Speakers

Krzysztof Bachta has nearly 20 years of experience in the financial sector. Currently, he is a managing partner in the 4growth VC fund specializing in the areas of fintech and insurtech. Until May 2020, he was the President of the Management Board of Alior Bank. Together with the management team, he carried out significant changes including the transformation of the bank’s business model and acceleration in the area of digitization. Before joining Alior Bank, in the years 2010-2018 he worked at PZU as Managing Director for Strategy and Development, where he was responsible for the areas of strategy, projects, innovation, mergers and acquisitions and for cooperation with banks from the PZU Group. In the years 2006-2010 he worked at The Boston Consulting Group as a consultant specializing in the banking sector. He is a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics and the Faculty of Law of the University of Warsaw. He also completed the AMP IESE Business School program and the CEMS Master in International Management program at the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.

New technologies passionate. From 2003 to 2010 cooperated with Ergo Hestia Group where he was responsible for the Internet area. Innovated and implemented the first in Poland virtual AI assistant Hubert, who communicated with the voice of text-to-speech technology Ivona (nowadays Ivona is known as Amazon’s Alexa).  In 2008 co-created and implemented the first in Poland Insurance eAccount for customers. In 2012 developed the prototype of innovative sales path, which later originated in creating modern sales platform by the leading insurance company in Poland. In 2013, together with Paweł Gabriel, established Polskie Polisy limited company. Since 2016 they have been perfecting iBooster: insurance accelerator. iBooster has gained recognition and is used on everyday basis by Polish biggest and leading multiagencies.
Married, father of four extraordinary sons.

Witold Jurasz, journalist at Onet.pl where he publishes articles and runs a podcast covering foreign and security policy.
Author of books about Russia and V. Putin (“Demons of Russia”) and Belarus and A. Lukashenko (“The Demon Next Door”). Co-author, together with prof. H. Grala, of a book about the Kremlin power elite (“Putin’s Pack”).
Former employee of the Polish MoD’s NATO Security Investment Programme Bureau, 1st secretary at the Political Section of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Moscow, later chargé d’affaires of the Republic of Poland in Belarus. He has also worked as a Business Development Director in a private arms trading company and was the host of a TV talk-show at Polsat News 2, where he conducted over 700 interviews.

Education:

1995-2000 Economics at the University of Gdańsk
2005-2006 Legal and Managerial at the University of Technology in Gdańsk
2014-2015 Psychology of Leadership in Organizations at the University of Gdańsk

Work experience:

Since 1997 she has been associated with the insurance market.
Since 2000 she gained experience in an insurance company cooperating with the Polish SKOK market.
She worked in various positions in the sales and training department.
In 2011 she completed a project to implement new insurance distribution channels on the SKOK market.
Since 2017 she is an IT director in SALTUS Insurance, which provides a product offer for the SKOK market.

Personal/Interests:
She is a mother to 2 children: Dominik- 16 years old and Mary -8 years old.

For 8 years Marcin has been associated with the PZU Group, where he started with project coordination within the Strategy and Project Office, and for 4 years he has been managing the works of the Innovation Lab. Responsible for establishing the Lab and developing the PZU Group Innovation Strategy. His team works with the best startups in Poland and in the world, supporting PZU’s business units in testing and implementing technological innovations. Annually, the Innovation Lab analyzes about 1,000 ideas and startups, of which it implements 8-12 pilot projects mainly in the areas of artificial intelligence, big data, digitization and new interactions with the client. Examples of innovations include solutions such as PZU GO, PZU Cash, Life Band or artificial intelligence for image recognition when handling motor claims. Marcin is a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics and the Cracow University of Economics, and privately passionate about music, sport and Italian espresso.

Joanna is a senior IT leader, having 20 years of experience in financial sector and consulting. She started her career in IT consulting at Deloitte. Then she gained experience within Nordea and PKO BP Groups, managing operations and strategic transformations. Within the structures of BNP Paribas Bank Polska, Joanna leads IT strategy & transformation. She focuses on scaling technology to increase operational efficiency and digital resiliency.
Joanna graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Warsaw, she is also alumni of Advanced Management Program at IESE Business School. Joanna was recognized as Strong Women in IT 2023.

Marcin is a Managing Director at S&P Global Ratings since 2014, executing across three senior commercial roles:
– Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Relationship Management: leading a regional team managing entire EMEA existing client book & relationships across all business segments: corporates, financial institutions, sovereigns & public sector and also running the infrastructure and project finance business.
– Regional Head for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): driving the franchise, strategy and management of the ratings business across the region.
– General Manager for Poland, running day-to-day operations of the Warsaw office.
In parallel is a member of the Supervisory Board of MCI Capital S.A., Chairman of the Program Board for the Fintech Digital CEE Congress, Member of the Board of Directors at the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland (AmCham) and the Leslaw A. Paga Foundation. Before joining S&P was an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Corporate and Investment Bank in London, where he covered Russia, CIS, CEE, and Israel for Markets and Investor Services. He was also the Deputy General Manager for J.P. Morgan CIB in Poland. Prior to 2007 spent five years with Citi Corporate and Investment Banking, operating in Poland and CEE.

