AmCham AI Winter 2016

American

WINTER 2016

Vol. XXVI, No. 1 • ISSN 1506-3240

Investor

Photo: © GM Company

The quarterly of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

amcham.pl

Success factory US companies in the manufacturing sector have seen one heyday and think another is possible INSIDE: AMCHAM MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY 2016

In this issue WINTER 2016 Vol. XXVI No. 1 MONTHLY MEETING November Hoping for the best The new government will look for new revenues to cover the cost of promised social reforms, p. 16

Group Poland, a provider of business services, about how it helps businesses go global, p. 34 Expeditiously yours Arkadiusz Glinka, director for Central & Eastern Europe at the logistics company C.H. Robinson, about its business philosophy and how it is seizing opportunities in Poland, p. 35

SPECIAL FEATURE Advocating for a better future AmCham builds on the past successes of mutually beneficial US-Poland business relations, p. 18

Global education Dr John Kennard, principal of the British School in Warsaw, and Alison Fox, head of secondary, about the benefits of a British-style education, p. 36

FOCUS United we stand With every NATO member doing its part, the eastern flank of the alliance will remain safe, p. 22 COMPANY PROFILE Northern exposure David Brodersen, chief operating officer of Coimpex, an urban regeneration company, about the real estate market in Warsaw and how it fits the company’s business strategy, p. 24 AMCHAM MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY Alphabetical list of AmCham corporate members, as of December 10, 2015, p. 27 Alphabetical list of AmCham individual members, as of December 10, 2015, p. 30 COMPANY PROFILE The meaning of knowing Andrew de Roy, managing partner of CEE Consulting Group, a market intelligence company, about how growing compliance regulations change the definition of what is essential knowledge for companies and investors, p. 32 Personal values and performance Mikołaj Pluciński, chairman and acting director of TMF

COVER STORY

Success factory

US companies in the manufacturing sector have seen one heyday and think another is possible, p. 10

Credit where credit’s due Marcin Petrykowski, managing director of the Poland Branch and regional head for Central & Eastern Europe at Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, about how ratings help companies achieve strategic goals and drive business growth, p. 38 EXPERT An arbitration award is just the beginning Arbitration decisions are enforced through the state courts, but the losing party still has avenues of defense, p. 40 Unsafe harbor A landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice disrupts the flow of vital customer data across the Atlantic, p. 41 Welcome to the Digital Jungle Using the Internet may be more dangerous for you than you think but there are some good practices which may help you avert the risks, p. 42 DEPARTMENTS Letter from the Chairman, p. 3; Newsline, p. 4; Agenda, p. 6; AmCham Committee Guide, p. 9; Photo coverage of AmCham events, pp. 44-56.

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

1

Your American Investor

YOUR AMCHAM

On-line resources to AmCham

BoArd oF dirEcTors Tony HousH – APCO Worldwide Chairman

Joanna Bensz – CH2M Polska Vice Chair

JudiTH Gliniecki – CEE Equity Partners Vice Chair

Paul FoGo – JF Legal Treasurer

Rick lada – Individual Member Secretary

MEMBERS Magdalena BurnatMikosz Deloitte

Anna Jakubowski

John Lynch Lynka

Roman Rewald

Weil Gotshal & Manges

Coca-Cola

Jolanta Jaworska IBM Poland & Baltics

Joseph Wancer BGŻ BNP Paribas

Marek Kapuściński Procter & Gamble Central Europe

Advisory council

Check out our revamped website, with enhanced functionality including intuitive grouping of topic threads and multimedia coverage of our events!

MEMBERS This link includes access to AmCham community news, the member directory, information on how to become a member, and a list of companies and individuals who have received AmCham awards.

EVENTS The link Upcoming Events will take you to announcements of our future events. Past Events will take you to our events archive, which includes photo and multimedia coverage of selected events.

COMMITTEES AmCham’s 16 committees are the heart of the organization, providing a forum for business leaders with similar interests to network, share best practices, and discuss relevant topics and issues.

This enables active participation and input on matters of vital importance to members.

The link will take you to a pop-up menu to choose the committee of interest to you.

MEDIA This link will take you to five databases: AmCham in the Press is a database of press clippings about AmCham in Poland. American Investor will take you to a .pdf version of our print quarterly, American Investor, including the most recent edi-

Letter from the Chairman tion as well as archives of past issues.

Video Clips will take you to multimedia coverage of selected AmCham events. AmCham Media Contacts provides contact information for members of the media. Galleries will take you directly to the vast archive of photo coverage of our events.

ADVOCACY This link will take you to the archive of our position papers, policy statements, official letters to government ministers, and research papers—all produced in our effort to build a more open and business-friendly economic environment.

REGIONS AmCham may be closer than you think. Apart from Warsaw, AmCham has three regional branches, which are active all year long and offer many exciting opportunities to interface with regional business leaders and politicians. Use the Regions menu to find out more about our services in Gdańsk and northern Poland, Kraków & Katowice and southern Poland, and Wrocław and Lower Silesia.

USEFUL LINKS This section provides links to other important US business organizations, such as the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union, and other organizations working for the benefit of transatlantic trade and investment relations.

What’s on

amcham.pl

Your online guide to AmCham activities

Dear members and friends of AmCham,

O

n behalf of the Board of Directors and the AmCham staff, I want to wish you all a healthy, productive and profitable 2016. Last year was a remarkable year for the organization, celebrating twenty-five years of supporting economic reform and growth and acting as an advocate for American investment in Poland.

2015 was an exceptionally busy year: from the 25th anniversary gala to the AmCham Diner debut at the European Economic Congress, a great Fourth of July party, another successful Diner at the Krynica Economic Forum, and a wide range of monthly meetings and special events. We expect that 2016 will be just as busy, if not more so.

I was pleased to deliver a positive report on AmCham’s activities at the December general meeting. Ambassador Paul W. Jones was our special guest, and it was a good opportunity for our honorary chairman to address the membership. The meeting itself was a great event, and we appreciate the support of the Marriott for a fantastic evening and to UTC for sponsoring the evening.

The organization of a new government following the fall elections and a robust legislative program from day one helps us develop our agenda for meetings and issues in the new year. As Tony Housh we have told senior officials in the new government of Prime MinAMCHAM CHAIRMAN ister Beata Szydło and the Chancellery of President Andrzej Duda, we share a common goal: a prosperous, innovative Poland, where the success and security of current investors, domestic and international, serves as a magnet for still further investment and development.

We plan an intensive program of meetings with government and political leaders to ensure that the views, issues and concerns of our AmCham community—the largest foreign investment group in Poland—are clearly and consistently represented.

There are many areas where our involvement in the dialogue on public policy and economic growth is important to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the impact of decisions and policies on foreign investment, job creation, innovation implementation and security cooperation.

Thank you for a great 25th anniversary year. The Board, the staff and I will do all we can to make sure that 2016 is even better. I will close with a short phrase that is my favorite and also communicates my hopes for AmCham: Ever Forward.

Best regards, AmCham Auditor:

© American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2016. All rights reserved.

2

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

3

Newsline YOUR AMCHAM AMCHAM STAFF

News from AmCham and its members AECOM

Dorota Dabrowski

Managing Director director@amcham.pl

Marzena Drela

Deputy Director marzena.drela@amcham.pl

Anita Kowalska

Events & Media Manager anita.kowalska@amcham.pl

Robert Kruszyna

Office Manager robert.kruszyna@amcham.pl

Barbara Pocialik-Malinowska

Membership and Committees Coordinator barbara.pocialik@amcham.pl

Marta Pawlak

Policy Counsel marta.pawlak@amcham.pl

Dorota Serafin

Project Manager dorota.serafin@amcham.pl

AmCham in Gdańsk

Alina Gronek

gdansk@amcham.pl

AmCham in Kraków & Katowice

Joanna Bensz

krakow@amcham.pl

AmCham in Wrocław

Monika Ciesielska-Mróz

amcham.wroclaw@pmg.pl

Construction and engineering company AECOM has won a contract to design the Istanbul New Airport in Turkey (computer rendering above) and all the airside works for the project. AECOM will also deliver construction supervision services to what is planned to be the largest civilian airport in the world. It will be Istanbul’s third airport, with an initial capacity of 90 million passengers per year. Subsequent phases will expand the airport to include six runways, three terminals, and an annual capacity of over 150 million passengers. AECOM has a strong engineering presence in Poland and will use it in the assignment.

AmCham

AmCham has concluded the first edition of the AmCham 30 Under 30 mentoring program, initiated in January 2015 for young professionals from member companies. The graduation ceremony was hosted by CBRE, with special guests including Paul W. Jones, US Ambassador to Poland.

The leader and champion of the project was Magda Pavlak-Chiaradia, managing director of ERM. The program involved training and mentoring from professionals from Adecco Poland, American Express, Avon, Bergman Engineering, C.H. Robinson, CBRE, CDM Smith, CEC Government Relations, Deloitte, ERM Polska, Groupon, IBM, KPMG, Lionbridge Poland, MetLife, MSL Group, Orange, PwC, Squire Patton Boggs, Teleperformance Polska, and Weil Gotshal.

The second edition of 30 Under 30 will be launched in January 2016.

See page 48 for photo coverage of the graduation ceremony.

EDITOR

tomasz.cwiok@amcham.pl

ENGLISH EDITOR

cHRisToPHeR smiTH christopher.smith@neostrada.pl

Printing

Q Invest Ltd +48 22 424 6600 To contact AmCham please write or call: ul. Emilii Plater 53, WFC 00-113 Warsaw tel: +48 22 520 5999 fax: +48 22 520 5998 e-mail: office@amcham.pl www.amcham.pl © American Chamber of Commerce in Poland 2016.

All rights reserved.

American Investor is the official publication of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland. It is a voice for foreign investors and the business community in Poland.

The magazine strives to keep our members and other readers up to date by following chamber news and reporting on the leading trends in business and policy.

Unless otherwise indicated, all articles authored by Tomasz Ćwiok. letters to the editor should be e-mailed to tomasz.cwiok@amcham.pl Cover Photo © GM Company

4

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Business advisory Palladium Group International Polska (palladiumgroupintl.com) is a new AmCham member. The contact person is Agnieszka Bilińska, country director, who can be reached at agnieszka.bilinska@palladiumgroupintl.com.

Sitel Polska (sitel.com), a business process outsourcing company, has joined AmCham. The company’s contact person is Piotr Reznar, managing partner, who can be reached at piotr.reznar@sitel.com.

Production engineering and processing company South Bay Solutions Europe (southbaysolutions.eu) has joined AmCham. The contact person is Radosław Siwiec, vice president, who can be reached at rado@southbaysolutions.eu.

Television station TVN (tvn.pl) has joined AmCham. The contact person for the company is Marek Szydłowski, general counsel. He can be reached at m.szydlowski@tvn.pl.

Transportation solution provider Uber Poland (uber.com) has joined AmCham. The company’s contact person is Kacper Winiarczyk, operations manager. His email address is kacper@uber.com.

CMS

Law firm CMS has advised Polish-based manufacturer and wholesaler of household appliances Amica Wronki on the purchase of the entire issued share capital of CDA Group Ltd, a UK-based retailer of high-quality kitchen appliances, for GBP 24.3 million. The acquisition was financed partly from Amica’s own funds and partly via a bond issue. The transaction will expand Amica’s network, which covers Poland, Germany, Russia, the Nordic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and now the UK. The deal represents one of the largest private investments in the UK from Poland.

The banking and financial department of Dentons law firm has concluded three major transactions. In the first one it advised Deutsche Bank and DNB Bank in a PLN 1.2 billion loan to Potegowo Winergy to build a 200 MW windfarm and grid infrastructure in western Poland. In another deal Dentons financial lawyers advised PKO Bank Polski in a EUR 16 million loan to Berrocal, part of the W.P. Carey group, to finance current debt and

Application provider and cloud computing operator F5 Networks Poland (F5.com) has joined AmCham. The contact person is Ireneusz Wiśniewski, country leader, who can be reached at I.Wisniewski@F5.com.

Executive search company Horton International Poland (hortoninternational.com.pl) is a new AmCham member. The company is represented by Paulina Baranowska, managing partner, who can be reached at baranowska@hortoninternational.com.pl.

The Financial Times has named Chadbourne & Parke the fifth most innovative law firm in North America in its “FT Law 10: North America Innovative Lawyers 2015.” The FT Law 10 recognizes forward-thinking law firms that “can be powerful partners in business and leaders in their own right.” In addition to its overall recognition, the Financial Times identified three Chadbourne matters for their innovative approach to solving legal, business and societal issues.

Dentons

New members Tom Ćwiok

Chadbourne & Parke

The winner of the 2015 AmCham Student Essay Contest was Hubert Motyka, representing Universal Express. The second-place winner was Nikola Gutowska (Animex). The runners-up were Agata Dobkiewicz (Honeywell) and Mateusz Boruc (Chadbourne & Parke). The sponsor of the contest was plagiat.pl, a web service designed to crack plagiarism. The winner read out his essay during the chamber’s Annual General Meeting in December. Pictured: Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Managing Director; Nikola Gutowska; Agata Dobkiewicz; Łukasz Szelecki, president of Plagiat.pl; Mateusz Boruc; Tony Housh, AmCham Chairman; Łukasz Motyka.

In December, as part of the AmCham Charity program, the chamber held a meeting with Armen Babajanian, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Poland, a provider of mentoring programs, who talked about the benefits of employee engagement in helping children reach their potential through one-toone mentoring relationships with adult role models. Since their start in Poland in 2014, Big Brothers Big Sisters have matched over 70 kids with 70 mentors. The organization has over 50 children now in line to find their mentors.

cover the financial demands from the extension of the Pilkington Automotive Poland logistics space near Tarnobrzeg. In another deal, Dentons advised Wołomin Ltd, part of Meinl Bank/Fulcrum Properties, in the sale of retail park Wołomin to a joint venture between Acteeum Group and Rockcastle Global Real Estate. The transaction was valued at EUR 15 million.

the Middle East and Africa.

Uber has been in business in Poland since 2014, with operations in Warsaw, Kraków, the Tri-City, Wrocław and Poznań.

The Kraków project was supported by the US Commercial Counselor and AmCham. The Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ) will provide consulting services for the project.

Lynka

Promotional textile producer Lynka has won the Gold Medal once again for the best printed T-shirt, this time at the SGIA Golden Image Awards held in November in Atlanta. It was at this same competition in Atlanta in 1997 that Lynka won its first global printing gold medal, making history as the first company from outside the US to win the award.

Since then, Lynka has won 45 awards for print quality around the world, more than any other EU apparel decorator. Lynka is based in Kraków and serves clients in 25 European countries.

Uber Poland

Uber, a web-based platform that matches people in need of commuting with available drivers in real time, will invest PLN 38 million to establish a Center of Excellence in Kraków.

When operational by the end of 2017, the center will support 140 jobs. It is Uber’s first such investment in Central & Eastern Europe.

The Kraków center, the second in Europe after Uber’s similar center in Limerick, Ireland, will provide services to Uber clients in Europe,

Pictured: Chris Bates, Uber CoE in Kraków; Kacper Winiarczyk, Uber operations director for Poland; Jambu Palaniappan, Uber EMEA director; Kenneth Duckworth, US trade attaché; Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Managing Director.

•

Members on the move AmCham Poland

Dorota Serafin has joined AmCham as project manager and will be in charge of AmCham’s work on PLUS-IP and 30 Under 30, and will oversee AmCham Gdańsk. Serafin has a long experience in business, including management of the University of Minnesota’s Executive MBA program in Poland and work in fields related to technology transfers and commercialization of intellectual property for NGOs, educational institutions and R&D centers.

CBRE

Sean Doyle has been appointed head of the Capital Markets Department at CBRE for Poland. Doyle will be managing a team of 11 advising clients on taking strategic investment decisions. Doyle had over 12 years of professional experience in the US before moving to London and later Warsaw. He has advised on USD 3.5 billion of commercial property transactions, including some of the largest transactions in Central & Eastern Europe.

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

5

Agenda Intelligence from AmCham Committees Business Technology & Services

In November, the AmCham Business Technology & Services Committee held a meeting with Krzysztof Błędowski, Director of Economic Studies at the US-based Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity & Innovation, who talked about boosting innovation efforts through synergies between the public and private sectors in the “Industrial Internet” created separately in Germany and the US. Błędowski said the idea of the Industrial Internet emerged from the notion of the Internet of Things—the network of interconnected devices in the B2B or B2C environment. In the B2B realm, they may be sensors planted in a field to detect moisture and other soil conditions and send the data to a datacenter, which in turns analyzes the data and comes up with the optimal farming method for the soil conditions. This lets farmers keep improving their cultivation by adjusting methods to the changing situation of the key soil factors.

Such industrial use of the Internet gave rise to the concept of the Industrial Internet which excludes B2C, and in essence is a network of sensors and data aimed at boosting the efficiency of industrial activities.

The concept of the Industrial Internet emerged a few years ago as different industries realized that new ways of using the Internet were developing with such speed that there was a need to catalyze their efforts and find synergies to avoid duplications and waste of resources.

In 2014, the German government commissioned the German Academy of Science and Engineering to come up with a strategy for how the German government could help in being a catalyst in the Internet of Things. The government spent USD 200 million and came up with the idea of Industry Platform 4.0, which was made up of three big trade associations from the sectors of machinery, IT, and electricity and electronics.

In 2015, Cisco, along with IBM, AT&T, GE and Intel, formed the Industrial Internet Consortium, which is a separate company. The idea behind IIC was to catalyze the R&D approaches of different industries and provide a structure—design architecture or framework— around which the participants can search for ideas and solutions, tinker with experimentation jointly, and do testbeds together. The second aspect of IIC is that it aims at developing practical application of joint efforts to common problems.

Anyone can join IIC from anywhere—the private sector, academia, or R&D sectors from different countries.

According to Błędowski, the IIC model safeguards the spirit of competition which is necessary to succeed in commerce. This is the main difference between the US approach and the German one. In the German model, the government and academia play important parts, but are “not so close to the firing line as the companies are.”

Defense & Security

In November the AmCham Defense & Security

6

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Committee met with the head of the newly formed Polish Space Agency (POLSA), Prof.

Marek Banaszkiewicz, to learn about the agency’s agenda.

According to Banaszkiewicz, Poland used to have a successful space collaboration with the Soviet space program, which ended in the 1990s. When that happened, Poland was not a member the European Space Agency yet, but Polish engineers were invited to contribute to some ESA programs and as a result they learned the ESA procedures by the end of the 2000s.

The initiative to join ESA came in 2005 from a group of members of Parliament who were excited about the involvement of Polish scientists in ESA programs. By 2012 Poland was a full ESA member, and it established its own national space agency two years later, headquartered in Gdańsk. The newly formed agency attracted a new generation of scientists interested in commercial space programs.

With Poland’s membership in ESA, it is required to pay a fee of EUR 30 million annually to ESA. According to Banaszkiewicz, this is a relatively low amount of money as compared to the big money Poland receives from the EU for R&D programs.

The Polish Space Agency finds its main source of financing from defense-related institutions, which are naturally interested in developing Polish defense-related space programs.

The development of satellite technology is one of the priorities, as the Polish Armed Forces do not have their own satellite reconnaissance system. Some other European countries also face the same problem, Banaszkiewicz noted.

He said that there are 3 to 4 key technologies that need to be developed for a successful Polish reconnaissance system, which may take up to 4 years to develop. When it comes to how Poland should launch its satellites into space, the Ariane program in Europe seems to be a natural choice, Banaszkiewicz said. But Poland will also look at the options offered by other countries who are natural allies and with whom Poland has military cooperation.

When it comes to the development of space technologies which are not directly connected with defense, it is still an open question what that may be, as the Polish Space Agency is looking to identify market niches it has potential to excel in. One of the options is robotics, because, as Banaszkiewicz explained, Poland has participated in an ESA program devoted to on-orbit services. One of the problems that dwarfs the agency’s potential to develop in that direction is the lack of an R&D budget. With an annual budget of EUR 10 million, Banaszkiewicz said that one of the challenges the agency is facing today is to put together the right financing, for which it turns to different government ministries and their R&D programs as well as private investors.

In December the Defense & Security Committee met with Marcin Zaborowski, director of the Polish chapter of the US-based think tank the Center for European Policy Analysis, who held a presentation on how the current geopolitical situation affects transatlantic rela-

tions in Central & Eastern Europe.

Zaborowski said that while CEE is perceived as one region, different countries in the region have different attitudes to defense and security.

