Advisory Board

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.

The PKO Bank Polski Management Board President since October 2009, with appointment for a new term in 2011. Prior to this he was the Pioneer Pekao TFI S.A. Management Board President for nearly nine years. Also, within the global structure of Pioneer Investments he was responsible for the CEE region distribution. In the late 1990s he was, among others, active in establishing PKO/Credit Suisse TFI S.A. investment funds company, in the function of its first Vice-President. In his more than ten-year long career in the financial markets he can be credited, among other things, with:

• Successfully steering PKO Bank Polski through the critical period of turmoil in the international financial markets, while strengthening the Bank’s position of leadership in terms of assets, equity funds and earnings in Poland and the CEE region;
• Development and implementation of the PKO Bank Polski’s strategy for the years 2010-2012, which resulted in strong efficiency gains as measured in terms of ROE, ROA and C/I ratio as well as in increased interest in the company among domestic and international investors (PKO continues to lead the market in terms of the value of its free float and as a major corporate debt issuer )
• Adjustment of PKO Bank Polski to the requirements of the ever more competitive financial market through increased attractiveness of its product offer and quality of its customer service;
• Refocusing of the PKO Bank Polski Group’s operational model toward its core activity of providing financial services.

Zbigniew Jagiełło is actively involved in development and promotion of the most demanding financial market standards in Poland. He is a member of the Council of the Polish Bank Association and of the prestigious Institut International D’Etudes Bancaires, which brings together the international banking community. His previous functions included, among others, that of the Chairman of the Chamber of Fund and Asset Management.
A graduate of the Wrocław Technical University, School of Computer Science and Management, he also completed Postgraduate Management Studies at the Gdańsk Foundation for Management Development and the University of Gdańsk, with Executive MBA certified by the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University.
The President of the Republic of Poland decorated him with the Officer`s Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland and he was awarded the Social Solidarity Medal for promoting the idea of ​​corporate social responsibility. His is the Deputy Chairman of the Programme Council of the PKO Bank Polski Foundation, an entity formed at his initiative in the year 2010.
Chosen the CEO of the Year 2011 by Parkiet daily; the recipient of the Wektor 2011 granted by the Polish Employers’ Chapter and of the Golden Banker in the Personality of the Year 2011 category; he was also lauded the Manager of the Year 2011 in a competition ran by Gazeta Bankowa. In the year 2012, Bloomberg Businessweek Polska singled him out as one of the Top 20 Managers in Crisis.
In 2013 Zbigniew Jagiello was honoured by Bank monthly with the title of “The Innovator of Banking Sector 2012”, and received the title of “Visionary and Man of the Year” from Brief monthly and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily in appreciation of his contribution to financial sector development, his consistency in strengthening Bank`s position of market leadership and determination in changing its image.

Cezary Stypułkowski (born in 1956) – Doctor of Juridical Science. In 1979, graduated with honours from the Faculty of Law of the University of Warsaw.
From 1979, assistant lecturer in the Faculty of Law in the Department of National Economy Management. In 1989, defended his doctoral dissertation in the Faculty of Law.
In 1981, appointed as advisor to the minister in the Bureau of Governmental Representative for Economic Reforms.
In 1985, appointed as advisor to the chairman of the Advisory Economic Council; from 1987 to 1988 worked as advisor to deputy prime minister and as Secretary of the Committee of the Council of Ministers for Economic Reforms.
In late 1980s, studied at Columbia University Business School in New York as a member of the Fulbright Program. From 1991 to 2003, president of the management board of Bank Handlowy in Warsaw. From 2003 to 2006, president of the management board of PZU Group. From 2006 to 2010 employed with J.P. Morgan, investment bank in London, from 2007 as managing director responsible for Central and Eastern Europe. Since 2010, president of the management board of mBank (formerly BRE Bank).
Cezary Stypułkowski was a member of the Deutsche Bank Board International Advisory Board, INSEAD International Advisory Board and the Geneva Association. Since 2012, co-chairman of the Emerging Markets Advisory Council of the Institute of International Finance in Washington (IIF).

