2nd Annual CFO Forum Europe
24 - 26 Oct 2013, Prague

Vladimir Fuga started his career as an accountant for small local businesses and, over the years, worked his way through gradually escalating levels of financial responsibility. For the last nine years, Vladimir has served as the CFO for such production companies as Swedwood (IKEA Group) and Bekaert. He is currently responsible for the financial department at Direct Parcel Distribution SK, where his duties include not only the management of standard financial processes, but also overseeing daily operational activities – handling customer financial matters such as the treasury, fraud management, etc. Vladimir`s specific expertise is in creating financial processes that increase the time efficiency of decision-making and/or measurement actions. Such processes encompass a range of activities, from building the right financial team to choosing a suitable information system. This kind of information is vital for a company such as DPD, which is tasked with delivering a wide range of services in a highly competitive marketplace.

Ivan Mikloš is Member of National Council of the Slovak Republic, and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic. His political career started in early 90-ties, when he became Minister of Privatization. Since then he was one of the leading figures of economic transformation in Slovakia. He co-founded a think-tank MESA10. In 2002 he became Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic and contributed to the entry of SR into the OECD. He started an extensive and effective tax reform. Under his leadership Slovakia jumped to 32nd place (of 178 economies) on the ease of doing business index. He led the government agenda on economic restructuring and fiscal consolidation and introduced severe austerity measures, and a comprehensive program of socio-economic reforms (tax, social sector, pension, healthcare, school financing). Slovakia became NATO and EU member in 2004, and the project to join EURO started in 2005. In 2004 he was awarded by Euromoney the best Minister of Finance of the Year and the top business reformer by the World Bank´s Doing Business report.

After a quick career to senior executive levels of Swedish banks in the 80-ties Magnus decided to go with his dream of being an entrepreneur. He has started numerous companies in all parts of the world. This has been extremely rewarding, and provided him with a huge network, and a cultural experience he yearned for since childhood. Magnus Lind chairs the European Treasurers' Peer Group (ETPG) founded in 2004 and authors the http://blog.magnus-lind.com, specializing in corporate finance and treasury, and read by 15-20,000 per month making it one of the largest media in its field. The purpose of the ETPG is to develop the treasury profession, the professional, and to be the corporate voice in financial conditions and regulation. 

Jerzy Zientkowski, professional speaker, trainer and coach, is delivering one-on-one coaching sessions, workshops and keynotes. He loves to share his passion and knowledge, to see people grow from stage-scared to stage-time hungry. Jerzy is Toastmasters ACS and CL (2011-03), Area contests winner (2010, 2011), speaker at TMI meetings, conferences, business fairs and customer events.

Dr Adrian Atkinson, business psychologist, strategic advisor and executive coach travels the world reorganizing companies and advising CEOs and senior management. Drawing on 30 years experience working with a wide range of companies of all sizes, from all sectors, Adrian is an enthusiastic and inspirational coach and speaker.

Since February 2007, Jan Brozik has been responsible for funding the CEZ Group, Treasury, with cash flow management responsibilities including payment and insurance. He has overseen raising almost EUR 7bn of debt. Throughout his work as Executive Finance Director he has been advocating financial prudence and setting limits on future indebtedness of the Group, which strongly contributed to the fact that CEZ is one of the few European utilities which was not downgraded in the past several years. Jan´s previous experience comes mainly from 12 years in investment banking, where he worked as a trader, risk manager and M&A banker. 

Armand Angeli is active in key professional and leadership organizations. He is co-founder and European President of EOA (European Outsourcing Association), President of DFCG international group (the French CFO organization), President Europe, Middle-East and Africa for the International Association of Financial Executives Institutes (IAFEI). 

Armand Angeli is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of finance & accounting, outsourcing and shared services.  A partner and Director Global Outsourcing Services with Grant Thornton, Armand heads business development for Finance Transformation and Outsourcing, and serves as Global Lead for Travel, Tourism and Leisure sectors.  

Prior to joining Grant Thornton France in 2004, Armand was European Business Development Director BPO for PwC, responsible for business development for shared services, outsourcing and consulting businesses. He previously held senior level international roles over a 15 year period with multinational corporations including IBM (Director Internal Audit and Business Controls; and previously Sales Manager), General Electric (European Financial Controller and Global e-Business Program Manager), CASE Corporation (Internal Audi Director, EMEA), Tekelec (CFO). He has successfully lead numerous financial re-structuring, IT, consulting, shared services and BPO projects

Armand has been invited to advise a number of countries on the roles and development of outsourcing services.  He is a frequent speaker and serves on organizing committees of international conferences in finance, HR and Sourcing.  Regularly quoted in the media, Armand has published journal articles and book chapters on developments in these fields. He donates time to several educational institutions, sharing practical experiences and evaluating student projects.

Armand holds an MBA from INSEAD (finance & accounting), and a Diploma / Master’s degree in Engineering (electronics) from INSA Lyon. He was awarded a prestigious fellowship and studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, USA).  He holds both French and Italian citizenship and is tri-lingual (French, English and Italian). 