While such countries as Poland, the Czech Republic or Romania attach a lot of importance to NATO and the US in their national security, Slovakia and Hungary are much more inclined to allocate a significant part to Russia in their national security policies.

Zaborowski said the best example of a proUS nation in CEE is Romania, with a much more intense US troop presence than Poland, including US antimissile defense systems, and a very good relationship with the US. Zaborowski also talked about the potential outcomes of the NATO summit scheduled for Warsaw in July. He said Poland has a specific understanding of Russia which may add to the general understanding of the EU’s largest eastern neighbor.

Digital Economy

In December, Patrick L. Jones, senior director for Global Stakeholder Engagement from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), met with the AmCham Digital Economy Committee to talk about new security standards—the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC)—and IPv6 addresses—new generic top-level domains.

Jones explained that his team is appointed to demonstrate ICANN’s commitment to upholding the highest standards for the Internet industry. He said that when the Internet was being developed, in its early stages the protocol naming had a capacity of some 4 billion unique addresses. But as of early 2016 there are an estimated 20 billion devices connected to the Internet, and by 2021 the number will reach 50 billion. Each device needs its own unique address, and this is why the idea for a new protocol, IPv6, appeared in the mid1990s, opening up the technical means for trillions of unique names and addresses on the World Wide Web. This is because it offers new ways of writing suffixes (after the dot), including spaces, and in different national fonts (such as Chinese and Cyrillic) to best reflect the new needs for more complex addresses.

Jones also explained the ICANN policy in granting certain domain name extensions when two or more companies apply for them, and how other domain name organizations, such as Registrar, cooperate with ICANN, and what they can do for companies seeking specific addresses and extensions.

Energy & Environment

In November, Jan Rączka, senior adviser at the Regulatory Assistance Project, a think tank that helps public institutions globally on energy issues, met with the AmCham Energy & Environment Committee to talk about reforms of the European Union’s energy market as designed under the auspices of the European Commission through a framework called Market Design.

Rączka said the Commission is determined to reform the energy market in the EU to im-

Agenda Intelligence from AmCham Committees prove the efficiency of the market and integrate renewables with other types of energy generation. He said the plan is revolutionary given the EU standards. For instance, the Commission would like to see at least 5% of peak load capacity delivered from demand-side sources.

Rączka said that energy market reform in the EU will pose a big challenge for the power generating and distributing industries in Poland, which are old-fashioned, centralized and inefficient. For instance, Poland pays a lot of money to traditional producers to maintain a power capacity reserve. Yet during the crisis in the energy supply in August 2015, that capacity was not available to users who needed it.

Rączka said that stakeholders in Poland will benefit from the reform because it will enforce market efficiency and flexibility on the Polish energy market and encourage power companies in Poland to strive for efficiency so they can sell electricity for lower prices than producers in neighboring countries.

Yet even if politicians in Poland oppose the reform, they will have no say in it in fact, because the reform is not about the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions but about the energy market—a common economic space for production and trade in the power sector. In other words, the reform is about market efficiency, and no politician can challenge that.

Marketing & Communications

In December the AmCham Marketing & Communications Committee held a meeting with Natalia Chrzanowska from brand24, an agency that specializes in interactive media monitoring for marketing purposes. She talked about how companies can manage relations with their customers, develop them and change them in line with their marketing needs.

Chrzanowska said that today social media are a must for marketers who want to reach and influence their potential and existing clients. This is because new media offer new methods of engagement in brands that are not available through old media such as television.

She cited a study finding that most young consumers would not mind if 75% of retail brands today disappeared from the market.

This is because those brands do not create a narrative that engages consumers, who are willing to go look for new brands that have an engagement appeal to them. This makes engagement marketing the main challenge for brands today.

Chrzanowska went on to talk about how marketers can benefit from current trends in digital marketing with hashtags, videos, bloggers and other influencers active on social media.

The meeting concluded with a discussion on the future of digital marketing in view of such negative phenomena as fake accounts and hate comments.

Wrocław-based brand24 has provided services to the office of US First Lady Michelle Obama in a campaign promoting education to the young generation of Americans.

8

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Sustainable Real Estate

In October the AmCham Sustainable Real Estate Committee held a meeting with two specialists in green building certification, Regina Gul, project manager at Jones Lang LaSalle, and Andrzej Gutowski, senior associate at Colliers International, who talked about the benefits of green building concepts for both landlords and tenants.

Gul, who also represents the Polish Green Building Council (PLGBC), said that green buildings are those that have the least possible impact on the environment, which means that they use the minimum water and energy necessary to run them. The water is recycled while the consumption of energy is reduced by thermal insulation. In addition the modern air filtration systems that are applied in green buildings may boost the productivity of the people working in them by 20%, according to one study.

The concept of green buildings is not only about the building itself, but about its environment too, Gul said. They are developed around green areas and keep their environment clean.

In amenities, green buildings come with the top of the class, offering tenants options to arrange work space according to their needs, but also good access to public transportation systems, because the idea of green buildings is to use mass transit rather than private cars to deliver people to work.

Gul went on to discuss the mission of PLGBC, how it promotes and educates the industry about BREEAM and other standards for green buildings, and gave an overview of PLGBC’s educational programs, events and other benefits for PLGBC members.

Andrzej Gutowski talked about the benefits that tenants have in green-certified buildings.

Social benefits include improved memory skills from access to views that the tenants have and improved learning efficiency because of access to daylight, which improves productivity.

Gutowski also talked about the cost aspects of building and running green buildings. He said that the industry has a perception of the costs that is much higher than they actually are.

He finished with an overview of the requirements for a building to obtain and retain LEED certification.

Tax & Financial Services

In December the AmCham Tax & Financial Services Committee held a meeting with Joanna Narkiewicz-Tarłowska, director of Tax Advisory at PwC, and Bartosz Kwiatkowski, public policy manager at PwC, who talked about the new regulations on taxation of equity plans for employees and differences in tax treatment of employees of American companies compared to EU ones.

The speakers explained that due to the lack of specific regulations in Polish personal income taxation, general tax rules apply in the taxation of income that employees of US companies in Poland gain under incentive plans.

AmCham Committee Guide As a result, employees of Polish companies participating in incentive plans organized by American companies are generally obliged to pay tax at the point of receiving the benefits. If those benefits include, for instance, company stock, beneficiaries who pay tax on the value of the stock upfront may encounter a loss if the stock loses its value. In some other cases the tax system may also lead to double taxation of the employee’s income.

The speakers presented the differences in how such benefits are taxed for employees of EU-based companies and suggested changes in the Polish income tax and social security laws to allow for non-taxable acquisition of stock through employee benefit programs.

Travel & Tourism

In December the AmCham Travel & Tourism Committee held a meeting with Aneta Montano, managing director of FCm Travel Solutions Poland, and Magdalena Bąk, key account manager for corporate clients at LOT Polish Airlines, who talked about how companies can benefit from new trends in corporate travel management and travel planning.

Aneta Montano gave an overview of how corporate travel management companies work and how that impacts buying strategies for corporate travel clients, including market trends in software and technology that helps clients monitor their traveling personnel for safety.

Magdalena Bąk discussed LOT’s new strategy for winning more business. especially from small and medium-sized companies. She said that with the existing connections between Warsaw and Toronto, Chicago and New York, which are very popular, LOT focuses on extending its destination list in Asia, including Tokyo, available from January, and Seoul, available in the 3rd quarter of 2016.

Bąk noted that with the Tokyo connection and an agreement between LOT and Air New Zealand, travelers will be able to fly from Warsaw to Auckland with only one flight change in Tokyo. The entire trip, estimated at 26 hours, is provided by Dreamliners.

Bąk also talked about new LOT connections in Europe, and domestic flights, including a new one—a direct flight between Kraków and Gdańsk.

She mentioned a travel bonus program for small companies through which they can generate bonuses for future flights of their people while at the same time the flying individuals can generate bonuses in their personal loyalty programs such as Miles & More.

Bąk also introduced the concept of Bus & Fly, a new service from LOT which connects Warsaw with Łódź, Radom, Kielce, Lublin and Białystok for LOT passengers for an additional fee of PLN 25. The reason Bus & Fly may be interesting to travelers is that once they board the bus, they are treated as LOT clients, which means that in case of delays on the road resulting in missing the flight, they are offered alternative connections for no additional charge.

•

For the most recent information about the work of AmCham Committees and upcoming events visit amcham.pl Agri, Food & FMCG

European Union Affairs

Business Technology & Services

Health & Pharma

Mission: To provide a platform for discussing and overcoming issues and identifying opportunities related to operational activity for companies in the agricultural and food sectors in Poland by creating a basis for dialogue and expertise leveraged among producers, sector professionals, experts and decision-makers in the Polish government. Co-Chairs: Piotr Bonisławski, Eli Lilly Polska; Andrzej Pawelczak, Animex.

Mission: To provide a platform for discussing, identifying and addressing common SSC/BPO issues related to hightech operations; to maintain contact with local authorities, educational and governmental institutions to present a unified business perspective and options for cooperation. Co-Chairs: Jacek Stryczyński, Lionbridge; Angelo Pressello, Direct Communication.

Mission: To provide a platform for discussing business-related issues coming out of the EU, including EU funds; to work with AmCham EU on mutual lobbying initiatives; and to represent member companies before the European Commission and the government of Poland. Co-Chairs: Magdalena Burnat-Mikosz, Deloitte; Jerzy Thieme.

Human Resources Management

Travel & Tourism

Digital Economy

Manufacturing

Energy & Environment

Mission: To help members develop their energy and environmental business in Poland. By helping members work collectively to overcome any systemic difficulties encountered in their business the committee aims to increase the level and quality of investment and activity in these sectors. Co-Chairs: Izabela Kielichowska, GE International; Michał Koczalski, CEC Government Relations.

Tax & Financial Services

Mission: To provide a platform for identifying tax and financial issues and create an educational forum to keep AmCham members informed on current and upcoming legislation.

Co-Chairs: Adam Soska, GE International; Marcin Matyka, Norton Rose Fulbright.

Defense & Security

Mission: To provide a forum for innovative companies to support the digital economy in Poland as a key driver of sustainable growth. It aims to raise awareness about the importance of balanced investments in digital infrastructure, fully exploiting digital potential, and increasing competitiveness in the global environment. Co-Chairs: Patrycja Gołos, UPC; Igor Ostrowski, Dentons.

Mission: To discuss issues regarding the complexities of the real estate market in Poland, and exchange information. To be an educational and networking forum for members and to lobby and influence legislative departments of the Polish government. Co-Chairs: Halina Więckowska, K&L Gates; Magdalena Pavlak-Chiaradia, ERM Polska.

Mission: To represent the voice and opinions on various issues of the health sector, to discuss conditions, news and challenges of the sector; to provide expertise. Co-Chairs: Ernest Bartosik, Unipharm; Aldona Zygmunt, Pfizer.

Mission: To create an information exchange forum of HR professionals to share, discuss and learn about the latest trends in HR management and influence local policy and decision-makers.

Co-Chairs: Jolanta Jaworska, IBM Poland; Agata Dulnik, Accenture.

Mission: To discuss issues regarding the defense industry and exchange information, to create a networking forum for members, and to lobby and encourage decision-makers in government. Co-Chairs: Stan Prusiński, Boeing Europe; Marta Frąckowiak, DLA Piper.

Sustainable Real Estate

Mission: To provide a platform for discussing issues and problems related to the manufacturing sector in Poland and to provide networking opportunities; to discuss conditions, news and challenges in the manufacturing sector across Poland; to coordinate with AmCham’s annual Manufacturers’ Forum. Co-Chairs: Joanna Bensz, CH2M Polska; Randy Stiles, 3M Poland.

Marketing & Communications

Mission: To provide a forum for member firms to share knowledge and exchange experiences in marketing, communications and PR; provide educational and networking opportunities for member firms interested in these areas; and serve as an advisory body for AmCham.

Co-Chairs: Anya Ogorkiewicz; Ewa Suszek, Deloitte.

Mission: To provide a platform for discussing issues and problems related to travel, leisure and the hospitality industry and to provide networking opportunities and to discuss trends and standards in the industry that will allow members to fully benefit from AmCham. Chair: Tim Hyland, FCm Travel Express.

THOUGHT LEADERS

Individuals who are point people and experts for specific areas of interest for AmCham that do not require a formal committee structure or activity level.

SME & Entrepreneurship Alain Bobet

Innovation Bogusława Skowroński

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

9

Cover Story US investors in the manufacturing sector

Photo: © GM Company

Success factory

US companies in the manufacturing sector have seen one heyday and think another is possible

10

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

11

Cover Story US investors in the manufacturing sector

A

fter Poland began its political and economic transformation in 1989, it was decided that Poland had to quit the Warsaw Pact and Soviet troops stationed in Poland had to go home. President Lech Wałęsa quipped that what Poland needed instead of Soviet generals was American generals: General Motors and General Electric. This famous comment was arguably the greatest compliment ever paid to American business by the Polish head of state. But Wałęsa was a true enthusiast of American business. When Procter & Gamble launched production in Poland in 1993, the opening of the factory was attended by the president—the only such event ever attended by Lech Wałęsa.

Wałęsa could not have been more accurate in his wish.

Twenty-one years later, in 2014, 16 US companies in Poland, mostly from the manufacturing sector, were honored by the Polish Ministry of Economy with Medals of Merit for Economic Development of the Republic of Poland. Among them were the two “generals” as well as P&G. Janusz Piechociński, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy at the time, said at the ceremony that American companies not only brought technology, knowhow, business knowledge and acumen to Poland, but also “represent the culture of freedom” which they develop in Poland “with passion.”

12

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

dog bites man But today, while the input of American investors in the development of the manufacturing sector in Poland can hardly be overestimated, it is fair to say that when a US factory expands or opens a new production line here, the fact is taken for granted by public opinion. When GM held a ceremony in October 2015 launching production of a new model at its factory in Gliwice—a factory so modern it is viewed as a benchmark for GM’s offshore projects around the world—it was attended by Walter Braunohler, US Consul General in Kraków, but not by Polish government representatives on the local or central level. The event was reported by the media in Poland more as a factoid for auto buffs than as a signal for market analysts of the new commitment to the Polish economy by a giant of American manufacturing.

There could be several reasons for this.

The new line was for what Poles might regard as a niche model—the Buick Cascada, a luxury convertible. Or perhaps it didn’t seem like news. After all, in September 2015 GM Gliwice had begun to roll out a new model of the Opel Astra hatchback, already an acclaimed vehicle among automotive critics. And in 2014 GM had revealed its plans to invest EUR 250 million in an engine factory in nearby Tychy, which when

valuable for the Polish economy because they are about the transfer of knowledge, which in turn ups the professional competencies of Polish workers.

Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik, director of the Foreign Investment Department at the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency (PAIiIZ), confirmed that observation, saying that out of the 170 investment projects PAIiIZ is working on today, many of which are from the US, most of them are in manufacturing sectors such as automotive and aviation. Many of those projects are about R&D and new technology development.

One of the pioneers in this area was General Electric, a company that came to Poland in 1990, investing first in consumer finance but soon expanding its investment strategy to embrace technology. GE’s Engineering Design Center in Warsaw proved not only a fantastic public-private partnership with the National Institute of Aviation, but also an important part of the company’s global R&D network. In addition, the company has developed five production centers in Poland which specialize in electrical equipment and aircraft parts and components. Along with the Engineering Design Center, GE is investing in new R&D operations. Last year it revealed plans for a USD 54 million factory in Bielsko-Biała. When

American investors played a key role in the influx of foreign investment to Poland in the 1990s. They were the first to come. In the manufacturing sector they focused on high-tech areas such as automotive and aviation, but were also present in food and food processing. delivered in 2018 will add an estimated 550 new jobs to the 3,800 already in Gliwice. So another new investment by GM could hardly come as a surprise.

Pioneering R&d American investors played a key role in the influx of foreign investment to Poland in the 1990s. They were the first to come. In the manufacturing sector they focused on high-tech areas such as automotive and aviation, but were also present in food and food processing.

Today many of those manufacturing companies that had entered Poland in the 1990s are reinvesting in the country by expanding their production facilities. “US manufacturing companies invest today in logistics centers as well as R&D centers,” said Maciej Korzeniowski, a partner at PwC. He added that R&D investments are especially

interviewed by this magazine last year, GE’s President for Poland and the Baltics Beata Stelmach said that with GE’s total investment in Poland of over USD 1.3 billion since 1992, the company perceives itself as a Polish company as much as an American one.

Pioneering technology clusters When they entered the market in Poland, it was only natural for US investors to look for local subcontractors and suppliers. As a result they were pivotal in forming Poland’s first industry clusters. GM built its car factory in Gliwice in 1998, where it is now one of the largest employers and cooperates with over 100 companies in Poland. A rough estimate for the industry shows that the GM Gliwice factory may support an additional 16,000 jobs in Poland.

United Technologies (UTC), a US com-

pany that employs around 10,000 people in over 60 locations around Poland, played a pivotal role with its investments in Podkarpacie province in southeastern Poland, which led to the emergence of “Aviation Valley”—a cluster of aerospace companies.

At the beginning, in 2003, Aviation Valley comprised 18 companies which together supported 9,000 jobs and had a combined turnover of USD 250 million. In 2014 Aviation Valley represented 120 companies which together employed 23,000 highly qualified people and had combined sales of USD 2 billion.

Aviation Valley was really a local industrial revolution which transformed an aging automotive industry in the region into a booming aerospace cluster. Atop the revolution were big companies, including UTC and Pratt & Whitney, but at the base of the pyramid were over 50 medium-sized and

The picture of US investment in the food manufacturing sector in Poland would not be complete without PepsiCo, owner of the Pepsi brand, which was available at retail in Poland as far back as the 1970s. With its chain of investment starting in 1991, PepsiCo today has four production plants which support over 1,000 jobs.

Pioneering technical education PAIiIZ’s Chojnowska-Haponik said that when it comes to the manufacturing sector, foreign investors, and particularly American ones, have had a significant impact in developing technical education and training to sustain the inflow of the local workforce.

Aviation Valley, again, is one of the best examples. The companies in the aviation cluster around Rzeszów developed educational programs for local students who

When they entered the market in Poland, it was only natural for US investors to look for local subcontractors and suppliers. As a result they were pivotal in forming Poland’s first industry clusters. small firms, often family-run, located in small cities around Rzeszów.

American investors in Poland played an important part in creating industry clusters not only in the automotive and aerospace industries. Animex, a food processing giant, was one of the first foreign direct investors in the industry which began to work directly with Polish farmers. Today the company employs 6,000 people at its plants, which process food from several thousand subcontracted farmers.

Another investor, fodder manufacturer Cargill, present in Poland since 1991, has grown its production operations to 17 facilities. Today Cargill Poland supports over 1,650 full-time jobs.

Another landmark investor in Poland’s food producing sector is Mondelēz Polska, part of Mondelēz International, Inc. The company has been in business in Poland for 23 years. Today it supports 3,300 jobs at its seven production facilities. According to Joanna Matryba, supply chain communication manager at Mondelēz in Poland, last year alone the company made an investment of USD 30 million in a new production line at its factory in Skarbimierz and USD 15 million in an R&D center under construction in Bielany Wrocławskie.

Mars, a US company present in Poland since 1992, has three subsidiaries in Poland, Mars Polska, Wrigley Poland and Royal Canin Polska, which run six production facilities and support over 2,500 jobs.

would later consider professional careers in the aerospace industry. In time the programs became so complex that in 2003 Aviation Valley created a standalone institution to manage all the programs and develop new ones: the Education Support Foundation. UTC donated PLN 1 million to help establish the foundation. It was a good move. The foundation has since created many successful educational programs in cooperation with local technical high schools and the Rzeszów University of Technology.

The Gliwice-based GM factory was also among the pioneers in bringing technical and technological education to Poland. In 2003 the company had only 8 engineers for project development employed in Gliwice.

In 2014 it had 97, to a large extent thanks to its own educational program. Called Young Engineer, it offers paid internships to students in their last year at the Silesian University of Technology, the Kraków-based AGH University of Science and Technology, and the University of Economics in Katowice. The schools preselect their best students who are interested in working for GM in Gliwice and they undergo a 6-month program there. Each student has his or her own mentor from GM and is assigned a project to accomplish within 10 weeks. The program culminates with students presenting their projects before the GM Gliwice management. Working with the interns, GM identifies the areas where their knowl-

edge is not sufficient and sends feedback to the universities so they can adjust their curricula accordingly. GM also hires the best talent. “In 2004–2012 we had 200 participants in our program,” said Paweł Wideł, government relations director for GM in Poland. “We hired 80 people, so it is a very good and effective program.” Wideł said the first round of the program in 2014 attracted 17 participants who practically established an R&D unit for the company in Gliwice.

