Suzana Đorđević, director of Hemofarm Foundation, is the winner of the prestigious Mark Awards in the category of CSR Manager of the Year.

The Mark Awards, organized by the Marketing Network, are awarded to experts from companies in Serbia for personal business and professional success. There were 54 nominees for awards this year, and the expert jury, made up of 15 directors of national and multinational companies and agencies, decided to reward 12 of them.

Other nominees in the category of CSR manager of the year, in addition to our Suzana Đorđević, were Nina Elezović, director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Business of Coca Cola HBC Serbia, Aleksandra Mirić, CSR manager in Corporate Communications of Lidl Serbia, Milica Savinšek, PR & Advertising Supervisor of Adriatic Avon, Marija Pantelić, director of Sustainability of the company Bosis, as well as Damjan Stamenković, Head of Global CSR Meredianbeta.

In its award rationale, the jury explains that Suzana has continuously contributed to the profession throughout the years of her engagement, creating with her expertise and experience ‘her own brand of strategic approach to socially responsible business’. Special emphasis is given to her work, the focus of which is ‘education about health of the citizens of Serbia, primarily mental health’. Suzana, in cooperation with her team, implemented a series of very successful and award-winning campaigns, which significantly contributed, among other things, to the development of the marketing communications market in Serbia.

‘The ‘Unbreakable’ campaign, which won over people throughout the country, is an ideal example of how to create a symbiosis of business and social responsibility, under rather challenging conditions. I would also like to mention an almost textbook example of a comprehensive 360 approach in the project ‘You Can Do It’ in which all key participants in the value chain (institutions, relevant companies, local community and students as potential future resources of the company) were selected rather carefully and integrated through an exceptionally attractive framework in the form of philanthropy, which, nowadays, is quite an irresistible and quite modern lever in the performance of companies in the communities in which they operate’, a jury member Miloš Jovović, Director of Strategic Planning for Central Europe of PepsiCo cites in the award rationale.

‘I wasn’t expecting to win the Mark Awards. I was happy to even be short-listed for the CSR Manager of the Year. When I received the e-mail that I was the winner of the award, I was taken by surprise and really glad. Rewards are, for me, a great stimulus, a confirmation that you are worth it and that you are doing a good job. They are also an opportunity to see where you stand compared to others. The fact that the directors of 15 different national and international companies and agencies selected the nominees for the ‘Mark Awards’ and that you of all are the winner is a great acknowledgment. The biggest satisfaction is, nevertheless, the knowledge that you have helped someone’, Suzana said.

The goal of the Mark Awards is to encourage and motivate marketing and communication experts from companies in Serbia, and also to point out to the professional public their potential, talents, creativity and ability to achieve top business results and brand recognition. The Mark Awards is an award by which the professional portal Marketing Network wants to promote professional role models, but also to contribute to the improvement and development of the profession in Serbia. It is awarded every year in the categories Chief Marketing Officer of the Year, Chief Marketing Officers of the Year Multi-country, Brand Manager of the Year, PR/Corporate Communications Manager of the Year, Internal Communications Manager of the Year, Employer Branding Manager of the Year, Digital Marketing Manager of the Year, CSR Manager of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, Brand Innovator of the Year, Super Hero of the Year.

The official Mark Awards ceremony will be held on 21 October in Belgrade.
You can find further information and a list of winners with CVs and rationale of jury members on the website https://mark-awards.rs/dobitnici/.