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Vasil Aleksandrov Terziev (Bulgarian: Васил Александров Терзиев; born June 9, 1978) is a Bulgarian politician and businessman who co-founded the multi-million dollar software company Telerik.[1] He is the incumbent Mayor of Sofia after winning the elections on November 5, 2023.[2]
Vassil Terziev | |
|---|---|
Васил Терзиев | |
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| 63rd Mayor of Sofia | |
| Assumed office November 13, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Yordanka Fandakova |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 June 1978 Sofia, PR Bulgaria |
| Political party | We Continue the Change Democratic Bulgaria Save Sofia |
| Alma mater | American University in Bulgaria |
| Occupation |
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| Website | vassilterziev |
Early life
editTerziev was born in Sofia on June 9, 1978. His parents were officers of the Committee for State Security, while his grandfather was a Communist partisan who later became a State Security general in charge of military counterintelligence.[3]
He graduated from the First English Language School, after which he obtained a Business Administration degree from the American University in Bulgaria.[4]
Foundation and establishment of Telerik
editIn 2002, Terziev founded the software company Telerik together with Svetozar Georgiev, Boyko Yaramov and Hristo Kosev,[5] and was its CEO for several years. In its early months, Telerik was involved in website development, but soon moved towards creating its own software products and components. As sales grew in the US market, Telerik attracted the attention of investment firm Summit Partners, which invested in the company in 2008 and helped improve its management. Telerik's business grew rapidly, including through acquisitions in Europe and North America, and in 2013 had 800 employees and 15 offices in various countries around the world.
In 2009, Telerik established Telerik Academy,[6] a center for specialized training of software professionals, which in the following years played an important role for the software sector in Bulgaria. Terziev was a co-founder of the academy.
After several years of rapid sales growth of about 20% per year, in October 2014 the founders of Telerik sold the company to the American software company Progress Software, with an announced value of $262.5 million.[7] That was the largest deal in the Bulgarian technology business as of 2014.
Political career
editOn 27 June 2023 the electoral alliance of We Continue the Change, Democratic Bulgaria and Save Sofia presented Terziev as their candidate for Mayor of Sofia in the 2023 Sofia mayoral election.[8]
Terziev ended up first in the first round of the election on October 29, 2023, winning 31.8% of the votes.[9] He faced Vanya Grigorova on 5 November 2023 at the second round of the election, winning 48.17% of the votes, edging Grigorova by a bit more than 1%, and becoming the new Mayor of Sofia.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Forbes Bulgaria on Vassil Terziev ('01), the "Bulgarian Busine..." BLOG | AUBG.
- ^ Stoilova, Zornitsa (27 June 2023). "Vassil Terziev: Why is Bulgaria's Most Active Startup Investor Running for Sofia Mayor?".
- ^ "Vassil Terziev and the Dark Shadow of the Past". Deutsche Welle. 5 July 2023.
- ^ AUBG. "AUBG Alumni Talks: Vassil Terziev ('01)". BLOG | AUBG. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "10 Years Telerik Academy - The First and Still Number One". www.telerikacademy.com. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "Our story - About Us - Telerik Academy". www.telerikacademy.com. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ Miller, Ron (22 October 2014). "Progress Software Buys Telerik for $262.5M As Buying Spree Continues". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "Bulgaria: Three Parties officially nominated the Entrepreneur Vasil Terziev for Mayor of Sofia - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency". www.novinite.com. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "Vasil Terziev: I continue the fight to be the mayor of all Sofians". bnr.bg. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
- ^ "Окончателно: Терзиев е новият кмет на София с малко над 1% пред Ваня Григорова". Mediapool.bg (in Bulgarian). 6 November 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.