Catherine Ford Consultant Editor Acuris

Catherine Ford is the Editor-at-Large for the events division of Acuris. She is a consultant editor to event programmes, and engaged in the development of timely editorial content for global corporate finance, M&A and capital markets related conferences and events. She routinely moderates discussion panels at conferences across the region. She has worked for Acuris since early 2002, holding a number of senior editorial roles in the company’s European, US and Asia-Pacific head offices.

Barbara Nowakowska Managing Director PSIK

Barbara Nowakowska is the Managing Director of PSIK, the Polish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, which she joined in 2003.

PSIK represents the interests of the Polish private equity/venture capital community and works on promotion and development of the industry.

Barbara is a board member of Valores Foundation, Poland’s first venture philanthropy fund. She also served as a Member of the Governing Board at European Institute of Innovation and Technology and was an expert on the Polish private equity and venture capital for the European Commission. Her pre-PSIK experience embraces a corporate, private equity and government jobs.

Jakub Lerner Associated Partner, Co-Head CEE Corporate/M&A Noerr LLP

Jakub Lerner, a Polish-qualified legal advisor, an English-qualified solicitor and US-qualified attorney is an associated partner in Noerr’s Warsaw office. Jakub’s practice focuses on M&A, complex commercial transactions, joint ventures, private equity and capital markets. Jakub has extensive experience in a range of share and asset acquisitions, mergers, leveraged and management buyouts and other forms of corporate restructurings. He also advises in complex, multijurisdictional transactions and cross-border joint ventures.

Paweł Jacel Managing Director CVI DM

Pawel is Principal responsible for direct lending and private equity investments at CVI Dom Maklerski (CVI).

CVI is leading private debt investor in CEE with more than EUR 1.0bn AuM and realized more than 600 transactions since 2012

Pawel has over 12 years investment experience and participated in over 40 private debt and private equity transactions.

Prior joining CVI Pawel was working at Krokus PE, a Polish based private equity company focused on mid-market growth transactions. Before joining private equity industry, Paweł gained experience in strategic consulting and investment banking advisory in both Polish and international organizations (Hexagon Capital, Boston Consulting Group and JP Morgan).

Pawel holds a Master Degree in Finance and Banking from University of Lodz and Bachelor of Business from Athlone Institute of Technology (Ireland). He is also CFA Charterholder.

Andrzej Bartos Senior Partner Innova Capital

Mr. Bartos joined Innova in 2004 from Allianz Specialized Investments as a Head of Office in Warsaw. Prior to that, he worked in the investment banking and capital markets at the Commerzbank Group and the Polish Development Bank. During that time, Andrzej was involved in scores of IPOs, equity financings, corporate and privatization advisory projects.

His principal area of responsibility is Commercial Manufacturing investments. Due to his extensive experience within Polish public markets, he is actively involved in any transactions involving the public markets. He co-led the investments in EBCC, Fuchosa, Donako, Libet, Trimo and Profim. He was responsible for the successful IPO of ACE on the WSE in 2007.

Mr. Bartos graduated from Warsaw School of Economics, and he holds a number of professional qualifications, including Securities Broker’s license and postgraduate executive training from INSEAD, France. Mr. Bartos established the first Polish Management Buy-Out Club, a gathering of over 70 local executives.

Maciej Ćwikiewicz CEO PFR Ventures

Maciej Ćwikiewicz has over 15 years of experience in private equity and strategic advisory.

Between 2009 and 2014 he was an Investment Director at ARX Equity Partners (a private equity fund investing in medium-sized enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe), where he focused on industrial and service sectors in Poland.

In the strategic advisory, Maciej Ćwikiewicz worked, among others, for McKinsey & Co, Kolaja & Partners (now Alvarez & Marsal) or PwC. He advised primarily private equity funds during commercial due diligence or the performance improvement programs. He advised also entrepreneurs-owners of Polish manufacturing companies such as Kross, POCH, or Dr Irena Eris. On selected projects he acted as an interim manager, such as Chief Restructuring Officer for RUCH, Kross, or Sanitec Budfarfor.

