Cristina-Ana Iliescu

I have a formal educational foundation in engineering and over a decade of professional experience in sustainable local development and project management.

My 27 years long professional journey has afforded me the opportunity to work with a diverse range of organizations, from corporations to NGOs, in several departments. After a more than 10 years in Customer Service for different company types (from retail to IT), I first came into contact with the NGO sector in 2010, working as a Program Manager for an association dealing with prevention of school abandonment.

After a brief 2 year period working for a tourism consultancy small company, I went back to the corporate world, working as a Planning Expert for a leading car manufacturer.

After the birth of my son, my priorities became more alingned with the NGO world, when I embarked on a life-changing journey as part of the team developing what was to become the Colinele Transilvaniei / Transylvanian Highlands ecotourism destination. I am organically linked to Transylvanian Highlands, as I am born in Sighisoara. With experience in sustainable development and project management, I have been a part of the Transylvanian Hihglands Team from the beginning, as a responsible strategy and partnerships (2015 - 2019). With tens of thousands of miles traveled back and forth inside the destination, I know it in detail, at grassroot level. I strongly believe in the potential of this area and especially in the communities and local actors. Particularly when they work together.

"The people of Transylvanian Highlands are the main asset of the destination and one must definitely come and get to know them!"

This initiative began in 2012, when several local partners involved in a joint project, recognized the ecotouristic value of the area through a brand called "Colinele Transilvaniei / Transylvanian Highlands" for the area that overlapped the protected areas Sighişoara Târnava Mare and Podișul Hârtibaciului. The destination covers an area of approximately 260,000 hectares. More than 100,000 inhabitants live in 44 communes and towns in this area.

​The Colinele Transilvaniei / Transylvanian Highlands vision is for a future where ecotourism helps maintaining this picture  and, at the same time, allowing communities to develop. Thus, in 2015, a Destination Management Unit was created as a bridge between all those who are directly or indirectly involved in tourism in the region.

Colinele Transilvaniei / Transylvanian Highlands is a common initiative of 11 partners who value this particular area through the projects they implement and through the support they offer for community development.