August 22, 2019 – The largest Croatian American conference of professionals and businesses in North America will be held September 19 through 22 in Cleveland, Ohio. 

The Association of Croatian American Professionals (ACAP) is honored to announce that H.E. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia, will attend the fourth annual ACAP conference on Friday, Sept. 20 in Cleveland, Ohio and will give the keynote address at the gala dinner that evening.

The ACAP conference will bring together professionals from all facets of the U.S. and international professional community—such as diplomats, scientists, artists, engineers, medical professionals, attorneys, journalists, business executives, social media specialists, accountants, as well as a delegation from the Croatian Chamber of Economy.

“I am very honored and humbled that President Grabar-Kitarović, the leader of our homeland that we so love, will be an integral part of our conference weekend. She played a major role during our infancy in encouraging the idea of an organization of Croatian professionals in North America. It’s a special distinction to have Her Excellency give the keynote address at our gala,” says Marko Zoretic, President, ACAP.

The conference commences with a welcome event the evening of Thursday, Sept. 19 at the American-Croatian Lodge in Eastlake, Ohio, the heart of the Cleveland Croatian community since 1984. The first day of the two-day conference and evening gala and award dinner will take place on Friday, Sept. 20 at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Tower (1360 West Mall Drive, Cleveland, Ohio 44114). The remainder of the conference activities—meetings of the ACAP professional groups, breakout sessions, business spotlights, sightseeing and social activities—will take place in downtown Cleveland on Saturday, Sept. 21. 

Notable conference speakers include: Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD, Cleveland Clinic CEO and President; Elvis Grbac, former NFL quarterback; Josip Novakovic, award-winning author; Mladen Golubic, MD, PhD, Medical Director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Lifestyle Medicine; and Robert Jerin, genealogist. 

Her Excellency attended the inaugural ACAP conference in Washington D.C. in 2015. This is her first official trip, as President of Croatia, to Cleveland. 

“We are all proud of our Croatian heritage and President Grabar-Kitarović’s presence speaks volumes about her commitment to ACAP and Croatians in the diaspora,” says Zoretic.

For more information about the program or to purchase your tickets please visit: conference.croampro.com.

Association of Croatian American Professionals (ACAP)

The Association of Croatian American Professionals is a non-profit organization bringing together professionals, business leaders, academics, students and community organizers. Their mission is to foster leadership, collaboration and to promote the advancement of issues relevant to the Croatian-American community. In four years, ACAP has expanded to 12 chapters, including Cleveland, in the United States and Croatia with 750 members, and growing, worldwide. Visit croampro.com for more information. 

CLEVELAND, April 4, 2019 – The Association of Croatian American Professionals (ACAP) hosted medical professionals from the United States and Croatia at a business meeting to advance the agenda of the ACAP Medical Task Force at a gathering on Saturday, March 30, 2019.  

This event marks the third in-person meeting for the ACAP Medical Tourism Task Force. The initiative was launched in 2016 to identify opportunities for businesses and professionals to create relationships and open dialogue with organizations and entities in Croatia involved in the growing healthcare sector of medical tourism. 

“It’s amazing to see the talent and excellence of the diaspora and Croatia come together with a goal to positively impact Croatian healthcare. That exemplifies not only their dedication to, but love for, their homeland,” says Pjer Šimunović, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the United States. 

Ambassador Šimunović was accompanied by Mirna Vlašić Feketija, Minister Counselor, and Nikica Kopačević, Counselor, also members of Croatia’s diplomatic mission to the U.S.

“Our task force allows our members to bring forth their creative vision and expertise to help Croatian businesses in the health sector understand how we, as Croatian-American professionals, can help leverage and make the region more attractive for patients and travelers looking for quality medical tourism experiences,” says Steven Pavletić, MD, ACAP vice president and chair of ACAP Medical Task Force. Dr. Pavletić serves as a senior clinician at the Center for Cancer Research for the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

The outcome of this meeting was the creation of a formal process to implement four key initiatives including:

• Croatia Connected Health Hub: a centralized medical health tourism agency for patients
  
• Croatia Cancer Center: high-quality, comprehensive cancer center in Croatia
  
• Integrated Medical and Wellness Program: new partnerships at destinations in Croatia   
  
• Education: a program that enables Croatian medical and other health care students to spend clinical preceptorship time at hospitals in the U.S.  
  