Maciej Ćwikiewicz gained international experience in the United States, where in 2000-2001 he worked as an Analyst in Aviation Research at Portland International Airport, and also in Indonesia where he worked at Elnusa in 2002.

Maciej Ćwikiewicz graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics, Finance and Banking in 2000 and obtained his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2009.

Completed the Venture Capital program at the University of California at Berkeley.

Catherine Ford Consultant Editor Acuris

Catherine Ford is the Editor-at-Large for the events division of Acuris. She is a consultant editor to event programmes, and engaged in the development of timely editorial content for global corporate finance, M&A and capital markets related conferences and events. She routinely moderates discussion panels at conferences across the region. She has worked for Acuris since early 2002, holding a number of senior editorial roles in the company’s European, US and Asia-Pacific head offices.

Tomasz Zuzaniuk Director Mercator Medical

Currently M&A manager of Mercator Medical - company listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange.

For over 20 years Tomasz has been involved in M&A transactions, fund raising and advising foreign investors entering Poland as well as advising Polish and foreign investors on projects in other CEE and CIS countries.

He started his professional career as a consultant in Central Europe Trust in restructuring and M&A projects, then in BDO as an analyst in the Corporate Finance (a number of valuations and advice for sellers and buyers in M&A processes); in the years 2004-2005 he was employed as a Country Representative at Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors (M&A boutique); for five years he worked as a financial manager at Orkla Food Polska (participation in the process of transformation and integration of enterprises); since 2005, he has been managing few investment projects for AKJ Capital (private equity). In the years 2007-09 he was as M&A Manager at SIG Plc.

Later as an investment director at KGHM TFI managing investments in new technologies and renewable energy.

Co-founder and CFO of 3W Dystrybucja Budowlana - acquisition of Raab Karcher from Saint Gobain.

A graduate of the Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin and postgraduate studies at the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Kassel.

Wojciech Jezierski Partner Abris Capital Partners

Wojciech joined Abris in 2012 and holds the position of Partner and member of the Investment Committee in Abris.

He has more than 8 years of private equity experience. Wojciech has been responsible for very successful transaction in Abris – Novago, a waste to energy business and currently is a Chairman of Supervisory Boards of Graal and CADM. He has experience of a variety of private equity transactions, including equity partnership with founders and family businesses and public-to-private across varied industries, with focus on FMCG, business production and services.

Prior to joining Abris, Wojtek worked for 12 years in the investment banking industry, especially as a corporate and acquisition finance banker at Access (Rothschild’s joint venture in Poland) and later UniCredit Group and independent corporate finance boutique Lasanoz Finance, where he worked for corporate and private equity clients.

Wojciech is a mentor to young entrepreneurs associated with Polish Family Firms Institute (IBR) and mentor at Social Business Accelerator program launched by Polish Private Equity Association. Privately, he enjoys motorsports and watersports, and he believes that trust is everything.

He graduated from the University of Business and Administration in Warsaw, with a degree in Finance & Banking, and executive education at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and INSEAD.

Brian Wardrop Managing Partner Arx

Brian Wardrop has been originating, executing, monitoring and exiting private equity investments in Central and Eastern Europe ("CEE") since 1997.

Mr. Wardrop is Managing Partner of ARX Equity Partners, which is a private equity firm with a 20-year track record supporting the growth and development of mid-sized companies in select Central European countries. With more than € 300 million raised in four funds, ARX has become a leading private equity firm in its segment in the Central European region.

Prior to joining ARX, Mr. Wardrop was a Principal and head of the Prague office with sector specialist private equity firm, Baring Communications Equity (Emerging Europe).

Mr. Wardrop holds a Master’s degree from Boston University and a Bachelor’s degree from Bishop’s University. He is also a graduate of the Owner/President Program at Harvard Business School.