Tomasz Czechowicz – a graduate of Wroclaw University of Technology, Warsaw School of Economics and Executive MBA at the University of Minnesota.
Entrepreneur since 1985 . For over 20 years, the investor Venture Capital / Private Equity. Founder and Managing Partner of MCI Capital – one of the leading european private equity funds, specializing in investments in new technology and digitization. In the years 1990-1998 co-founder and President of JTT Computer SA – a leading computer manufacturer in Central Europe with revenues exceeding $ 100 million.
One of laureate the list of ” Top Managers 2015″ by the magazine Bloomberg Businessweek Poland. Speaker at many conferences, PE/VC, including Noah. Member of the Supervisory Boards and advisory bodies of portfolio companies MCI Capital in Europe . Already in 2001 World Economic Forum in Davos awarded Tomasz Czechowicz the title of Global Leader for Tomorrow by extraordinary market timing, professionalism, vision and organizational effectiveness. The title of one of the ten most influential people in the European Internet in the TOP 10 Business Week in 2000.

In 1990-1998 he worked in Pomorski Bank Kredytowy S.A. in Szczecin. He was responsible for the management of the bank`s transaction systems: including designing, development, implementation and operation phases. In 1999-2010, he held the position of the Director of the IT Systems Development and Maintenance Department in Bank Pekao S.A.
From 2005 to 2010 he was the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of KIR. In 2010-2016 he held the position of the Vice-President of the Management Board supervising the Area of Information Technology and Services at PKO Bank Polski S.A. His responsibilities included integration of Inteligo to the bank`s systems, merger and integration of Nordea Bank Polska to PKO Bank Polski S.A.
He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań.

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.

Brunon Bartkiewicz has held positions within ING, both in Poland and the Netherlands, since the 1990’s.
In 1995, Brunon was appointed CEO of Bank Śląski, which position he held until June 2000.
As of then, he was General Manager and Management Board member at ING Direct NV, responsible for credit, market and operational risk, operational and IT support.
He returned to ING Bank Śląski (Poland) as CEO in 2004 and held the position until 2010. At that time he became member of the General Management Team at ING Direct, responsible for activities in Spain, Italy, France, Great Britain and Australia. As of 2012 he was in charge of ING operations in France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Romania and Turkey.
As Chief Innovation Officer at ING Group (since 2014), Brunon Bartkiewicz played a major role in accelerating ING’s pace of innovation, developing and promoting innovative ideas and solutions, applying new technologies and delivering speed-to-market of successful ideas.
In 2016 he returned as CEO of ING Bank Śląski. Brunon Bartkiewicz is a graduate of the Main School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw (currently, Warsaw School of Economics) with a degree in Economics at the Foreign Trade.

Mr. Mariusz Cholewa is a graduate of the University of Gdańsk, the Faculty of Management. In 2005 he obtained his PhD Degree in Economics. He also completed postgraduate studies in Banking and Finance, with the specialisation in Investment Banking, conducted by the London Guidhall University, the Gdańsk Banking Academy and the University of Gdańsk.
In the years 1993 -1998 he cooperated with the Gdańsk Banking Academy, as a Management Board member, participating at the same time in the research on the financial restructuring of enterprises and banks pursued by the Gdańsk Institute of Market Economics. In the years 1995 -2003 he was an associate professor at the Faculty of Management at the University of Gdańsk. In the period of 2007 – 2010 he was the CEO of Bank Rozwoju Cukrownictwa S.A. In 1998 Mariusz Cholewa joined Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A. (Citi Handlowy), where he held a number of managerial positions, and till April 2013 he was the Director of the Strategy Department. He was a member of supervisory boards of many companies for e.g.: banks, investment and insurance companies including public granted companies. In the years 2012 – 2013 he was a member of Biuro Informacji Kredytowej S.A. Supervisory Board.
He has been the President of the BIK Management Board since June 2013. He is also the President of the Supervisory Board of BIG InfoMonitor S.A. – Economic Information Bureau.
Since June 2017 he has been the VicePresident of the Management Board of ACCIS (Association of Consumer Credit Information Suppliers) that represents the largest group of credit registers in the world.

