Wojciech Kostrzewa (; born October 18, 1960) is a Polish manager and entrepreneur, CEO of Billon Group and president of the Polish Business Roundtable (Polska Rada Biznesu), an organization of owners and key managers of the largest Polish companies and international enterprises operating in Poland.

Education and academic activity

Wojciech Kostrzewa graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

in 1987. He also studied law at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

in 1979–1981. In 1981, together with four other students from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

, and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

, he founded the European Law Students' Association (ELSA). In 1984–1991, he worked as a graduate assistant at the

and later became a researcher at the

Kiel Institute for the World Economy The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (Institut für Weltwirtschaft, or IfW) is an independent, non-profit economic research institute and think tank based in Kiel, Germany. In 2017, it was ranked as one of the top 50 most influential think ta ...

. He published several academic papers on economics and finance.

Professional career

In 1989–1991, Wojciech Kostrzewa served as an economic advisor to the Polish

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

, Leszek Balcerowicz. In 1990–1995, he was CEO of the Polish Development Bank (Polski Bank Rozwoju). In 1996, he became deputy

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, and in 1998 President and CEO of BRE Bank (today's

mBank mBank SA (formerly BRE Bank), set up in 1986, and originally BRE – Bank Rozwoju Eksportu (Export Development Bank), is Poland's fourth largest universal banking group in terms of total assets and loans, and fifth by deposits at the end of Septe ...

), where he worked until 2004. In 2002–2004, he was also regional director of

Commerzbank Commerzbank AG () is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. Founded in 1870 in Hambur ...

, responsible for its operations in

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europ ...

. At that time, he was reported to be the only Pole who occupied a high managerial position at a foreign private

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

. In 2005–2018, he was President and CEO of

ITI Group ITI Group (International Trading and Investments Holdings SA Luxembourg), known as Grupa ITI in Poland, was a large media conglomerate headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. On 2 July 2015, ITI Group and Canal+ Group complete the sale of their control ...

and long-term chairman of the

supervisory board In corporate governance, a governance board also known as council of delegates are chosen by the stockholders of a company to promote their interests through the governance of the company and to hire and fire the board of directors. In civil s ...

of TVN, one of the biggest Polish private TV broadcasters in the period of his presidency. He was also co-founder and co-owner of Quedex Bitcoin Derivatives Exchange licensed by the

Gibraltar Financial Services Commission ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

(GFSC). In 2018, he became CEO of the Polish-British fintech company Billon, a FCA and PFSA registered

e-money Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

institution, which develops a technology to store and transfer regulated currencies and other

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...

based on a proprietary

blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, ...

. Currently, Wojciech Kostrzewa is also member of the board of directors of the Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer

Stadler Rail Stadler Rail is a Swiss manufacturer of railway rolling stock, with an emphasis on regional train multiple units and trams. It is also focused on niche products, such as being one of the last European manufacturers of rack railway rolling stock ...

(since 2012), member of supervisory boards of the Ergo Hestia insurance group's companies (since 2017), owner and chairman of the Pascal Publishing House. In 2020, he became member of the supervisory board of the Polish branch of

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

. In 2004–2007, he was president of the ''German-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry''. In 2007–2020, he served as vice president of the ''Polish Confederation Lewiatan'' (Konfederacja Lewiatan), a Polish nationwide

employers' organization An employers' organization or employers' association is a collective organization of manufacturers, retailers, or other employers of wage labor. Employers' organizations seek to coordinate the behavior of their member companies in matters of mutual ...

, where he currently serves as member of the General Council. In 2015, he was elected vice president, and in 2019 president of the

Polish Business Roundtable Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

(Polska Rada Biznesu), organization of owners and CEOs of largest companies in Poland. In 2021, he was re-elected to serve his second term.

Honors

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on al ...

(2015)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kostrzewa, Wojciech 1960 births Polish chief executives University of Kiel alumni Living people Polish bankers University of Warsaw alumni Polish businesspeople Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Polish television people Television executives