Mr. Wardrop is also an active supporter of the non-profit social enterprise sector via his roles as a board member of NESst (which is a non-profit organization focused on developing sustainable social enterprises in emerging market economies), and as a member of the investment committee of Tilia Impact Ventures (which is the first fund in the Czech Republic investing in social enterprises).

Krzysztof Urbański Director - M&A Orange Polska

Krzysztof Urbański graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics in 1996. Since then, his career is devoted to mergers and acquisitions. He spent his first eight years at the corporate finance advisory arm of mBank (Commerzbank Group) and the next three years at Societe Generale.

Krzysztof became Mergers and Acquisitions Director of Orange Polska in 2007 and since then, by completing about 20 transactions totaling over PLN 4bn, he contributed to Orange Polska restructuring and strategic refocus. His fields of experience include telecoms, but also IT, media, infrastructure, real estate, banking, manufacturing, distribution and others. He holds Supervisory Boards positions at various Orange Polska subsidiaries.

Krzysztof holds a Master degree from HEC, he also completed numerous courses and trainings, including the CFA curriculum in 1999 and INSEAD M&A programme.

Jacek Radziwilski Senior Investment Director CEE Equity Partners

Jacek has over 25 years working experience in financial industry working for Arthur Andersen, HSBC, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell and UniCredit Group. Before joining CEE Equity Partners, he has served as CEO and Managing Director of Pekao Investment Banking (Previously known as UniCredit CAIB) – the leading Eastern European Investment Banking and Brokerage franchise.

Jacek has also served as a Member of UniCredit Global CF Committee and the Supervisory Boards of Kety Group – major European manufacturer of aluminum products, Pelion Polish pharma distributor and currently is a member of the Supervisory Board JW Construction – a leading Polish property developer.

During his career Jacek was involved in over 120 deals in M&A and capital markets, advising entrepreneurs, PE funds and corporates across CEE region. Among others he provided buy side advisory for CVC on Zabka and PKP Energetyka; for Talanx on TU Europa Insurance or for Goldman Sachs PE on Robyg, sell side advisory for Abris on their courier business in Poland and Novago – waste management company, advised the government of the Republic of Poland on privatization of the energy sector: PGE, Tauron, Energa, JSW and run number IPOs/SPOs and ABB transactions such Cyfrowy Polsat, TVN, Dom Development, WP.pl.    

Jacek is a graduate of University of Economics in Poznan (Poland) and IESE Business School in Barcelona (Spain).     

Tomas Holly Managing Director EMSA Capital

Tomas has over fifteen years of corporate finance experience in Central Europe and the CIS. He specializes in turning around companies in trouble, capital restructurings and operational improvements. His background is in financial modeling and valuations.

The most notable projects include a re-start of a food retailer in Azerbaijan, restructuring of a metal processing company to enable its growth in the DACH region and a turnaround with operational improvements of a windows producer in Romania. Further, he worked on projects in a broad range of industries, notably retail, distribution, manufacturing, energy and utilities, iron and steel, transport, construction as well as several portfolios of non-performing loans. He currently serves as a director or board member in multiple portfolio companies.

Prior to joining EMSA Capital, Tomas worked for the financial advisory practice of Deloitte Central Europe on assignments mostly in Slovakia, Czech Republic and the Balkan countries.

Tomas holds a Master’s in International Economics and Business from the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) and a Master’s in Financial Management from Comenius University (Slovakia). He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a CFA Charterholder. 

Christopher Mertlitz Managing Director and Head of European Investments W. P. Carey

Christopher Mertlitz joined W. P. Carey's European Investments Team in 2011 and was appointed Managing Director and Head of European Investments in 2021. Prior to joining the firm, Chris worked in various industry sectors including engineering, energy and information technology in Austria and Germany.