In addition to that, GM Gliwice cooperates with a number of vocational schools across Poland, helping them put their hands on the right teaching aids. Last year alone GM donated over 1,000 pieces of engineering equipment and automotive components to help the schools better embrace the practical aspects of modern auto engineering.

Another American company in the manufacturing sector which has developed successful cooperation with the academic sector in Poland is 3M. The company has been present in Poland since 1991. In 2001 it made its first investment in a production facility in Poland, and since then it has invested over USD 400 million and created over 2,000 jobs. Today 3M runs a number of factories outputting medical, automotive, aerospace and safety products in Wrocław, Rabka and Janinów. 3M has also established one of its R&D centers in Poland, and most recently, in 2015, a shared-services center.

One of the most important ways 3M ferrets out the best talent is through cooperation with the Wrocław University of Technology. The company has developed a program for interns called O2—Optimize Operation—through which selected students are employed for 18 months, undergoing a range of training to become acquainted with production standards such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. According to Randy Stiles, 3M Poland’s manufacturing operations manager, it is a very effective way of gaining new engineers, as most of the program participants stay with the company for much longer.

While most American investors in the manufacturing sector seek engineering talent from the existing academic programs, GE went a step further. In 2013, in cooperation with GE, the Gdańsk University of Technology opened a new master’s degree program in the Faculty of Ocean Engineering and Ship Technology dedicated to subsea technologies for the oil industry. The program exploits the knowhow of Polish academics and GE engineers.

Similar steps took Flextronics international, a US producer of electronics, to Tczew, in northern Poland, where it has a production facility and a logistics center employing over 3,200 people. The company has been cooperating with the Gdańsk Uni-

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

13

Cover Story US investors in the manufacturing sector versity of Technology in running a postgraduate program dedicated to quality in technology. Flextronics is also working with the university to jointly launch a new postgraduate program in electronics manufacturing engineering. With this program, the company hopes to develop a source of skilled and highly educated engineering talent and boost the qualifications of its existing engineering workforce.

Flextronics also collaborates with a number of vocational schools and the educational foundation of the Pomerania ICT Cluster Interizon. Flextronics donates money for new teaching aids and new programs to enrich the technical and business leadership culture of the students. It also has a scholarship program for the most talented ones. Flextronics’s efforts to support education were recognized by the Polish Ministry of Economy with an honorary prize several ago. Another prize, HR Innovator, was awarded to Flextronics by a consortium of Polish academia and business.

Last year, International Paper Kwidzyń, one of the largest paper producers in Europe, was awarded recognition from the Ministry of Economy for the company’s involvement in improving vocational education in the region. The largest employer in Kwidzyń, it is also the largest supporter of vocational training in the region through a

cial attention to environmental issues.

Some, like Coca-Cola, developed their own CSR programs for Poland, focusing on issues like preservation of Poland’s natural water systems. Others extended their global CSR programs to Poland, in such areas as recycling, waste management, human resource development, and leadership in business.

Jobs and jobseekers When the first US investors in the manufacturing sector were taking their first steps in Poland, the last thing on their mind was that one day there would not be enough technical talent to support their operations. Years back, when GM opened its factory in Gliwice, the company would get 40 applications for each job opening on the production line. Jobseekers were plentiful and well-trained, as most of them had professional experience in the heavy industry so predominant then in Upper Silesia.

As years went by, however, the local pool of people with technical skills dried up.

Nearly all US manufacturers who responded to an American Investor e-mail query pointed to this as a problem. Agata Przymusińska from Delphi Poland said that the competition for good specialists has intensified in the country and no company

Foreign investors, and particularly American ones, have had a significant impact in developing technical education and training to sustain the inflow of the local workforce. cooperation agreement with a number of local schools. The company offers internship programs with employment opportunities for the best students and also runs a scholarship program for those seeking to raise their professional qualifications through technical university programs. International Paper employs over 1,300 people in Poland and has invested over USD 800 million here since 1992.

Pioneering auxiliary areas Along with contributing business knowledge and technology, all American companies brought with them a certain business culture unknown to the budding Polish entrepreneurship: corporate social responsibility and volunteering.

Since manufacturing is about machinery and motion, another thing US companies brought with them was a culture of zero tolerance for safety shortcomings at the workplace.

Also, because of their environmental footprint, US manufacturers have paid spe-

14

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

alone can solve this situation.

Anna Sobolewska, PR and marketing specialist at Flextronics, noted that there is a deficit of vocational and secondary school graduates to staff such positions as mechanics, technicians, IT technicians, and other mid-level technical workers. She added that the number of schools in Poland which offer adequate training is low, and the existing ones cannot brag about an overflow of candidates. In her view, this is because young people do not perceive technical education as attractive in Poland, although mid-level technical jobs in the manufacturing sector often offer more attractive salaries than in other sectors of the economy.

The same complaint came from Cargill Poland, a company which in some regions of Poland is short of graduates from vocational schools with specialties in agriculture.

Seweryn Duda, responsible for PR on the management board of International Paper Kwidzyń, said that apparently the situation is changing from an employers’ market to a

market driven by employees. But in his view, the lack of proper candidates has been felt in engineering positions more than production-floor jobs.

Małgorzata Skonieczna, corporate communications director for Central Europe at PepsiCo, said that the hardest candidates to find now are for production line work, with mid-level technical education and work experience in “a flexible manufacturing environment.”

According to PAIiIZ’s Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik, the lack of proper vocational education across a range of economic sectors was noted by the past government.

To address this issue, the government developed a program for mid-level vocational schools where students would spend three days of their school time a week in the classroom studying theory and two days as apprentices at real production companies.

The program, called Dual Training, kicked off in December 2014, assigning funds to companies in special economic zones to support apprentices from a number of selected vocational schools.

Chojnowska-Haponik added that this program was modeled along the lines of vocational training in Germany. It was pioneered in Poland by VW and the GermanPolish Chamber of Industry and Commerce when the two launched a training program and awarded certificates to students who came through it successfully. The certificate is recognized by German companies in Poland and all companies in Germany. an upside to the downside The problem of the drying up pool of qualified workers to staff production lines has been noted by the GM Gliwice factory, said Paweł Wideł. But a surprising positive trend has emerged: more applications from female candidates for production line jobs.

Wideł said women work well on the production line. At GM Gliwice they first proved their value in the quality control department, but now “female workers are becoming increasingly present on the production line as well. With this, the company cannot complain about the lack of qualified workers.”

Power point While the problem of Poland’s aging power generating infrastructure and the equally old and inefficient national power grid has been discussed in Poland by different people for at least a decade, it was only last summer that the worst-case scenario materialized. The heat wave that struck Poland in several places in August defeated the energy distribution system, and some factories and big shopping centers could not get

enough electricity to continue their business as usual. 3M was forced to slow down its production in Wrocław due to the reduced power supply. According to Randy Stiles, 3M Poland had to work in emergency mode, with a limited ability to plan its production output, because the energy provider could not say precisely when the power supply would return to normal. As a result, the company sustained a financial loss.

Cargill Poland had to reshuffle the production processes at its plants, which also caused logistics challenges. But the company managed to deliver on all orders, so customers were not aware there had been a problem. So did Delphi Poland.

But PepsiCo got hit so hard by the power

the energy-efficient technology it uses.

Paweł Wideł said that a lack of power could spell disaster for a company that has its production lines “timed to the second,” as he said. “No electricity for, say, half a day would mean unimaginable drama for the entire company.”

It is not clear, however, how the problem of the power supply will evolve across the country. According to Wideł, Upper Silesia has a good industrial power infrastructure.

The GM plant is close to generating facilities and does not identify power as a future threat to its business.

According to PwC’s Maciej Korzeniowski, the August 2015 power outage was an incident that could have happened in any developed country. Poland’s volatile power

Along with contributing business knowledge and technology, all American companies brought with them a certain business culture unknown to the budding Polish entrepreneurship: corporate social responsibility and volunteering. shortages that the company had to request the Polish Federation of Food Producers to help. PepsiCo’s Małgorzata Skonieczna told American Investor that the food producing sector should receive “sensitive” status, which means electricity should be available at all times as agreed with the provider. A sudden outage for food producing plants jeopardizes the safety of food delivered to consumers and also may cause negative environmental impacts. Unpredictable cuts in electricity supplies can also damage manufacturing equipment, in some cases entire production lines.

Another food producer, Mars, was lucky in the summer, to a degree. The electricity shortage coincided with a technological break at its Sochaczew factory, where technical people were at work at night. The company was also aided by its own generating facility—a state-of-the-art water-purifying and renewable-energy plant which cost PLN 33 million to build.

Flextronics also managed to emerge unharmed from the summer power outage, as did Mondelēz. And so did International Paper Kwidzyń, mostly thanks to its own power generating capacity, which covers some 80% of the factory’s demand.

GM Gliwice escaped the power outage because it coincided with the annual summer shutdown for readjusting its production lines, when staff are sent off for their summer vacations. And even if the company had experienced a limited supply of power, it could have survived unharmed thanks to

grid had already been identified by foreign investors as a risk factor, and the government has taken steps to improve the situation.

This opinion was echoed by Iwona Chojnowska-Haponik, who said that the previous government earmarked PLN 110 billion for modernization of the Polish power sector to improve its stability. The tenders are now being conducted. But those investments are time-consuming and the results will not be seen for years. Meanwhile, she said, there may be some power distribution problems this year if the summer is hot enough.

panies in Poland.

The balance going forward Despite these problems, all the manufacturing companies American Investor contacted said Poland is still a very attractive country in which to develop production.

GM’s Paweł Wideł noted that Poland’s labor unions have come a long way in understanding their role in the business equilibrium. In his view, unions are a demanding partner for big companies, who are very hard negotiators. “Oftentimes our negotiations are not easy, but we always reach agreement.”

Wideł said that GM Gliwice perceives the three different labor unions at the company as reliable partners who stand for the rights of the workers but at the same time do not forget that the company is also a value. Both sides respect each other even when discussing difficult issues.

Wideł said there is a buffer system in Poland that prevents trade unions from being trigger-happy when it comes to strikes. There is a mediation mechanism provided by what is now known as the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy which has proved effective even when both sides had reached a dead end in their talks, or at least they thought so.

According to PepsiCo’s Małgorzata Skonieczna, Poland has good business outsourcing, including logistics services, contract manufacturing, HR, accounting and fleet management.

But manufacturing is not just about happy cooperation with local partners or producing breathtaking goods. It is about selling them. With this in mind, Skonieczna said that if political and economic conditions begin to affect the value of the Polish złoty against leading currencies, foreign investors may think twice before they allocate more investment dollars to Poland.

•

other problems When it comes to other issues that manufacturing companies from the US face in Poland, the list is short. Some investors mentioned the plethora of regulations, which change constantly because of new regulatory output in Warsaw and Brussels. Seweryn Duda from International Paper said, “We need more predictability in the regulatory and policy-making areas to be able to successfully continue our business in Poland.”

Andrzej Modrzyk, plant manager at Pittsburgh Glass Works Poland, said that utilities like water and electricity are already very expensive in Poland, and when occasional problems e.g. with the power supply are combined with perpetual administrative and bureaucratic burdens, the result is dulling of the competitive edge of manufacturing com-

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

15

Monthly Meeting November

Hoping for the best

The new government will look for new revenues to cover the cost of promised social reforms

S

ome of Poland’s most influential political commentators were the speakers at the first AmCham Monthly Meeting held after the October general election, to discuss the impact that the new government will have on the economy.

While the landslide victory of Law & Justice (PiS), in conjunction with the party’s electoral promises on social security and welfare, alarmed market-oriented economists, the speakers on the panel argued that PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński will step cautiously when it comes to the economy in the hope that GDP growth will continue at a rate comparable to that achieved in previous years. need for reforms According to Łukasz Warzecha of W Sieci, some of the PiS promises, such as paying PLN 500 monthly to parents for each of their children below age 18, will be revised. “Now it is PLN 500 for the second child, or children in poor families,” Warzecha said. “Some of the proposals will go or will take a different shape.”

Warzecha explained that PiS will not shy away from changing their electoral promises because the party “has the most forgiving electorate in Poland’s politics. Even if PiS does not exactly deliver what they have promised, there will be no backlash.”

Tomasz Wróblewski of Wprost did not agree. He explained that the PiS victory became a reality because of the swing votes from people who previously voted for Civic Platform (PO) but were disillusioned with the party for its lack of economic reforms. If PiS fails to deliver, those voters are not going to be a forgiving crowd. “If PiS wants to hold on to this electorate and really make a difference in Polish politics, PiS cannot break those promises and will have to deliver,” Wróblewski said.

He added that the social and labor market reforms that PiS was talking about in its electoral campaign were not meant just to trigger as many voters as possible into supporting PiS, but addressed important economic and demographic issues: “Demographics is a problem, and the PLN 500 support for a child is part of the problem. Poland spends a tiny portion of what other EU countries spend on helping parents raise their offspring. For the last 10 years we did nothing because we assumed that we have a young society, and this was a problem. Kaczyński understands that and will work in this area.”

Wróblewski also said that demographics

16

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

are now hurting the economy: “There is a lack of labor force in some areas of the economy as young people left Poland or are about to leave. Politicians understand that the expert and specialized workforce is not paid enough in Poland.” new taxes All the speakers agreed that to raise money for their social agenda, PiS will be determined to introduce new taxation. According to Andrzej Bobiński of Polityka Insight, “At some point they are going to come to the problem of taxation, because this is how they are going to finance their social promises—a tax on bank assets, a retail tax, and others.”

As Wróblewski noted, PiS may try to introduce differential taxation for companies. In such a scheme, small family-owned firms could benefit from lower taxation, so they can “spread their wings,” as he put it. new policies Along with new taxation, the speakers agreed that PiS will pursue new policies regarding Poland’s strategic interests, including the energy and defense sectors. According to Warzecha, while PiS will try to boost defense expenditures it will also look at where the money is going to make sure the beneficiaries of defense contracts are Polish companies. With this, PiS is likely to halt contracts that the PO-led government signed, including the delivery of new helicopters for the Polish armed forces and a new antimissile system.

Warzecha also said that PiS will create a new Ministry of Energy to reinforce the party’s view of coal as the main source of energy for the Polish economy. Warzecha said that while this may please many PiS supporters who are coal miners in Upper Silesia— “an electorate that PiS cares for”—the new energy policy will be harmful for the Polish economy because coal from Upper Silesia is expensive and continued extensive use of it will put Poland squarely in opposition to the European Commission and its ambitious policies against global warming. effective strategy?

For Warzecha it was not clear whether PiS will be able to come up with an effective strategy to contain its social and government realignment agendas as well as efforts to take the Polish economy out of the “middle-income trap.” Warzecha said, “It is a long-term strategy, much longer than one term of the

Parliament. It will be a new experience for Poland, with no precedent before now.”

According to Bobiński, PiS lacks any clear vision to face the challenges. In fact, Bobiński noted, PiS’s outlook is very old-fashioned, and the party did not even touch upon the most difficult economic issues in the campaign. This is why he predicts that the PiS policies will fail. “There is going to be a new political scene in 4 to 8 years,” Bobiński said. “Poland will have to adopt new solutions, modern solutions for how the country is run.”

MEET THE SPEAKERS

•

Andrzej Bobiński is a senior analyst heading the business desk of Polityka Insight, a daily information service from the weekly Polityka. Previously he managed external relations for telecom Orange Polska. Bobiński is a co-founder of the Wrocław Global Forum. In 2006–2009 he was program coordinator at the Center for International Relations in Warsaw.

Bobiński earned a master’s degree in applied linguistics at the University of Warsaw.

Łukasz Warzecha is a commentator for W Sieci, a weekly. In 1997–1999 he was in charge of the foreign section of Życie daily and in 2003–2014 was an editor at the daily Fakt. Warzecha has also worked as a researcher at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Warzecha graduated from the Institute of International Relations at the University of Warsaw.

Tomasz Wróblewski is editor in chief of Wprost weekly. He graduated from the University of Houston in the US. After his return to Poland in 1997 he worked as program director for the private radio station RMF and was editor in chief of dailies Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and Rzeczpospolita. In 2001 Wróblewski was instrumental in launching the Polish editions of Newsweek and Forbes.

Special feature Annual General Meeting

Advocating for a better future AmCham builds on the past successes of mutually beneficial US-Poland business relations

F

or many AmCham members who assembled at the Warsaw Marriott Hotel for the organization’s annual general meeting, the event was the first opportunity to meet the new US Ambassador to Poland, Paul W. Jones, who delivered the keynote speech.

Ambassador Jones, who began his mission in Poland in September last year, was very well acquainted with the role that US companies play in the Polish economy. The ambassador, who is also Honorary Chairman of AmCham, said that many companies who are AmCham members were among the first US investors in Poland as the country began its march toward democracy and a free-market economy in 1989, and have been very successful commercially. Part of that success, Jones said, was that American companies not only stand for foreign capital invested in the country and the knowhow they bring with them, but offer an entrepreneurial business model and a corporate business model. Poles have found them appealing because they change the face of the Polish economy and make it modern and innovation-based. “Your companies have made so many important investments in human capital, as well as in industry and R&D, business centers, IT, automotive, aircraft, and a number of high technologies,” Jones said.

He noted that in his travels across Poland he has visited US companies in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk which created state-of-the-art technologies for different types of applications, from mobile phones to voice-recognition technologies and navigation applications for the aviation industry. Jones underlined that the companies use local talent and actively cooperate with Polish academia, in which they are an important force in creating innovation hubs and startups in Poland.

All this would not have been possible had it not been for the early and steady inflow of American capital to Poland, Jones said. He quoted the numbers from the Congressional Research Service which showed the US engagement in Poland in 1990–2015. “The US is the single largest source of FDI in Poland,” he read. “These new statistics say that the US total corporate asset base in Poland is USD 65 billion and that the US foreign direct investment in Poland is USD 13.5 billion. It also says that US affiliates in Poland employ over 160,000 people.” challenges ahead While the history of US-Poland business relations is a story of mutual success, Ambassador Jones said that the global economic agenda

18

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

has posed new challenges in recent years which call for tightening transatlantic economic relations. One of the solutions is the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a free-trade agreement currently being negotiated by the US and the EU. Jones said that Poland is playing an important part in the EU efforts to make TTIP a reality.

“Poland has been, and I’m confident will continue to be, a big supporter of those negotiations,” he said. “Poland plays a growing role in the EU, and we intend to engage on those issues with the new government.”

TTIP would not only benefit US/EU relations as such, but also deliver new momentum for Poland-US trade as well. “Our trading relationship has also grown significantly in recent years, and it is something we are very interested in expanding further,” Jones said.

“We think that with the size of our economies and the role that Poland now plays in the world economically, it could be more. The benefits that free trade brings to countries and companies could benefit both our countries, so we are looking to encourage Polish companies to look at our markets across the ocean for opportunities.” energy and more Ambassador Jones said that while the Polish economy has been growing—in fact Poland is the only country in the EU which has recorded positive year-on-year growth in its gross domestic product for the last 25 years— there are areas of the Polish economy which still need upgrades and modernization, and this is where US companies with their technologies and knowhow can play positive roles.

“With Poland receiving over half of its natural gas from Russia and a general desire across the political spectrum to reduce dependency and increase diversification in energy, we see a role for US companies in helping with capital, technology, and ways to diversify energy,” the ambassador said.

He also noted that the aging Polish energygenerating infrastructure—some power plants being 30 years old or more—offers opportunities for helping Poland to modernize its generation capacity and distribution grid, and increase its energy efficiency, “as well as to add other elements to the energy mix to expand it in areas such as nuclear power, shale gas, LNG, and renewable energy.”

