Dan Roman (businessman)

Dan Roman
Occupation(s)	Entrepreneur, investor and IT professional

Dan Roman is an IT professional, entrepreneur, executive and investor with a focus on Central European markets, the Western Balkans, and the Black Sea Region.

Throughout his professional career, he has successfully led and inspired teams from diverse cultural backgrounds, transforming them into high-performing entities. Roman has been and continues to be a proponent of efficient, agile management, consistently aligned with modern technological advancements.

He is keenly focused on the evolution of cutting-edge technologies and their implications for society and the business environment.

He holds a PhD in Computer Science (1981) and graduated from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania (1973).

After completing his studies, Roman worked as a Researcher, Manager of the Research Laboratory (1973-1983), and Director of Software Engineering (1984-1989) at the Research Institute for Computers in Romania (ITC), where he led the research and development of critical software components, including operating systems, compilers, languages, and application software.

He was one of the first IT professionals in Romania to introduce Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Graphics as fields of Research & Development. He also organized the development of application software in this direction, culminating in exporting these software packages to technologically advanced countries. In 1984, Roman established an AI and Speech Recognition Tech Lab at ITC with experts and professors from the University Politehnica of Bucharest.

In addition to coordinating software engineering activities at the institute's branches in Cluj and Timisoara, Roman expanded its geographic coverage by establishing new branches (true software houses) in the university centers of Iași, Suceava, Satu Mare, Deva, Brașov, and Craiova. These branches later became either affiliates of the Romanian Academy or independent companies.

In 1989, following the end of the communist era in Romania, he pioneered the establishment of one of the first private IT companies, Romanian Business Systems (RBS), which became an IBM Alliance Company and the local market leader.

He managed RBS as CEO and owner until 1995, when he sold the company to IBM. After more than ten years of IBM's absence in Romania, Roman became the first Country General Manager of IBM Romania.

In 1996, he was appointed Director of Operations for Non-subsidiary Countries of IBM CER in Vienna. In this position, he managed the IBM partner network of local services and market companies in a multicultural environment and laid the groundwork for establishing the local IBM subsidiaries.

In 2000, he founded his own company in Austria, eNet Data GmbH, which was acquired in 2002 by S&T, an Austrian IT publicly listed company.

Roman worked with S&T as Senior Vice President & General Manager - Region South until 2011.

He transformed S&T Romania into a successful regional solution & professional services provider, a technological hub for all S&T subsidiaries in the SEE area: Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Malta, and Cyprus.

In addition to fast organic growth, Roman actively promoted and implemented strategic M&A projects in these countries. S&T (today named Kontron) has become a major player in the South-Eastern European IT market.

Starting in 2011, Roman joined Kapsch BusinessCom, an Austrian privately-owned company, for a new entrepreneurial project: Build Kapsch Romania.

In a few years, Kapsch Romania became a recognized ICT professional complex solutions provider for the local IT market and a valuable contributor to the success of the international projects of the Kapsch Group.

In 2015, Roman became Senior Executive for International Business Development for Kapsch BusinessCom group, which is today named CANCOM.

Diplomatic and Service Activity

Between 1994 – 1998 Roman served as Honorary Consul of the Republic of Cyprus in Romania. He also served as a diplomat [of diplomatic missions of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta|Diplomatic Mission of the Sovereign Order of Malta] in Romania between 2005 – 2014 acting as Conseiller and Secretary. Roman is member and Past President of Rotary Club “Bucharest Old Court” District 2241

Awards

In 1996, Roman received IBM EMEA Business Leadership Award. In 2003 Roman has awarded with the Order [of the Star of Romania with the rank of Knight] for the entire scientific and research activity, for the special contribution to the development and promotion of information and communication technology in Romania. He also was granted awards from various media groups such as IDG - International Data Group Excellence Award (2001), Bucharest Business Week “Austrian Awards for Excellence” 2008, Club IT&C “Best in IT – IT Industry Pioneer” 2009. In 2008 he received Order Pro Merito Melitensi Crucem - awarded to recipients who have brought honour to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, promoted Christian values and for charity, and in 2011 he was awarded with [Pro Merito Melitensi Crucem Officialis].