Gregor Hofstaetter-Pobst is has been working over the past 16 years in various Finance and risk management functions for UniCredit Group in Austria, the UK, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. He currently is a member of the board of directors in UniCredit Bank CZ and as the CFO responsible for Accounting, Reporting, Tax, Planning and Control, Asset Liability management as well as Macro Economic Research. 

Maciej Mikucki joined Teva Poland as CFO and member of the management board in September 2008. He also serves as a board member of other Teva Group companies in Poland (Teva Operations Polska, Cephalon Polska, 123ratio) and manages all Group finance and IT areas in the country

Before joining Teva, graduate of Warsaw School of Economics, worked most of his career for The Coca-Cola Company (in Hungary, Poland, Australia), Seagram (in Czech, Poland) and Ipsos Central Europe and Africa.

Polish national, fluent in English and intermediate in Russian,  gained substantial regional and remote management skills as well as restructuring / business development exposure while working in Pharma, FMCG, B2B and consulting industries.

Violetta Malek was recently Finance Director and Board Member at Avon Operations Poland. Her previous involvements include Avon Cosmetics Poland, EMEA Shared Service Avon Poland, TNT Express Worldwide and Abbott Laboratories. As Finance Leader she was responsible for the finance policy, tax, investment and collection policy, statutory and management reporting. As Business Partner also responsible for establishing, implementing and successful execution of Business Strategy. Taking part in many trainings in Poland and abroad. Graduate of the University of ?ód?, at Organization and Management Department and of WSZiM Finance Management faculty. Holder of  Executive MBA of WUT Business School, a Partner School of London Business School.

Walter started his career with Price Waterhouse in 1992, working on restructuring and privatization projects in Eastern Europe. After a Finance role with a food Ingredients company in Ireland and the UK, he joined GE in 1998. Since then he has held Finance Manager/Chief Financial Officer roles with increasing responsibility in Germany, Hungary and Austria. The majority of his time with GE has been spent in the Energy sector. In 2006 he was appointed CFO of GE Gas Engines.

Jiri Klimas, FCCA has 13 years of experience in finance and accounting. He spent 10 years in the audit department of Deloitte Czech Republic working on various audit and other projects for wide portfolio of clients, mainly big multinational companies. His main specialization was providing of audit services to US based corporations and Shared Services Centers. In 2010 Jiri joined Monster Worldwide CZ where he is currently working as Senior Director, EU Controller, leading the EU accounting team of 15 professionals and responsible for the corporate accounting books for all Monster subsidiaries in Europe. Jiri is qualified ACCA accountant and experienced facilitator.

Director of Strategy & Business Development, Supply Chain, IT and Industrial Ecology, João Paulo has been a member of Lafarge Central Europe -  a grouping of operations in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia - since April. He is responsible for strategy and business development in this geography, as well as Supply Chain (logistics and purchasing), IT and Industrial Ecology (the utilization of alternative fuels and raw materials). His previous experience with Lafarge includes a total of almost 10 years as CFO both in Chile and Austria. He holds an MBA from Coppead-UFRJ (Brazil) and Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (Italy). He also graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil. He speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, French and German. Joao Paulo is Brazilian, married and father of 2 children. 

Stanislav Georgiev is the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Romania, where he is responsible for the strategic and operational planning, performance management, accounting, tax, economic research, Asset and Liability Management and shareholding management. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Chicago, GSB; Master’s Degree in International Economic Relations and he is the member of the UK Chartered Institute of Bankers. He speaks Bulgarian, English, Russian, Arabic and Romanian.Stanislav Georgiev is the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at UniCredit Tiriac Bank, Romania, where he is responsible for the strategic and operational planning, performance management, accounting, tax, economic research, Asset and Liability Management and shareholding management. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Chicago, GSB; Master's Degree in International Economic Relations and he is the member of the UK Chartered Institute of Bankers. He speaks Bulgarian, English, Russian, Arabic and Romanian.  

Imad Barake started his career with Schlumberger in 2004 as Financial Controller, and in 2009 became Area Financial Controller, responsible for Europe, Caspian & Africa, with seat in Paris. He is Certified Internal Auditor, Certified in Risk Management Assurance, and Risk Management with the American Institute of Internal Audit. He is Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute, and has MBA in Finance & Accounting from the American Intercontinental University.

Karol’s career is closely linked with DPD. He started his professional career with the company as a Business Analyst in 2001. He was then promoted to Senior Controller in 2003, after which he assumed the role of Finance Director in 2004. In addition to his local responsibilities in the Czech Republic, he also has been responsible for coordinating financial matters within the CEE region as CEE Finance Coordinator, a position he has held since 2006.  Within this role, he handles a wide range of activities and responsibilities, including the support of green field business developments and the integration of acquired companies. He studied Economics at the University of Economics Bratislava,  Faculty of Business Economics in Košice and holds a Master’s degree.