Jones said that energy is one of the areas of the economy which is important for US investors, and the US administration helps them in this respect. Secretary of Commerce

Penny Pritzker, who in 2014 led a visit to Poland with President Obama’s Export Council, identified areas in which the US administration is going to focus its promotional efforts: defense, IT, infrastructure, energy, smart cities, green building solutions, and intelligent transportation solutions. Jones said that Pritzker’s visit here was followed by trade missions, including governors of several states, and “the US administration is interested to move ahead.” cybersecurity and innovation The US administration is also interested in moving ahead on cybersecurity. “For security reasons I think this is a part of the theme for the NATO summit which will be held in Warsaw in July 2016, as we move from a motive focused primarily on conventional security with a growing sense that we need to address in NATO the hybrid areas in security, and particularly cyber is a big area,” he said, adding that cybersecurity is an area with opportunities for US and Polish companies to work in together “to strengthen cybersecurity here, in the US, and in the region.”

Another area with huge potential for US and Polish companies is innovation. Jones noted that AmCham plays a particular leadership role as part of the Poland-US Innovation Program—PLUS-IP, a government-to-government program aimed at merging Polish talent with US knowhow in startup creation.

“AmCham is the American lead on the PLUS-IP Energy Working Group,” he said, “which is very important to Poland’s efforts in this area, a program that we are interested in pushing forward.”

Human relations Ambassador Jones observed that the positive impact of American companies on the Polish economy is not the only important aspect of the presence of US business in Poland. Another is the impact American companies have on the development of Polish leaders and people-to-people relations. He praised the AmCham “30 Under 30” mentoring program, aimed at highly talented employees of AmCham companies below age 30, who have an opportunity to develop their business skills through a series of monthly meetings with business leaders from AmCham companies.

“It was the first year when AmCham took 30 spectacular young employees of American business through a year-long mentoring program,” he said. “So we got to visit with a lot of them, and the stories were impressive. The

Special feature Annual General Meeting participants were so heartfelt about what they got from that program. We look forward to supporting this program if we can going forward.”

For Jones, programs such as “30 Under 30” are important not only because they groom young local talent, but they also help to narrate the great story of the role of American business in the development of Poland. “It is a terrific story,” he said. “It has been told very well, and we have to keep refreshing it for younger generations going forward. The narrative needs to be renewed for the younger generation, which is now more likely to go study in Europe than in the US and more likely to be familiar with European languages.”

Jones said that the US administration wants to keep reinvigorating the US connection in Poland. US companies do this through their work in Poland, while such programs as “30 Under 30” are crucial to building ties between Poland and the US. Good dialogue Another speaker during the evening was Tony Housh, AmCham Chairman, who gave a summary of AmCham activities in 2015. He

said that the narrative describing the mutually beneficial Poland-US economic and business relationship had been enriched by the Polish side last year with the Honorary Medal of Merit from the Ministry of Economy granted to AmCham Poland for its contribution to the development of the Polish economy. Later in 2015 the Minister of Economy recognized 16 US companies in Poland with the Honorary Medal of Merit. Housh said that those companies contributed significantly in various ways to the development of the Polish economy—“not just purely in investment numbers or new job numbers, but also new methodologies, new standards, and other ways of doing business.” advocacy for business Speaking about the cooperation between AmCham and the US Embassy in Poland, Housh noted that it is “greatly appreciated,” and a lot of what AmCham has done in the past would not have happened without the involvement of the embassy team. Some of the meetings AmCham held with high-ranking officials from the US administration and Congress in Warsaw, such as US Secretary of State John Kerry and House Speaker John Boehner,

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Paul W. Jones was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Poland on September 11, 2015. Ambassador Jones has a wide-ranging background in Europe, including Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in 2013–2015. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna (2004–2005) and at the US Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia (1996–1999). Jones served at the OSCE Mission in Sarajevo and at the US Embassy in Moscow (1992– 1994). In Washington, he was Director of the Office for South Central Europe and, before that, Desk Officer for the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. He served twice on the staff of the Secretary of State, as Director of the Secretariat Staff and in the 24-hour Operations Center. Jones’s service in Asia and South Asia has complemented his European experience with an ambassadorial post in Malaysia (2010–2013) and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs. Jones was Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Manila (2005–2009). Early in his career he served in Bogota, Colombia.

Jones is a career diplomat. His awards include the Presidential Meritorious Service Award, the Robert C. Frasure Memorial Award for Peace-Building, and several Superior Honor Awards.

He speaks Spanish, Russian, and some Polish. He graduated from Cornell University and received master’s degrees from the University of Virginia and the Naval War College.

20

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Tony Housh is a senior counselor for the global strategic advisory firm APCO Worldwide and principal of the Warsawbased advisory firm CGC Advisors. He has 20 years of experience in Poland and Central Europe focused on regulatory, investment, European Union and Transatlantic affairs. His experience includes privatizations and M&A as a member of the board of directors of the NASDAQ- and WSE-listed CEDC and strategic advisory and risk management roles in the energy, pharmaceutical, security, financial services and technology fields. His previous roles include serving as director of AmCham, Country Officer for Poland at the US Treasury Department’s Office of Technical Assistance, and analyst roles in London and Brussels. Housh is a consultant to the World Bank in the innovation field and is a member of the USPoland Innovation Council, founded in Los Angeles in November 2014. He speaks and writes as an expert on behalf of the Geopolitical Information Service in Liechtenstein and the Presidential Forum on Public Debate in Poland.

Housh received his MA in European integration from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium and his BA in history and political science at the University of Kansas. He was a visiting student in Soviet studies at the University of Essex and is an alumnus of the Salzburg Seminar. In November 2014 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit

by President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski.

would not have happened had it not been for the hard work and dedication of the embassy team.

But while the chamber and the US Embassy have naturally good cooperation, Housh pointed out that AmCham is foremost a business advocacy organization, which works for the benefit of all business in Poland, not exclusively American. He said that while last year AmCham focused a lot on TTIP, innovation and energy, “there were a number of policy communications on a range of areas, from the stability of energy supplies to vocational training, across the board.”

What about 2016? “Aside from TTIP and PLUS-IP,” Housh said, “you will also hear us talk about healthcare, vocational training, cybersecurity, defense modernization. These all will be issues. In addition to our B2B and business environment issues, it is about trying to make things simply better for everybody to do business. We will also be touching on these because we think these are critical parts of not only the Polish economic development program, but for US industry to be involved in the further growth of the country.” work ahead Talking about Poland’s economic challenges, Housh noted that the country desperately needs to move towards a knowledge-based and value-added economy: “We think that some of the outcomes of PLUS-IP can help move things in that direction, so we are very pleased to be a part of this important bilateral program.”

He also addressed the issue of TTIP, looking at it from a more regional perspective than just Poland. “We have been involved in advocating not only for TTIP in Poland but in lobbying the US Senate and the House of Representatives on granting trade promotion authority to the Obama administration. The Transpacific and Transatlantic treaties on free trade do not happen unless the Obama administration has TPA. We organized a letter together with AmChams in Germany, Sweden and several other countries in Europe to advocate that position. TPA is vital to this process, and we followed on that with doorknocking in Washington, on both the House and the Senate side, beginning in June. We will pursue other activities as needed to get TTIP moving forward.”

Finally, Housh said that AmCham will do its best to engage with the new government “on many levels and on many issues” and build on the commitments that Prime Minister Beata Szydło made during her meeting with AmCham at the Krynica Economic Forum in 2015, when she said that the new government would be open to dialogue. As Housh said, “We look forward to holding her to that.”

AmCham Advisory Council The Advisory Council accumulates the knowledge and experience of its member companies and is a point of advice to the AmCham Board of Directors. With its global business expertise the Council has helped the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland to become one of the leading advocates of business in the country.

• WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

21

Focus Defense

United we stand

threat by increasing training programs for Ukrainian soldiers in 2016. The program is backed by the US, the UK, Canada, Lithuania and Latvia.

With every NATO member doing its part, the eastern flank of the alliance will remain safe

new threats Before Hodges delivered his remarks on how NATO planned to boost its presence in Europe, Ambassador Jones gave an overview of the geopolitical situation, saying there was hardly a time in the history of NATO when the alliance faced so many multidimensional threats from nearly all directions, including the east (the Russia-Ukraine conflict), the south (the instability in Syria and its neighboring countries), and globally (the hybrid war on the West which involves North Korea and other countries).

Jones described the complexity of the situation by saying that while Russia is viewed as a partner for NATO on the Islamic State, North Korea and Iran, there are differences between Russia and NATO on Ukraine, and NATO will continue to stick to its principles in Ukraine.

The ambassador remarked that the strength of NATO lies in the unity of the alliance’s member countries, which share the same principles and common values of democracy and personal freedoms. “Our adversaries know this,” Jones said. “We should not be confused by the multiple threats, because they are designed to divide us. With a counterapproach to maintain our unity and deter the threats we face, we will be successful in protecting ourselves and our populations.”

Jones went on to say that the unity of the 28 NATO nations is crucial, and the multidimensional threats must not detract NATO from that unity. “We need to

22

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

look south as well as look east to develop the capabilities across the wide range of threats.”

The ambassador said that in this new geopolitical reality, NATO needs to develop its capabilities to identify the range of hybrid threats and to counter threats such as disinformation: “It is about strengthening the capabilities to spot disinformation, correct it, and shine light on it when information is aimed at dividing us intentionally and as a direction for political leaders.”

Secondly, Jones said that the threats identified in the east and the south are viewed as separate threats. “The alliance will grow stronger and remain unified to

the extent that we are able to do that and address the threats in both directions.”

Jones added that politicians need to show the confidence of the alliance in the common values and principles that the NATO member countries stand for.

“Once we all focus on that, the rest comes naturally.” standing behind ukraine Gen. Hodges reverberated the ambassador’s words, saying that the security environment in Europe has changed in the last three years from an anticipation that Russia would partner with NATO in solving specific security problems globally, to the perception of Russia as a big

Photo by Tomasz Ćwiok

A

s NATO is heading for its next summit, to be held in Warsaw this summer, one of the most senior American officers in Europe, Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding officer of US forces in Europe, visited Warsaw in December to talk about how the most successful alliance in history adjusts its policies to meet new challenges posed by changing geopolitics and emerging new forms of warfare.

Hodges was accompanied in Warsaw by Paul W. Jones, US Ambassador to Poland, and invited by the Center for European Policy Analysis, a US think tank that has opened a local office in Warsaw.

Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding officer of US forces in Europe, speaking in Warsaw in December

“The Polish, German and American defense industry should make sure that there are systems that can operate together which will increase the overall capability.”

unknown in the country’s western parts, following the Russian intervention in the Crimean peninsula and the subsequent annexation of Crimea.

Hodges said that because of that, NATO had to review its approach to Russia. While Russia still is viewed as a partner by NATO in those security areas where NATO and Russia share interests, Ukraine remains a problem that divides Russia and NATO. This is why, Hodges said, NATO took steps to help Ukraine face the Russian

The suwałki Gap Gen. Hodges said that before the Russian intervention in Crimea, nobody thought Russia would want to use military force to change the existing country borders, which were internationally agreed and sanctioned by the international community. With that in mind, today NATO is much more sensitive to the snap exercises that Russia undertakes in its border areas. One such area is the 95-km gap of flatland that divides the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russian territory between Poland, Lithuania and the Baltic Sea, formerly part of Germany and annexed by the USSR following World War II) from Belarus. The Suwałki Gap, as it is labeled by NATO, is now viewed as a vulnerability area for the alliance. According to Hodges, this is because of the lack of transparency that the Russian Federation demonstrates for snap exercises to close that gap before NATO can respond.

For instance, in light of the US Army Europe numbers, in December 2014 Russia held a snap exercise in the Kaliningrad Oblast which engaged 9,000 servicemen, over 640 military vehicles, including 250 tanks and armored personnel carriers, and over 100 artillery units, 55 warships and the Iskander ballistic missile system. Part of that force could be used in the Suwałki Gap to separate the Baltic States from the rest of the European Union if Russia chose to create a situation that Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has been talking about, “that there are 25 million Russians that were left behind against their will at the end of the Soviet Union and it is Russia’s duty to protect those men and women.” a recognized threat NATO is well-prepared to protect the Suwałki Gap, Hodges said. NATO has improved its responsiveness in the region with the NATO Force Integration Unit stationed in Riga, the capital of Latvia, which serves as a hub for training troops there for a NATO joint task force that will be led by the UK come 2017.

In addition, the NATO Multinational Corps Northeast, based in Szczecin, western Poland, has seen the increase of US troops there as an addition to the troops maintained in Szczecin by the unit’s three framework nations: Poland, Denmark and Germany. In 2015 the unit held an exercise called Compact Eagle, which showed the commitment of the three framework nations and headquar-

ters to continue to improve their ability to focus on the Baltic nations. The unit, under the command of Brig. Gen. Frank Tate, will play a pivotal role in helping coordinate the efforts of the NATO Force Integration Units in Latvia, Hodges said.

Apart from that, in June this year NATO will demonstrate its ability to use a large force in Poland in exercise Anaconda. The exercise will involve US troops stationed in Europe as well an airborne brigade from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The brigade will load their aircraft at Fort Bragg and fly and jump into Poland as part of a multinational airborne exercise called Swift Response, which will be part of Anaconda. The exercise will engage up to 15,000 US soldiers in Poland and the Baltic States to demonstrate NATO’s capability in the region.

As a result of Anaconda, the US will leave a huge part of its equipment in Poland. Many of the estimated 1,200 vehicles, including 245 tanks, armored vehicles and armored howitzers, will be kept in Poland at two separate locations.

In addition to Anaconda, this year NATO will hold separate exercises in Poland, Hodges said. They will involve the Patriot antimissile systems, which will come out of Germany, through an exercise program involving the Polish air defense which started last year.

Along with NATO exercises in Poland and the Baltic States, the US plans to establish NATO’s intelligence infrastructure to be able to have the speed of recognition of what’s going on to prevent potential adversaries from achieving “whatever their goal is going to be,” as Hodges put it.

Role for Poland According to Gen. Hodges, NATO has done a lot of work in its council to help improve the speed of political decisions.

The speed of assembling troops is vital for NATO, as it gives the alliance an opportunity to prevent a crisis rather than having to react to it.

But with the increased speed of political decisions, NATO member countries in Europe have to facilitate the freedom of movement for its troops on the ground in the European Union. Hodges noted for the Deployable Joint Task Force to be able to move quickly in the EU, it needs to be granted “a military equivalent to the Schengen Zone.”

He also said that Poland should lobby for the freedom of movement of NATO forces in the EU, as the country is in the middle of the alliance’s eastern flank.

“Any implementation of the readiness action plan requires freedom of movement,” Hodges said. “Russia is able to do snap exercises every time because they

have the freedom to maneuver as they wish. We are all NATO, and yet we have to do diplomatic clearance every time we want to move military convoys. This needs to be simplified. I’m sure that Polish defense officials recognize this.”

Here to stay Looking historically at the presence of US troops in Europe, Hodges noted that at the end of the Cold War the US had 300,000 troops in Western Europe, mostly in Germany.

Their mission was to work with their Western allies to deter the Soviet Union.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and the Soviet Union itself, the US reduced its troops in Europe, hoping a new security equilibrium would emerge in the region which would put more pressure on European countries to boost their defense capabilities accordingly.

With 30,000 US troops in Europe today, Gen. Hodges remarked, there is no need to grow more forward-stationed US forces. “We have the rotational forces and the reserve component as part of what is going to help us achieve the effect that we want to do,” he said.

Ambassador Jones added that the US has a permanent presence in Poland. “It is about the equipment and the troops,” he said. “Sometimes the individuals come and go, but the troops are on an indefinite assignment.” strength in cohesion Gen. Hodges noted that the NATO eastern flank is safe. “I’m sure that Russia does not want to fight NATO,” he said.

“They do not want that, and it won’t be necessary. Our center of gravity is our cohesion, our sticking together and not getting distracted by differences on certain things, but understanding that together we are so much more capable than any adversary.”

Hodges said that working together means not only joint exercises, but also that NATO equipment is modernized correctly to develop relevant capabilities that are interoperable with other allies.

“The Polish, German and American defense industry should make sure that there are systems that can operate together which will increase the overall capability,” Hodges said. “It is about communications systems, which don’t have to be made by the same people but they have to allow integration.”

Gen. Hodges stressed that NATO together has far superior strength in terms of the number of units, the number of systems, quality and capabilities than Russia. “What we have to do is to continue to exercise,” he said. “Poland is a great place for it.”

•

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

23

Company profile Coimpex

American Investor’s Tom Ćwiok talks with David Brodersen, chief operating officer of Coimpex, an urban regeneration company, about the real estate market in Warsaw and how it fits the company’s business strategy

Photo courtesy of Coimpex

Northern exposure

what is your company’s history?

Our company and it affiliates were established in 1999. The company was originally a builder of residential property for sale.

After completing the build-out of its initial investments, the business was reorganized so that we no longer are a building developer. We now have a legacy of landholding, and it is about 90 hectares of land in Bielany, a northern district of Warsaw.

Today we do not build the buildings, but we do the master planning of the land and then we sell the land to developers. So once the master planning is in place, together with all the permits, infrastructure planning and the like, we sell the whole thing to a developer.

So, Coimpex is a holding company which is both the owner of land and a manager and planning consultant on that land. It is a majority-owned American company. Our majority shareholder is a US-based fund. It has been invested in the business since 2008.

planning for a 180,000 m2 office park.

When this project is accomplished we will do master planning for a residential complex, but this will come later.

what are your assets?

We have about 90 hectares of land in Bielany, a northern district of Warsaw, which used to be a part of the steelworks.

So far we have developed a master plan for part of the land. It has been adapted for a shopping center. It is near the Młociny metro station, which is a transit hub. We have sold the shopping center project and the land, and the developer is now working on the building permit and construction.

The shopping center is scheduled for delivery in 2018.

When the shopping center is there it will make our next investment phase—an office park—more attractive. We have master

why an office park there?

If you think about how Warsaw is developing in terms of office real estate, such districts as Mokotów, Wilanów and Ursynów have huge density. The west side of the city is also highly developed. But the eastern and the northern sides have become kind of forgotten. As a result the city is unbalanced. There are a lot of traffic issues in the southern districts as well as downtown Warsaw during the rush hour. People get tired of commuting in and out of Mokotów, and we think that companies will be looking for other locations in Warsaw.

We are even trying to avoid going to meetings down there to Mokotów in the middle

24

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Land development is an industry that relies on operating partners. Real estate investors are typically allocators of capital.

They bring the money and have a strategy how to invest that money. So our cultural challenge is trying to be a custodian for foreign capital, and to be their operating partner in Poland.

of the day, because it will take you an hour to get there by car or other means of transportation to take you directly to Mokotów.

Our location is a little bit unproven for office space. So far, if you think of Warsaw, the furthest north where you have any meaningful office development is at the edge of Nowe Miasto and the new development around the Gdańsk train station.

This is pushing the development to the north, and we will benefit from that general trend.

So our strategy is to benefit from the overcrowding in those areas in the demand for tenants in two areas: easier access and a green, campus-style environment. Our plan, which was adopted by the mayor’s office in 2013, is for 21 hectares of land, including 12 hectares of parkland. There is going to be green space in the middle of that office park which will be developed as an amenity for the office occupants.

The office part of the project is 180,000 m2. Mokotów is about a million square meters of office space. So if you imagine 20% of Mokotów being developed in that location, you will see that it is a longer-term plan. It will most likely take the market 3–5 years to absorb that kind of space after delivery. what is the local government’s take on the prospect of such a huge office complex there?

Our planning for the offices was approved by the city authorities in 2013. The city supports what we are doing. This particular plan for office space development there was included in the spatial development plan adopted by the city in 2007. So the city has kind of been waiting for this area to be regenerated and redeveloped for the last 8 years. They support the idea because for the city it finally lets them leverage the investment they made in the public transportation system—as I said, the office development is located near the most northern station of Warsaw’s metro line one. and how about the project for residential development?

The third phase of our strategy will be a residential development behind the office park. The land is still designated for industrial service use. The first step under the planning process is to change the use of that land to mixed use. is this because there is a steel plant nearby?

Yes, it is still operational. It recycles steel and does not mill or create steel from raw materials. In some ways they stick to the

idea of sustainability. They take steel scrap and recycle it into steel bars and supply them for construction of motorways and new skyscrapers in Warsaw.

So all of our concept designs have to respect the operation of that facility. There are some cities in Europe where vibrant residential developments have taken place nearby an operating steel mill. In Italy, Germany, Belgium and other such places it is quite normal to use such surplus land for residential development. In most European cities such buffer areas between industrial and residential areas have been redeveloped, and quite successfully. So this is one of our objectives for 2016, to progress our planning process for the land around the steelworks. it seems like a complex project. what are the main challenges there?

