When Zeljko Bogetic came to UConn in 1985 from Montenegro in the former Yugoslavia, he planned to get his master’s degree in economics in just 10 months, the amount of time covered by his Fulbright Scholarship.

But coming to UConn “turned out to be a fantastic decision,” he says, and he stayed to earn a Ph.D. in economics in 1990 and to publish his dissertation on the Yugoslavian economy.

Today, Bogetic is the lead economist for Russia at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. He went to work at the World Bank directly from UConn as part of its Young Professionals program, an elite group of 25 to 30 people recruited each year from around the world.

Being an economist has offered him opportunities to work globally and to tackle real world policy issues, Bogetic says.

His earlier assignment at the World Bank was to South Africa, “another fascinating country,” he says, with its vast territory, resources, infrastructure, and internal ethnic tension.

He lives in Moscow now, traveling to D.C. for meetings. Since the world economic crisis hit, demand is high for analyses of Russia’s economy and public administration, areas that his section studies.

“We’re just now living in a very intensive period,” he says.

Bogetic’s duties vary from running an advisory program with the Russian government to analyzing the effects of different oil price scenarios to briefing economic journalists and foreign investors and speaking at forums around the world.

He collaborates closely with the Russians, but his section also has a wide international audience for its reports.

“There is a big demand for arms-length analysis of the Russian economy,” he says.

Bogetic credits the influence of his Ph.D. adviser, Professor Dennis Heffley, with helping him mature as an economist, and the economics department with providing a strong grounding in fundamentals.

“I was as ready as anyone else in my class at the World Bank,” he says.

“In more ways than one, I owe that to UConn,” he says. “I’m very much of a Husky.”