Adela is an experienced HR professional, investor, and international speaker, working at the intersection of People Strategies, Innovation, and Foresight.

Her experience spans more than 25 years across senior Management positions in various companies and Academia. She is the founder of Ascent Group, co-founder of HorizonX, and co-founder of Design Thinkers Academy Eastern Europe. Adela has led HR and innovation projects in over 20 countries across Europe, the Balkans, and Central Asia, and currently serves as a board member for several companies across diverse industries.

Passionate about education, Adela studied at prestigious universities worldwide, including Oxford University (UK), the National Democratic Institute (USA), Ghent University (Belgium), the University of Göttingen (Germany), and Western University of Timișoara (Romania). She also taught for over 15 years at one of Romania’s largest universities.

In recent years, she has worked with major global organisations such as Coca-Cola, Michelin, Microsoft, Fokker, and MetLife, delivering projects across the UK, USA, the Netherlands, Dubai, Bahrain, Namibia, and most countries in Eastern Europe.

Her current areas of expertise include People Strategies, Innovation, Strategic Foresight, Design Thinking, and Systems Thinking.

Adela is the author of Horizon Thinking, a diagnostic tool for organisational challenges and an end-to-end Innovation Management System, as well as the creator of the training methodology Autonomous Thinking. This innovative approach brings a fresh perspective to problem-solving, critical thinking, and creative thinking.

Beyond her professional work, Adela actively supports NGO initiatives focused on education and sustainable growth.