For residential locations to be successful it is important to create a mixed-use destination with amenities and benefit from good transportation links. Two of the most important mixed uses are retail shopping and office employment, which will be estab-

lished during the first two phases of our project. The portion of our land designated for residential use is 60 hectares, which is nearly the size of Wilanów. The main difference is that our land has direct access to the M1 metro line and is at the junction with the new North bridge road and the future S7 motorway linking Warsaw with Modlin airport and eventually Gdańsk and the Tricity, both important growth areas in Poland. what is going to make people go there instead of wilanów, Tarchomin or Targówek?

Price is important, because people are price-conscious, but none of those locations have access to the Warsaw metro system. This is extremely important when you talk about office space as well as residential.

But the biggest challenge is to make sure that we have taken into account all the stakeholders. We are private investors, so we are part of the stakeholders. The city provides services to the neighborhood, so they are a stakeholder too. The surround-

ing neighborhood is a stakeholder. We have to take into account all of their needs. coimpex is a company employing mostly Polish personnel but has american management. How does that affect the company’s culture?

Land development is an industry that relies on operating partners. Real estate investors are typically allocators of capital.

They bring the money and have a strategy how to invest that money. But then they seek companies like us who are their operating partners. So our culture is built around that mandate, that we are the eyes, ears, arms and legs of a US majorityowned business. But we are very much the Polish operating partner. For instance, while the reporting to the shareholders is in English, all the documentation is in Polish. The deliverables that we produce are in the Polish language and meet Polish norms, and we use Polish service providers. So our cultural challenge is trying to be a custodian for foreign capital, and to be their operating partner in Poland.

•

AmCham Membership Directory 2016 Alphabetical list of AmCham corporate members, as of December 10, 2015.

The AmCham Diner at the European Economic Congress in Katowice AmCham will be present at the European Economic Congress in Katowice on May 18-20 2016.

Become one of the Diner Partners and join us in Katowice!

For more information contact Marzena Drela, AmCham deputy director, at marzena.drela@amcham.pl

Company Name

Person in charge

Position

1. 3M POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Arana Sebastian

Managing Director

A 2. ABBOTT LABORATORIES POLAND Sp. z o.o.

3. ABBVIE POLSKA 4. ACCENTURE Sp. z o.o.

5. ACHIEVE GLOBAL 6. ADECCO POLAND Sp. z o.o.

7. ADM DIRECT POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

8. ADORIA VINEYARDS - WHITNEY ADAMS Sp. z o .o.

9. ADP POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

10. ADVENT INTERNATIONAL Sp. z o.o.

11. AECOM Sp. z o.o.

12. AGRI PLUS S.A. GROUP 13. AGS WARSAW 14. AIG EUROPE LIMITED Sp. z o.o.

15. AIR FRANCE KLM DELTA 16. AIR PRODUCTS Sp z o.o.

17. ALE INTERNATIONAL S.A. 18. ALPHA SOLUTIONS Sp. z o.o.

19. ALVAREZ & MARSAL POLAND Sp. z o.o.

20. AMAZON 21. AMEC FOSTER WHEELER ENERGIA POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

22. AMERICAN EXPRESS 23. AMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR FOREIGN STUDY, INC. 24. AMERICAN SCHOOL OF WARSAW 25. AMGEN Sp. z o.o.

26. AMWAY BUSINESS CENTRE-EUROPE Sp. z o.o.

27. AMWAY POLSKA 28. ANIMEX Sp. z o.o.

29. APCO WORLDWIDE Sp. z o.o.

30. APOLLO-RIDA POLAND Sp. z o.o.

31. ARCADIS 32. ARRIS 33. ARUP 34. ASTRAZENECA PHARMA POLAND Sp. z o.o.

35. AVIS POLSKA

Kurysz Marek Mazurkiewicz Jacek Kroc Jarosław Strupp Peter Wicha Anna Stasiuk Radosław Whitney Mike Ponaczewny Michał Morali Efinowicz Monika Boom de Jan Ibanez Louis Duquesnay Antoine Żołędziowska-Kulig Agnieszka Marchand Chloe Wieczorek Piotr Furman Michał Bailey Donal Kolaja Thomas Person Kerry Krztoń Bogusław Filipowicz Zbigniew Pągowski Michał Coburn Theodore J. Hańczaruk Marcin Karpiński Wojciech Pietrzak Anna Pawelczak Andrzej Housh Tony Mitzner David Klammer Marcin Zawada Arek Sitko A., Zabierzewski J. Graliński Jacek Lesiak Radosław

General Director General Manager Chairman of the Board CEO Country Manager Member of the Board Managing Director Associate Sales Manager Partner & Managing Director Managing Director President Polish Branch Manager President Country Manager Member of the Board Regional Director Eastern Europe Business Development Manager Managing Director Director Operations Poland Sales & Marketing Director Country Manager Director Director General Director Director General Director Poland PR Director Senior Counselor President CEO Regional Sales Director Directors Public Affairs Director Vice President

No

B 36. BAE SYSTEMS (POLAND) Sp. z o.o.

Nowaczewska Ewa 37. BAMA EUROPA Sp. z o.o.

Siewruk Marlena 38. BANK BPH S.A. Gaskin Richard 39. BANK HANDLOWY W WARSZAWIE S.A. Sikora Sławomir 40. BANK POLSKA KASA OPIEKI S.A. Węgierski Cezary 41. BAXTER POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Cytrowska Magdalena 42. BECTON DICKINSON POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Korybalski Łukasz 43. BGP PRODUCTS Sp. z o.o.

Buczek Tomasz 44. BGŻ BNP PARIBAS Wancer Joseph 45. BMW Group de Courtoir Paul 46. BOEING INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION S.A. Poland Prusinski Stanley Joseph 47. BOSE Sp. z o.o.

Lisowski Witold 48. BOSTON SCIENTIFIC POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Knap Mariusz 49. BOYDEN Płaza Zbigniew 50. BP POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Pyrich Piotr 51. BRISTOL HOTEL Henning Andrew 52. BRISTOL–MYERS SQUIBB POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Marciniak Piotr 53. BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO POLSKA TRADING Sp. z o.o. Bekefi Antal 54. BROWAR NAMYSŁÓW Sp. z o.o.

Szczepaniak Czesław 55. BROWN BROTHERS HARRIMAN (POLAND) Sp. z o.o. McDonald Michael 56. BROWN-FORMAN POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Janota Andrzej C 57. C.H. ROBINSON POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Glinka Arkadiusz 58. CA TECHNOLOGIES Sp. z o.o.

MacAra Euan 59. CAN PACK S.A. Podrecka Małgorzata 60. CASINOS POLAND LTD. Strohriegel Nikolaus 61. CATERPILLAR FINANCIAL SERVICES POLAND Sp. z o.o. Myszkowski Jarosław 62. CBRE Sp. z o.o.

Bienias Daniel 63. CDM SMITH Kamiński Krzysztof 64. CEC GOVERNMENT RELATIONS Sp. z o.o.

Matraszek Marek 65. CEE CONSULTING GROUP Sp. z o. o.

Makatrewicz de Roy Andrzej 66. CEE EQUITY PARTNERS Ltd. Gliniecki Judith 67. CENTURYLINK POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Oldenburg Tim 68. CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants Polska Gorzeń Dariusz 69. CH2M Bensz Joanna 70. CHADBOURNE & PARKE Radzikowski Włodzimierz 71. CHESTNUT GLOBAL PARTNERS CENTRAL EUROPE Süle Judit 72. CHEVRON POLSKA ENERGY RESOURCES Sp. z o.o.

Sewerski Marian 73. CHWMEG INC. Mott Randy 74. CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) Bejnarowicz Jakub 75. CISCO SYSTEMS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Fabiszewski Dariusz 76. CMC POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Kozicz Jerzy 77. CMS Kozlowski Andrew 78. COCA-COLA POLAND SERVICES Sp. z o.o.

Jakubowski Anna

26

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Company website 3m.pl abbott.pl abbvie.pl accenture.pl achieveglobal.pl adecco.pl adm.com adoriavineyards.com adp.pl adventinternational.pl aecom.com agriplus.pl agsmovers.com aig.com.pl airfrance.pl airproducts.com.pl enterprise.alcatel-lucent.pl alphasolutions.eu alvarezandmarsal.com n/a amecfw.com americanexpress.pl aifs.com asw.waw.pl amgen.com amway.com amway.pl animex.pl apcoworldwide.com apollorida.com.pl arcadis.pl arris.com arup.com astrazeneca.pl avis.pl

Head of Business Development baesystems.com Finance Manager bama.com President bph.pl President, CEO citihandlowy.pl Communication & Marketing Support Office pekao.com.pl General Manager CEE baxter.com Country General Manager CEE bd.com/pl General Manager mylan.com President of the Management Board bgzbnpparibas.pl General Director bmw.pl Director, Boeing Defense Poland & Eastern Europe boeing.com General Manager bose.pl Trade Director Eastern Europe and Central Asia bsci.com Managing Director boyden.com CEO bp.pl Managing Director luxurycollection.com/bristolwarsaw Country Manager b-ms.pl General Manager bat.com.pl CEO browarnamyslow.com.pl Country Manager bbh.com Managing Director brown-forman.com Director chrobinson.com Country Manager Poland & Baltics ca.com Legal Counsel canpack.com.pl Company Director cnty.com Country Manager cat.com Managing Director cbre.pl Country Manager cdmsmith.com Director and Founding Partner cecgr.com Managing Partner ceecg.com General Counsel cee-equity.com Operations Director Poland centurylinktechnology.com General Manager cgi.com Country Manager ch2m.com Managing Partner chadbourne.com Clinical Director chestnutce.com Senior Project Advisor chevron.com Director for Europe, Middle East & Africa chwmeg.org Country Manager cimaglobal.com General Manager cisco.pl Chairman of the Management Board cmc.com Managing Partner cmslegal.com Franchise General Manager cocacola.com.pl

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

27

AmCham Membership Directory 2016 No Company Name 79.

80.

81.

82.

83.

84.

85.

86.

87.

Person in charge

COIMPEX Sp. z o.o.

Brodersen David COLGATE-PALMOLIVE POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Król Wojciech CONOCOPHILLIPS E&P POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Baker Timothy COPERNICUS FOUNDATION IN POLAND Bystrowski Jerzy COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT WARSAW INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT HOTEL Stępkowska Aneta COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT GDYNIA WATERFRONT Stachowiak-Szczotko Joanna CPC EXECUTIVE SEARCH Obniska Janina CROWLEY INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT GROUP Sp. z o.o. Roszkowski Jarosław CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Taylor Charles

Position COO General Manager Member of the Board Director of the Board General Manager General Manager Managing Partner Chairman of the Board & CEO Managing Partner

Company website coimpex.pl colgate.pl conocophillips.com woe.edu.pl courtyard.com/wawcy goo.gl/16wLdY cpc-executivesearch.pl cidg.pl cushmanwakefield.com

D 88. DCT GDAŃSK SA 89. DEBENEDETTI MAJEWSKI SZCZESNIAK 90. DELOITTE 91. DELPHI POLAND S.A. 92. DENTONS 93. DEUTSCHE LUFTHANSA S.A. Oddział w Polsce 94. DIRECT COMMUNICATION Sp. z o.o.

95. DLA PIPER WIATER Sp.k.

96. DOW CORNING POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

97. DOW POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

98. DUPONT POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Kwiatkowski Maciej DeBenedetti David Metrycki Marek Adamek Dariusz Ostrowski Igor Wagner Frank Pressello Angelo Wiater Krzysztof Ponleinter Markus Stankiewicz Robert Marin Thierry

E 99. EDELMAN POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

100. EDENRED POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

101. EEZ Sp. z o.o.

102. EGON ZEHNDER INTERNATIONAL Sp. z o.o.

103. ELI LILLY POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

104. EMC COMPUTER SYSTEMS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

105. EMERSON Proses Management Power and Water Solutions Sp. z o.o.

106. EMITEL Sp. z o.o.

107. ENTERPRISE INVESTORS 108. EPSTEIN Sp. z o.o.

109. ERM POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

110. ESTEE LAUDER POLAND Sp. z o.o.

111. EUROMONEY POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

112. EURONET POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

113. EXPRESS MAP POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

114. EY POLSKA

Szejner Ewa General Manager edelman.com.pl Combal Herve Managing Director edenred.pl Stachowiak Krystian President of the Management Board eez.pl Bachowski Jarosław Managing Partner egonzehnder.com Szinisa Gyuricsin Managing Director lilly.pl Wojtkowski Adam Country Manager emc.com Kosik Tomasz Sales Director Central & Eastern Europe emersonprocess-powerwater.com Kurczewski Przemysław Chairman of the Board emitel.pl Siwicki Jacek President ei.com.pl Lichocki Janusz President epstein.com.pl Pavlak-Chiaradia Magdalena Managing Director erm.com Zboch Joanna General Manager esteelauder.com Czubak Bogdan Business Development Manager CEE Region emis.com Szafirski Marek President euronetworldwide.com Przeorek Janusz President e-map.pl Kędzior Jacek Managing Partner ey.com/pl

F 115. F5 NETWORK POLAND 116. FACEBOOK POLAND 117. FCM TRAVEL EXPRESS Sp. z o.o.

118. FEDERAL EXPRESS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

119. FIRESTONE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

120. FISERV POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

121. FLEISHMAN–HILLARD Sp. z o.o.

122. FOCUS RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 123. FOREVER LIVING PRODUCTS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

124. FRITO-LAY POLAND Sp. z o.o.

125. FROST & SULLIVAN

Wiśniewski Ireneusz Turowski Jakub Hyland Tim Mik Mariusz Gajda Paweł Gren Aleksandra Kozak Julia Żabiński Richard Kandefer Jacek Guille Christophe Lefever Steven

Country Leader Head of Public Policy for Poland Managing Director Managing Director Plant Manager General Director Managing Director President & CEO Managing Director General Manager Central Europe Executive Vice President

G 126. GE INTERNATIONAL S.A. POLSKA 127. GENERAL MOTORS POLAND 128. GILEAD SCIENCES POLAND Sp. z o.o.

129. GOLUB GETHOUSE Sp. z o.o.

130. GOODYEAR DUNLOP TIRES POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

131. GOOGLE POLAND Sp. z o.o.

132. GOVECS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

133. GP STRATEGIES CORPORATION Sp. z o. o.

134. GREENBERG TRAURIG 135. GROUPON Sp. z o.o.

136. GUARDIAN CZESTOCHOWA Sp. z o.o.

Stelmach Beata Mieczkowski Wojciech Kaźmierski Michał Jarząbek Czarek Pryczek Jacek Waliszewski Artur Holdcraft Nicholas Kolendowicz Łukasz Grzesiak Jarosław Hejnowska Aniela Isasmendi Pablo

CEO Poland & Baltics Managing Director General Manager, Member of the Board President President & Managing Director Country Manager VP Operations Member of the Board Managing Partner Managing Director General Director

Młynarczyk Michał Kozicki Michał Szymański Robert Karbownik Maciej Sauter Sabine Turkiewicz Katarzyna Krygsman Robert Godzisz Mieczysław Krzyżanowska Maya Krajewski Wojciech Baranowska Paulina Żurowski Jacek Mrożek Michał Samul Kowalska Jolanta

Managing Director CEE hays.pl President hbo.pl Partner in Charge heidrick.com Owner K&R Design hermanmiller.co.uk President of the Board & Managing Director hp.pl Chairman hp.com General Manager warsaw.hilton.com Managing Director hines.pl Managing Director asystems.as Chairman honeywell.com.pl Managing Partner hortoninternational.com Chairman of the Board hp.pl President hsbc.pl Country Manager hudson.com

Bartunek Ales

General Director IBM Poland and Baltic Countries ibm.com/pl

H 137. HAYS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

138. HBO POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

139. HEIDRICK & STRUGGLES 140. HERMAN MILLER LIMITED 141. HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE POLSKA Sp. z o. o.

142. HEWLETT-PACKARD GLOBAL BUSINESS CENTER 143. HILTON WARSAW HOTEL & CONVENTION CENTRE 144. HINES POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

145. HOGAN ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS 146. HONEYWELL Sp. z o.o.

147. HORTON INTERNATIONAL POLAND 148. HP INC POLSKA Sp. z o. o.

149. HSBC BANK POLSKA S.A. 150. HUDSON GLOBAL RESOURCES I 151. IBM POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

28

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Chief Executive Officer Partner Managing Partner Country Director Partner Country Manager Poland Managing Director Managing Partner Country Manager Country Manager Director - Central Europe

dctgdansk.com dms.net.pl deloitte.com/pl delphi.com dentons.com lh.com dir.com.pl dlapiper.com dowcorning.com dow.com dupont.com.pl

f5.com facebook.com travelexpress.pl fedex.com/pl firestoneip.com fiserv.com fleishman.pl focusmr.com flpp.com.pl fritolay.pl frost.com ge.com opel.pl gilead.com golubgethouse.pl goodyear.pl google.pl govecs.com gpstrategies.com gtlaw.com groupon.com guardian.com

No Company Name

Person in charge

Position

152. IMPERIAL CINEPIX Sp. z o.o.

153. IN2KNO Ltd. 154. INSTANT POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

155. INTELCLINIC Sp. z o.o.

156. INTERCONTINENTAL HOTEL WARSZAWA 157. INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES 158. INTERNATIONAL PAPER POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

159. IQOR POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

160. IRON MOUNTAIN POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Shah Sunil Zalucky Paul Wachowiak Piotr Adamczyk Kamil Schoenrock Marten Krewinkel Theo Berbeka Tomasz Michalewicz Maciej Sagan Mateusz

President CEO Board Member CEO General Manager Regional Circulation Manager President of the Board Chairman of the Board Managing Director

J, K 161. JF LEGAL JAKUBASZEK & FOGO Sp.k.

162. JOHN DEERE POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

163. JOHNSON & JOHNSON POLAND Sp. z o.o.

164. K&L GATES 165. KAJIMA POLAND Sp. z o.o.

166. KAŁUŻYŃSKI & MADEJA Sp. z o.o.

167. KATO LABS Sp. z o.o.

168. KELLY SERVICES POLAND Sp. z o.o.

169. KPMG Sp. z o.o.

170. KREVOX EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL CENTRE 171. KULCZYK SILVERSTEIN PROPERTIES Sp. z o.o.

Fogo Paul Leszczyński Mirosław Chróścicki Paweł Jamka Maciej Wróblewska Sandra Kałużyński Richard Wołejko Janusz Walter Agnieszka Kay Peter Krężelewski Tadeusz Zajdel Maciej

Managing Partner jflegal.pl General Manager deere.pl Managing Director jnj.com Managing Partner klgates.com Senior Business Development Manager kajima.pl Managing Director kaluzynskimadeja.com President kato.pl Country General Manager kellyservices.pl Partner kpmg.pl General Director krevox.pl Managing Director ksprop.com

L 172. LEASEPLAN FLEET MANAGEMENT (POLSKA) Sp. z o.o.

173. LEVI STRAUSS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

174. LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

175. LIONBRIDGE POLAND Sp. z o.o.

176. LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL & SOFTBALL EMEA REGION 177. LOCKHEED MARTIN GLOBAL INC. S.A. 178. LYNKA PROMOTIONAL SOLUTIONS 179. ŁASZCZUK I WSPÓLNICY sp.k.

Wontrucki Sławomir Gutkowska Dorota Najda Grzegorz Stryczyński Jacek Kaszuba Beata Panzarella Roy Lynch John Szpara Justyna

Managing Director leaseplan.pl General Manager Eastern Europe & President eu.levi.com/pl Country General Manager lexmark.pl Country Manager Poland & Slovakia, President lionbridge.com EMEA Region Director eteamz.com/llbeurope Regional Executive Central & Eastern Europe lockheedmartin.com President lynka.com.pl Managing Partner laszczuk.pl

M, N 180. MANPOWERGROUP Sp. z o.o.

