OUR TEAM

Vladimir Arsenijević

President and Creative director/Member of the Steering Board

Milan Adnađ

Administration and Finances

Sanja Urošević

Administration and Finances Assistant

Jelena Vuković Mićić

Manager/KROKODIL Center

Milena Berić

Executive Director

Jelena Babić Barnes

Associate for European projects

Stefana Pekez

Project Manager

Nemanja Pavlović

Technical Producer/KROKODIL Center

Sara Mandić

Project Coordinator

Marija Vuković Biserko

Project Manager

Marko Gajić

Communications Assistant

BIOS

VLADIMIR ARSENIJEVIĆ (b. 1965 in Pula, Croatia, then SFR Yugoslavia) is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed Serbian writer, translator, editor, publicist and human rights activists. He won the 1994 NIN-award for his first novel In the Hold (U potpalublju), thus becoming the award’s youngest ever recipient. In the Hold was the very first debut book awarded  this prestigious prize. His anti-war book was soon translated into 22 languages and placed Arsenijević almost instantly among the most translated Serbian writers. Since then, Arsenijević published twelve other novels, graphic novels, collections of short stories and books of essays. His essays and columns are published in both print and online media from all over former Yugoslavia. He is also a well-known editor who formed and developed the RENDE publishing house, where he worked as Editor-in-Chief from its foundation in 2000 until 2007. From 2007 until 2011, he ran a Belgrade subsection of the Croatian publishing house VBZ. He is one of the founders of the KROKODIL Association.

MILENA BERIĆ ( b. 1982 in Belgrade, Serbia, then SFR Yugoslavia) holds an MA in Communicology and BSc in North America Economic studies and EU Economic studies. Milena is a researcher and political analyst focused on international affairs and regional/WB politics. She is passionate human rights activist. For the past 10 years she is dedicated to KROKODIL’s organisational and program development, external affairs and strategic communications. She began her dynamic career in 2001 working for the OECD, at the Olympic Games in Athens, for the Greek national television ERT and for the Indian embassy in Belgrade. She continued her career in the field of marketing communications within some of the largest global marketing agencies – DDB and TBWA World Wide, working on campaign strategies for brands such as adidas, Nissan, Renault, VISA, Absolut Vodka and others. During 2010, she worked as managing director of DIVAC HOD and since then belongs to the world of the civil society sector in Serbia. In the following years she worked as an independent consultant engaged by different CSOs in Serbia. She focused on developing her skills in the fields of organizational development, strategic communications and external relations while using her specific interest and experience in storytelling and campaign strategies. She participated in the 6th Pan-European International Relations Conference in Turin in 2007 with her research “Culture, Dignity and Empowerment”. She won the award “30 under 30 young Serbian leaders” in 2011, and in the same year she was a delegate of Serbia at the European Forum in Alpbach, Tirol. Milena has been fully committed to the development of the KROKODIL Association since 2014, when she also became executive director, which among other led to significant growth of the very organization, its reputation and program credibility. In 2016 Association KROKODIL won European Communications Award for its communications strategy as the first European NGO to win this award which was established in 2005. She is co-author of the ‘Liberte, Egalite, Solidarite: Research with proposals and recommendations for the involvement and cooperation of civil society organisations regarding activities in response to the aggression against Ukraine’ (KROKODIL Association, 2024); ‘Survey and Analysis on Undue Influence on Rise of the Violence in Serbia’ (KROKODIL Association, 2023); and of the analysis ‘Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the independent sector in the Balkans’ (KROKODIL Association, 2021). Since 2024, she is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy. Milena translates from Greek into the common language. She is fluent in English, French and Greek, and uses German, Spanish and Italian. She understands Ukrainian and Russian.

SARA MANDIĆ (b. 1986, Mumbai, India) obtained her Master’s degrees at the Department for Piano at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and the UNESCO Department for Cultural Policy and Management. She is a PhD student at the Department for Management and Production of Theater, Radio and Culture at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. In 2002, she participated at the United Nations Special Session on children’s rights in New York as an official member of the national delegation of Serbia and a representative of the Southeast European group of countries. As a pianist, she has performed at numerous concerts, festivals at competitions in the country and the region – both as a solo performer and part of a chamber ensemble, as well as a rehearsal pianist for other performers. In addition to performing and her pedagogical work in the field of classical music, since 2010 Sara has been working as a producer and project manager in different organizations, such as the International Festival KotorArt and Wild Beauty Art Festival. She is also one of the founders of the “Vasilije Mokranjac” Foundation. She is fluent in English and speaks French. Sara joined KROKODIL in October 2019 as Project Coordinator. 

