Areas of expertise

Biographical Statement

Lachezar Tsotsorkov is Executive Director of Assarel-Medet JSC, the largest and fundamental company in the municipality of Panagyurishte and the district of Pazardzhik. He has been awarded with the highest insignia of honor – Stara Planina – First Grade Medal as well as Manager of the Year 2009 Prize. He is an honorary citizen of the town of Panagyurishte and town of Strelcha and sponsor of numerous significant projects and charity causes in the municipality and the country. As a culture benefactor he has been honored with the Zlaten Vek Prize by the Ministry of Culture.

In 1998, together with his colleagues from the company, he founded the investment company Assarel-Invest JSC in which later the majority share was acquired by the Austrian company Voest Alpine Intertrading (VAIT) through its affiliate VA Copper Invest. After the first privatization in the mining industry in 1999, the company fulfilled ahead of schedule all its obligations as per the privatization agreement without using any privileges stipulated by law for the so called workers-managers companies. In 1999 Lachezar Tsotsorkov became Executive Director and a member of the Board of Directors of Assarel-Medet JSC. Under his management the company has been successfully restructured and modernized applying the best European and world practices in technologies, environment protection and corporate social responsibility. Today, the company is among the leading industrial enterprises in the country and a leader in the Bulgarian ore mining with sustainable, environmentally friendly and occupationally safe operations.

Social Activity
In 1991 Lachezar Tsotsotkov was among the founders of the Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology and so far he has constantly been re-elected for its chairman. Since 1992 he has been involved in the activities of the Managing Council of the Bulgarian Industrial Association and the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Club. He is among the constitutors and the first chairman of the Srednogorie Med Industrial Cluster, town of Pirdop, and the Alliance of Entrepreneurs, town of Panagyurishte. Panagyurishte. Since 2000, he has been a member of Rotary Club -Panagyurishte. As an Executive Director of Assarel-Medet JSC and chairman of the Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology, he is actively involved in the activities of Euromine, European Business Congress, UN Global Compact in Bulgaria, and a number of other business associations and non-governmental organizations. In 2009 he published his autobiographical book entitled 60 Moments of My Life. He was the initiator for the establishment of Reform Union Club in 2010 and he was elected as its first chairman.

Scientific Activity
Lachezar Tsotsorkov is a member of the International Organizing Committee of the World Mining Congress, Warsaw. He has been participating in the Management Councils of the Scientific and Technical Union in Mining, Geology and Metallurgy and the Bulgarian National Mining Committee since 1994. He also published a book on company management and defended a doctoral thesis on topic Foundations of Corporate Culture in Mining and Processing Complexes to the Higher Attestation Committee in 2000. He is an actual member of the International Academy of Mineral Resources, Moscow and the International Academy of Environment and Labor Safety, St. Petersburg, foreign member of the Russian Mining Academy, Moscow and the Carl Duisberg International Foundation, Köln, Germany. He has a lot of publications in Bulgarian and foreign scientific and technical issues, as well as registered patents and rationalizations.

Publications