Duško Knežević

Dr Duško Knežević, PhD
President of board of directors of University "Mediterranean"
Assumed office
30 May 2006
Personal details
Born (1959-05-30) 30 May 1959
Titograd, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality Montenegrin
Alma mater Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade (B.Sc.)
Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade (M.Sc.)
Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade (Ph.D.)
Occupation Economist, businessman, activist
Website Official website
Duško Knežević, President of Atlas Foundation

Duško Knežević (Montenegrin Cyrillic: Душко Кнежевић) is the founder and president of the board of directors of Atlas Group Corporation (AGC). AGC is the largest financial group in Montenegro consisting of dozens of companies with far-ranging business interest, including banks and financial companies in Serbia, Cyprus, Russia and Great Britain.

In addition to his business interests,[1] he is the founder and president of the board of two business oriented universities, in Montenegro and in Serbia. In April 2010, Knežević became a member of Clinton Global Initiative,[2] President Clinton's organization that is gathering private sector, non-governmental organizations, and other global leaders to effectively confront the world's most pressing problems.[3][4][5]

Knežević founded the Atlas Foundation in 2010. The mission of the Foundation is to support the creation of new societal values and economic empowerment of citizens through enhancement of business environment and corporate social responsible practices. Improving regional cooperation is one of the key goals of the Atlas Foundation. Knežević organised the Inaugural Conference “Balkan Networking for Social Empowerment of South-Eastern Europe”[6] that was held in Budva in May 2011, under the auspices of the Government of Montenegro and Atlas Foundation, and in partnership with Clinton Global Initiative. The main objective of this event was to address pressing challenges facing South-Eastern Europe through developing cross-border and new models of cross-sector cooperation.

Personal life

Born 30 May 1959, Knežević completed elementary and high school in Titograd (now Podgorica). He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Banking at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, and a Master of Science in Banking and Finance, also at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade. After defending with merits his doctorate dissertation 'Legal and economic prerequisites of sustainability of pension insurance system' at the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, Duško Knežević was awarded a scientific degree Doctor of Legal and Economic Studies. He lectures in finance-related subjects at the UNION University.[7]

Atlas Group

Knežević is President of the Atlas Group (AGC), which he founded 25 years ago in Yugoslavia. The AGC has grown into an internationally acknowledged company, consisting of 30 companies including banks, finance, real estate, construction, tourism, education, health and media. Strong business relationships and partnerships with, among others, Abu Dhabi Capital Group owned by Royal family from UAE, Bursa Istanbul, Mace London, Piraeus Bank, EBRD, Century 21 Real Estate and Turner Real Estate USA, have been developed.

Knežević founded and is President of the board of Mediterranean University (the first private university in Montenegro) and the Belgrade Banking Academy.

Major entities of AGC include:

Recent Projects

Duško Knežević, the Atlas Group president, speaks at ceremony of 15th anniversary of Atlas System

FinInvest Montenegro in collaboration with Capital Investments, a company owned by the royal family in Abu Dhabi, is completing a 180 million euro residential business complex investment in Podgorica. FinInvest Montenegro stands behind a major health-tourism project in Meljine, on Montenegro's Adriatic Coast. Knežević is the founder of Atlas Capital Forex

Higher education

Knežević is the founder and president of the board of:

Sports

As a young man, he played for the several basketball clubs. His fledgling basketball career was cut short by injury. He then moved from player to referee, advancing in this regard to a federal-level referee in the former Yugoslavia. In 1992, he became president of the well-known Red Star Waterpolo Club. Under his leadership, Red Star won the championship title in the former Yugoslav against its longtime rival Partizan. Four years later, as director of the Olympic Waterpolo Team of Yugoslavia, he led the team to the summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S.)

In 2003 he founded the first-league basketball club Atlas, which he directed and led to competition in the European Uleb Cup. He also served as a member of the Executive Board of the Basketball Union of Serbia and Montenegro (before Montenegro became an independent country). In 2004, he founded a new league called the Atlas Pils YUBA League, as part of an effort to revive Serbia's then struggling basketball legacy. In 2005 he was president of Board of EuroBasket 2005 that has successfully organized European Basketball Championship in Belgrade in 2005.

Paper works, articles and books

References

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