181. MARRIOTT WARSAW HOTEL 182. MARS POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

183. MARY KAY COSMETICS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

184. MASSIVE DESIGN Sp. z o.o.

185. MASTERCARD EUROPE 186. MATTEL POLAND Sp. z o.o.

187. MCCORMICK POLSKA SA 188. McDONALD'S POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

189. MEDICOVER Sp. z o.o.

190. MEDTRONIC POLAND Sp. z o.o.

191. METLIFE S.A. 192. MICROSOFT Sp. z o.o.

193. MILLER, CANFIELD, W. BABICKI, A. CHELCHOWSKI & PARTNERS 194. MITSUBISHI CORPORATION 194. MONDELEZ POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

196. MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS 197. MSD POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

198. MSLGROUP POLAND 199. NALCO MOBOTEC POLSKA Sp.z o.o.

200. NCR Polska Sp. z o.o.

201. NIKE POLAND Sp. z o.o.

202. NORDSON POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

203. NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT 204. NOVARTIS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Janas Iwona Grader Robert Ignaczak Marzena Kudlińska-Pyrz Ewa Stopa Przemysław Ciołkowski Bartosz Baquero Francisco Touzalin Oliver Hanko Kristof Livesey Ashley Jeżewski Wojciech Kalinowski Łukasz Binkofski Ronald Walawender Richard Kimura Naoyuki Novak Zoltan Drabik Jacek Plas Erik Hejnowski Sebastian Hajewski Piotr Śliwa Bartłomiej Runzheimer Tim Rutkowski Jarosław Strawa Piotr Zhang Ingrid

Manpower Group General Director manpowergroup.pl General Manager warsawmarriott.pl Corporate Affairs Director mars.pl General Manager marykay.pl President, Architect massivedesign.pl General Manager mastercard.pl Country Manager mattel.com Chairman of the Board kamis.pl Managing Director mcdonalds.pl Director medicover.pl Finance Manager medtronic.com CEO metlife.pl General Manager microsoft.com/poland/ Senior Partner millercanfield.pl General Director mitsubishicorp.com General Manager mondelezinternational.pl General Manager motorolasolutions.com Managing Director msd.pl CEO MSLGROUP Poland mslgroup.pl Sales Director nalco.pl President of the Board ncr.com Country Manager nike.com General Manager nordson.com Managing Partner nortonrosefulbright.com CPO Head and Country President novartis.pl

Vanheusden Nathalie Wielinski Dominik Duthoit Bruno Kania Piotr Bilińska Agnieszka Maślanka Jarosław Guille Christophe Hryniewska Firlej Dorota Katilius Edvinas Modrzyk Andrzej Frederick Charles Hamilton John Pawłowska Aleksandra Celejewski Marcin Gradowski Zbigniew Czarnecki Grzegorz Kapuściński Marek Grygier Siddons Olga

Global Executive Assistants Manager President & CEO Chairman Managing Director Country Director Branch Director General Manager Central Europe Country Manager Managing Director General Manager Poland Country Manager Managing Director Acting Executive Director Acting Chairman and CEO In-Country Program Manager Chief Executive Officer Vice President Central Europe Managing Director

Lubkiewicz Krzysztof Trybuch Magdalena Domańska Jagoda Adamcewicz Krzysztof Przepióra Jan

Head of International Desk Principal Business Specialist Corporate Affairs Director Vice President

O, P 205. OLIVER WYMAN Sp. z o.o.

206. OPTIMA S.A. (PART OF DOLLAR FINANCIAL GROUP) 207. ORANGE POLSKA S.A. 208. OTIS Sp. z o.o.

209. PALLADIUM GROUP INTERNATIONAL POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

210. PEGASYSTEMS 211. PEPSI-COLA GENERAL BOTTLERS POLAND Sp. z o.o.

212. PFIZER POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

213. PHILIP MORRIS POLSKA DISTRIBUTION Sp. z o.o.

214. PITTSBURGH GLASS WORKS (POLAND) Sp. z o.o.

215. PLANATE MANAGEMENT GROUP 216. PM Group Polska Sp. z o.o.

217. POLISH-US FULBRIGHT COMMISSION 218. POLSKIE LINIE LOTNICZE LOT S.A. 219. PRATT & WHITNEY a United Technology Company 220. PRIME CAR MANAGEMENT S.A. 221. PROCTER & GAMBLE OPERATIONS POLSKA S.A. 222. PwC POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

R, S 223. RAIFFEISEN BANK POLSKA S.A. 224. RAMBOLL ENVIRON POLAND Sp. z o.o.

225. RAYTHEON INTERNATIONAL, INC 226. ROCHE POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

227. RR DONNELLEY EUROPE Sp. z o.o.

Company website imperial-cinepix.com.pl in2kno.com instant.com.pl intelclinic.com warsaw.intercontinental.com globaltimes.com ipaper.com.pl iqor.com emea.ironmountain.com

oliverwyman.com optima.pl orange.pl otis.com.pl palladiumgroupintl.pl pega.com pepsi.pl pfizer.com.pl philipmorris.pl pgwglass.com planate.net pmgroup-global.com fulbright.edu.pl lot.com pratt-whitney.com masterlease.pl/leasing pg.com pwc.com/pl raiffeisen.pl ramboll-environ.com raytheon.com roche.pl rrdonnelley.eu.com

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

29

AmCham Membership Directory 2016 No Company Name

Person in charge

Position

228. RUSSELL REYNOLDS ASSOCIATES Sp. z o.o.

229. SABRE POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

230. SANDLER TRAINING POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

231. SANOFI-AVENTIS Sp. z o.o.

232. SANTA FE PARTNERS Sp. z o.o.

233. SHERATON KRAKÓW HOTEL 234. SHERATON WARSAW HOTEL 235. SIEMENS Sp. z o.o.

236. SIKORSKY EUROPE 237. SILGAN WHITE CAP POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

238. SITEL POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

239. SOFITEL WARSAW VICTORIA 240. SONY PICTURES GLOBAL BUSINESS SERVICES Sp. z o.o.

241. SOUTH BAY SOLUTIONS EUROPE Sp. z o.o.

242. SPENCER STUART POLAND Sp. z o.o.

243. SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS ŚWIĘCICKI KRZEŚNIAK SP.K. 244. ST. JUDE MEDICAL Sp. z o.o.

245. STANDARD & POOR'S RATINGS SERVICES EUROPE LIMITED 246. STEELCASE S.A. Przedstawicielstwo w Polsce 247. STRZELECKI ENERGIA Sp. z o.o.

Czarnota Dorota Dietz Michael Posmyk Bartłomiej Woroszylska-Sapieha Marynika Grajewski Piotr Saliba Angela Duarte Silva Gonçalo Należyty Grzegorz Katzen James Rajca Marek Reznar Piotr Carabin Patrick Gryglewski Michał Siwiec Radosław Maciejewski Andrzej Święcicki Peter Gołębicki Marcin Petrykowski Marcin Szczerba Magdalena Żuk Paweł

Managing Partner, Poland & CEE russellreynolds.com Member of the Board sabre.pl Partner sandler.pl President sanofi-aventis.com.pl Chairman of the Board bluecactus.pl General Manager sheraton.com/krakow General Manager sheraton.pl General Director siemens.pl Vice President, Sales Director PZL Mielec sikorsky.com General Manager silgan.com Managing Director sitel.com General Manager sofitel.com Executive Director n/a Vice President southbaysolutions.eu Managing Director spencerstuart.com Partner squirepattonboggs.com Proxy sjm.com Managing Director spratings.pl Dealer Business Manager CESE steelcase.eu Country Manager huttonenergy.com

Company website

T, U 248. TECHSOUP FOUNDATION 249. THE BRITISH SCHOOL Sp. z o. o.

250. TMF POLAND Sp. z o.o.

251. TRAVELPORT POLAND Sp. z o.o.

252. TRENDA GROUP 253. TRUPHONE 254. TRUSTWAVE POLAND Sp. z o.o.

255. TVN S.A. 256. UBER POLAND Sp. z o.o.

257. UL INTERNATIONAL POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

258. UNIPHARM, INC. 259. UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORTATION 260. UNIVERSAL EXPRESS Sp. z o.o.

261. UNIVERSAL LEAF TOBACCO POLAND Sp. z o.o.

262. UPC POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

263. UPS POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

264. UTI POLAND Sp. z o.o.

Szwarc Michał Kennard John Pluciński Mikołaj Pilarski Marcin Węgrzyński Marcin Iwański Piotr McCullen Robert J. Szydłowski Marek Winiarczyk Kacper Maliszewski Bogdan Bartosik Ernest Redlich Alon Hildt Stefan Lik Wojciech Gołos Patrycja Adamovsky Pavel Gawliński Marek

Management Board Member fundacjatechsoup.pl Principal thebritishschool.pl Chairman of the Board tmf-group.com Managing Director Eastern Europe travelport.com Director trendagroup.com Country Manager truphone.com Chairman trustwave.com General Counsel tvn.pl Operations Manager uber.com Managing Director, East Europe ul.com Country Manager unipharm.pl UTC Poland Country Adviser utc.com Member of the Board uer.pl Chairman of the Board universalleaf.com Corporate Affairs & Public Policy Director upc.pl Country Manager ups.com Member of the Board go2uti.com

V,W, X 265. VF POLSKA DISTRIBUTION Sp. z o.o.

266. WALT DISNEY COMPANY (POLSKA) Sp. z o.o.

267. WARDYNSKI & PARTNERS 268. WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

269. WARSAW DESTINATION ALLIANCE, FOUNDATION 270. WARSAW-ILLINOIS EXECUTIVE MBA 271. WEBER-STEPHEN POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

272. WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES 273. WHIRLPOOL POLSKA Sp z.o.o.

274. WHITE & CASE M. STUDNIAREK I WSPÓLNICY 275. WHITE STAR FOUNDATION 276. WHITE STAR REAL ESTATE 277. WIERZBOWSKI EVERSHEDS 278. WOODWARD GOVERNOR POLAND Sp. z o.o.

279. WRIGLEY POLAND 280. XEROX POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

281. XPO TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS POLSKA Sp. z o.o.

Hińcz Marek Westermark Katarzyna Wardyński Tomasz Saniewski Waldemar Kloszewski Alex Ludwicki Tomasz Wencel Wiktor Rewald Roman Fiorani Lorenzo Studniarek Marcin Belk Elizabeth Patterson Brian Wierzbowski Krzysztof Kania Dominik Wysocki Maciej Remez Alex Bartczak Jaroslaw

Managing Director Managing Director CBE, Founding Partner Managing Director Chairman & Managing Director Managing Director General Manager Partner General Director Managing Partner CEO Managing Partner Managing Partner Executive Director Chairman of the Board General Manager General Manager

vfc.com disney.pl wardynski.com.pl warnerbros.com destinationwarsaw.com mba.uw.edu.pl weber.com weil.com whirlpool.com whitecase.com/warsaw/ whitestarfoundation.org whitestar-realestate.com eversheds.pl woodward.com wrigley.pl xerox.com.pl xpo.com

Individual members

Alphabetical list of AmCham individual members, as of December 10, 2015.

Member 1. Błaszczyk Jan Alexander 2. Bobbitt Sean 3. Bobet Alain 4. Bode Brian 5. Cader Michał 6. Cano Robert 7. Chen Paul 8. Clarey Tony 9. Dart Dennis 10. Dembinski Peter 11. Engel Richard 12. Espino Nathaniel 13. Esquerra Ewa 14. Given Ronald B.

30

Contact phone +48-790-022-606 +48-601-297-600 +48-604-585-510 +48-887-500-434 +48-601-262-573 +48-668-152-452 +48-601-297-600 +48-601-951-300 +48-608-047-508 +48-602-677-600 +48-508-047-510 +48-696-041-731 +48-602-722-622 +48-22-378-8900

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

Member 15. Grzybowski Irene 16. Holding Kent 17. Hutchinson Chris 18. Klarowicz Sylwester 19. Kolasinski Jon 20. Koman Tourel Jolanta 21. Koszewska Elwira 22. Krasowska Małgorzata 23. Krupa Steve 24. Lada Richard 25. Lubelski Andrew 26. Lynch Matthew 27. Matkowski Thomas 28. Michalski George

Contact phone +48-601-802-040 +48-519-504-513 +48-507-627-608 +48-668-133-034 +48-500-206-227 +48-606-374-200 +48-601-272-344 +48-722-088-388 +1-847-738-0884 +48-601-207-357 +48-500-091-773 +48-602-333-022 +48-531-742-327 +48-606-917-000

Member 29. Miszerak Martin 30. Mucha Don 31. Ogorkiewicz Anya Margaret 32. Paszkowski Adam 33. Rosen Richard 34. Skowronski Bogy 35. Smith Christopher 36. Snyder Parker 37. Surowiec Les 38. Szadzinski Andrzej 39. Szostak Tadeusz 40. Thieme Jerzy 41. Urban Stanley 42. Werner Gedeon

Contact phone +48-605-953-261 +1-602-402-2621 +48-510-419-141 +48-22-835-3000 +1-240-351-5366 +48-509-407-530 +48-22-616-0062 +48-517-469-881 +48-514-892-524 +48-58-307-2626 +48-605-404-001 +48-601-282-812 +48-502-709-190 +48-515-171-799

We are moving!

In April 2016 AmCham will change its address to:

Spektrum Tower 16th Floor ul. Twarda 18 00-105 Warszawa Our phone numbers will remain the same

Company profile CEE Consulting Group

The meaning of knowing

How did your company come about?

I arrived in Poland in 2005 as a journalist and set up Emerging Markets, which is part of the Financial Times here in Poland. I was a freelancer, so I could take projects from business intelligence companies, and realized that there was a need for good information to be reported in English.

This is why I founded CEE Consulting Group in 2010. I’m originally from the UK, but I am of Polish descent. This is why I consider CEE Consulting Group a Polish company.

One of my partners in the business is an American from Texas, another is half-Irish and half-German, and the final partner is from Croatia. market intelligence seems to be a vast area. what specific services do you offer?

Market intelligence is indeed a vast area. Our product range can be best described in four categories. Number one is pre-transaction due diligence.

It concerns extensive background checks for mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. Our clients here are private-equity companies, a lot of them Polish.

How does the type of due diligence you do differ from due diligence done by law firms and financial specialists?

Legal due diligence in M&A transactions is done by law firms. In turn, companies such as PwC or Deloitte do financial due

32

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

tension of the insurance business. If you want to buy a company for USD 20 million it is probably worth understanding what you are buying and who the people in the key roles for the company are. And in case you are buying a minority stake in a company you need to know who you are going to be working with, their management style and how they operate. what is the second type of service that you offer?

It is post-transaction due diligence. This takes place when things go wrong and issues appear in the organization you have purchased or your company has merged with. So in fact post-transaction due diligence is litigation support.

A typical case for us would be as follows: I bought this company and I’m getting screwed over by the management or

Photo courtesy of CEE Consultiing Group

American Investor’s Tom Ćwiok talks to Andrew de Roy, managing partner of CEE Consulting Group, a market intelligence company, about how growing compliance regulations change the definition of what is essential knowledge for companies and investors

diligence. What we do is called reputation or integrity due diligence. It focuses on the softer side of transactions. We check who the people are who manage the companies, what the company is as a collection of individuals. We want to see who they are, what their reputation is. Do they have any skeletons in the closet? What did they do in their previous career, and what is their source of wealth? With the new investor, would these guys be conflicted in any way, and would that affect the deal? We also check what kind of relations the owners have with their suppliers and their customers, and if there are any informal connections between them.

For instance, if one individual in the company has a relative who is the largest supplier to the company, if this guy goes out of the company the contract is likely to disappear. So what we do is like an ex-

In M&A you inherit the sins of those you buy a company from. If the company was involved in corrupt practices way before the new owner took it over, that is no longer an excuse.

by some other people and I’m not entirely sure how. My lawyers are looking at this, but there are bits and pieces of the story missing and I’m not sure what’s going on. Or, I know what’s going on but I need evidence. It is a very common problem.

For instance, when a senior official has left the company and I’m not sure if he or she is breaching our contract by giving information to the competition. This is a case when we would find out what the person is doing and find information on what’s going on.

A part of post-transaction due diligence is also asset tracking. Often we have cases when somebody has a court order to receive money through damages or the like and is looking for assets. It is multi-jurisdictional asset tracing.

The third type of service you offer is…

It is about generating information about compliance. The whole global trend towards more compliance now makes companies realize they need to understand their subcontractors and sales agents and understand how their supply chains work.

Maybe 10–20 years ago people thought that if they had a small factory and a supply chain in China, and the Chinese supplier was using child labor it was OK. Today it is unacceptable.

In Eastern Europe we do our work to make sure that there is some level of monitoring of key business practices, so if something bad happens there is a list of best practices that need to be followed by an independent party. A lot of this work is also done by lawyers or the Big Four, but we are a good alternative to this. what is your fourth type of service?

The fourth part of our business is training. We specialize in open-source intelligence training. Typically our reports use open-source, media, and human-source intelligence. Open source means the media, the Internet, and anything that is in the courts—anything in the public domain. It is exponentially exploding, getting bigger every day. People think that open-source checking is just checking Google. That is wrong. Google is 0.3% of that, which means that 99.7% is not indexed, and it is deep-web stuff. Our training aims at making in-house teams more productive and effective when they do open-source research. We do it specifically for compliance, legal, transaction, HR and purchasing departments. why did you decide to share such specific knowledge with your clients?

We realized the need to educate the market, and this is something we specialize in. We give away our low-level stuff on how to do investigations to win high-level

contracts. It is a good way to educate and engage with our clients. what is driving your business forward today?

In this age you have to be much more careful. In the US and other places in the world you have increased compliance through the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Anybody in the US doing business with anyone abroad is liable for corruption the partner of the US companies may have been involved in. In other words, in M&A you inherit the sins of those you buy a company from. If the company was involved in corrupt practices way before the new owner took it over, that is no longer an excuse. So now people need to be more careful and realize that knowing all elements in deals is very important. It is standard practice with equity funds globally. You can see the growth of this type of business within the Big Four. This is why our work is growing.

How about pre-transaction due diligence? How is the market in Poland?

Transactions have been weak, and one of the key factors is the poor performance of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Recently there were poor valuations and they are taking public funds private suddenly, which is quite interesting. But even if transactions are weak for a certain time, eventually investors reach a point where they have to divest in their portfolio, so there is some room for our business there too. what is your corporate culture like?

We are a very disruptive company. In many ways the open-source training we provide is about disrupting ourselves. We are giving away information, but making the market more transparent and more effective in how they do things. We believe that is the best way for us to keep growing.

How many people do you employ in Poland, and how do you find people who work for you in other countries?

We are a Polish company which is proud of its roots, but we are an international company in terms of our scope. We have a multinational team working in Poland.

Those are people from Ukraine, the US, several Brits and Poles. We have 15 fulltime people in Poland.

For other countries we have a huge book of contractors. We love working with investigative journalists, but we also work with former police detectives. We specialize in Central & Eastern Europe but also do work in German-speaking countries.

Approximately 20–30% of our business is

done in Poland, but cybercrime and other cases are becoming very international. If money can come around through several countries in days, then you have to be able to investigate internationally as well. what is the country of origin of your clients?

Right now our business is 50% out of the London market, 30% from Polish clients, and 20% from others, and this includes the US market. Probably the fastestgrowing market for us is from US-based clients.

How does the future look for cee consulting Group?

We are very bullish on our prospects. We have numerous new product lines we are looking to bring to the market. As a Polish company, we want to be a Polish champion growing internationally. So our intent is to help Polish companies that are expanding internationally. We have already been doing pre-transaction due diligence for Polish investors in the Czech Republic, Serbia and Croatia. We now have some Polish corporates growing internationally, and they need good information. So we are looking to grow ourselves, but we are also helping others grow internationally by making better investment decisions.

We are also looking at how we can add value to our clients in the fields of our competency. Open-source intelligence training is part of that. As a Polish company, if you are looking to do open-source intelligence in Germany we can teach you how to do it most effectively. So in other words, we help you make the whole process of using open-source intelligence in Germany more efficient. In fact, we are opening an office in Berlin in February.

We also have a publishing leg of our business. It is called CEE Insight, available at ceeinsight.net, where visitors can read about fraud and corruption in the region. We are looking to develop that in the future, but it is not yet a key part of our business. However, we do see potential for it when we go regional.

•

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

33

Company profile TMF Group Poland

C.H. Robinson

Personal values and performance

Expeditiously yours

at present there are growing numbers of Polish companies interested in expanding their business abroad. what can you offer them?

Entering a new country can be a mine-

How did your company start in Poland?