For the last 20 years, Jarosław Dąbrowski has been actively involved in the development of the international financial sector, with particular emphasis on Poland and the CEE Region. During his career, he held many managerial roles, as a member of Management Boards and Supervisory Boards, where he acquired extensive expertise in initiating and developing projects, such as investment banks and Private Equity funds.

Currently, Jarosław Dąbrowski focuses on international transactions initiated in the CEE Region. He combines international capital with Polish business projects from sectors such as financial (in particular banks, insurance), digital economy (e-commerce and fin-tech) and traditional industries (industrial production, development and construction industries).

Among the latest successful closings in which DFCM managed by Jarosław Dąbrowski participated there are: Netrisk.hu, SMEO and Punkta.

Since, 2021, Łukasz Dwulit helds the position of Head of Poland at Klarna. In the past he held the position of Head of Global Expansion, Central Europe and Israel at AliExpress, where he was responsible for the global expansion of the platform and strategic and investment cooperation with international partners. Since February 2020, he is a member of the Israel Chamber of Commerce, where he advises Israeli companies and helps them enter other markets and platforms. Łukasz is a member of the Digital Experts Club, and was included in Forbes Poland “30 before 30” list in 2020. A lawyer by training, he graduated from the University of East Anglia and Duke University School of Law in Durham, USA.

Jacek Figuła, Chief Commercial Officer of Billon, a company that reinvented the Distributed Ledger Technology to manage money, tokens, data, and identity based on its own blockchain layer. Also investor and advisor to cybersecurity companies.
Before, 25+ years’ experience in sales leadership and team leading in global corporations, namely: Cisco, UPC, Nortel, DEC and Siemens. Most recently, at Cisco, Jacek has been leading the services and solution sales teams in CEE.
Holder of MBA at POU – Thames Valley University in London and MSc in Technology at EFP – Franco-Polish Grande Ecole.

Sebastian Geldner
Head of Business Development, Central Eastern Europe, Visa

Responsible for Visa business development in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) with strategic partners and clients. He has been with Visa since April 2012. During this time he has been developing Innovation and Partnerships area, responsible for European strategic partnerships with leading global technology companies, working with the region’s leading banks, mobile operators and major payment ecosystem partners.

He has 20 years of experience in payments and finance, in both retail and corporate banking.

He graduated from Warsaw University of Technology in Electrical & Computer Engineering. He is also a graduate of Executive MBA studies at Warsaw University of Technology Business School.

Zdzisław Grochowicz is the Chief Product Officer of INCAT Ltd. Zdzisław has been involved in the banking and financial sector for almost 30 years. Previously, he worked for Comparex Ltd.; for many years he was also associated with the Sygnity Group S.A. – where he played numerous roles. Zdzisław Grochowicz graduated in Electrical Engineering at the Szczecin University of Technology.

Jarosław Hermann graduated from the Applied Mathematics and Physics Faculty at the Warsaw University of Technology in 1994 and Carlson School of Management MBA program in 2002.
He gained broad IT & Operations practice working on managerial positions in PepsiCo, Pioneer Financial Services and Accenture, where he was conducting mid / large scale projects in banking sector in Poland and CEE countries. Between 2005-2010 he was Member of First Data Poland responsible for providing IT and operational services for card acquiring and financial solutions business lines. Between 2010-2016 he was Board Member of AXA companies in Poland responsible for IT & Operations. From 2016 to 2018 he was Vice President of Polskie ePłatności, emerging card acquirer.
Since 1 August 2018 Member of the Management Board of Bank Millennium S.A. From 3 June 2019 until the day of merger with Bank Millennium S.A. i.e. 1 October 2019, also Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Euro Bank S.A.

Since January 2014 Paweł has been the Director of the Services and Consulting Department and a member of Leadership in the Polish branch of Microsoft. Paweł joined Microsoft almost 5 years ago as FSI Lead in EPG segment. Together with the team he was responsible for serving the largest Polish banks and insurance companies. As a result of his consistent delivery and ability to build sustainable business Paweł was awarded a Platinum Club FY13. Additionally, he proved his seniority and leadership in couple of initiatives e.g. Microsoft Executive Circle or board membership in Banking Technology Forum of the Polish Banking Association. Before joining Microsoft, Paweł spent 15 years on FSI market on business side in Kredyt Bank, Gerling, Zurich Financial Services as Sales & Marketing Director including executive VP/Board Member role in Zurich/Inter. He was responsible for 5 years for sales and marketing in Software AG, leading web Methods division and BPM team and delivered the significant business growth in Poland. During the merger with WebMethods he was responsible for the area of business processes and middle ware.