MILAN ADNAĐ (b.1985 Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia) graduated from the Department of Art History, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade after earning the title of Engraver of Art Objects from Tehnoart High School in Belgrade. In the past 7 years Milan has developed his organizational, administrative and financial skills in the cultural sector by working with various organizations but mostly within Mikser, one of the leading multidisciplinary platforms in the region, where he was in charge of administrative and financial work, as well as preparation of financial reports on the EU and other projects. Milan joined KROKODIL in October 2018 as the financial and administrative manager. 

MARIJA VUKOVIĆ BISERKO ( b. 1977 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia) obtained a Master`s degree in History of Art at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. She has almost 20 years of experience as a cultural worker, as Art historian, Curator, Project Manager and Coordinator in both, NGO and public sectors. She gained experience and skills in the domain of culture project administration, from writing to the realization of different projects for ECF, Creative Europe, UNOPS, etc. As Art historian, she has been involved in research of the legacy of the Yugoslav dadaist-zenitist group Travellers, and therefore together with her colleagues’ works on further collecting and museological processing of artworks and objects of the group. As Editor of visual arts and literary programs, she successfully organized and curated more than 150 exhibitions, multimedia events and moderated more than 70 literary events. She is active as humanitarian and human rights activist, oriented towards helping children, youth and adults from vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as migrants, children and youth with mental difficulties, Roma people and endangered women.

SANJA UROŠEVIĆ (born in 1992 in Ivanjica, Serbia), graduated from the Faculty of Economics, majoring in general economics. For two years, she worked as an economist and export and import officer in the company TREF. Her desire to work in an international environment and to learn about the American market led het to attending training for a professional dispatcher. Sanja completed courses in the field of branding: Copywriting and Internet marketing. She is employed by the KROKODIL Association as an assistant in the finance department since November 2022, after successfully participating in the Journalist for a day program.

JELENA BABIĆ BARNES gained experience in project preparation, implementation and coordination at the Belgrade Open School, where she worked for many years on coordination and implementation of activities and projects in the field of European integration and civil society development aimed at improving public policies. During her professional career, she participated in the preparation and implementation of various projects, tenders and programs funded through various bilateral and multilateral cooperation programs – with special emphasis on development cooperation programs (USAID, SIDA), European Union programs and multilateral organizations. For a period of three years (2014-2017), she worked at the Center for EU Integration of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, where she led, coordinated and managed national and regional projects in the field of entrepreneurship development and business sector communication in the process of Serbia’s EU accession funded by the European Commission and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). In addition to her experience in project management, Jelena also works on the design and implementation of advocacy campaigns and the development of policy documents. She is an accredited trainer for the implementation of professional development programs for employees in local self-government units by the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government. 

STEFANA PEKEZ (b. 1994 in Zrenjanin, Serbia) graduated from the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade in Dutch language, Literature, Culture (with Swedish and English as the second languages). During her studies she attended various seminars, workshops and summer schools including, among others, a seminar in literary translation “Literature and Identity” at the University of Vienna. She volunteered at Beldocs and Free Zone film festivals in PR, communications, and translation sectors, and was a contributing author for Scandinavian Corner, mainly writing book and film reviews. She started cooperating with the KROKODIL Association in October 2021, where she is currently employed as a project manager, after a successful participation in the Journalist for a day program.

JELENA VUKOVIĆ MIĆIĆ (b. 1979 in Obrenovac, Serbia) has been working in HORECA industry for the past 10 years. She likes to say that kindness is always in the first place. She is always ready to learn new things and acquire new friendships. From October 2022, Jeja joined us on the position of manager of the KROKODIL Center.

MARKO GAJIĆ (b. 1998 in Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia), senior student at Art History department, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade. During his studies he took part in the implementation of projects and programs in the fields of heritage conservation, cultural memory and regional cooperation in organizations like Europa Nostra Serbia, Creative Mentorship, RYCO office. He also gained experience in fundraising as part of fundraising team at UNICEF Serbia. He is an active volunteer and member of  Youth Board of Europa Nostra Serbia and participant in activities of Center for American Studies at Faculty of Philosophy. He started cooperating with the KROKODIL Association as a participant in the Journalist for a day program and, after that, joined KROKODIL as an assistant in the field of communications.