Leaders in Tech ended the third edition of its mentoring program with a record participation: 77 mentors and more than 130 mentees from 4 cities actively participated in the sessions

Leaders in Tech, the NGO that supports the training of leaders in the Romanian and regional tech industry, announces the completion of the third edition of its mentoring program, which also marked its expansion into four cities: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi and Chisinau.

The four events were attended by 77 mentors who brought in front of the participants the experience built at the largest companies active in Romania. Among them were executives such as: Nicolae Vîlceanu – Chief Network Officer at Vodafone Romania, Raluca Rusu – CEO at R Systems Europe, Cris Radu – VP of Engineering at Adobe Romania, Ciprian Răzvan Hodorogea – Head of Compliance & Safety Services at Amazon, Georgiana Olaru – Country Leader at Wiley Romania, Alina Iacob – Managing Director at Yonder, Daniel Tudose – Country Manager at Ericsson Romania, Adrian Voicu – Executive Director IT Core at Raiffeisen Bank Romania, Laurent Font – Managing Director at Orange Innovation Center, Ian Tidder – CEO at Euro IT Group, Dragoș Bărbulescu – VP of Technology at Sameday Courier and Dragoș Stoica-Country Manager at Brillio Romania.

The third edition of the mentoring program carried out by Leaders in Tech took place between May and July 2026. During the 3 months, the more than 130 participants had the opportunity to work 1-on-1 with top executives, managers, founders and technical experts in the IT&C industry. The program was completely free for mentors and was structured on 5 main directions/modules: Tech Experts, First Time Managers, Experienced Managers, Executives and Founders.

More Than 1-on-1 Mentoring: A Comprehensive Approach to Leadership Development

The third edition reinforced a distinctive philosophy of the program: 1-to-1 mentoring is the core, but it is complemented by a collective learning component, built around the real needs identified by mentors and mentees during the meetings. Where private conversations brought recurring themes to the surface, Leaders in Tech turned these themes into workshops / practical workshops dedicated to the community.

A concrete example comes from First Time Managers, where individual mentoring sessions have repeatedly revealed the challenges faced by managers at the beginning of their journey: how to effectively communicate different personality traits, how to build trust in the team and, above all, how to manage difficult conversations with employees who are going through personal difficulties, with more experienced colleagues who challenge authority or with situations that involve unfair treatment at work.

Responding to these needs, the organizers implemented a series of practical workshops, held every two weeks, with external facilitators, including sessions dedicated to communication styles and difficult role-playing conversations. Each workshop resulted in guides and collections of scenarios that participants can use as reference materials in their daily work.

The adoption of AI, the link between technical decisions and business impact, influence without formal authority, organizational transformation, clarity on strategy and its translation into concrete steps were some of the topics addressed during the 1:1 mentoring meetings.

“The role of the tech leader is changing, especially in an AI-accelerated context. It’s no longer just about leading teams, but about leading the transformation, influencing beyond formal authority, and becoming a real thinking partner for the business. Mentoring creates that space where leaders can put their real challenges on the table, test their thinking, and make better decisions.” – Veronica Ruxanda, Engineering Director, Program Lead and Executive Board Member, Leaders in Tech.

Mentors selected for career and vocation to share their experience with the community

The 77 mentors of Edition 3 were not selected solely on the basis of position or professional experience. Leaders in Tech applies a selection process that assesses both the career path and genuine interest in developing the next generation of tech leaders. A LiT mentor is someone who has built something valuable in the industry and who chooses to invest time and energy to accelerate someone else’s path.

A very special signal of the maturity that the program has reached comes from within its community: several mentors from previous editions have joined Edition 3 as mentors. Former beneficiaries of the program, who have continued their own development and gained experience, have chosen to come back and offer what they themselves have received. This dynamic of giving back to community confirms that Leaders in Tech is a living ecosystem, in which knowledge and experience circulate naturally between generations of tech professionals.

Organic evolution of the program

Launched in 2024, the program demonstrated an acute need for applied learning and peer-to-peer support in the tech industry:

● Edition 1 (2024): 13 mentors · 27 mentees · 1 module · Bucharest

● Edition 2 (2025): 25 mentors · 43 mentees · 4 modules · Bucharest

● Edition 3 (2026): 77 mentors · 130+ mentees · 5 modules · 4 cities (Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Chisinau)

“We designed the mentoring program to provide an opportunity for leaders in the technology sector to discuss and work on the challenges they face in companies, with colleagues who put their experiences, examples from practice, successes and failures, but the lessons learned from them. The program has grown through open collaboration between managers from several dozen companies and is a great opportunity for real leadership development,

offered voluntarily by everyone involved. ” – Bülent Duagi, Executive Adviser for CEOs in Tech, leader of the first two editions of the Mentoring Program and Co-Founder Leaders in Tech.

Final Event: LiT Mentoring Program #3

To celebrate the journey, the results achieved and the community created, the edition officially ended on July 30, 2026, with a hybrid event held simultaneously in all 4 cities and broadcast live:

● Bucharest: hosted by Amazon at NORD Events Center by Globalworth

● Cluj-Napoca: hosted by Darwin (a Marsh company)

● Chisinau: hosted by Orange at Orange kITchen

● Iasi: hosted by V7 Palas

The event dedicated exclusively to the participants of the program included local networking sessions, retrospectives on each mentoring direction, the inspirational stories behind the relationships built in the last three months and concrete plans for a future edition.

About Leaders in Tech

NGO founded in 2024, with the mission of accelerating the development of leadership in the tech industry in Romania and the region. The community brings together over 500 active leaders at the events, programs and workshops organized.