Dr. Jerzy Kalinowski, partner in KPMG Management Consulting, responsible for Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) sector in Central & Eastern Europe. Head of Digital Innovation and Startups.
Jerzy joined KPMG in 2004, and he specializes in strategic and operational consulting for TMT sector companies. He has delivered consulting projects for telco companies in over 15 countries. Prior to joining KPMG, he worked on C-level positions in various companies: as CEO of AMG.net (currently Atos Polska), CEO of i-start.pl (Venture Capital fund focused on investment into digital startups), and as chairman of supervisory board of Optimus Group (being also the member of supervisory boards of Onet.pl, PAGI, Optimus Lockheed Martin, Optimus real Estate. Earlier, Jerzy was director of strategic consulting in PricewaterhouseCoopers, responsible for telecommunications sector in Poland. He started his professional career as Assistant Professor at the Institute of Telecommunications, Warsaw University of Technology. Jerzy worked also in technology R&D in Poland and USA.
Jerzy holds M. Sc. In Electrical Eng. from University of Rochester (USA), M. Sc. In Telecommunications, and Ph. D. in Computer Eng. both from Warsaw University of Technology, and he completed also Management Development Program at IMD in Lausanne.

Piotr Kicinski has near 20-year-experience on the financial market (Citibank, Fortis, the KBC group). In his career he held managing and administrative positions within areas of risk management, product development and sales management. He joined the Cinkciarz.pl group in 2012. Since 2014, he is a Vice-Chairman of the Board. Cinkciarz.pl is one of the fastest growing companies in East and Central Europe. The services of the leading online currency exchange company can be used by companies and institutions settling with foreign contractors as well as individual clients. Since 2010, the company has been successfully functioning on the fin-tech market. The system of solutions provided by the company is an innovative financial product designed and implemented in its entirety by the team of the most skilled IT specialists employed by the company. The company is a member of the SWIFT organization, which includes the largest banks and financial institutions in the world. Soon the brand will enter the market of new financial services. In April this year, a company from the same capital group as Cinkciarz.pl has acquired a Payment Institution License. On the basis of an agent agreement, Cinkciarz.pl can also use said license. This means that the services of the company will not only include currency exchange, but also money orders and payments. In 2013 Cinkciarz.pl became the first Polish financial company to open an international office in London. In 2015 the company opened a representative office in Chicago, in the prestigious Michigan Avenue. Piotr Kicinski, Vice-Chairman of the Board

Krzysztof Korus, PhD is an attorney-at-law, holder of the professional doctorate degree in the field of law and economic expert. He specia lizes in the area of payment services, new technology law and banking law. From 2015 onwards, he has been annually recommended by Chambers Europe in the Banking & Finance category (“strong experience in banking regulatory matters”, “deep knowledge and long experience”). Pioneer of regulatory advisory for the fintech sector in Poland. He has advised on, among other things, PSD2 and open banking implementation, dozens of proceedings before financial market regulatory bodies in Poland and Europe, M&A transactions in the fintech market, as well as litigation and arbitration between financial institutions. He participated in the work of the most important industry working groups for the financial technology sector, including the API Evaluation Group at the Europe an Commission, the Polish API team, the Working Group for the Development of Financial Innovation (FinTech) at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the “Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies” stream at the Ministry of Administration and Digitization as pa rt of the “From Paper to Digital Poland” program and the working group at the Financial Market Development Council on the implementation of the PSD Directive. He is also a co-author of the reports “Study Impact of the PSD” and “Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law” for the European Commission as well as member of the program board of the monthly magazine “Monitor Prawa Bankowego”. As a member of the European Payments Consulting Association, he has also cooperated with the Polish-German Centre for Banking Law and London Economics. Author of dozens of publications, legal analyses and commentaries as well as a speaker at numerous industry events in Poland, Europe, America and Asia. He is involved in legislative activities at the Polish and EU level.