Prof. Krzysztof Piech is an experienced economist and one of Poland’s foremost experts in blockchain technology and innovation. A professor at Lazarski University, where he directs the Blockchain Technology Center, he combines academic insight with business practice, specializing in macroeconomic forecasting and strategic consulting. As the author and editor of over 30 scientific books and hundreds of articles, he notably predicted economic crises in 2000 and 2008. He also advises blockchain startups and mentors in new technologies. Currently, he is collaborating with leading experts on an blockchain trilogy.

Mr Wojciech Rybak graduated from economics in the University of Szczecin (1993) and Tempus – Portassist Programme of the University of Antwerp (1992).

Since the beginning of his professional career in 1996 he has been linked with banking, initially as a Branch Director, andas Director in the Customer Relationship Centre at the Bank’s HQ. From August 2003, he was a Member of the Management Board of Millennium Leasing Sp. z o.o. and from 2009 until June 2016 – Chairman of the Management Board of Millennium Leasing Sp. z o. o. In 2011-2016 a member of the Executive Committee of the Polish Leasing Association, including its Chairman in 2015-2016.
Since June 2016 Member of the Management Board of Bank Millennium S.A.. and during the merger with Bank Millennium Sp. z o. o., a Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Euro Bank S.A.

[Startup community leader]

Co-founder and CEO of the Startup Hub Poland Foundation (SHP, 2012), which advocates innovative Central Eastern European high-tech talents in starting up a global/inter-local venture in Poland. An activist of the high-tech startup industry supporting pioneers of innovation in finding investment and scaling up their solutions and the RoI potencial. IP transfer specialist and RnD commercialisation expert. In SHP Maciej searches for best early-stagers from all hard-tech and IP-based sectors from 18 countries of the CEE region. For best teams his Non-Profit prepares a soft landing program, non-equ grants to €50k and exclusive VC/industry bootcamps.

[Fund Managing Partner / Investor]

In 2013 a due diligence analyst in a Israeli-Polish VC, Giza Polish Ventures. Later an investment manager and Managing Partner in two seed-VC (StartVenture@Poland, StarFinder VC). Maciej worked on ~60 investment processes, invested in 29 hard tech startups. 24 out of it have raised the next round of financing, from which 10 attracted to Poland additional foraign investment capital. 3 companies IPOed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, 3 received a profitable exits.

[Education]

Maciek holds two MA Degrees from the University of Warsaw (Philosophy, Political Sciences/European Studies). Scholar exhibitioner at the Universität Salzburg. In 2009-15 a PhD applicant in political philosophy (human dignity concepts in contemporary political doctrines). Academic teacher i.e. at the University of Warsaw where he lectured i.e. logic, analytic philosophy, and Eastern-Europe regional policy.

[Expert]

Maciek was an expert in entities like the National Center for Research and Development, Polish Chamber of Commerce (member of the Committee on New Technologies and Innovations since 2015, Chairman of this committee since 2018), the National Development Council to the President of Poland (Science and Innovation team, 2015-2020). In 2015 listed by Google and the Financial Times among NewEurope100 international high-tech leaders. In 2019 among top 30 Polish startup community philars. Alumni of the International Visitor Leadership Program by the US Department of State (innovation/technology transfer, Washington DC 2018).

Maciek have been hosted as a keynote speakers in startup and VC conferences i.e. in Atlanta, Kiev, Paris, Budapest, Gdańsk, Rome, Bratislava, London, Tbilisi, Baku, Hannover, Yerevan, Monaco, Riga, Berlin, Minsk and Los Angeles.

Manager and innovator with several years of experience in the insurance and financial industries. He created insurance premium financing market in Poland. Prior to founding Bacca Cezary worked as management consultant for the biggest financial institutions in Poland and in the CEE.

As a seasoned Marketing Manager with over 5 years of experience in the blockchain and web3 space, Piotr specializes in building meaningful connections between brands and their communities. His journey began in luxury retail, working with prestigious brands like Cartier, Montblanc, and Boucheron. Moving from direct sales to digital marketing, he has developed expertise in social media management, community building, and cryptocurrency-focused content creation across platforms like Telegram and Discord. Drawing from his unique background in luxury sales and blockchain technology, he excels at fostering authentic community relationships in the web3 space.

Manager with over twenty years of experience in implementing projects in the field of IT, business and finance. For several years associated with the banking sector. At PKO Bank Polski, he manages the Technology Innovation Team, which focuses mainly on finding and implementing innovative IT solutions. At the bank, he worked on such initiatives as: the IKO mobile banking application, banking for children – PKO Junior, tests of technological innovations in branches – Laboratory Branches, cooperation with startups – Let’s Fintech. He supported the development of artificial intelligence, biometrics and cloud computing technologies. Currently, he leads the development of tokenization and smart contracts based on blockchain technology and the use of AI in predictive models. As part of the implemented innovations he cooperates also with renowned universities.

Jan Zimowicz – member of the Management Board of Aegon Life responsible for sales, marketing and
products. He has been working for the Aegon Group since July 2016. Previously he worked at
Nationale-Nederlanden as a Marketing Director and member of the Management Board and at
Oracle, as Strategy and Insight Program Director for EMEA region. He was also employed at Credit
Agricole Bank Poland and Accenture. Jan Zimowicz is a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics,
Warsaw University of Technology. He earned an Executive MBA degree from the Warsaw University
of Technology in cooperation with the London Business School, HEC Paris and the Norwegian School
of Economics.