TMF Group was founded in the Netherlands in 1988 and has been present in Poland for almost 20 years. The first Polish office opened in Warsaw, and through various mergers and acquisitions we have grown to now employ more than 170 professionals in Warsaw and Katowice. Recognizing the strategic importance of Poland to TMF Group globally, the country is also home to our service delivery centre. what kind of services do you offer to companies interested in establishing business in Poland?

TMF Group is a global business operator, renowned for helping clients operate and invest seamlessly, in and beyond their home markets, by providing business services that allow them to focus on 34

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

field for any company. TMF Group helps businesses get set up in a new country with speed, safety and efficiency. We serve clients of all sizes and from all sectors, from a small startup to a large multinational. We work with more than 40% of current S&P 500 and Fortune 500 companies, and our client entity retention rate was higher than 90% in 2009– 2012. TMF Group services all industries, and over the years has formed specialist teams that have significant experience and recognized expertise in supporting different niche sectors including structured finance, fund administration, VAT and IPT, real estate investment, IP licensing and collection, and renewable energy. what is your corporate culture like? what can you tell me about the company’s values?

There is a strong link between financial performance and the alignment of an organization’s cultural values with employees’ personal values. In other words, who you are and what you stand for is becoming just as important as the quality of products and services you provide.

When we speak about values, we are talking about the deeply held principles, ideals, or beliefs that people hold or adhere to when making decisions. Individuals express their values though their personal behaviors; organizations express their values through their cultural behaviors.

Having One TMF Corporate Culture, underpinned by TMF Corporate Values and lived through TMF Behaviors, is considered indispensable for becoming One TMF. A corporate culture is not built overnight. The values underpinning the corporate culture need to be aligned with those of our employees to ensure joint pursuit of the TMF Vision.

We conduct the TMF Values Journey, a consultative process in search of desirable behaviors and values to support the pursuit of the TMF Vision, to which all employees have had the opportunity to provide their input.

We trust that each employee has to pursue our vision as a good corporate citizen and therefore fully commit to pursuing our strategic objectives responsibly. We commit to the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anticorruption.

TMF Group Poland’s key values are to act with integrity and respect, be passionate in all we do, to embrace opportunity, strive for excellence, be remarkable and build for a sustainable future. So in this light, what sets us apart from the competition is that when it comes to knowledge, it is always sourced from the local market through independent experts. When it comes to flexibility we offer an individual and tailored service that is scalable in line with the business needs of our clients.

Talking about control, I have to say that through our worldwide network of wholly owned offices we can offer global reporting and one single point of contact to businesses operating across multiple regions. When it comes to speed, our local presence allows businesses to take an agile approach and enter new markets more quickly than their competition. In turn, when it comes to range, we are the only global organization to offer a complete suite of complementary business services.

•

American Investor’s Tom Ćwiok talks with Arkadiusz Glinka, director for Central & Eastern Europe at the logistics company C.H. Robinson, about its business philosophy and how it is seizing opportunities in Poland

what is driving the market in Poland forward today, and what are the obstacles to business growth?

The growth of the Polish economy for the last two decades, at 3–4% a year, the fastest growth in the EU, has definitely played a big part in the industry. Global companies continue to open their doors in Poland, especially manufacturers who are looking for partners to bring their freight to other markets. Examples are the Volkswagen factory in Poznań, the MAN group which employs 4,000 Polish workers, and even the German fashion house Hugo Boss, which produces its shoes in Poland. These are all examples of how Poland has become a key part of the

what is the company’s history in Poland?

C.H. Robinson and its affiliates form one of the leading freight forwarders in Europe, with a dynamic network of offices across Europe. Since 1993 we have developed services that set us apart from our competitors. Our offices opened first in Europe in 1993. In 1997 C.H. Robinson opened its office in the Polish market. The company then operated out of two crossborder offices and one global forwarding office.

The company expanded its footprint in Poland by acquiring Apreo Logistics in 2012, and is currently operating out of five cross-border offices, five domestic offices, and one retail distribution office. Also, there is a global forwarding office in Warsaw, as well as the C.H. Robinson division in Wrocław. what services do you offer in Poland?

We offer a powerful truckload network— from transactional to dedicated fleet for the most flexible capacity options for our customer’s shipments. In addition to that, we offer Less than Truckload services, international air and ocean services, customs clearance and managed services. We also have a specialized department that handles liquid and dry bulk shipments.

In addition to our core cross-border and domestic road transport, global air and sea forwarding, and outsource services, we provide a variety of developing and valueadded services. We typically work with our customers in multiple ways, from spot loads, to lane allocations, to fully integrated outsources. No matter what your needs are today or in the future, we’ve got the flexibility to provide you with the right services you need, when you need them.

Photo courtesy of C.H. Robinson

their core competencies—their products and services. We provide accounting, HR and payroll, and corporate secretarial services. We also offer readymade companies through which customers are able to immediately start their business in Poland. TMF Group also assists in the preparation of VAT returns and applying for VAT refunds, and offers cash management services, liquidation services, domiciliation services and stationary offices.

Photo courtesy of TMF Group

American Investor’s Tom Ćwiok talks with Mikołaj Pluciński, chairman and acting director of TMF Group Poland, a provider of business services, about how it helps businesses go global

what are the most interesting projects that c.H. Robinson has been working on recently?

Most recently, an avian influenza epidemic has hit the US, resulting in near devastation of egg-producing chickens in the upper Midwest. The recent widespread outbreak of avian flu, which can kill up to 100% of infected flocks, has spiked the price of eggs since early this year. The story is also gaining momentum as the Thanksgiving season and other poultry segments such as turkeys will be significantly impacted, with 19% price jumps in turkeys anticipated in 2015. One of our customers needed urgent assistance in maintaining their egg supply.

This is where we sprang into action to help their client efficiently and “eggspeditiously” so to speak, with the import of eggs to the US. We managed to act quickly and found the right equipment to ship enough eggs from Europe, safeguarding the right temperature throughout the process. Stories like these happen almost every day.

European supply chain.

Since Poland joined the EU in 2004, the EU has done wonders for it and the rest of Eastern Europe, ensuring democratic freedoms and administrative reforms and helping the region liberalize its markets. In the last decade, a lot has changed about the Polish infrastructure, including the highways that Poland didn’t have before. There are new train stations and modernized railroads. The broadband infrastructure is in place, which plays an important role in how we do business and serve our customers today. Poland has become Europe’s biggest construction site. Between 2000 and 2013, the aggregate length of Polish highways and express roads grew fivefold, dramatically reducing the cost and the time it takes to transport goods to the west. So we see the pros and don’t see too many obstacles at present.

what are the company’s plans for 2016 and beyond?

We are determined to continue our growth plans over the coming 3–5 years by focusing on our core road, air and ocean services, and by continuing to develop our portfolio of services. There are large growth opportunities in our current relationships as well as new relationships we are still discovering.

As we expand, we grow our ability to serve your needs in different markets. By listening to our customers and suppliers, we will continue to drive the growth of our core services, develop new and innovative solutions and add to our knowledge base through thought leadership and industry associations and events. Navisphere is our internally developed, global technology platform. It has been built based on decades of experience, aligning solutions with our customers’ and carriers’ needs. It links our network together and connects our network with our customers and carriers to ensure full visibility. We have dedicated IT and development staff in Europe to ensure alignment and flexibility.

Further to that, we believe if you invest in smart people who execute well-defined processes, supported by a single technology platform, you can provide a consistent experience to any customer across the continent. Our approach enables us to be in local markets and offer continuous collaboration between offices.

• WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

35

Company profile The British School

American Investor’s Tom Ćwiok talks with Dr John Kennard, principal of the British School in Warsaw, and Alison Fox, head of secondary, about the benefits of a British-style education

what can you tell me about the history of the British school in warsaw?

John kennard: The British School in Warsaw was established in 1991. Our founder is Iwona Thomas. It was her wish and dream to establish a British school in Warsaw. It was the right time, after Poland had begun its political and economic transformation. At the beginning it was a very small school, but it has grown significantly since and now we have 1,000 students and 100 teachers.

We have two campuses in Warsaw. The main campus in on ul. Limanowskiego, where we have the British year two right away to year 13, and we have secondary students from 11 to 18 on the same site.

But we also have our early years campus on ul. Dąbrowskiego in Warsaw. There we have pre-nursery, nursery, reception and year one. They have their first four years in that close family environment and then do the transfer.

We have been a private school, but also right from the very beginning we joined the Nord Anglia Education curriculum, so we are on board of Nord Anglia Education Schools. We were the first school in the world to join the NAE, so we are their flagship school. As of today, we now have 42 schools around the globe that belong to the NAE, and they cover most of the continents. So we are part of a larger group of schools which has 42,000 students across the group and 7,000 employees, and it is a significant premium structure. what advantages does that bring?

John kennard: That brings many advantages to it, as opposed to being a standalone school. We operate so many programs for our students, including a 36

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

program called Global Campus, which is a full online global interaction for students. We also have our global staff professional development, so we have a program called Nord Anglia University—a virtual university that offers access to professional reading and training to our staff around the world who are interacting and working together on better programs.

How do you approach iTc in the classroom and generally in the teaching process?

alison Fox: The collaborative side of the NAE is one of the strengths when you look at the staff but also at the students.

They are collaborating on competitions, activities and challenges with the Global Campus. They can access it across the globe within the group, and it really is a fabulous tool for them to get involved in it. One of the challenges that we are getting going at the moment—we have challenges in most subject areas—is for languages.

This one is that students teach online other students within other countries a set number of phrases in their own language. Ultimately the idea is that each student within the schools would be able to say an amount of phrases in a number of other languages. We have got 62 nationalities in this school. You can imagine mixing that up with the other 42 schools around the globe and what kind of input we are getting. Our children really enjoy getting involved in that kind of thing.

Of course, the professional development opportunities for the staff are big.

We have an excellent reading library with the Nord Anglia University, where we can access research papers and access latest theory in education, which is a brilliant

alison Fox: You may find different opinions about the use of technology in the classroom. A lot of teachers will tell you that technology has to be in the classroom and that our students need to be surrounded by it because this is the world now. However, there are many people also who are saying that we need to set a balance with skills and activities. We have a very good balance of how we incorporate technology in the classroom within other subjects. Of course, our students study computer science—they have lessons in computer science. It is no longer called information technology—it is called computer science and they learn to code. So they learn lots of different skills.

But we also incorporate it into every single part of the school—into assemblies, seminars that we might do for parents as well as for students. So technology is widely spread throughout the school. We’ve got a very well-equipped computer science lab, and we have primary ICT labs so they have computer science in primary education.

We also use iPad trolleys in the classroom.

We have a trolley of say 20 iPads, so each class teacher can use iPads in their lessons whenever they want. So the students are using the latest apps and different

resource. We can also work for each other in the same department or across departments to work on everything from assessment to engagement to whatever we want to. That’s exciting for us as staff.

We are a global school when you look at our structure. Our students we know will take center stage globally in whatever field they wish to go into. There is no limit in terms of what they can do and where their talents can take them.

John kennard: We have online access to resources for students. So the students can also click in from home and immediately access all their homework, everything that is set for that, additional exercises, summer programs—if they want to do additional studies for summer— everything is contained within Moodle.

Obviously, the staff need to use the system to upload resources. It is not just teaching in the classroom lesson by lesson, but it is also that availability elsewhere. I would imagine that it is pretty normal in other schools like ours. All our teachers are provided with an iPad so they can have online access to the classroom’s interactive whiteboards and other things. what would you say about the school’s academic performance?

John kennard: At the moment we are clearly aiming at maintaining our high academic performance and bettering it.

Our academic performance here is second to none. It is why a lot, if not the majority of our parents want to come here.

The academic results are outstanding.

The International Bachelor diploma in 2014 was extremely good—significantly above world averages. The IB maximum score is 45, and we had a student with 45 and others with 44, right at the top end.

So as a school we are very proud of that achievement, as we are a non-selective school, which means that we do not give students an academic entrance test. Our philosophy is that we take the child and we work with the child. We just open the door to the child and say, Develop! Be ambitious! By that we mean reach for the stars, go beyond. It is our philosophy for our students and our teachers: Don’t just accept what is good enough, but go that little bit further. As a result, our IB students move into world-class universities, whether that’s in the UK—and of course many of them go to the UK, because it is a British school with a British-style education, so there’s a natural link with the UK—but a lot of our students move to Ivy League schools and universities in the US and other schools. Access to top world universities is extremely important.

How about extracurricular activities? alison Fox: Extracurricular involves after-school and lunchtime activities, and we offer 90 clubs at the moment. They vary from sports clubs to music clubs to more academic-oriented clubs that can

have something to do with science, to a debating club, a whole wealth of different clubs and activities. Our students are very keen on those clubs, and their parents try to get them into as many clubs as possible, because we know that as students go through the school not only do they need the extra time to get involved in something creative or challenging that is taken away from their academic media, but they also need, as they get older through the years, to apply for universities and they need to be able to show an interest in something. The challenge gives them a skill, and they love to get involved in the clubs. Every term the students have a chance to change the club if they wish to try something else, or they can continue with the same one if they are particularly passionate about it.

We also have another collaboration which is very exciting, which is with the

Photos courtesy of the British School

Global education

ideas all the time at every single lesson— whether it is maths or science or music— it is all around us.

Juilliard School of Music, Dance and Drama in New York. The strength we have with the Nord Anglia organization is that they have managed to link together with such a renowned organization as Juilliard, and what they worked on is a curriculum for our schools, and based on the expertise that they have to develop a curriculum for us as far as music is concerned and later also in drama and dance.

This is something that many students will like, as many of them are inspired by music and dance and drama. Whether they think they are good at that is another thing—it’s a whole other side—but as you teach them academically it is also wonderful to see them develop in other areas of the curriculum.

were admitted to projects by Juilliard: a violin player—she eventually became the first violinist for the orchestra and the orchestra leader—and two classical guitar players, and one student was chosen as the journalist for the orchestra to report back on the events. It was a phenomenal event, the performance of the orchestra in New York. in your educational process how do you balance the focus on developing individualism versus teamwork capacities?

John kennard: We identify students and we work with each student from the International General Certificate of Secondary Education through the two years to the IB, so we are talking to them all the time, finding out what their interests are, the direction they wish to take, and providing some advice. We do work with them individually and not as a group, so they are really prepared to look at those university choices and know what exactly they want to do. So we are personally tailoring their programs to lead them through to university. We do a great deal of preparations for university entrance.

All of us teachers play a role. So no matter where they’re going—Oxford, Cambridge, Cornell—we would work with them individually.

So it is a question of nurturing our students to have strong individual characteristics, but in such a way that they know they need to work in a global context. If you are working for a large company or an embassy it is all called teamwork, but you still need people with that flair.

Nothing sums that up better than for our students to be ambitious. Not to accept what is good but always to go further. To be excited about learning. But also to be global citizens. We are a global school when you look at our structure.

Our students we know will take center stage globally in whatever field they wish to go into. There is no limit in terms of what they can do and where their talents can take them.

John kennard: Four of our students

• WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

37

Company profile Standard & Poor’s

Credit where credit’s due

s&P established its cee office in warsaw. was it because Poland is such a big market?

We opened our representative office in Poland in February 2014. In May 2015 we expanded it into a fully-fledged branch, reflecting our belief that Poland is a location where we are ready to invest further and strengthen our franchise.

The reason we chose Poland was multidimensional. We recognized Poland’s relatively strong macroeconomic performance, which enabled Poland to weather the storm of the financial crisis. We considered Poland’s strong position in the EU, offering stability, predictability and the rule of law, continuously supporting balanced economic growth and the development of the local capital market.

Poland benefits from its strategic location in the heart of Central & Eastern Europe, with a well-established presence of international companies and financial institutions running their regional hubs and headquarters from Warsaw.

What is particularly impressive is Poland’s vibrant and actively developing local private corporate sector. Companies established here are successfully competing on international markets, becoming more sophisticated, diverse and well-established in their footprint. We can list numerous examples of enterprises that have successfully branched out from Poland, developed exports, built a business presence globally, and made a suc-

38

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

cessful track record in cross-border M&A. We are inspired by Poland’s solid entrepreneurial base, which is actively developing its international presence and looking to grow outside of the domestic area. This is especially important for us because we are a company that adds value in the process of developing business growth strategies and establishment of an international presence. The vibrant private business scene corresponds well with the values that we have been successfully delivering globally for years: facilitating access to international capital markets.

To summarize, for us Poland represents a hybrid between an emerging and developed economy, offering a healthy balance and upside of both these worlds.

How does an s&P rating generate value for your clients?

Before we speak about value, let us first explain what a credit rating really is. A credit rating is an opinion about the ability and willingness of an issuer, such as a corporate, financial institution, state or city, to meet its financial obligations in full and on time. Credit ratings speak to the credit quality of an individual debt issue, such as a corporate or municipal bond, and the relative likelihood that the issue may default. S&P ratings are expressed as letter grades that range from AAA to D. The aim of a credit rating is to provide transparency in the market, it being an obligatory market practice for issuing debt on international capital markets. Ratings foster the development and smooth functioning of capital markets, providing an efficient, widely recognized and longstanding measure of relative credit risk. They facilitate the process of issuing and purchasing debt and build issuers’ credit story and perception across both investors and market counterparts.

Our product adds value to various par-

ticipants of the financial markets, ranging from investors to intermediaries and most importantly issuers themselves. Investors use credit ratings to help assess the credit risk and compare different issuers and debt issues when making investment decisions and managing their portfolios. Institutional investors such as mutual funds or pension funds, banks and insurance companies may use them to supplement their own credit analysis of specific debt issues. Intermediaries use our opinions to benchmark the relative credit risk and set the initial pricing for individual debt issues they structure. Finally, issuers such as corporations, finan-

Photo courtesy of Standard & Poor’s

American Investor’s Tom Ćwiok talks with Marcin Petrykowski, managing director of the Poland Branch and regional head for Central & Eastern Europe at Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, about how ratings help companies achieve strategic goals and drive business growth

cial institutions, national governments, states, cities and municipalities use our ratings to provide independent views to the outside world of their creditworthiness and credit quality.

The higher the rating the better for the client—isn’t that true?

In principle that’s correct, but not always.

It’s important to note that perception of

each rating level depends greatly on the investor. We have investors that are riskaverse and others who by definition invest in higher-yield, higher-risk securities.

Our rating scales depicts two categories of assets: investment grade, ranging from AAA to BBB-, and non-investment grade, or speculative grade, ranging from BB+ to D. The term “investment grade” historically referred to bonds and other debt securities that bank regulators and market participants viewed as suitable investments for financial institutions. Now the term describes issuers and issues with a higher level of creditworthiness and credit quality, in contrast to non-investment-grade debt securities, where repayment faces greater uncertainty.

In the search for yield we notice that demand for securities of higher credit risk, commonly known as “high-yields,” is significantly growing. Therefore, a higher rating does not always mean higher demand. Demand depends on investors’ preferences, investment policies, approach to risk and portfolio diversification. There is a large market for non-investment-grade assets, and in particular emerging markets have been taking advantage of liquidity from this investor class. in a nutshell, how does the process of assigning a rating look?

After an issuer contracts with our commercial team and requests a credit rating, the process is then solely managed by our analytical team, who conduct an initial evaluation and assessment of the issuer according to our rating methodology and criteria. The analyst requests an extensive set of data, background information, history, strategic future plans and business models, to be discussed during a management meeting.

Following work with the issuer, the analyst evaluates the information and proposes the rating to a rating committee.

The committee meets to review and discuss the lead analyst’s rating recommendation and presentation, including full analysis and rating rationale, and then votes on the credit rating. In the last step the issuer is notified of the credit rating assigned by the committee. It can then be either published in the public domain or kept confidential, all subject to the issuer’s preferences and strategy. what criteria and methodology do you use in ratings?

In our approach we use the analyst-driven model, meaning we employ analysts to evaluate and express an opinion on the relative creditworthiness of issuers and the relative credit quality of debt issues.

In rating an issuer, such as a corporation or municipality, analysts conduct a review of the financial performance, policies, and risk-management strategies of that issuer, as well as the business and economic environment in which the issuer operates. In addition to evaluating financial data, credit analysts typically weigh qualitative information, such as longterm strategies, as they assess the issuer’s ability and willingness to meet its financial obligations in a timely manner.

Our model assesses a broad range of industry, financial and business attributes that may influence the issuer’s credit story. The specific risk factors that are analyzed depend much on the type of issuer. For example, credit rating analysis of a corporate issuer typically considers many financial and non-financial factors, both qualitative and quantitative. These include, to name only a few, economic, regulatory, and geopolitical influences, management and corporate governance attributes, key performance indicators, competitive trends, product-mix considerations, R&D prospects, patent rights and labor relations.

