Who are the most powerful foreigners in Serbia? This is the question that Blic daily will once again attempt to answer this year by publishing its lists of the most powerful.
In compiling the lists, we assessed what the individuals we write about achieved in 2025, and we consulted political analysts, economists, media experts, and representatives of the NGO sector.
- Andreas von Beckerath – new Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia
He took up this post after serving as Sweden’s ambassador to Poland. Prior to that, he held several senior positions at Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, including Deputy Director-General and Head of the Department for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as Acting Head of the Department for Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs. Von Beckerath previously served as Sweden’s ambassador to Ukraine, Deputy Head of Mission at the embassy in London, and Political Counsellor at the embassy in Berlin. At the start of his diplomatic career, he served in Moscow, Bucharest and at Sweden’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. He also worked as a European correspondent at Sweden’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Ambassador von Beckerath graduated in business studies, Russian language and Central European studies from Uppsala University. He is fluent in Swedish, English, German and Russian, and has a working knowledge of French as well as basic knowledge of Polish and Dutch. He is married and the father of two children.
- Richard Grenell – US Special Envoy for Special Missions
Diplomat and member of the Republican Party. Between 2018 and 2020, he served as US Ambassador to Germany. From 2019 to 2021 he was appointed Special Envoy of the US President for the Belgrade–Pristina negotiations. He is considered one of the key officials responsible for the signing of the Washington Agreement, and it is believed that he was behind the removal of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti due to non-compliance. In 2023, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić awarded him the Order of the Serbian Flag, First Class, for distinguished merits in developing and strengthening peaceful cooperation and friendly relations between the Republic of Serbia and the United States of America.
- Mike Michel – CEO of Yettel
He has been the Chief Executive Officer of Yettel since 2018. Previously, he served as Chief Marketing Officer at Yettel Hungary and Vice President for Brand Management at Telenor Group in Norway. Yettel is part of the e&PPF Telecom Group, which last year became the owner of SBB in Serbia. SBB will be legally merged with Yettel on 1 April 2026. Michel has more than twenty years of experience in senior management positions in global telecommunications companies across the region, North America and Asia. He graduated in economics from Simon Fraser University in Canada.
- Emil Tedeschi – Chairman of the Management Board of Atlantic Grupa
He is the leading figure of Atlantic, one of the region’s foremost food producers and distributors, with annual revenues exceeding one billion euros. The company’s renowned brands include Cedevita, Argeta, Donat, Cockta, Najlepše želje, Smoki, Grand kafa, Bananica and others. Over the course of his career, he has received numerous awards for professional achievements and contributions to economic development. Tedeschi is a member of several prestigious economic and academic bodies, including the Trilateral Commission, the Dean’s Council at Harvard Kennedy School, the INSEAD Alumni Association and the Privrednik business club.
- Jiří Marek – CEO of Air Serbia
Marke has more than 25 years of experience in managerial roles in the aviation industry, including 16 years in senior leadership positions at several airlines. Marek assumed this role from the position of Director for Commercial and Strategy. Under his leadership, in 2025 the company recorded a historic 4.57 million passengers carried, surpassing the all-time record of the former JAT. Air Serbia flies on more than 100 routes to 34 countries across four continents. With a fleet of 30 aircraft, it plays a key role in strengthening Serbia’s connectivity with the world and contributes significantly to the development of tourism and the economy, particularly ahead of the international exhibition Expo Belgrade 2027, when it will simultaneously mark 100 years since its founding.
- Li Ming – Chinese Ambassador to Serbia
He previously served in the Solomon Islands, in the strategically important Pacific region. He joined China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995 and from 2000 to 2004 served as Vice Consul in Toronto. From 2004 to 2013, Li was Second Secretary, Deputy Director and later Director of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs within the Ministry. From 2013 to 2016, he served as Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in Australia, and from 2016 to 2020 as Counsellor and Deputy Director-General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs.
- Brent Sadler – Director of United Media
A British journalist, he is the new Director of United Media, the person responsible for the company’s media operations in Serbia, which include N1, Nova and Danas. He is best known for reporting from war zones for CNN. This is not his first professional engagement in Serbia. Sadler was previously Director of the Editorial Board of N1, but left the television station in 2019. He is married to a Serbian woman, Jelena Sadler, and is the father of four children.
- Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko – Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Serbia
Twice in Belgrade, once in Zagreb and Sarajevo, and involved in negotiations in Dayton and Vienna, he has devoted his entire diplomatic career to the countries of the region. His third arrival in Belgrade, this time as the highest diplomatic representative of the Russian Federation in Serbia, crowns Botsan-Kharchenko’s diplomatic career, which began more than four decades ago. He was part of the Russian delegation at the negotiations in Dayton and Paris, headed the Department for the Countries of the Former Yugoslavia at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and served as Moscow’s Special Representative for the Balkans.
- Anne Lugon-Moulin – Swiss Ambassador to Serbia
She has held this position since March 2024. From September 2019 she served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Switzerland to Côte d’Ivoire, with secondary accreditations to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso. During this period, for two years she also served as President of the International Cocoa Organization. She is fluent in French, German and English. She has written several articles on combating corruption and asset recovery, and has also published two works of fiction.
- Ronald Seeliger – Chief Executive Officer of Hemofarm and President of the Foreign Investors Council of Serbia
For 14 years, he has successfully led Hemofarm, one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturers in the region and exporters from Serbia. Since 2006, Hemofarm has operated as part of the STADA Group, one of Europe’s leading German manufacturers of generic medicines. Seeliger graduated from the Technical University of Berlin. He attended the London School of Economics and IMD Business School in Lausanne, and developed his career as a member of the management of major industrial systems in Europe, Australia and Asia. He is a member of the Board of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
Other entries include: Su Jongding, CEO of Zijin Serbia in 11th place, Florence Ferrari, the French Ambassador to Serbia in the 13th place, Sihai Song, CEO of Hesteel Serbia in the 15th place, Anke Konrad, the German ambassador to Serbia in the 17th place, Luca Gori, the Italian Ambassador to Serbia in the 18th place, Matteo Colangeli, Regional Director for Serbia at the EBRD in the 23rd place, Edward Ferguson, the UK Ambassador to Serbia in the 26th place, Ricardo Vian Marques, CEO of Galenika in the 28th place, Naohiro Tsutsumi, Japanese Ambassador to Serbia in the 37th place, Deyana Kostadinova, Director of UNICEF in Serbia in the 39th place and Nicola Pontara, Head of World Bank’s office in Serbia in the the 40th place.
(Blic, 03.03.2026)