Entrepreneur with 10 years of experience in the IT industry. The founder of the 150-person programming services company www.binarapps.com. A graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Łódź, programmer. For 7 years in the sale of IT services and products. Fintech and blockchain specialist.

Katarzyna has been working in strategy and innovation for almost 20 years. She has a wide experience in financial industry – prior to Innovatika she was working for National Bank of Poland and for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, investment bank. At Innovatika, she was managing and supporting projects for financial institutions like: BRE, Millennium, ING, Getin, Bank Pocztowy, Generali, PZU, PKO BP, Metlife, EFL and for companies like Dentons, Deutsche Telecom, Avon, Wolters Kluwer, Lafarge, Polish Post, MTV, Warsaw Stock Exchange, Mars, Ministry of Economy (Development), Bunge etc. She helps organisations in exploring their opportunity areas and building solutions upon them. She has a broad experience in incubation and accelerations programs, she co-authored the first MIT Enterprise Forum Accelerator in Poland, worked with startups at Hub:raum (T-Mobile accelerator), worked with corporate entrepreneurs in many industries – from telecoms, publishing houses to e-services and energy companies. Business ideas mentored by her get awards and international recognition. She is the judge in MIT Innovators Under 35 competition in Poland and Spain. She is experienced in running projects under Design Thinking approach. She was the one to persuade Bank Millennium to do the first Design Thinking project that turned out to be a great success that generates hard business results. She also teaches Design Thinking at Warsaw School of Economics and Innovatika’s Design Thinking Masterclass.

Sławomir Lachowski is the founder of mBank and MultiBank – retail banks in the BRE Group. Sławomir worked at BRE Bank for nearly 8 years, and from November 2004 to March 2008 he was the President of the Management Board of BRE Bank.
Prior to that, form August 1998 to May 2000, he was a Vice-President of PKO BP and from February 1994 to July 1998, a Vice-President of Powszechny Bank Gospodarczy, being a part of the Bank Pekao SA Group.
Between 1983 and 1991, Sławomir was an employee of the Institute for Economic Development at the Warsaw School of Economics. He took part in the work of the team which under the leadership of Leszek Balcerowicz worked on the assumptions for the transformation of the centrally planned economy into a market economy. He is an author of several articles and papers on financial restructuring, privatisation, management and strategy as well as innovation. Books published: Disruptive Innovation in Banking: A Business Case in Low-Cost Finance. How to Win Against the Leaders by Creating Strategic Competitive Advantage and Real Value for Customers. (2009); The Journey Not the Destination. Values in Life and Business (2011); Values in Action. Leadership in turbulent times. (2013)

Adam Łącki is a graduate of Poznań University of Medical Science with specialization in management of health care institutions. He began his professional career in Polish branch of Johnson&Johnson group where he was later appointed Regional Sales Manager. Later he managed several branches of debt recovery companies. Since 1st March 2005 Adam Łącki has held the position of the President of the Management Board of the KRD Economic Information Bureau. Under his direction, KRD has become a fixed element of Polish economy by way of creating Polish nationwide system for economic information exchange. In 2014 Adam Łącki was named by ‘Gazeta Finansowa’ one of 25 best finance managers in Poland. Also this year he was elected vice-president of the Conference of Financial Companies in Poland.

An experienced leader who bridges the worlds of technology, business innovation and psychology. Karolina acts as a technical lead and catalyst to stimulate curiosity, helping to adapt to fast-changing IT environments and driving organizational agility. Karolina has supported biotech & life science companies in executing complex digital transformations, building and executing high-growth strategies, launching new technologies, innovative products and services for global, multinational brands, as well as growth hacking at startups around the world.
Karolina, as a technical advisor for companies and institutions, mainly from the financial sector, acted in the field of increasing organizational efficiency and introducing new IT solutions, such as: Blockchain / DLT, artificial intelligence, IoT, quantum computing. At A4BEE, she is the Chief of Growth and a Board Member.

