Michał Karwasiński

Legal Adviser, Partner
Karwasiński Szpringer i Wspólnicy

Michał Karwasiński is a legal adviser with over a dozen years of experience in the financial market, including regulatory advice and risk management. On a daily basis, he assists investment firms, investment fund companies and other financial institutions in properly fulfilling legal and regulatory requirements, and represents them before the Financial Supervision Authority. Clients appreciate the cooperation with Michał for his creative solutions, firmly rooted in the realities of the financial market and especially useful in the financial innovation industry. Michał is involved in financial market development projects, such as creating a regulatory environment for the fintech industry and financial instruments in the form of structured products. Before founding KSZ Smart Legal, Michał gained experience in a law firm specializing in the service of financial institutions, where for over 8 years he built up his competencies to serve the market of brokerage services, asset management and new technologies. Moreover, Michał worked for over 3 years as a Risk Manager in a bank investment fund company, acquiring practical skills in risk management. He started his professional career at the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, where he divided his time between analytical activities (financial supervision over brokerage houses) and legal activities related to co-creating regulations for the capital market and their application. While still a law student, he initiated the establishment of the association ConsuLex Law IT Consulting, the first student organization in Poland to provide free legal assistance to the indigent as well as business consulting services, affiliated within the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises. Michał is a graduate of finance at the Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw and law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw. He also completed his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw and a one-year course in American law at the Center for American Law Studies, co-organized by the University of Florida. He had the opportunity to acquire his managerial skills at the Management Centre Innsbruck in Austria, where he studied as an Erasmus grant holder. Michał's scientific interests focus on financial market innovation - including innovative financial instruments. In his spare (and non-pandemic) time, Michal is a fan of skiing and budget – backpacking travelling; he has already visited 70 countries on all continents except Antarctica.

Filip Suchta

Legal Adviser & Partner
Matczuk Wieczorek and Partners

Graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Legal Adviser and Partner. He specialises in capital market law, with particular emphasis on all aspects of investment fund operations, including the activities of investment fund companies and investment fund depositaries. Several years of experience in legal services for Polish and foreign investment funds, asset managers and investment companies. He is fluent in English (C2 Proficiency).

Grzegorz Kaliszuk

Director of the Investment Products Department
Phinance

An insurance and investment market expert. For over 14 years, he has been gaining experience in PZU, Nordea and Allianz, among others. He specializes in investment, life and health products, but his interests also extend to insurance of financial risks. He has been leading large international projects and participated in M&A transactions. Currently, Director of the Investment Products Department at Phinance.

James J. Angel

Associate Professor
McDonough School of Business
Georgetown University

Professor Angel specializes in the market structure and regulation of global financial markets, and he has visited over 70 financial exchanges around the world. He teaches undergraduate, MBA, and executive courses, including Investments and Capital Markets. ''Dr. Jim'' has testified before Congress about issues relating to the design of financial markets. In addition, he has been quoted in hundreds of newspaper articles and has appeared numerous times on radio and television. Dr. Jim began his professional career as a rate engineer at Pacific Gas and Electric, where he worked on FERC and CPUC related issues. Along the way, he has also worked at BARRA (later part of Morgan Stanley) where he developed equity risk models. He has also served as a Visiting Academic Fellow in residence at the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD – now FINRA) and also as a visiting economist at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. He has also been chairman of the Nasdaq Economic Advisory Board, a member of the OTC Bulletin Board Advisory Committee, and has served on the board of directors of the Direct Edge Stock Exchanges (later part of BATS Global Markets). From 2012-2014 he was a visiting associate professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Angel is a co-inventor on 12 fintech patents.

Dr Wiesław Rozłucki

Economist
Former President of the Management Board
The Warsaw Stock Exchange

Economist, a graduate of the Faculty of Foreign Trade at SGH Warsaw School of Economics, 1970. Doctor of economic geography, 1977. British Council scholarship at the London School of Economics 1979–80. In the years 1991–2006 President of the Management Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, member and chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Central Securities Depository in Poland (1994–2006). Member and president of the WSE Supervisory Board (2013–2016). Currently, the President of the Management Board of the Polish Institute of Directors Foundation. Co-author of Best Practices of the Audit Committee 2021. Member and chairman of supervisory boards and audit committees of joint-stock companies: Bank BPH, Internet Media Services, CARDIF Polska and XTPL. A senior adviser to the global investment bank Rothschild & Co.

