Maria Jicheva serves as a faculty member for The Exetor Group and is an intercultural communication and management specialist with a background in business, languages and learning. In addition to English, she is also fluent in Finnish and Russian and is conversant in French. Maria has extensive experience in living and working in various cultures through diplomatic postings and business experience in Central and Western Europe.  She combines her international business and teaching background with Myers Briggs training to coach individuals and teams with cross-cultural communication, motivation and conflict resolution issues. 

She is the President of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research (SIETAR) Europa, the European professional organisation of interculturalists with branches in most of the European countries. She has presented at their international conferences and congresses, most recently in the US, the UK, Norway, Berlin, Nice and Beijing.  Additionally, she has published articles on intercultural communication and cross-cultural adaptation. She had been involved in the development of Argonautonline™, a web-based cultural resource and assessment tool.

Maria’s professional training includes:

• MA and BA degrees from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria
• MBA from The American International University in London
• Diploma in Inter-Cultural Management at the University of Cambridge

She continues teaching university courses in intercultural management in London.
Maria brings many years of hands-on experience helping individuals and groups implement solutions to leadership development challenges.