IRAKLI BAIDASHVILI
President

Irakli Baidashvili is the Executive Vice President of GMT Group. The company is one of the largest US direct investments in Georgia, the owner of two Marriott hotels, the Funicular Restaurant and several major real estate sites in Tbilisi. He is also member of the investor.ge editorial board and resides on Prime Minister's Professional Education Authorization Council on behalf of AmCham. He is also President of the National barcoding agency GS1 Georgia.

R. MICHAEL COWGILL
1st Vice President

Mr. Cowgill is the President and Co-Founder of Georgian American University (GAU) in Tbilisi, Georgia; Director and Supervisory Board Charman of Alpha Group Holding; Member of Supervisory Boards: ARIC (industrial farming operation in Kakheti, Georgia), American University Kyiv (Ukraine) and the new American University of Technology (Uzbekistan). Advisory Board member of Proof of Origin and Biotron Energy companies. Mr. Cowgill also sits on numerous NGO Boards. He has over 48 years of experience in managing all phases of projects in 52 countries in the energy, infrastructure, transportation & logistics and education sectors. From 1999-2003 he was the pipeline adviser for the Government of Georgia for the implementation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (Oil) and South Caucasus (Natural Gas) Pipelines. He has dual American/Georgian citizenship, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Univ. of Kansas, an MBA from UC Berkeley and is currently a PhD candidate at GAU. He has a wife and daughter in Tbilisi and 2 sons and 5 grandchildren in America.

GEORGE TKHELIDZE
Vice President and Treasurer

George Tkhelidze is Deputy CEO in TBC Bank, responsible for Corporate and Investment Banking. Before joining TBC in 2014, George worked for Barclays Investment Bank in London, as VP in Financial Institutions Group, where he worked on and executed multiple M&A, debt and capital markets transactions with European financial institutions. In his earlier career in Georgia, George held various managerial positions at ALDAGI insurance company, where he also served as CEO from 2005 to 2007. George holds MBA degree from London Business School, LL.M degree in International Commercial Law from the University of Nottingham and Graduate Diploma in Law from Tbilisi State University.

GEORGE KHARABADZE
Director

George Kharabadze is Managing Partner of Tsinandali Estate and a senior leader at Silk Road Group, a leading private investment group in Georgia with diverse operations across hospitality, real estate, transportation, and telecommunications. At Silk Road Group, George oversees key projects including the Tsinandali Estate, Historic Park, Radisson Collection Hotel,  Park Hotel, vineyards, and real estate development. Prior to this, George worked as a neurologist from 1989 to 1992 after graduating from Tbilisi State Medical University. He later transitioned to film and theater production, bringing creative expertise to his current roles.

RUSLAN KHOROSHVILI
Director

Ruslan Khoroshvili is the Country Managing Partner and Head of Assurance at EY Georgia, with over 24 years of experience delivering assurance and advisory services across Central Europe and South-East Asia. His expertise spans diverse industries, with a focus on the energy and financial sectors, serving both private and public entities, including listed companies in Georgia, the UK, and beyond. Since 2012, he has led EY Georgia to maintain its market leadership. Ruslan actively contributes to the accounting profession in Georgia, serving on various boards and committees, and has also taught at leading universities. He is a Registered Auditor.

OTAR KIPSHIDZE
Director

Otar Kipshidze is the Managing Partner and head of dispute resolution practice of Dentons Georgia. He has extensive experience in litigation, arbitration, regulatory, energy, intellectual property, banking and finance and corporate law. Otar has advised on a number of key projects in Georgia, including major oil and gas transportation projects, and has a track record of successful resolution of numerous disputes in Georgian courts at various levels.

CRAIG KRAMER
Director

Craig Kramer is the CEO of Gulf Georgia. A California native, he first arrived in Georgia in 1996 on a 6 month assignment working with the Greko Organization, where he oversaw the opening of the first Western style gas station w/convenience store in Georgia. After rounding out his career with various fuel & convenience item Companies, including ConocoPhillips & CircleK, Craig returned to Georgia in 2020 to head the Gulf Georgia Organization.

KETTI KVARTSKHAVA
Director

Ketti Kvartskhava is a Partner of BLC Law Office. Her professional experience includes her work as a Commercial Law Advisor at the USAID Georgia, Legal Counsel for the US-Georgian Commercial Bank JSC Absolute Bank and JSC Transcaucasia Bank. Ketti advises clients on the commercial, corporate, tax and finance matters and has many years of the successful litigation practice.

SANDRO SHELIA
Director

Sandro Shelia is the CEO of Conformity Assessment International, a Georgian-American international expert, senior executive, philanthropist and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in a variety of critical areas such as conformity assessment, education, international standards, leadership and organizational management, information technologies and finance. Mr. Shelia is also currently actively engaged in a variety of other for-profit areas including financial services, food industry and agriculture. He is a founder and Chairman of a non-profit Bright Georgia foundation.

NINO SUKNIDZE
Director

Nino Suknidze is a business lawyer with over 20 years of experience on the Georgian market, managing partner of the law firm Suknidze & Partners, non-executive director of TBC Bank Group PLC, a member of the supervisory board of JSC TBC Bank, and a board member of the NGO CARE Caucasus.
Nino has built an excellent reputation over the years among Georgian and international clients. Her practice focuses on finance and banking, capital markets, corporate, telecommunications, employment, regulatory and litigation matters.
Nino served as Vice-President of the Georgian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2021-2024, as General Counsel of Bank of Georgia in 2018-2020 and worked at various positions at international law firms DLA Piper Georgia and Dentons Georgia for over 11 years.

GIORGI TSIKOLIA
Director

Giorgi Tsikolia is Vice President at Lineate, a U.S.-based software development company, overseeing operations and growth in the EMEA region. With over 15 years of senior executive experience, Previously, Giorgi served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the Georgian Embassy in the U.S., advancing U.S.-Georgia relations and leading legislative successes like the Georgia Support Act. As CEO of Enterprise Georgia, he facilitated $500M in investments and created 24,000 jobs. An alumnus of The Fletcher School at Tufts University, Giorgi is also a nonprofit leader, think-tank board member, and father of three.

BETSY HASKELL
Ex-officio Advisor

Betsy Haskell is more than 20 year resident of Georgia who started four successful businesses, and is currently developing a resort hotel and villas in the wine country. She has been the Georgia Contractor for Metrica, Inc, a US Treasury Department sub-contractor.

MARK NORDBERG
Ex-officio Member

Marc Nordberg has worked for the U.S. Department of State since 1998. He is currently the Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi.  He was previously posted in Israel – twice, Belize, Belarus, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Washington DC.  He has MA degrees in Political Science and Russian and East European Studies from the University of Kansas and an MSocSci in Ukrainian Politics from the University of Birmingham. 

GEORGE WELTON
Executive Director

George Welton came to Georgia as a university lecturer in 2004. Soon after arriving he started working as a professional researcher and founded GeoWel Research in 2008. His company conducts research and analysis for non-profits like KfW, GIZ, UNDP, DfID, CARE International and some private companies.