The Competition Jury

He has a degree in economics from the City College of New York (1971) and degrees in management and interpersonal relationships from Webster University in Vienna (1983). For almost 25 years worked at Citibank on various positions, inter alia, managerial positions at branches of this bank in Japan, Austria, Great Britain and France. At the beginning of the 90s focused on management activities in Poland. He was an independent consultant co-participating in organizing Citibank in Warsaw. Currently member of the Supervisory Board of Gothaer Insurance Company and KRUK SA. He also sits in the Chapter of the Economic Award of the President of the Republic of Poland. Józef Wancer is a member of the board of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland and a member of the council of the Business Centre Club. In 2005, Józef Wancer was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit for notable achievements in the banking industry during the period of transformation, and in 2011 was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta.

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.

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.

Mr. Witold Jaworski graduated from the Poznan University of Economics with the PhD title in the economics area. He has a wide professional experience in the insurance sector. His career began in 1995 from working for an American company Tillinghast Towers Perrin in Frankfurt. The following five years he spent covering analytical positions in the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. From 1996 to 2010 he was a part of a scientific team and being in charge of teaching and research assignments in insurance finance and strategy at Poznan University of Economics. Mr. Witold Jaworski from May 2004 till December 2012 was linked to the PZU Group and he filled the following positions:

• Supervisory Board Member in PZU Lietuva and PZU Lietuva Life
• Head of Motor Insurance Product Management, Head of P&C Product Department, Managing Director P&C, Products and Sales in PZU S.A., Product Management Department / Sales Department
• Supervisory Board Member in PZU Pension Fund (Vice Chairman), PZU TFI (Chairman)
• Board Member in PZU Non-Life and PZU Life

After two years at the position of CEO in Polish branch of Allianz, once more he joined the Management Board of PZU Group. He is responsible for Marketing Department: Bureau of Product Management, Marketing Office, Analysis and Actuarial Office, the area of analytical CRM, Director of the Individual Client Segment, Director of Customer Segment SME).

After graduating from the Warsaw School of Economics (1976 – M.A. Degree in Economics, Faculty of International Trade, 1983 – Ph.D. Degree: Financial management of the international subsidiary of the transnational enterprise), Kalicki was a research scientist and academic teacher at the International Finance Department of the Warsaw School of Economics. 1989-1990 – assistant professor at the National Bank of Poland, Banking and Money Research Department. 1990-1992 – adviser to Minister of Finance, then head of the International Department at the Ministry of Finance. In 1994, Kalicki became the first Deputy Minister of Finance. In 1996, he started working for Bank Pekao S.A., where he held the position of the first Vice-President of the Management Board. Furthermore, Kalicki was the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank Depozytowo-Kredytowy S.A. in Lublin, Member of the Supervisory Board of Bank Handlowy in Warsaw, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank Pekao S.A. and Member of the Supervisory Board of Mitteleuropäische Handelsbank in Frankfurt. In 1998, he held the position of Member of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank Polska, then in 2003 he was designated for the position of President of Management Board. After merger of Deutsche Bank Polska with Deutsche Bank PBC, he was appointed for the position of President of the Management Board.

Dr Krzysztof Korus is an attorney with a doctorate in law, and an economist. He is an expert on payment services, new technologies law, and banking law. Every year since 2015, he has been listed as a recommended lawyer in Chambers Europe in the Banking & Finance category (“strong experience in banking regulatory matters”, “deep knowledge and long experience”). He is a pioneer in advising on regulatory issues for the fintech sector in Poland. Among the issues he has advised on are implementation of PSD2 and opening banking, and he has advised on several dozen cases before financial market regulators in Poland and in Europe, on M&A deals on the fintech market, and on court litigation and arbitration cases between financial institutions. He has worked in the most important industry working groups for the fintech sector, such as the EC’s API Evaluation Group, the Polish API team, the fintech innovation development working group for the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the Ministry for Digital Affairs “Blockchain and cryptocurrency” stream in the scheme “From a Paper to a Digital Poland”, and the Financial Market Development Council working group for implementation of the PSD. He co-authored the “Study Impact of the PSD” and “Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law” for the European Commission, and sat on the programming council for the monthly “Banking Law Monitor”. He is a member of the European Payments Consulting Association, and has worked with the Polish-German Banking Law Centre and London Economics. He has written several dozen publications, legal analyses, and commentaries and spoken at numerous industry events in Poland, Europe, the US, and Asia. He is involved in legislative work at the Polish and EU level.

Professionally involved in the payment sector for 20 years. He has been with Visa since March 2011, where initially, for 3 years, he was responsible for a consulting practice for Central Eastern Europe and carried out many projects related to implementation of new product strategies and optimizing card portfolio management in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary. Since October 2014, he has been a Country Manager for Poland.

His career began in 2001 with KPMG consultancy, where for five years he managed an array of projects for financial institutions in the scope of internal processes optimization and profitability improvement. In 2006 he took over as credit card portfolio manager at Polbank EFG, with responsibilities covering partnership programmes and increase in credit card portfolio profitability.

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.

Lecturer at the Institute of Corporation Finance and Investment, College of Business, Warsaw School of Economics. Graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics. Worked among others: Institute of Finance in the Ministry of Finance, University of Insurance and Banking (now the Academy of Finance) In the years 1996 to 2006 as an associate professor and dean of the college. For six years is the Head of Postgraduate Studies (in Warsaw School of Economics – SGH) – Academy of Insurance – Business insurance for enterprises. For many years, the arbitrator in the Court of Arbitration at the Insurance Ombudsman. She has over 100 scientific publications. The main topics of interest are: firstly – insurance, including insurance as a form of risk transfer and bancassurance, and secondly – public finance. Selected publications: Personal Insurance, edited by Ewa Wierzbicka, Wolters Kluwer Business, Warsaw 2008; Non-life insurance, edited by Ewa Wierzbicka, CeDeWu, Warsaw 2010; Business insurance for enterprises, edited by Ewa Wierzbicka, Warsaw School of Economics, Warsaw 2014.

Professor Małgorzata Zaleska is a member of the Management Board of the National Bank of Poland, a member of the Economic and Financial Committee for the Council of the European Union, Vice-President of the Committee on Financial Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Since 2013, Małgorzata Zaleska has been with the Institute of Banking and Business Insurance of the Warsaw School of Economics, acting as Head of the Department of Banking and the Security of the Financial System. She has authored of over 330 academic and popular science publications.
In 1998-2003 Professor Zaleska was an advisor to the President of the Bank Guarantee Fund; in 2000-2002 she served on the Supervisory Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange; in 2007 – she was a member of the Commission for Banking Supervision. In 2007-2009, Małgorzata Zaleska held the position of the President of the Management Board of the Bank Guarantee Fund. In 2008-2009 she was also a member of the Management Board of International Association of Deposit Insurers and Chairperson of the Research Group of the European Forum of Deposit Insurers. In 2012, Małgorzata Zaleska was elected to the Central Commission for Academic Degrees and Titles within the scope of economics (finances).

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.