote Macedonian heritage within each local Macedonian community while building greater support from our communities.”
The biographies of each regional representative can be read below:
Nikola Cuculovski was born and raised in Skopje, Macedonia. He came to the United States as an exchange student in high school, and upon graduating – decided to pursue higher education in the States. Nikola completed his undergraduate degree at ETSU in Business Administration, double majoring in Marketing Management and General Management with a minor in Digital Media, with which he graduated with highest Honors, Summa Cum Laude. Presently, he is an MBA Student at East Tennessee State University.
Throughout Nikola’s undergraduate career, he served in many leadership roles such as a Parliamentarian for the Honors College, Senator for the Student Government Association, and held several offices for honors and social fraternities. He is a recipient of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Nikola is currently a graduate assistant for the Office of the Information and Technology on ETSU, and a graduate student advisor for the Marketing Club.
Gjorgji Gjeorgjievski was born and raised in Skopje, Macedonia, with roots from Galichnik, Skopje and Debar. In 2004, he moved to New Haven, Connecticut to attend Yale University, where he studied Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. During his senior year, Microsoft recruited him onto their SQL Server team. In 2012, Gjorgji received a Master of Science in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.
Currently, Gjorgji is a Software Engineer at the Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, WA working on developing the next generation of in-memory database engines. He travels back to Macedonia yearly to visit his family, all of whom still live there.
Mishko Josifov is the first UMD representative in Florida and a proud Macedonian that lives in Miami. He is very passionate about Macedonia and strongly believes that we can all work together united to promote our beautiful homeland and people from all the corners of the world. He is highly honored and privileged to have an opportunity to represent a great organization like UMD and his homeland with passion and dedication in the state of Florida.
Born and raised in Kavadarci, Macedonia, Josifov graduated in Marketing Management from the Prilep Faculty of Economics in 2006 and decided to move to Orlando, Florida where he successfully completed a Tourism and Hospitality Management program at the University of Central Florida. He is a licensed Real estate sales associate for Prudential Florida Realty and Bloomberg certified professional for Level III data that Wall Street Professionals get, with future CFA-Financial Advisor aspirations. Currently, he is enrolled in the Masters Program in International Finance at Florida International University, where he is a member of the Center for Leadership and Student Ambassadors.
Konstantin Nakovski was born in Skopje, Macedonia with parental connections to Tetovo and Bitola. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 13 with his whole family. Nakovski has obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and is close to completing his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Akron. Nakovski has supported his local Macedonian Community in Ohio since his immigration there and has been a member of UMD since the beginning.
Nakovski is a Mechanical Engineer with experience in design, testing and manufacturing of different consumer and industrial products. Nakovski has worked in the research and development department of several engineering companies mainly as a Mechanical Engineer. He has served as the Program Chair of the local section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and as the President, Vice President and Secretary to the Student Society in the past. In addition, Nakovski has been affiliated with the Society of Automotive Engineers, Formula SAE (FSAE) design team, and the SAE Super Mileage Vehicle (SMV).
Dejan Petkovski was born in Kumanovo, Macedonia. He moved in Houston, Texas in 2005 with his family. His professional experience spans over nineteen years in Transportation and Occupational Health and Safety, experience obtained from projects around the Europe, Africa, Middle East and USA. Dejanis a Transportation Instructor in the Transportation Technologies Department for Lone Star College System in Houston Texas. He’s a certified OSHA 500 trainer, and currently, is working on his credential certification for CSP (Certified Safety Professional)- Board of Certified Safety Professionals.
A full list of global representatives can be found by clicking HERE.