Benoît Sauvage

Director
Deloitte Luxembourg

Benoît (47, Belgian) is a director at Deloitte Luxembourg, in charge of Regulatory Watch, with specialisation in investment service regulations and a focus on digital, crypto and funds regulations. Prior to June 2017, Benoît was Luxembourg Bankers’ Association Senior Adviser Financial Markets Regulations this covers financial regulation in securities instruments & services from sales (funds, hedge funds, MiFID…), to post-trade (clearing & settlement) both at national and EU level. He is a member of several working groups at the European Banking Federation (post-trade, funds, Securities& Primary market). He joined the Association in 2003 after nearly 5 years in the Private Banking department at Credit Européen (now ING Luxembourg) where he was in charge of organisational projects and afterwards of alternative investments. He holds a degree in management from HEC Liège and a Master Degree from the University of Liège, Belgium. He is married with two children.

Magdalena Łapsa-Parczewska, CFA

Managing Director for Capital Market Supervision
The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF)

Since April 2019 – Managing Director for Capital Market Supervision at the UKNF. In April 2020, appointed as Chair of ESMA’s Advisory Committee on Proportionality (ACP). In January 2021, appointed as Board Member of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Before joining the UKNF, Ms. Magdalena Łapsa-Parczewska worked for many years in the capital market, mainly as Portfolio Manager.

Dr Miriam Parmentier

Seconded National Expert
European Commission

Miriam Parmentier, PhD studied law at Heidelberg University and Columbia University. Associate in a law firm and later in-house counsel with a large German bank, both at Frankfurt am Main. A civil servant in the German Federal Ministry of Finance, with secondments to the German Embassy at Washington and the Italian Ministry of Finance. In Brussels since 2014; 2014/2015 financial attaché for Germany; since 2015, worked in the Capital Markets Union unit at DG FISMA, European Commission, first as Seconded National Expert, since 2021 as Commission official.

Rafał Wojciechowski

Managing Partner & Attorney
WWZ Wojciechowski Żelek Law Firm

Advocate, a specialist in the field of capital market law, compliance and regulations in a financial market. Since 2011, he has been providing services to public companies, investment fund companies, payment institutions and banks on an ongoing basis. In 2015–2021, he managed the capital market practice of a renowned Polish law firm, creating one of the highest-rated teams of professionals in Poland. As part of his practice, he combines extensive knowledge with experience gained in cooperation with business, including leaders of the financial sectors and capital market in Poland, as well as foreign clients. In particular, he specializes in cases requiring detailed knowledge in civil and criminal proceedings and proceedings before the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). High knowledge of the market, trading practice and trends (including crypto assets and crowdfunding) allow him to provide ongoing services to the largest financial institutions and private entities in sectors related to the capital market. The indicated experience is perfectly complemented by the practice in the field of AML, compliance and M&A. In 2020, Rzeczpospolita recognized adv. Rafał Wojciechowski individually and the team led by him as leaders in the legal services sector of the capital market.

Piotr Serwin

Founder
Fintech Trends Poland

A graduate of Middlesex University, Piotr worked in the City of London as a trader in equities, currencies and interest rate markets. He built an algorithmic trading company from scratch, as well as a personal data advisory company. For the last two years, he served as Chief Investment Officer at TenderHut, one of the fastest growing technology companies in Europe. He also mentors startups in the Huge Thing and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enterprise Forum acceleration programmes.

Zbigniew Wójtowicz

President of the Management Board
Investors TFI

A graduate of the Wrocław University of Economics and Business and the Internationales Hochschulinstitut in Zittau (Germany). PhD in economics at the Wrocław University of Economics and Business and a licensed investment advisor. Since 2002, he has been professionally involved in the capital market. He started his career at Millennium Brokerage House, where he managed funds and portfolios of private clients. From 2004, he continued his career at DWS Polska TFI (an investment fund company), initially as a fund manager, and from 2008 as Vice-President of the Management Board responsible for sales and marketing. In 2012, he was appointed the President of Investors TFI (an investment fund company). During his tenure, Investors TFI became the best investment fund company three times (for 2013, 2016 and 2018) in the opinion of "Parkiet", three times (in 2016, 2017 and 2018) in the ranking of the best investment fund companies prepared by the "Rzeczpospolita" daily. Three times (for 2017, 2018 and 2019) the company has been recognized as the best investment fund company by the industry analyst centre Analizy Online.

Pieter Van Putten, CFA

Managing Director
Pelargos Capital

Pieter is Managing Director of Pelargos Capital, a Netherlands based investment boutique specializing in Japanese equities (long/short and long only). He is responsible for business development, operations, finance, IT and compliance. He started his career in 1989 in the institutional asset management division of Commerzbank in Frankfurt. From 1993 he built the asset management operations for the bank in Asia-ex-Japan, first from Hong Kong and later from Singapore. In 2002 he became CEO of Aviva owned Morley Fund Management (Singapore) and from 2003 to 2008 he was managing director for Singapore based China equity specialist APS Asset Management.

