The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD) expresses its gratitude to Jim Daikos in Canada and Zhikica Pagovski in the United States for their service on the UMD Board of Directors. Daikos and Pagovski recently completed their UMD Board tenures.
UMD is in process of restructuring the Board and expanding UMD’s work by appointing two Board Members in Australia, two in Canada, and two in Europe. Interested UMD members should contact UMD Chairman Stojan Nikolov at snikolov@umdiaspora.org including their letter of intent and CV.
For over a decade, Daikos has been an integral part of UMD’s work in Canada. He led several delegations of Macedonian human rights activists to Ottawa to strengthen Canadian-Macedonian relations, spearheaded our 2010 Global Conference, three leadership conferences, and the successful administering of the UMD Bitove Scholarship, which provided 32 scholarships for a total of $70,000 to Canadian and international students of Macedonian heritage.
Pagovski started as UMD’s first Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia regional representative where he oversaw UMD’s signature charitable Masquerade Ball, expanding UMD’s membership in the area, and organizing leadership conferences and events promoting UMD’s educational work. Upon joining the Board, Pagovski assisted in strategic planning and programming, as well as spearheading UMD’s partnerships with various institutions.
Stojan Nikolov, Chairman of the United Macedonian Diaspora, stated:
“UMD’s core principle is the protection of the name of Macedonia. UMD’s Board does not take this lightly and holds a great responsibility to the global Macedonian community.”
“On behalf of the UMD Board, we want to thank Jim and Zhikica for their time, service and dedication to UMD spending countless volunteers hours away from their families and personal lives. It surely is not easy. I particularly want to congratulate Jim on his two grandsons – when they grow up they will be proud of all that their Dedo has done for Macedonia and the Macedonian human rights cause.”
Daikos, stated:
“Will really miss my time with UMD – but we created wonderful memories together. Working with champs like Stole, Aleks, Meto, George, Vonna, Liz, Mark, Marilyn, Vera, Kristina, Chris Paliare, Chris Stanwyck, and many others passionate for Macedonia has been a real honor for me. Bringing Dedo Nikodim Tsarknias and Eugenia Natsoulidou of the Educative Cultural Movement of Voden to Canada and Washington, D.C. and helping our people back home in Aegean Macedonia was a privilege. But special thanks goes to my friend the late John Bitove – if it were not for his guidance and support over the years – UMD would not be what it is today.”
Pagovski, stated:
“I wholeheartedly thank the Board for their amazing support, trust, and confidence ever since I became involved with UMD. Their warm welcome when I first came to Washington, D.C. will never be forgotten, and I look forward to seeing UMD grow to an even stronger organization fighting for the global Macedonian community for years to come.”