It is with great pride that the World Macedonian Congress – Australia (WMC-A) announces the appointment and promotion of Mr Jim Stefanovski as the Global Chief Operations Officer for the World Macedonian Congress (WMC). The World Macedonian Congress branches around the world are growing rapidly and after extensive international consultation amongst all WMC branches, the need for an International position or ‘Global – COO’ to coordinate them all was identified and subsequently introduced.

Sadly, the appointment has required that Mr Stefanovski vacate the Australian National Co-Executive Chairman and NSW/ACT Branch President roles leaving Mr Goran Kotev as the sole National Chairman of WMC-A.

Mr Stefanovski leaves behind him a 3 decade long legacy of political activism and tireless work towards the advancement of the Macedonian cause in Australia and has been an instrumental driving force for giving the Macedonian community access to the Australian political process. He has also been the catalyst for WMC-A becoming the successful community-driven organisation in the Australian/Macedonian community that it is today.

WMC-A with Greens Leader, Sen Di Natale

WMC-A with Federal MP Ged Kearney

In an emotional statement earlier this week, Mr. Stefanovski said, “I thank all those National Presidents/Chairmen, such as Bobby Temelkov, Sasha Petkov, Simo Popovski, Bosko Dobrevski, Irfan Karim, my brother Goran Kotev, Todor Petrov and others, who not only nominated me but have trust in me to do what is right by our organisation and assist with the further growth and overall management of what is truly, without doubt, the largest and best Macedonian organisation in the world…. It truly has been an honour to see our organisation grow from an idea to something so amazing, in Australia..” Mr Stefanovski will remain as Australian National Executive Director and International Vice President of World Macedonian Congress.

National Chairman for Hunza, Pakistan, Mr Irfan Karim said, “As President of WMC for Hunza region in Pakistan, I have had the honour of working with our brothers and sisters in Australia especially, Co-Chairman Jim Stefanovski on a few projects. I was extremely proud to see him voted in as the Global Chief Operations Officer for WMC as I cannot see anyone else doing that job better than him. I am proud to be part of an organisation promoting and representing Macedonians throughout the world and I am proud of my brother Jim Stefanovski who will take us all to the next step to bigger and better things”.

Chairman for Canada, Mr Bobby Temelkov stated, “It is a real pleasure to work with Jim Stefanovski, the very first National Co-Chairman for Australia. Without his hard work, dedication and passion for all things ‘Macedonian’, I truly don’t believe WMC would have grown so quickly internationally. I thank him for his belief in me and for nominating me for the role of President for WMC-Canada from the very start. I also congratulate him on his promotion to Global Chief Operations Officer and have no doubt we will see WMC grow even larger in size globally with his guidance.”

In an exciting re-shuffle of the WMC-A executive roles, Mr Goran Kotev has also stepped down from the role of Branch President for Vic. S.A. & Tas. siting a desire to have youthful renewal, fresh ideas and energy flow through all of the National branches and committees.

Nominations for President from both branches were lodged and voted on by the corresponding committees and the new Branch Presidents were elected unopposed. Mr Stephen Karanfilovski was elected Branch President for NSW/ACT and Mr Aleksandar Ilievski was elected Branch President for VIC/SA/TAS.

Both men have an uncompromising and burning desire to advance the Macedonian cause in whatever way they can and have been instrumental in WMC-A’s growth and success to date. Mr Karanfilovski was previously NSW/ACT Vice President while Mr Ilievski transitions from the VIC/SA/TAS Treasurers role.

Please join us in welcoming Aleksandar Ilievski and Stephen Karanfilovski to their new executive roles and in congratulating them on their appointments.