Slobodan Ristelic
“Every team depends on another—if sales don’t sell, operations have nothing to deliver. If operations don’t deliver on time, sales face challenges. It
Who is NL-ix?
Behind the world of the Internet, behind the world of fibers, protocols, peers, and terabytes, are actual people making it all work. But who are these people? In other words: Who is NL-ix?
Today: 🤝 Slobodan Ristelic, Business Development Manager
If you're planning a summer vacation, Slobodan has a suggestion: visit Kotor, a picturesque harbor town nestled in the heart of Montenegro. It's more than just a travel recommendation – it's where his story begins, before a twist of fate and history brought him to the Netherlands.
At 35, Slobodan now calls Heerenveen home, where he lives with his partner and their three-year-old son. But his journey there wasn't straightforward. In 1990, his father left Montenegro for the Netherlands, initially just to pursue music. Then history intervened – war broke out in former Yugoslavia, borders slammed shut, and what was meant to be a temporary separation stretched into years. Finally, in 1997, eight-year-old Slobodan and his mother made the journey to Heerenveen, reuniting their family and beginning a new chapter.
Slobodan's earliest Internet memory was a dial-up connection that only came alive after 8 PM, (cheaper rates) complete with the nostalgic symphony of modem sounds. Back then, downloading a single Napster song felt like it took years—and you never knew if you were getting a hit track or a hit virus. Living on the edge, right?
Family Internet time was another adventure. Every session required negotiation since being online meant the phone line was off-limits. Looking back, it's hilarious how something so basic now felt like pure magic then.
Today, Slobodan's path might seem inevitable as Business Development Manager at NL-ix, where he's spent the last fifteen months driving new business development across an expanding territory. But his career journey took some unexpected turns. His initial studies were as maritime engineer, a choice influenced by the will to move back to Montenegro, where nearly 70% of men work in the maritime industry.
“Every team depends on another—if sales don’t sell, operations have nothing to deliver. If operations don’t deliver on time, sales face challenges. It’s all about maintaining the right balance.”
Slobodan Ristelic
But fate had other plans. Graduating into an economic crisis that had frozen maritime hiring, Slobodan found himself pivoting to sales – and discovered a passion that would shape his career. His professional journey began in 2015 after his studies when he started working for VodafoneZiggo as an account manager new build. Back then, he never thought he would stay in Telecom sales, but Slobodan always enjoyed talking to people and understanding what drives them and the choices they make.
After a nine-year tenure at Vodafone Ziggo, Slobodan started contemplating his next move. He wasn't quite done with Telecom, but he was ready for a change. So when a LinkedIn message about NL-ix appeared in his inbox, he saw an opportunity to combine his commercial expertise with a new technical challenge.
The transition brought him into a more technical world, but that's exactly what makes it exciting. His role at NL-ix is diverse – analyzing market trends, building relationships with clients and stakeholders, and collaborating with marketing, product, and provisioning teams to ensure they're delivering real value to customers.
Currently, Slobodan is spearheading one of NL-ix's expansions – establishing their presence in Dublin and London. It's a project that perfectly showcases the company's growth mindset,
For Slobodan, what sets the NL-ix team apart from others is its diversity in every sense. It’s a team of distinct personalities, each with unique backgrounds and interests, all driven by a common mission: to make NL-ix the top business Internet Exchange in Europe.
