Philip Risteski

Philadelphia, PA *****

Phone: 215-***-**** Email: ad4qjg@r.postjobfree.com LinkedIn path: /risteskifilip

An accomplished technology leader with a diverse background in management, IT, and finance, with experience spanning 15 years across various domains and industries. A lifelong learner and global citizen, passionate about technology’s impact on societies and cultures worldwide, and a strong believer in scientific led progress. Unique blend of strategic vision and technical acumen providing the ability to tackle any problem with ease, consistently finding effective solutions. Skills include:

Business sense

Leadership

Effective Communication

Strategic Thinking

Problem-Solving

Adaptability

Coding & Scripting

Collaboration

Tech Vigilance

Technology Summary

Coding & Tools: JavaScript, TypeScript, C#, SQL, Bash, ExpressJS, Angular, Ionic, Hybrid App Development

Hybrid Cloud Strategies: Infrastructure Engineering, CI/CD, Automation, Cloud Security, Networking, Containerization

Management: Talent Management & Acquisition, Mentoring, Evaluation, Agile Leadership, Scrum

Professional Experience

UPPED EVENTS (Event management software platform startup)

Philadelphia, PA

Chief Technology Officer

2020 to present

An event management platform, letting you manage any kind of event. The main portal features event logistics, ticket sales, CRM, attendee management, marketing, engagement, staff management. There are 3 more apps: an event showcase, with embeddable components, an attendee smartphone app and a staff smartphone app, where employees can engage in sales via our POS.

Hired, coached and managed an internal development team of 15 developers

Engineered a software platform that will be easy to grow and maintain, consisted of 5 applications (2 hybrid mobile apps, 2 web apps and 1 API), currently in production reliably performing sales of tickets and other products and services

Developed a POS system, easily deployable at events for executing vendor sales, running in a hybrid mobile app, connected to a card swiper and a receipt printer

Established an efficient development process based on Agile and created a development environment for efficient collaboration, by scripting and containerization for quick employee onboarding and day to day operations, with focus on the business logic and development in an environment as close to production as possible

Designed and created the cloud infrastructure, hosted on AWS, by utilizing Elastic Kubernetes Service, RDS, private container registry, DocumentDB, SNS, SES, CloudWatch and other AWS services

Established a sound security protocol on 3 levels. 1) security of our apps where information access is decided based on a user’s role and permissions. 2) security of the cloud infrastructure, where production assets are separated in a secure environment. 3) internal company access to production data, which was limited only to executive personnel

Automated testing, documentation, and deployment so that the team can focus only on the task at hand

Estimated and planned development timelines, tasks, resources, and processes for the development of 22 distinct software features across 5 applications

HOTEL MONTANA (Mountain hotel resort)

Krushevo, N. Macedonia

Chief Executive Officer

2011 to 2020

A hotel resort in the mountain town of Krushevo built in the 70s with 78 accommodation units, 200 beds, two restaurants, one bar, 3 summer terraces, 1 congress hall, 3 meeting rooms, swimming pool, gym, night club. https://montana.mk/

Orchestrated a complete technology upgrade of an old building that was not ready to serve modern guests, by installing and configuring new enterprise networking gear from Unifi and Mikrotik, video surveillance system from Unifi, VOIP system running on FreePBX and Grandstream gear and put together a POS system served by a custom designed server solution. Collaborated with an external partner to get the first optical connection to a remote mountain which resulted in opening new markets and culminating with the hosting of live streamed world cup events and becoming the default site for corporate events and team building for the booming IT services sector in Macedonia. Ultimately, I was invited as a speaker to a big hackathon, to help coach developers and help them understand that every business can see huge upside if technology is embraced and if led with a startup mentality

Built online presence from scratch, by creating a Drupal website, that could do direct online reservations. Built strong social media presence and connected other reservation platforms like Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Agoda. Got the hotel to no.1 traveler ranked accommodation provider on Tripadvisor out of 16 other facilities in the same town

Completed an image overhaul of an existing known brand with bad reputation, resulting in a successfully restarted business, which initially failed to find its market position during Macedonia’s transition towards free markets. It went from barely working for two brief periods every year, from roughly 2,000 overnights to 15,469 overnights in 8 years, with stable team and client base, thriving in a new ecosystem of tourism service providers. Most importantly I left a startup mentality of approaching challenges and problems. The team grew from 11 to 30 employees in the same timespan with about 10 people employed seasonally

Facilitated cooperation between FAI and local government which resulted with Macedonia becoming part of the paragliding and hang-gliding world cups and couple of other national cups such as the British, Swiss, German

Hosted numerous high profile government events and VIPs, such as the president, prime minister and parliament speaker of Macedonia on multiple occasions, bringing name recognition across the tourism industry of Macedonia and the wider region of both me and the business

Sparked and led destination building with the first ever marketing budget for promotion being drawn from my business. Town was successfully presented as a viable alternative tourism destination through online media and direct presence and promotion in Sweden, Germany, Croatia and Serbia

EUROSTANDARD BANK

Skopje, Macedonia

AML Office and later Corporate Loan Officer

2009 to 2011

At the time of my employment, it was the fastest growing small bank in Macedonia. In 2010 when I joined the commercial loan department, I enjoyed the fastest acquisition of new customers due to an innovative approval process.

Processed applications for commercial loans, and visited companies directly to evaluate assets and business processes (Loan Officer)

Managed a commercial loan portfolio and built relations with existing and new customers, where I Gained invaluable experience and insight into various industries through financial analysis and terrain visits. (Loan Officer)

Implemented an AML software solution, which resulted with the first ever successful implementation of a functional AML software solution in N. Macedonia, quickly after the first passing of the AML law framework. (AML)

Worked on the establishment of the initial procedures and processes for the AML department (AML)

KD BANK (Investment bank)

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Financial Analyst Internship

April to June 2009

The first bank to be created after the independence of Slovenia, KD Bank was mainly focused on investment banking. It started offering wealth management products. My college virtually pushed me into the bank (as it was owned by the same consortium), but the bank didn’t live long after the euro crisis of 2009.

Analyzed major industries and scanned for profitable investments. Analyzed M&A proposals (a famous one where a lot of my attention was devoted was the takeover of the telecoms company Cosmofon in Macedonia by Slovenia Telekom. This thought me valuable lessons about how a business is valued

Participated in portfolio management and I was coached how to read and follow news and how to think independently

PSD PREVAJANJE (Translation Agency)

Ljubljana, Slovenia

IT security part time student job

2007 to 2008

Implemented IT security measures for compliance purposes which let the agency bid and win contracts for translating documents containing state and other secrets

Managed IT infrastructure health, consulting on its expansion

EDUCATION

ECONOMICS FACULTY, UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA, Ljubljana, Slovenia >> MBA, grade 8.4 out of 10 2009 - 2011

Ranking no. 33 (QS Emerging Europe and Central Asia) and 601-650 (QS World University Rankings)

GEA COLLEGE Ljubljana, Slovenia >> Bachelor of Economics, Major in Entrepreneurship, 8.82 out of 10 2006 – 2009

At the time of enrollment, it was no. 2 business college in Slovenia

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Coding skills: I honed my coding skills from an early age, participated in competitions, and explored decision support systems and blockchain during college. During my banking stint, I worked on backend implementation.

Passionate about: emerging tech, video games, car racing, skiing, travelling and exploring diverse cultures.

Languages: English excellent oral and written, German, Slovene, Serbian conversational and Macedonian native

Character: I am not the first person you call for a party, but the first person you call when you need help

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