"The collective enthusiasm and brainpower of Croatian professionals, coupled with a laser focus on creating a pragmatic solution, resulted in an innovative educational, marketing and logistics plan to boost Croatia to the forefront of the cross-border health movement,” says Mirena Bagur, MBA, president, CONTeXO Group, a consultancy for health tech entrepreneurs. 

Forty professional leaders participated in the discussions including: Ognjen Bagatin, MBA, CEO, Bagatin Clinic, Croatia; Anto Bagic, MD, UPMC Pittsburgh; Marijo Bilusic, MD, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland; Miljenko Bura, MD, Medical Group, Zagreb; Mate Car, PhD, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health, Croatia; Mladen Golubić, MD, Cleveland Clinic; Kerry Laufer, director, onsite global consulting, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College; Biljana Lovrinovic, CEO, Equus Group/Galop Digital; Mario Skugor, MD, Cleveland Clinic; Drew Stoken, MD, Harrisburg, PA; and Josie Tomljenovic, RN, Cleveland Clinic. 

The Medical Tourism Task Force meeting was held at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Eastlake, Ohio. 

The Association of Croatian American Professionals is a non-profit organization bringing together professionals, business leaders, academics, students and community organizers. Its mission is to foster leadership, collaboration and to promote the advancement of issues relevant to the Croatian-American community. ACAP currently has 11 chapters in the United States and Croatia with 750 members — and is growing — worldwide. 

For more information, please visit croampro.com; follow us on Twitter (@CroAmPro) and Facebook.

ACAP is hosting its fourth national conference in Cleveland, Ohio from Sept. 19 through 22, 2019. The conference aims to bring together more than 500 professionals from all facets of the U.S. and international professional community, including a delegation from Croatia’s Chamber of Commerce.   

Additional Quotes 

“By assembling a diverse group of Croatian professionals from the U.S. and Croatia, we started to develop a Croatia Connected Health Hub as a one-stop-shop healthcare platform that will position Croatia as a synonym for health in Europe and the world. When enthusiasm, knowledge, experience and love for Croatia are placed on one team, everything is possible. This was one of the best ACAP meetings yet, thank you for this experience.”

Ognjen Bagatin, CEO, Bagatin Clinic (Split and Zagreb, Croatia) 

"Planning and implementation of the second phase of the integrated medical wellness program highlighted the meeting. The task force focused on identifying potential partnerships in the U.S. and Croatia, legal and business needs, and implementation of pilot programs by 2020." 

Jeana Havidich, MD, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, New Hampshire)

“The confluence of broad vision, strategic planning, and tactical execution emanating from the conference served to demonstrate the critical importance of having diversity of thought at the table. Perspectives from clinicians, marketers, risk managers, IT experts, bankers and finance professionals -- representing large and small companies, for-profit and non-profit organizations, from Croatia and the US -is crucial to fostering and accelerating success in cross-border investments.” 

Paula Poskon, President, STOV Advisory Services (Reston, VA)

"The Croatia Connected Health Hub working group has certainly been adopted and well received within the ACAP medical tourism task force. We find it extremely important to have one central place for information in which international patients can have easy access and make it a one-stop-shop for the best Croatian healthcare practices. A large part of this will be telemedicine which involves clinical, technology and process improvement experts who we are fortunate to have as ACAP members." 

Biljana Lovrinovic, CEO, Equus Group (Cleveland, Ohio)/Galop Digital (Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina), President, ACAP—Cleveland

A look at the first Medical Tourism Task Force by the Association of Croatian American Professionals (ACAP). 

Croatian president Kolinda Grabar Kitarović confirmed as one of the keynote speakers.