Nancy Bolt is the Colorado State Librarian. Bolt has now made 17 trips to Bulgaria, 14 of them leading tours. She has worked with the Colorado Association of Libraries and the Bulgarian Library Association to establish 15 partnerships between Colorado and Bulgarian libraries.

Iskra Mahailova holds a Master’s Degree in Library Science from the University of Moscow. While at the Bulgarian National Library, she spent four months at the Colorado State Library. She has served as head of information for the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, a Senior Expert for the European Union, and is currently Executive Director of the Tolerance Association. Iskra will be the primary translator and tour leader.

Alexander Palichev holds a Doctor of Science in Management of Cultural Institutions. From 1971 to 1997 he worked at the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture in the field of historical and cultural monuments. It is because of Alex that we are able to receive special tours of historical and cultural monuments not open to other tours.

Bob Hofmann is a retired businessman. He spent 30 years working for General Electric in engineering, marketing and sales. Bob sings in a men’s quartet and two choirs. Bob will help lead the choir tour, and looks forward to helping make the Goodwill Singers of Colorado’s Encore Tour a memorable experience for all who attend.

The tour organizers formed Balkan Connections in 2000 as a natural outgrowth of the years of organizing Bulgarian tours. Our broad mission is to facilitate and support cultural exchanges between Eastern European and North American people. BCI is a member of The American Society of Travel Agents.