Paweł Borys

President of the Management Board
Polish Development Fund

Manager and an economist. He specializes in investments, new technologies and development economics as well as in large and complex projects. He is the originator or co-creator of the Polish Development Fund, the Employee Capital Plans program, the largest platform of private equity and venture capital funds in Central Europe, PFR Ventures, the anti-crisis PFR Financial Shield in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Cloud in partnership with PKO Bank Polski, Google and Microsoft, BLIK mobile payments and the Central House of Technology. President of the Management Board in the Polish Development Fund, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Chairman of the Council of the Polish Economic Institute. Formerly Managing Director at PKO Bank Polski, President of the investment company AKJ Investments, Head of Investments at Deutsche Asset Management and DWS, Stock Market Analyst and Chief Economist at Erste Bank in Poland, and a member of several supervisory boards of companies and financial institutions in Poland and abroad. A graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics, where he worked at the Department of Capital Markets. Former member of the Stock Exchange Indices Committee at the Warsaw Stock Exchange. He has numerous international contacts in public institutions and the financial sector. Paweł Borys is a manager with huge experience in investment, banking, technology and economic policy. He has completed some significant financial transactions and projects in Poland and abroad. As a manager, he builds large teams and develops an efficient and effective organization. He combines his professional work with social commitment, in particular, to support economic education. He has completed one of the largest financial transactions in Poland, including mergers and acquisitions (e.g. the acquisition of Pekao worth EUR 2.4 billion) or a bond issue (a bond issue in the history of the market, worth EUR 4.1 billion by PFR in connection with COVID-19) and successfully managed several very complex restructuring and integration projects (e.g. Kredobank in Ukraine, logistics operator Pekaes Group, Poland's railway rolling stock producer PESA, or PKO Bank Polski M&A process with Nordea Bank Polska). Paweł Borys has been honoured with several awards, including the 30th anniversary of the Economic Forum for "the unprecedented success of PFR in anti-crisis activities during the Covid-19 pandemic and participation in the creation of the PFR Group concept - a modern instrument of the government's active economic policy" and, inter alia, the "Wizjoner Finansów" award from the Banking & Insurance Forum, or the "Digital Shapers" from the Digital Poland foundation. In 2020, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna named Paweł Borys as the number 1 person in the Polish economy in its ranking together with the prime minister and the president of the central bank.

Barbara Nowakowska

Managing Director
The Polish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (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.

Dr Piotr Sieradzan, CFA

Vice President of the Management Board
CFA Society Poland

Finance & investment practitioner with over 20 years of experience in financial industry, especially in management of assets in Central and Eastern Europe and investment companies’ management. Currently Managing Director at Aforti Holding S.A. and lecturer at Kozminski University, Warsaw. In his career he managed mutual funds, penshion funds with assets over 1 bln USD, an investment bank, brokerage house. For over 6 years he was a shareholder, a CEO and CIO Everest Investment Management S.A. a boutique asset management company. Piotr Sieradzan graduated from Warsaw University (Faculty of Law and Administration) and Warsaw School of Economics (Faculty of Banking and Finance) and received his Ph.D. in Economics from Warsaw School of Economics. A CFA Charterholder since 2004 and Licensed Investment Adviser since 2002. Vice President of CFA Society Poland since 2007, Member of Capital Markets Policy Council since 2019 and EU Standards Advocacy Advisory Committee at CFA Institute since 2015.

Dr Mirosław Kachniewski

President of the Management Board
Polish Association of Listed Companies (SEG)

Before joining SEG he was employed at the Polish Securities and Exchange Commission, where his main duties were focused at coordination of international cooperation, analyses, as well as information and education policies. Earlier he was an advisor to the Minister of Privatization responsible for negotiations of Poland’s membership in the OECD in the field of foreign direct investment. Former employee of Warsaw School of Economics (International Finance Department), graduate of Foreign Trade Faculty of this school. Author of many economic publications relating mostly to functioning of capital markets, liberalization of capital movements, transborder financial services, integration of EU financial market. Board Member of EuropeanIssuers, previously was serving many important duties at the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Prof. Krzysztof Jajuga

President of the Management Board
CFA Society Poland

President of CFA Society Poland, Professor of Economic Sciences at the Wroclaw University of Economics (title given by the President of Poland in 1992), Head of Finance Management Institute. He is a member in scientific and professional organizations: Member of Executive Board of Committee of Statistics and Econometrics of Polish Academy of Sciences, Member of Executive Board of Committee of Financial Sciences of Polish Academy of Sciences, Member of Executive Board of Committee of Economic Sciences of Polish Academy of Sciences. His research interests are: financial markets and instruments, risk management, corporate finance, real estate, insurance and quantitative methods (econometrics, statistics). He was a member of the Scientific Council of the National Bank of Poland and a member of the Supervisory Board of Warsaw Stock Exchange.