Since joining W. P. Carey, he has been directly involved in the structuring and closing of more than €1.8 billion in sale-leaseback, net lease and build-to-suit investments across Europe, especially in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and the U.K. He has extensive experience acquiring industrial and specialized retail assets, and particular expertise in financial modeling and complex credit underwriting.

Chris graduated summa cum laude from Oxford University with an M.Eng. in Engineering, Economics and Management where he was also a scholar. He is fluent in German.

Krzysztof Libiszewski Attorney-at-law, Partner Wardyński & Partners

Krzysztof Libiszewski has extensive experience in all forms of mergers, acquisitions, corporate reorganisations and restructuring. He has participated in many complicated domestic and international transactions involving share and asset disposals, property restructuring and company transformations. Among other matters, he advised the State Treasury on the restructuring of the largest Polish shipyards. He is a member of the team of experts drawing up recommendations for the Minister of Development concerning planned regulations governing a simplified form of joint-stock company.

He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw, where he also completed a course in US law at the American Law Center, a joint initiative of the University of Warsaw and the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

Markus Schiller Head of DACH & CEE Datasite

Markus Schiller is Head of Central Europe (DACH), CEE and CIS for Datasite. He has been accompanying the transformation to Datasite for more than 5 years now and has been leading the Frankfurt office since 2017. Previously, he mainly worked in the financial market, as Sales Manager Europe for Trading Technologies and as Account Manager for Thomson Reuters. He graduated from Purdue University in the USA with an Executive MBA and co-founded the technology start-up Evo Fintech in 2016.

Jacek Chwedoruk Managing Director, Head of Poland and Co-Head of CEE Rothschild & Co

Jacek has over 30 years of experience in investment banking gained in numerous privatisations, M&A and ECM transactions and private placements. He supervised the privatisation of the first Polish companies listed on the WSE. He is a founding member of the Polish Institute of Directors and a member of the Polish Business Roundtable. He joined Rothschild & Co in 1992.

Paweł Jacel Managing Director CVI DM

Pawel is Principal responsible for direct lending and private equity investments at CVI Dom Maklerski (CVI).

CVI is leading private debt investor in CEE with more than EUR 1.0bn AuM and realized more than 600 transactions since 2012

Pawel has over 12 years investment experience and participated in over 40 private debt and private equity transactions.

Prior joining CVI Pawel was working at Krokus PE, a Polish based private equity company focused on mid-market growth transactions. Before joining private equity industry, Paweł gained experience in strategic consulting and investment banking advisory in both Polish and international organizations (Hexagon Capital, Boston Consulting Group and JP Morgan).

Pawel holds a Master Degree in Finance and Banking from University of Lodz and Bachelor of Business from Athlone Institute of Technology (Ireland). He is also CFA Charterholder.

Maciej Olszewski Counsel Wolf Theiss

Maciej Olszewski is a member of our Corporate and M&A team in the Warsaw office. With over 12 years of experience, Maciej specializes in corporate transactions, including share and asset acquisitions, equity investments, disposals, corporate restructurings, joint ventures, as well as day-to-day aspects of corporate governance and financial regulatory compliance. 

Prior to joining Wolf Theiss, Maciej worked for international law firms in Warsaw and London where he oversaw complex cross-border M&A transactions for corporates and financial institutions, as well as strategic projects for banks. He also has significant hands-on experience advising on infrastructure and renewable energy investments. 

Maciej is a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Warsaw University and an attorney-at-law admitted to practice in Poland.

Tomasz Czechowicz Managing Partner, Chief Investment Officer MCI Capita

Founder and Managing Partner of MCI Capital, leading tech/digital private equity investor for CEE, focused on digital transformation with assets exceeding EUR 550 M. The current portfolio includes 14 active investments in the areas of e-commerce, fintech, SaaS, cloud gaming and marketplaces. Until 2020, MCI has invested approximately EUR 550 M in 14 buyout investments achieving 27% IRR.

