Over 30 years of broad experience across
- a wide set of industries including telecom, media, technology, financial services, transportation, retail, food and hospitality and real estate
- a dozen geographical markets including Poland, CEE, Rusia, Ukraine, Western Europe, USA, Middle East and China
- all company segments including startups, SMEs, public sector entities, private and listed large corporates and multinationals
- covering full spectrum of roles including entrepreneur, investor, owner, chief executive, transaction advisor and management consultant
- and across all key business functions: strategy, growth and business building, operations, organization, sales and marketing, manufacturing, service delivery, HR, finance and M&A
- built on distinctive education and supported by broad language fluency
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2015 – GRUPA PRACUJ SP. Z O.O./ GRUPA PRACUJ SA Independent Supervisory Board Member
2013 – VERTIGO INVESTMENTS
Founding Partner, Advisor/ Investor
- Transaction advisory and investment boutique
- Serving primarily Private Equity funds and Polish privately held industrial and service groups on both buy and sell side
- Investing own and investors' funds, focusing on majority stakes in B2B and B2C service SMEs, including restructuring cases
2010 – TERRA GROUP
Founding Partner, Investor/ Entrepreneur
- Private investment vehicle
- Focusing on B2C service companies, primarily in food and hospitality, as well as urban and suburban real estate
2011 – 2013 CERSANIT SA/ ROVESE SA
Chief Executive Officer/ President of the Management Board
- Publicly listed Polish tiles, sanitary ceramics and bathroom equipment manufacturer with 7000 employees and 10 factories across CEE (Poland, Germany, Romania, Russia, Ukraine)
- Led holistic growth and restructuring program, including M&A/ GPW capital increase
2009 – 2011 METROPOLITAN CAPITAL SOLUTIONS Founding Partner, Advisor
- Transaction advisory and management consultancy
- Served leading Private Equity funds, Polish blue chips, mid-size firms and entrepreneurs
- Completed several buy-side. sell-side and financing mandates as well as efforts focused on strategy development and restructuring
- Focused on FMCG, financial services, telecoms, media and technology
1993 – 2008 MCKINSEY & COMPANY Partner (2002-2008) Analyst, Associate, Engagement Manager, Associate Principal (1993-2002)
- Preeminent global management consultancy
- Joined at inception and played important role in establishing Polish Practice and assuring positive economics, second most senior Polish Partner at departure
- Was responsible for project origination and billing of some EUR 7M p.a., leading most Polish Corporate Finance work and introducing half of new clients during last year
- Originated some 100 projects over last five years, with substantial repeat business
- Nurtured multi-year client relationships with leading Polish corporates, including in particular in telecom, banking, retail, consumer goods and transportation
- Led projects spanning full consulting spectrum including a.o. strategy, M&A, privatization, post-merger management, restructuring, organization, marketing & sales and business building
- Advised Polish state-owned incumbents, private companies and multinationals
- Worked across CEE, including in particular Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Hungary
- Spent one year in New York, led Firm's expansion to Saudi Arabia, additionally completed efforts in Germany, UK and China
- Notable efforts included leading:
- o Multi-year restructuring and reorganization for leading Polish telecom player, resulting in a.o. cost base reduction of EUR 500M
- o Creation of product portfolio and new channels for leading mobile operator, contributing to market share increase of 50%
- o One of largest Polish IPOs at the time
- o Largest Polish retail merger at the time
- o Warsaw Stock Exchange privatization consortium
- o Dominant transportation company privatization work
- o Due diligence for several international Private Equity funds
- o Market entry for leading international insurer
- o Greenfield retail bank entries in Poland and Russia
- o Multi-year restructuring and business building for leading Polish bank
- o Turnaround efforts for several Polish and international corporates
- o Growth strategy and new organization for leading Polish retailer, creating the basis for successful IPO and share appreciation
- Held responsibility for office wide recruiting and staffing for several years, personally recruited majority of consultants, was formal or informal mentor to most
- Led structured training programs for consultants in Poland, USA, Austria and Singapore
1992 – 1993 MACRO PJG MARKET RESEARCH Project Manager
- American consumer goods market research company
- Managed accounts of Fortune 100 FMCG companies with regard to qualitative and quantitative consumer research in Poland, Russia and Hungary
EDUCATION
| 1995 |
INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France |
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MBA with distinction, in top 10% of class, among 5% youngest in class |
| 1988 - 1993 |
WARSAW SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, Warsaw, Poland |
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MSc in Economics with distinction, in top 1% of class, international internships |
| 1990 |
CITY UNIVERSITY, London, UK |
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Business and Finance studies with EU scholarship |
COURSES
| 1993 – 2008 |
MCKINSEY & COMPANY |
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Full set of structured classroom-based courses covering all stages of career path |
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LANGUAGES
| English, German |
Fluent |
| French |
Working knowledge |
| Spanish, Russian |
Conversational knowledge |
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PRO BONO a.o. over time Advisor to Academy for the Development of Philanthropy in Poland, Member of the Polish Institute of Directors, Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Board of The British School Warsaw