Since 2017 Dariusz Mazurkiewicz is the CEO of Polish Payment Standard which operates the popular BLIK payment system formed by 6 biggest Polish banks. In 2022 Dariusz Mazurkiewicz, was awarded as the Cashless World Personality of the Year during X Cashless Congress. The jury appreciated his contribution to the development of the brand, which is now the largest provider of modern mobile payments in Poland.
In 2015-2017 as Vice President of the BLIK Board he was responsible for product and partner development of the system. From 2010 to 2014, as CEO at SkyCash Poland SA, he created the innovative SkyCash mobile payment service. The company achieved the position of the fastest growing Polish start-up in the TMT segment, EMEA region according to the Deloitte Fast 500 ranking for the years 2010-2014. Previously, he worked in the e-commerce and media industries, as CEO of Bauer-Weltbild Media Sp. z o.o. (2008-2010), or as Vice President of the Management Board of Interia.pl SA. in Krakow (2006-2008). He began his professional career in the Michelin Group (2002-2006) as a Financial Controller in the Group’s headquarters in France, and then as a Financial Director of one of the Technology Centers also belonging to the Michelin Group France.

CEO of Sellions, which is one of the fastest growing technology companies in Central and Eastern Europe according to Deloitte Fast 50 CE. For almost 10 years he has been supporting leading companies in Poland in implementing effective commercial processes, especially in the area of lead management and sales execution. A graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics and the Warsaw University of Technology. He has also obtained education at Georgetown University and Simon Fraser University in Canada.

Manager with over 25 years of experience. Ask me how to transform vision into strategy and business results. My professional ethics is built around partnerships, therefore I believe in open banking, open finance and open economy having impact. I’m an avid innovation hunter motivated by change and new challenges. I appreciate sharing ideas.

Karol Sadaj joined Aion Bank in November 2020, becoming Country Head Poland. He is in charge of developing a strategy for the bank’s operations in Poland and a product portfolio that will take into line with the needs of the Polish market. He is responsible for preparing the bank’s development strategy and building an offer tailored to the Polish market.
Karol is an experienced manager with a universal profile. He specialises in introducing to the market companies and services from the sectors of finance and modern technologies. He gained his experience working for leaders of the global economy, such as Revolut, Uber, Google, PepsiCo or Philip Morris. He has extensive knowledge of consumer trends and the ever-changing customer needs. He also knows how to implement innovative solutions in the products or services development.
Karol is actively involved in mentoring and advising startups. His passions are technological innovations and scuba diving. He graduated in Management and Marketing at the University of Gdansk.

Leszek Skiba specializes in macroeconomics. He graduated from Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) majoring in international economic and political relations (2002). Then, until 2009 he was a research scientist at the School of Business – National Louis University. From 2009 to November 2015 Mr. Skiba was employed at the National Bank of Poland (NBP), initially in the Bureau for the Integration with the Euro Area, and from 2011 at the Economic Institute, where he was in charge of the analysis of the economic situation in the Euro zone, the functioning of Economic and Monetary Union and the preparation of macroeconomic projections for the Euro area that contributed to NECMOD model. Mr Skiba is the co-author of, among others, the last Euro area report of NBP Economic challenges of Polish integration with the Euro area. Since 2009 he has cooperated with the Sobieski Institute first as an expert, then a board member and since 2013 Chairman of the supervisory board of the Institute. He is the author and co-author of reports on the political economy concerning the decision-making center of government in modern European countries as well as on the structural reforms to support growth of the Polish economy. Leszek Skiba collects historical atlases from different European countries. He is married and has two children.

Aleksandra Sroka-Krzyżak has been Head of Strategy and Chief of Staff at Allegro since July 2021. Her role is laying out Allegro’s long-term strategy and coordinating the implementation. Before joining Allegro she was Head of Strategy at PKO Bank Polski, where she created and implemented the lender’s digitization strategy “PKO Banking Platform” and was also a member of the PKO Corporate Venture Capital Fund. Before PKO, Aleksandra was a Partner at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she handled projects in the financial and insurance sector related to digital transformation, open banking, innovation strategies, including cooperation with Fintechs, improvement of efficiency and M&A processes. She managed multiple projects abroad and worked for the BCG offices in New York and Milan. She is a graduate of the Finance faculty at the University of Economics in Wroclaw, and she also studied Financial and Mathematical Analysis at the Malardalen University in Sweden.