Szymon Walach Managing Director PKO Bank Polski

Szymon Wałach, Managing Director, Retail Client Division, PKO Bank Polski

17 years of experience in banking sector. Since 2010 with PKO Bank Polski SA with initial assignment as Advisor to CEO, then since 2011 holding the position of Retail Client Division Managing Director with responsibilities for products portfolio and customers segments management within the retail area of the Bank. Since May 2016 till June 2017 Acting Managing Director of Strategy and Corporate Development Division as well.

His professional career started in 2000 with Salomon Smith Barney in New York. It was continued in Warsaw office of The Boston Consulting Group (2002-2004) as well as in Pekao SA, UniCredit Group (2004-2010).

Graduate of Montclair State University in New Jersey, faculty Finance.

Ileana Glodeanu Partner Wolf Theiss

Ileana Glodeanu is a  Partner at Wolf Theiss and the coordinator of the Corporate/M&A team in  Bucharest. As a talented and professional lawyer, who enjoys high positive name recognition on the M&A market, Ileana is extremely active and has advised on some of the largest transactions concluded in the past few years in Romania.  She has a solid profile as a leading expert with a particular focus on energy,  TMT and pharma, also excelling in the field of employment and insolvency restructuring. Ileana has also received several awards as a woman in business law  in Romania and in Europe, in recognition of her achievements. She is a member of the Bucharest Bar Association and holds two LL.M. degrees in  Private and Commercial Law.

Tomasz Mrowczyk Senior Partner Griffin Real Estate

Tomasz Mrowczyk is a financial markets specialist with more than 15 years of professional experience. At Griffin Real Estate he is responsible for the development of private equity arm.

Before joining Griffin Real Estate, Tomasz worked at PZU Group for 11 years, where he was heading the private equity, venture capital and private credit businesses including Group Investment Committee capacity. At PZU Group Tomasz run origination, structuring and execution of more than 100 transactions with an aggregate value exceeding EUR 5bn across different capital structures. Tomasz started his career at Warsaw office of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance in M&A and Valuation team.

He graduated from the University of Economics in Katowice. Tomasz also holds CFA and CAIA charters as well as Executive MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Warsaw University.

Tomasz Mrowczyk is a financial markets specialist with more than 15 years of professional experience. At Griffin Real Estate he is responsible for the development of private equity arm.

Before joining Griffin Real Estate, Tomasz worked at PZU Group for 11 years, where he was heading the private equity, venture capital and private credit businesses including Group Investment Committee capacity. At PZU Group Tomasz run origination, structuring and execution of more than 100 transactions with an aggregate value exceeding EUR 5bn across different capital structures. Tomasz started his career at Warsaw office of Ernst & Young Corporate Finance in M&A and Valuation team.

He graduated from the University of Economics in Katowice. Tomasz also holds CFA and CAIA charters as well as Executive MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Warsaw University.

Małgorzata Bobrowska-Jarząbek co-founder and a Managing Partner Resource Partners

Małgorzata Bobrowska-Jarząbek is a co-founder and a Managing Partner.

She joined The Carlyle Group in 2008, where she was responsible for transactions in consumer products, retail and manufacturing.

Prior to that she was a Project Director in the International Expansion department of the largest Polish insurance company, PZU. She also worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co. in Chicago and Warsaw.

Małgorzata has been a member of the Board of the Polish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association since 2018. She is also a co-leader of Level20 Polish Committee and a mentor to NGO sector in Social Business Accelerator.

She graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics and from CEMS (Community of European Management Schools) and holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management

Catherine Ford Consultant Editor Acuris

Catherine Ford is the Editor-at-Large for the events division of Acuris. She is a consultant editor to event programmes, and engaged in the development of timely editorial content for global corporate finance, M&A and capital markets related conferences and events. She routinely moderates discussion panels at conferences across the region. She has worked for Acuris since early 2002, holding a number of senior editorial roles in the company’s European, US and Asia-Pacific head offices.