Meet Your Renewing Our Minds 2026 Speakers and Facilitators

Violeta Altmann polished her leadership skills with Apple in California before returning to her native Romania, where she immersed herself in the adoption world. Violeta is a writer, trainer and a community leader who loves mentoring and being mentored, and has a practical mindset paired with a creative soul.

Conrad Altmann is a science fiction author and graphic designer living in Romania. When he’s not working, he reads, writes and spends as much time outside as possible, either in his garden or in the wild. Conrad’s novels Metanoeia and Exolegacy explore themes of political and religious upheaval in the wake of first contact, and his short story collections “Moral Laundry” and “Memento Moreau” portray near futures when things have gone awry.

Josh Ambrose is happily married and lives in the UK, though he often wishes he were living in Brazil after spending a year there in 2015. After time spent teaching English as a foreign language abroad, Josh now works for a local NGO in his city of Ipswich, helping run an activity center, mainly for young people. He has also spearheaded the development of Diplomatika, which he and other team members will be facilitating this year at ROM. He’s also a football fan, with a great interest in politics, cooking, and enjoying the great outdoors.

Camilla Bocaniala is the founder and program director of Polylogos, a nonprofit organization located in Romania that focuses on bridging divides and empowering young leaders. With an academic background in psychology, comparative politics, and peace and conflict studies, she is an outspoken advocate for democracy and human rights, a strategic thinker and a committed “doer.” When not writing project proposals, she prefers to release her creative energy through poetry, music, and enjoying the outdoors.

Liviu Bocaniala is the founder and president of Polylogos, a Romania-based nonprofit organization that connects people across divides and empowers aspiring leaders. He is a dynamic motivational speaker, an effective communicator and events organizer, having worked in national and international settings over the last two decades. Liviu’s passion is putting people and ideas together; he sets the stage and inspires others to truly live. He is also a musician and poet, who has been sharing his gifts with ROM since 2001.

Dušan Beredji holds a master’s in theology and serves as pastor of a Protestant church in Novi Sad, Serbia, where he also mentors recovering addicts at Rainbow Rehab Center. In addition to spending time with his wife Mirjana and two adult children, Stefan and Una-Marija, he enjoys hiking and is passionate about environmental activism. This year Bera published his first book, “Moje mesto u crkvi” (My Place in the Church).

Alan Cutting has many years of experience in empowering communities to find solutions to poverty and other challenges in his work as a pastor, with low income housing in the UK, and all around the world with Samaritan's Purse UK. Alan was one of the first people on the ground in Sri Lanka to respond to the massive tsunami in 2004, and he was also on the ground in Serbia responding to the flooding in Obrenovac in 2014. He speaks and writes to share what he has learned about community building, empowering, and transformation. Alan has written multiple books about his wealth of experience in religious ministry, community development, and humanitarian work.

Daniela Kokan has worked with high school students for more than two decades in public, private and international schools, as well as with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and as a part of the European Committee for High Schools for the Balkan region. Her other passion is psychology and she has been studying psychotherapy for the last 10 years. She is a Transactional Analyst and is currently working as a therapist using this psychotherapeutic approach. Daniela experienced the Yugoslav wars in the 90s as a Croatian teenager living in Serbia.

Mihai Lupu holds a Masters Degree from Central European University in Social History and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bucharest University in Organisational Psychology. He is currently Director of Cabinet to the Secretary of State of the Head of the Department for Emergency Situations of Romania. He is also a fellow within the Yale Global Justice Program, and board member of Academics Stand Against Poverty. For more than 25 years he has developed and been part of a series of national and international programs that integrate information technology, change management psychology, cross-sectoral networking, interdisciplinary approach in pioneering innovative development initiatives, emergency response programs, community based economic, civic and social initiatives, behaviour change national campaigns, central and local governmental as well as non-profit institutional capacity building projects.

Igor Mateski is a theology  graduate, and for the past couple of decades, he's been running a digital marketing agency from Ohrid, Macedonia. Married to Monika, and the proud father of Tomi, he spends his time running the business, researching, writing and doing public speaking on various topics in Public Theology. His main focus has been Theology of Work as an antidote to an entitled workforce. He is active with Leader Impact, LinkAcross, EDI and ROM. When he's not engaged in thinking and writing, you can find him building furniture, or running some kind of a renovation project. 

More about Igor at igormateski.com

Dr. Noemi Mena Montes is a Spanish journalist based in the Netherlands, with a PhD in Political Communication. She is a media lecturer-researcher, a consultant on political communication and expert on immigration. In the past, Noemi has worked as a radio journalist, freelance correspondent and researcher in the Middle East. She has had several research grants for international projects and won an award for migration studies in Spain.

Dr. Ileana Radu is a Family Doctor (Senior Medical Specialist) & Psychotherapist in Systemic Family Practice. She is a member of the EAP (European Association of Family Therapy) & IFTA (International Family Therapy Association). During communism in Romania she was involved in the underground church and promoting Biblical anthropology & the relevance of Christian values in daily life. She was the medical editor of John Wyatts' book, Matters of Life and Death. She wrote 7 Minutes in the Family, a book on family life through a systemic therapy lens. She is also editor of Terapia Sistemica /Systemic Therapy.

Bojan Ruvarac has served as director of Renewing Our Minds, a founding project of the nonprofit Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation, since 2019, but has been involved in ROM since 2001, first as a participant, then as a team member. Before ROM, he worked for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students for more than ten years. Bojan graduated from the Belgrade School of Tourism, and greatly enjoys traveling. He is passionate about investing in young people and building bridges of reconciliation in the Balkans.

Rachel Ruvarac is originally from the United States, but grew up in the former Soviet Union and has been living in Serbia since 2012. After working for Mission Eurasia, a Christian humanitarian aid and leadership development organization in Ukraine, and the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Serbia, since 2019 she has been co-leading Renewing Our Minds, a project of the Forum for Leadership and Reconciliation, with her husband Bojan.

Nicole S. is a Swiss-German conflict practitioner with a Master's in Conflict, Security and Development (M.A.), as well as a further studies in Conflict Consulting. As a Third Culture Kid who grew up in West Africa, Nicole brings a strong cross-cultural perspective to her work.

Now based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nicole supports churches, organisations, and individuals in navigating conflict constructively and fostering healthy, resilient communities. Rooted in a Christian vision of reconciliation, Nicole is passionate about equipping others to communicate well, engage disagreement with grace, and pursue unity in diversity.

Heather Staff is an elected Councillor for Laycock ward in the London Borough of Islington, and the Executive (cabinet) member for community safety and neighbourhoods. Her portfolio includes Police, VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls), Emergency Planning and Critical Response as well as the Night Time sector, Licensing, Equalities, Prevention of Hate Crimes and the National Prevention Strategy. It also includes tackling anti-social behaviour and encouraging thriving neighbourhood work. She also holds the role of Migrant Champion. She is a political advisor to members of the UK Parliament on a range of subjects including migration and international development. Heather is also Chair of the Labour Campaign for International Development and Vice Chair of Christians on the Left as well as a bass player for a community gospel choir.