PE/VC Fund Manager & Business Angel plus Serial Entrepreneur, Executive & Supervisory Board Member, Investment & Commercial Banker, Lecturer & Analyst.
Strategic thinker with rigorous attention to execution & broad industry experience conducting business across cultures (North America, Europe, Asia, Africa) & economic cycles recognized by the World Economic Forum in Davos as Global Leader for Tomorrow and nominated by the European Business Angel Association as a Business Angel of the Year 2009. Dynamic, innovative, results-oriented leader turning challenges into opportunities. Effectively structures transactions using financial products tailored to changing micro requirements & macro conditions. Enables organizations to drive growth, improve business processes & increase corporate flexibility. With contacts, knowledge, exceptional cross-cultural empathy & superior negotiating skills provides clients with comprehensive support in accessing & leveraging emerging trends. Interested in psychology in social/negotiating context with special emphasis on message diffusion, emotional intelligence & brain capabilities, macroeconomics & political economy.
Frequent speaker at conferences, including World Economic Forum, Institute for International Research, Shell Global Solutions, Euromoney, Unquote” & MarcusEvans. Wrote articles for publications such as International Economy, National Review & Wprost. Lectured at University of Gdańsk & Łódź, Polish Accounting Academy, Lewiatan & Human Genetics Institute. Organized annual entrepreneurship training at Harvard Business School for Polish professors. Member of boards in distribution, financial services, construction, technology, entertainment, & FMCG sectors. Member of US-Europe-Poland Action Commission Privatization Action Team sponsored by Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington DC & Advisory Board of State Foreign Investment Agency.
Founder & Managing Director of Heyka Capital Markets Group, merchant bank focusing on CEE & NASD registered broker/dealer as well as financial companies in US & Poland. Created, privatized, managed, restructured, financed, bought, monitored, sold, & advised companies in tens of deals across many sectors totaling over USD 800 mln. In 1995 Warsaw Business Journal ranked it 2nd in terms of capital invested in Poland & 4th in terms of assets under management. Originated, negotiated & executed cooperation with Banque Nationale de Paris, Dresdner Bank, Citibank, American Appraisal, J&J Group, & Lewiatan. Vice President – Institutional Equity Sales of Security Pacific in US. Rebuilt client relationships after disruption of business due to Security Pacific’s acquisition of Burns Fry Hoare Govett & expanded their research & trading capabilities into Continental Europe establishing close cooperation with local brokers. Introduced 1st large US institutions (Scudder, PaineWebber) to CEE. Registered Representative of Citigroup. Advised largest US institutions such as Fidelity or CREF. Participated in geographic & sector asset allocation, & followed investment cycles to benefit from market fluctuations. Expanded research & trading capabilities into Spain, Germany, Italy & Switzerland.
Executive Board Member of ABC Data Holding SA (3 ICT distribution companies with 300 employees & sales over €900mln) responsible for strategy, financing, M&A, IPO & IR. Induced changes in corporate culture. Introduced innovation, process control & financial engineering. Executed €88mln working capital financing (T/N+0.5% vs. prior 1W+1.1%) & first factoring (over €30mln). Accomplished MBO via co-investment (PLN22mln PIK mandatory convertible notes) & option plan (first peer index performance based in Poland) for key executives supporting them with attractive financing programs. Implemented operational due diligence with emphasis on value drivers, which led to increase of top line (17% YoY) & margins (EBITDA 44% YoY). Cut cash conversion cycle from 46 to 28 days & executed strategies leading to higher efficiency of scalable IT/web based business model. Prepared IPO on WSE. Negotiated with potential targets in CEE & global acquirers. Founder, CEO & Chairman of Central European Foods, Inc. Originated & secured with Allied Domecq largest exclusive territory (Poland, Czech Republic & Slovakia) for Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins in their 50-year history. Supplied CEF with seed capital & raised USD 30 mln from accredited investors in US, Asia & Europe after Warburg, one of largest British merchant banks, failed to finance competitor. Built up committed team of 300 people in 3 countries. Made CEF largest & fastest growing franchisee in Europe rewarded by franchisor with trophy for excellence. Increased store profit 11 times & sales 4 times.
Founder & Managing Director of Poland Growth Funds. Raised over USD50mln from investors in US, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong & Europe, & organized offshore & domestic funds & participating entities in US, British Virgin Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Malaysia, Poland, & Cyprus. Executed investments & exits by sales to multinationals (Roma International/Unilever), Polish corporations (Dromex/Budimex), other funds (CEF/Emerging Markets Fund), & IPOs on WSE (Bank Komunalny/Nordea). Adjusted portfolio structure with changing cycles & closed funds before global technology bust. Partner & Executive Board Member of MCI. Originated & managed over 50% of MCI portfolio. Won competitive bidding process with Ingram Micro & TechData, among others, due to attractive structuring of transaction & negotiating skills, not price. Performed due diligence, negotiated & signed €58 mln LBO of 6 Actebis firms in Denmark, Poland, Norway, Czech Republic, Sweden, & Slovakia with revenues of €1.8bn & CAGR of 25%. Raised €300mln acquisition (senior debt, bullet bonds with warrants & PIK mandatory convertible notes with call & put options) & working capital financing, including factoring, from institutions in Poland & Denmark during sub-prime & LBO crisis. Took over 100% of Advanced Telecom Services (Czech & Slovak leader in mobile solutions, content & marketing) to support CEE expansion of One-2-One.
Banking Officer of JP Morgan Chase responsible for corporate finance for largest Spanish corporations, corporate loan portfolio management in Spain & Portugal plus country & industry studies. Supervised credit analysis & trained credit analysts. Financial analyst in Economic Studies Department of Cargill in Spain responsible for feasibility studies, market research & consolidated budgeting, as well as presentations to board of directors.
Bilingual MBA from IESE in Spain (ranked number one in world by the Economist Intelligence Unit) – joint program with Harvard Business School + pursued MA in International Economics & was recognized with honors by the University of Gdańsk.