Manager with an extensive, international experience gained while working for the global consulting companies. I managed and delivered projects on three continents and lived in eight different countries. After ten years of corporate life, spent mainly in the energy sector, the time has come for a radical change – nowadays, as a General Manager Poland in viafintech, I keep discovering the multitude of great business models and ideas in the fintech space. Together with my 70 colleagues we are busy “digitalizing cash” and building the largest, bank-independent cash infrastructure network in Europe.

Sonia Wedrychowicz-Horbatowska joined DBS Bank in February 2015 as Managing Director and COO of the Digital Bank division. She brought over 20 years consumer and commercial banking experience. In September 2016, she was promoted to Singapore Consumer Banking Group Technology Head, and in March 2018, she was appointed the Head of Corporate Bank Ecosystems, responsible for the overall Corporate Digital Ecosystems strategy, framework and partnership development across the region.
Sonia is the former Country Head of Consumer Bank at Standard Chartered in Malaysia. She was responsible for the strategy, development, and management of the bank’s consumer business. She also chaired the bank’s financial education programme initiative and was part of the bank’s Women Initiative Network.
Starting her banking career in Citibank in 1994, Sonia rose through the ranks and held various roles in transaction banking before becoming the Deputy CEO and Head of Consumer Banking in Citi Poland.
She also held other leadership roles including Chairman of the Board of Junior Achievement Foundation, Member of the Supervisory Board of Handlowy – Leasing S.A., and Member of the Supervisory Board of Bank Handlowy Brokerage House.
Sonia holds a Master’s degree in Foreign Trade from Warsaw School of Economics and a BA in European Business Studies from Brunel University in London. She lives in Singapore with her husband and two children. She is a passionate traveller, cook and black belt in American kickboxing.

A manager with long-term experience in the field of debt collection, debt restructuring and customer experience management. Her professional career started at the position of Debt Collection Specialist at Citibank Handlowy to follow to Coach at Citifinancial. The following years brought new managerial experience in financial institutions. She is a member of the Management Board at Global Collection Management, a company dealing with e-commerce debt collection. She participated also in the establishment of new financial institutions in the Polish market. One of those, apart from Polbank EFG and Citifinancial, is Vivus.pl. It is due to her efforts that the Customer Care Department of Vivus was three times distinguished with the Customer Experience Quality Star. She is a graduate of Gdynia Maritime Academy with Major in Business Management. She completed also a post-graduate course at the Warsaw SGH School of Economics.

A graduate of the University of Silesia, Faculty of Social Sciences and the direction of Health Insurance at the University of Economics in Katowice. In the years 1999 – 2016 he worked in the financial and insurance industry, a. o. for Amplico AIG Life, ING, Pramerica, Signal Iduna, managing sales areas and specializing in the development of insurance products. Since starting work on the Employee Capital Plans project, he is a member of the inter-ministerial team that develops the assumptions of the Program. As a representative of the project team, he analyzed and consulted foreign solutions of employee savings plans.

Graduated from the Koźminski University in Warsaw with a degree in Marketing, Management and Finance & Banking. His wide-range knowledge in the field of strategic management he acquired at the School of Economics and Management at Lund University in Sweden. Moreover, he accomplished International Consulting training in Audencia Nantes Management School. He gained his experience i.a. at Frosta A.G. in Bremerhaven, where he reported directly to the Marketing Director. He performed functions of general director of the Association of Frozen Foods, that brings together dozens of biggest producers of frozen food on Polish market, including representatives of global brands such as: Unilever, Farm Frites, Bonduelle. While working in the Warsaw International Fair he has contributed to organisation of three editions of the largest motor show in Poland – Warsaw International Motor Show. Subsequently, he worked in Expomedia Events Warsaw, where he held the position of director for business development and sponsorship relations. The next stage of his career was transition to conference sector.