Irina is the Secretary General of the South Eastern European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, and sits in the Representative Group of the European Venture Capital Association. She is also a member of the Romanian Council for Development and Innovation since 2011 and she is the founder and CEO of an NGO focusing on stimulating entrepreneurship and innovation in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2008 she was one of the 4 Global Ambassadors of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, covering 77 countries and she was also the President of the Future of the Profession Commission of Association Internationale des Jeunnes Avocats (AIJA), the largest international association of young lawyers, being responsible for designing policies for young lawyers worldwide. During the same year, she was selected by Eisenhower Fellowships as one of the 25 emerging leaders of the world who were included in their Multi-Nation Program.
Irina is also one of the Experts of AllWorld, an organization created by Professor Michael Porter from Harvard Business School with two of his closest collaborators in order to expand the world’s entrepreneurial economy, and since November 2010 she is Program Director for New Europe for the same organization.
One of the pioneers in the field of legal advice for private equity funds financing entrepreneurial ventures in Eastern Europe, Irina Anghel is an enthusiastic supporter of entrepreneurship who 10 years ago left KPMG to create the first Romanian law firm specialized in advising both funds and entrepreneurs in connection to private equity transactions. The law firm under Irina’s management provided legal advice on many of the leading private equity transactions, and was involved in many pioneering projects. Alongside her activities in the field of law Irina followed her passion of supporting entrepreneurs to raise finance for their businesses.
Irina earned an MC/MPA degree from Harvard Kennedy School, she also holds an MBA degree from the program of HEC Montreal and University of Ottawa in Bucharest and she is currently pursuing her PhD in Law in Bucharest. Irina spent one year at Harvard Kennedy School, as a Mason Fellow, and she focused on the role of venture capital in stimulating entrepreneurship and innovation and on policy measures aimed at creating a venture capital ecosystem leading to economic growth. While at Harvard, Irina was also the Vice-President of the Venture Capital and Private Equity PIC at Harvard Kennedy School.
During the past 10 years Irina lectured, organized workshops, was a speaker at or an organizer of local, regional and international events all over the world (in more than 20 countries). Her most recent public speaking engagements (during the past 12 months) were in El Salvador, Republic of Georgia, Canada, US, Romania and Turkey. Irina also has an academic career teaching civil law at a Law School in Bucharest and a special course, that she developed herself, specifically aimed at Romanian MBA students.
A strong believer that leadership is essential for the transition in her part of the world, Irina organizes and supports various types of leadership programs. Besides the work with her own NGO, Irina is a member of the Leadership Committee of Aspen Institute Romania and one of the moderators of Aspen events and Aspen Executive Seminars in Europe.
Sitting on boards of various national and international organizations, she is also the youngest member of the Global Advisory Council of Eisenhower Fellowships in the US and she chairs the Advisory Board of Fundatia Culturala Genesis, an Advisory Board composed only of Mason Fellows from Harvard with extensive professional experience in education. Since 2011 she is the President of Harvard Club Romania Moldova.