Draginja Đurić has been at the helm of the Bank since 2001, first as the General Manager, and since 2005 as the President of the Banca Intesa Executive Board. Under her leadership, the Bank became part of an international group, successfully reorganised its operation and harmonised it with the policies and standards of its parent group, as well as international banking principles. At the same time, the Bank expanded its operation and developed new areas with the aim of developing into a universal banking institution, successfully integrated Panonska Banka and assumed the leading position in the domestic banking sector according to all key performance measures. Besides the market success, the Bank’s dynamic growth in the period behind was awarded with a series of foreign and domestic recognitions, such as the Bank of the Year in Serbia award granted eight times by prominent financial magazine The Banker, five Awards for Excellence for the Best Bank in Serbia handed by leading international financial and banking magazine Euromoney, as well as four awards for the Best Bank in Serbia by magazine Global Finance.

Apart from her responsibilities in the Bank, Draginja Đurić is also Deputy President of PBZ Supervisory Board, as well as a member of the Assembly of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Presidency of the Association of Serbian Economists, while also serving as president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce’s banking board. In addition to this, Mrs. Đurić is member of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences’ Council, member of the Association of Corporate Directors of Serbia, as well as the representative of Banca Intesa in the American Chamber of Commerce and the Foreign Investors Council.

She was announced banker of the year in Serbia seven times by renowned foreign finance publications, and she was chosen to take this title tree years in a row by the Ekonomist Media Group as well, which is the most prestigious domestic award in the area of banking. During 2011, she was granted the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy for her dedication to promoting and improving relations between Serbia and Italy, in 2014 The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church awarded her the order of Empress Milica – Venerable Eugenia for selflessly helping the monastery of Studenica, as well as the deserving citizen award by the city of Pančevo, while the Club of Economic Journalists of Serbia announced her the “Banker of the Decade”. On three occasions, magazines Ekonometar and Magazin Biznis handed Draginja Djuric the Planeta Biznis award for her successful leadership of the bank that appropriated the largest amount of funds for CSR programmes in 2011, 2013 and 2014. The Mokra Gora School of Management awarded Draginja Djuric the “Laureate of Virtue“ award for 2016 for her contribution to female leadership in Serbia and the region, while the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the “Media Event” granted her the award ’’Captain Miša Anastasijević“ as a banker of the year. According to polls and analyses of the local media she has been in the company of the most successful and influential business personalities in Serbia several times.

The banking career of Draginja Đurić, which started in 1996, was preceded by thirteen years with the Yugoslav Clearing and Payments Office, the last four years as the General Manager of the Pančevo Branch. Before that she worked in the Pančevo Chemical Industry. Draginja Đurić graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Economics and received her master’s degree from the Faculty of Organisational Sciences. She is married and has two children.