It is important to note that while a key component of credit rating analysis is the evaluation of historical data, rating opinions are designed to be forward-looking.

In other words, ratings take into account not only the present situation but also the potential impact of future events on credit risk. you are paid by the company you actually rate. How do you divide the rating process from the sales process?

Indeed we follow the issuer-pays model, where we charge issuers and structured finance arrangers a fee for providing credit ratings. As part of the rating process, we obtain from issuers, and incorporate into our opinions of credit quality, information that might otherwise be unavailable to investors and other market participants. Since the issuer pays for the ratings, the agencies can make the ratings widely available to the market free of charge, hence the ultimate user of our services is the investor community.

To protect against potential conflicts of interest when paid by the issuer, we have established a number of safeguards and regulations. These measures include, for example, a clear separation of function between those who negotiate the business terms for the rating assignment and the analysts who independently conduct the credit analysis and provide the rating opinion. One must remember that the ratings industry is strictly regulated, hence on every level of the organization we foster a robust control and compli-

ance culture.

How long does it take to rate a client?

The rating process takes approximately 4 to 6 weeks. The process can be accelerated if need be, but this would depend on the quality of information that we obtain from the issuer. If the issuer is an entity that adheres to international accounting standards, the process is usually shorter, while local standards may require additional time to fully understand and translate available information. After the credit rating is assigned, it remains under surveillance on an annual or semi-annual basis. apart from ratings, what other products do you offer?

We offer a wide range of products related to credit risk assessment and management, encompassing Special-Purpose Ratings, Analytics, Assessments and Models. So overall across our product portfolio we offer services that express our views of creditworthiness on both hypothetical and existing scenarios and structures. Outside of this, like any innovative organization, we continue to develop new products and expand our offer as we see requirements and need from the marketplace. what are s&P’s plans for Poland in 2016 and beyond?

S&P’s presence in Poland is gaining traction. Within just over a year we expanded into a fully-constituted branch, significantly grew the local team, and increased overall geographical coverage managed out of the Warsaw office. From a senior management perspective I now also oversee the firm’s Relationship Management unit for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, leading a team based in London, Paris, Frankfurt and across our EMEA office network structuring firm-wide partnerships with S&P’s top-tier strategic clients. Business development and saleswise, from the Poland branch we cover the Central & Eastern Europe region and also Turkey, Greece and Cyprus.

This further emphasizes the importance of the Poland office in our wider EMEA franchise and strategy. Our plans encompass further development of business activities and visibility in the region, ensuring the highest quality of market interaction and services combined with maintenance of solid client relationships.

Now that we have a strong regional business management and sales capacity in Warsaw, for the upcoming future we are working to establish a local analytical presence.

• WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

39

Expert Dispute resolution

Data protection

An arbitration award is just the beginning

Unsafe harbor

Arbitration decisions are enforced through the state courts, but the losing party still has avenues of defense

A landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice disrupts the flow of vital customer data across the Atlantic

I

t is becoming increasingly popular in Poland for companies to include an arbitration clause in their contracts. Undoubtedly submitting disputes to arbitrators for resolution has many advantages, but it also requires a series of actions to be taken after a final award is issued—win or lose. winner’s perspective Holding a final award of the arbitration court does not yet mean that the award is enforceable and can be executed by the bailiff. In order to compel the loser to comply with the award, the winner must still obtain confirmation of enforceability of the award. This applies first and foremost when the claimant prevails in the arbitration, because a defendant who has successfully defeated claims brought against it in arbitration typically takes no further steps.

The institution with the power to grant confirmation of enforceability is the state court that would have been competent to hear the case were it not for the arbitration clause—that is, the court where the claim would have been filed if the parties had not decided on arbitration.

Poland’s Civil Procedure Code indicates the path that the party must follow to obtain confirmation of enforceability of the award, resulting in issuance of an enforcement clause for the award. In this specific type of enforcement clause proceeding, the applicant must comply with a number of formal requirements, such as submitting the original of the award or a copy certified by the arbitration court, the original or an official copy of the arbitration agreement, and, if they are in another language, also Polish translations of both documents. The state court will then examine 40

whether the dispute covered by the award could be submitted to an arbitration court for resolution and whether recognition or enforcement of the award would violate fundamental principles of the legal order in Poland (known as the public policy clause). The winning party may apply for enforcement immediately after obtaining the arbitration award, and then, after the state court finds that the award is enforceable, the party may seek execution by the bailiff of the claims awarded in the party’s favor.

The defendant against whom the award was issued granting relief to the claimant will learn of issuance of an enforcement clause for the arbitration award when the first steps are taken by the bailiff to execute on the award. Then the losing party has a number of options open to it. loser’s perspective The losing side has available several legal measures that can prevent the winning side from executing on the arbitration award.

These include, among other things, a petition to set aside the arbitration award, an application to stay enforcement of the award, or an application to postpone the ruling on the case seeking confirmation of enforceability of the arbitration award and issuance of an enforcement clause for the award.

Petition to set aside the arbitration award The Civil Procedure Code lays down a procedure for reviewing the propriety of rulings by arbitration courts. Either party to a proceeding before an arbitration court is entitled to file a petition with the state court to set aside the arbitration award. But this procedure is not a form of review of the merits of the ruling, and

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

By Maciej Jóźwiak, attorney at law, Litigation team, Wierzbowski Eversheds

more specifically is not an appeal against the award to a higher instance. The state court will essentially review whether either party was deprived of its right to defend itself in the arbitration proceeding, whether the arbitration clause was proper, and whether the award itself violates the fundamental principles of the legal order in Poland.

The code also provides that during consideration of a petition to set aside an arbitration award, the state court may decide, at the request of a party or on its own initiative, to stay enforcement of the award until the proceeding commenced by filing of the petition to set aside the award has been completed with legal finality.

The problem is that the period for filing a petition to set aside the award is 3 months from service of the arbitration award on the party.

Considering that this petition is an extraordinary means of review and by its nature is a legally complicated pleading, it rarely happens that parties actually commence such proceedings much earlier than the deadline. This means that in the meantime, the amount owed under the award could already be executed against the party in full.

To prevent this, it is therefore necessary for the losing party to act earlier, during the proceeding for issuance of an enforcement clause for the arbitration award. application for stay of enforcement Typically the defendant learns about issuance by the state court of confirmation of enforceability of an arbitration award when the bailiff takes his first steps toward execution against the defendant.

This is a relatively late moment, particularly in the case of classic commercial disputes where the

claims are monetary and execution involves seizure of funds in the business’s bank account, or attachment of its receivables, real estate, movable property, and so on. The period for filing an interlocutory appeal against the order issuing the enforcement clause runs from the date of service of notice of the bailiff’s first action.

But it is possible to react earlier.

The losing party is after all a party to the proceeding for issuance of an enforcement clause for the arbitration award, and even though the court does not notify the losing party of commencement of that proceeding, the losing party can take various actions during the enforcement clause proceeding. Firstly, however, it is necessary to monitor the possible filing of an application with the relevant state court.

When the losing party is already aware that the case is pending, it is entitled to file an application to postpone consideration of the case until the end of the proceeding on the petition to set aside the award. But a condition for the effectiveness of this step is actually filing the petition to set aside the award, which typically means filing the petition earlier than would be required by the code, before the deadline set for the party by the court.

It should be stressed that the defendant has a right of interlocutory appeal against the order issuing the enforcement clause for the award. But the court will serve a writ of enforcement on the winning side, which is the basis for commencing execution, regardless of whether the defendant has filed an interlocutory appeal. Consequently, even though the appeal is pending the winning party can proceed to initiate execution proceedings and demand seizure of the debtor’s assets.

•

O

n November 12, 2015, Poland’s data protection authority, the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection (GIODO), issued a communiqué on the rules for transferring personal data to US territory. The communiqué presents GIODO’s position on the landmark ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union of October 6, 2015, in Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner (Case C-362/14).

In Schrems, the court held that the EC’s Safe Harbor decision (Commission Decision 2000/520/EC of 26 July 2000 on the adequacy of the protection provided by the safe harbor privacy principles and related frequently asked questions issued by the US Department of Commerce) was invalid. end of an era The victory of Maximillian Schrems overturned a system businesses had been using on both sides of the Atlantic to establish a legal basis for transferring data from the EU. The ruling also enshrined as a matter of EU law the main barrier to finding that the US ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data transferred from Europe: the right of US federal authorities to process without limitation any and all data of any persons without the need for individual justification and without judicial oversight.

This kind of access could be obtained under the rules for conducting “signals intelligence” under US Presidential Policy Directive 28 and also by mining Big Data collected by major online companies.

The Court of Justice also found that EU citizens have no effective means of protecting themselves against this threat to their privacy in the United States. By contrast,

EU citizens do have remedies in the EU. When the data protection authorities appointed under the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) receive complaints about inadequate protection of data transferred to a third country, they must conduct an investigation and apply the measures provided for in the directive if they find irregularities, such as halting or prohibiting the transfer or ordering the deletion of data. If a decision of the European Commission hampers such investigations and application of these protective measures, the Court of Justice can examine the validity of the decision. It was through such a complaint by Schrems that the Court of Justice came to examine the validity of the Safe Harbor decision.

The consequences of the Schrems ruling have been compared to a natural disaster—a “bombshell” … “seismic.” According to www.export.gov, the US government’s export promotion and finance portal, there were nearly 4,500 companies in the US which had self-certificated to import data under the Safe Harbor rules.

Reassuring words The ruling drew a rapid response from the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, a body established under the Data Protection Directive made up of the data protection authorities of the member states. In a statement dated October 21, 2015, the group declared that it was most important that until a new adequacy decision could be negotiated between the European Commission and the US, a common position needed to be taken on interim rules for transfer of data. The group recommended that other means for legalizing data trans-

By Jan Grygo, advocate and partner, Łaszczuk & Partners

fers, including binding corporate rules and model contractual clauses, should continue to be accepted. But the group warned that based on the Schrems ruling, each member state’s data protection authority is still required to conduct a detailed inquiry into complaints about transfer of data to third countries, regardless of the basis for the transfer relied on by the data controller. Similar guidelines were issued by the European Commission in a communiqué dated November 6, 2015.

The position taken by GIODO in Poland is consistent with these guidelines. Like the Article 29 Working Party, GIODO declared that until February 1, 2016 (the scheduled deadline for the US and the EU to reach agreement on new rules for commercial transfers of data), GIODO would not take action on its own “to enforce the judgment.”

Notwithstanding the reassuring voices from the European Commission, the Article 29 Working Party and the national data protection authorities, it will not be easy to apply the other possible grounds they indicated for legalizing data transfers. The grounds must be examined on a case-bycase basis to ensure protection of the rights and freedoms of the data subjects. Neither standard contractual clauses nor binding corporate rules offer certainty in this respect.

Nor is there certainty about the consent of the data subject. The consent has to meet numerous conditions, such as identifying the subject matter. The data subject will have to be informed in detail of the scope and purposes of access to the data and that consent can be withdrawn. Even if those precautions are followed, it may be argued that no one can validly consent to violation of their fun-

damental rights. The barriers imposed by the member states in terms of form and content for consent pale by comparison with this objection. (In Poland consent to transfer personal data to a third country must be made in writing.)

Respect for european values This was a big win for Maximillian Schrems and company. But their aim is greater: to force the United States to follow European privacy standards. They hope that complaints against private American companies will give them a stake in solving the problem.

Maybe a fair solution can be reached without additional pressure? According to a document issued by the European Commission on November 6, 2015, “Q&A: Guidance on transatlantic data transfers following the Schrems ruling,” negotiations for a replacement for Safe Harbor may be near the end. The US government is prepared to accept implementation of 11 of the 13 recommendations for improvement of the Safe Harbor program announced by the European Commission in 2013 following the Snowden affair.

But it’s no secret that there is no agreement on two of the key conclusions from the Schrems decision: the duty to disclose the specific instances in which US authorities may access transferred data, and an undertaking by the US that its authorities will exercise the right to process personal data from Europe only in necessary cases and with respect for the principle of proportionality.

So it’s hard to believe that the negotiations are really almost over.

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

• 41

Expert Computer threats

Welcome to the Digital Jungle Using the Internet may be more dangerous for you than you think but there are some good practices which may help you avert the risks

T

he explosion of data or “Big Data” is giving us endless possibilities as technology is ever more pervasive in our lives, and undoubtedly has huge benefits for everyone. It allows us to create new, wonderful, and more customized products, and also to accomplish complex tasks more easily and accurately.

Meanwhile, in line with Moore’s Law, computer processing power has been doubling every 18 months. This continues, making the current production of data exponential.

Since 2014, every second people: • Write 204 million emails • Conduct 2 million Google searches • Share 700,000 pieces of content on Facebook • Post 100,000 tweets • Download 47,000 apps from the Apple store • Post 36,000 photos on Instagram • Post 34 million texts on WhatsApp However, as with all technologies, we should also reflect on the downside of such data production, or more accurately the streams of digital pollution that each of us leaves behind almost continuously. What are the actual and potential ramifications of this? The precious smartphones in our pocket (very powerful computers in their own right), which do so much for us in our lives, have become in essence a human

42

sensor, meaning data about us is collected almost continuously. Your accumulated data paints a better picture of how you spend your time than you know yourself. Web search metadata has our most intimate secrets because we do not lie to a search engine!

With the significant change of pace taking place, the best practices available to protect yourself and your family are far from catching up with cyber reality. It is worth knowing where we are now—not to get scared but to learn some practical tips on what to do next. you are the product When asked how it is that Facebook, Google or LinkedIn can provide their services for free, most people would say “advertising.” However, if questioned further they would be fuzzy on exactly how this works. All of the social networking platforms that provide access to people, entertainment and news actually make people the product.

Users of such platforms willingly give up a goldmine of data about themselves for the platforms to do whatever they want with. The reason these companies have such multi-billiondollar valuations is the amount of data they have about us— valuable data.

This is true for almost all the apps we love to use. The app collects data from the phone, including location data, which it then owns and does whatever it

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

wants with. A whopping 82% of mobile apps track online activities and 80% collect location information. The vast majority of surveillance is corporate, not governmental.

The data you create is permanent. Computer storage is now cheap enough for data to be stored indefinitely, and indeed it is now cheaper to store it than to delete it. Science fiction authors describe today’s situation as the “end of prehistory.” Nothing is now forgotten.

All information in the digital sphere is considered Open Source, and may be used against you. Adults of today were able to forget things in their past. This is no longer the case. Data on what you have done, and the mistakes you have made, is now out there. Right now Facebook can generate a 60–100-page digital dossier on any one of us, at will.

Moreover, Big Data is rapidly becoming “Big Analysis,” meaning that the dissemination of data collected is getting significantly better, fast. If Big Data is sitting on a goldmine, analysis is turning it into bullion. So, once your information is collated by the sites that have every right to do so, they can then sell that data to whomever they want. There is an ever-increasing market for your data and general metadata, which is being sold to information brokers, and an ever-increasing black market in the Deep Web.

the populations of Germany and France combined. Many believe that the figure may be significantly higher.

By Andrew de Roy, managing partner, CEE Consulting Group

algorithms have got your number We increasingly live in a world where key decisions are made by computers, i.e. algorithms.

Computers are increasingly becoming Reputation Engines, enabling searches for your digital footprint online, as well as offline activities and interactions. In today’s world, a Good Online Reputation (as determined by an algorithm) gives you “good” opportunities (better insurance premiums, free upgrades at hotels, etc), compared to a lack of opportunities when the algorithm gives you a more negative score.

Likewise, algorithmic surveillance is increasingly the norm. We are now seeing red flags pop up in the digital world through scanning certain keywords, and voice recognition. A computer decides if you are worth bringing to the attention of the authorities or a company.

Fake Facebook accounts In a world where decisions are increasingly made by algorithms, there is large scope for manipulation, something that states, governments and commercial actors do a very significant amount of. We live in a “in screens we trust” society, where people in essence believe what is put in front of them. In Facebook’s 2014 annual report, it admitted that 11.2% of all profiles are fake. Facebook has 1.3 billion profiles, so that adds up to 150 million fakes—more than

cybercrime Along with technology, cybercrime is growing exponentially, due to massive profits being generated with almost negligible risk. The nation-based system of law enforcement cannot handle the new realities of money pinging around the globe, meaning enforcement and prosecution are almost non-existent. At present the prosecution rates for cybercrime are 1/1,000th of a percentage point! With better tech-

time to talk about the most basic methods for defending yourself and your company online.

The first caution is that online, ignorance is not bliss. The world is changing extremely fast, with the ever-increasing speed and prevalence of computers and technologies in our lives. The information out there about you leaves significant exposure to criminals and other nefarious agents.

We have all laughed at Nigerian fraudsters sending bogus emails (this is probably the most successful scam in history). However, these scams are getting far more sophisticated,

they are then able to log into everything that you use, including banking and other very sensitive sites. Do not fall for this: passwords need to be long (20 digits plus), and should contain upper- and lower-case letters as well as symbols.

Play the algorithm game Understand that we live in a Reputation Economy. Algorithms are constantly judging and rating you, as well as others and all organizations. Algorithms giving you a positive result will give you significant advantages in your personal and professional life (often without you realizing it), and vice-versa

After reading this, you may decide that the digital world is not for you, and opting out altogether is preferable, but this is not a good or realistic idea. nology, the sophistication of cyber attacks is improving continuously.

Attacks can take a “phishingnet” approach, where cybercriminals target thousands of people to see who they can rob, or an increasingly sophisticated “spear-phishing” approach, where your data is used to specifically target you.

We now live in a time when the attacker has a very big advantage over a defender of data.

An attacker needs just one attack to succeed, while you, as a defender, need to get it right every time. Increasingly, your data can be used against you or against your organization.

The advent of the Internet of Things means we are on the cusp of a data wave, and data about us is going to get much more prevalent. We currently interact with hundreds of computers, which will soon become thousands. Billions of devices will soon join the Internet, painting an ever more accurate picture of how we live our lives. ways to protect yourself Now that some of the key threats have been outlined, it’s

and fraudsters are using much better tools and more professional methods to build relationships with people. In addition to such “phishing-net” approaches, be aware that “spearphishing” techniques for targeting any specific person are also getting increasingly sophisticated.

Post information with caution We live in the end of the ephemeral. Everything posted online is information which could conceivably be used against you as a matter of public record. These records will never disappear. Therefore, you should avoid having information online which causes reputational damage, like for example being overly inebriated or overly sexual, or acting in any illegal way. Likewise, avoid posting overly political statements.

Passwords The biggest vulnerability is to have the same password to every device and product that you use. This remains extremely common, and once hackers discover one password,

in a negative way. Give yourself every chance to realize the benefits of cyber reality by understanding the game and playing it correctly.

Use your common sense on email and social networks. Only connect with people you know, and manage your online relationships accordingly. Understand that criminals and other actors monitor social media constantly. You should limit access to your vulnerabilities as much as possible. usB sticks and other devices USB sticks are without doubt the most likely way to receive viruses. Do not plug in any USB stick you are unsure of. It is the same with public and unknown Wi-Fi connections. Treat them with caution, as they are often an open door allowing hackers into your networked systems. In particular, sensitive browsing should only be carried out on trusted computers. For example, banking or shopping online should only be done on computers that you know and trust.

When it comes to cameras on your computer, remember that it is easy for hackers to get ac-

cess to any camera that you may have because they are generally very easy to hack. Limit them, and also cover them up when they are not required. When devices are not being used they should be turned off. Doing so will reduce the odds of getting hacked by one-third, as no hacker can get into your machine when it is turned off. encrypt your data Protect your digital life through encryption, both locally and when traveling across the web.

Encryption of your hard drive means the content cannot be read if lost or stolen. Also consider using a virtual private network (VPN), particularly when using your computer in public Wi-Fi areas. And always use a password on your telephone.

This ensures that no one can access it, as well as full encryption. download software only from official sites Be extremely wary of downloading from non-official sites hosting “free” software. Likewise avoid downloading from pirate sites or common P2P networks, which often contain malware and viruses. These sites are all “free” for a reason. Understand that by using them you are paying with your privacy.

After reading this, you may decide that the digital world is not for you, and opting out altogether is preferable. This is not a good or realistic idea. Firstly, the cyber world offers huge opportunities to engage and connect and discover new ideas.

Secondly, not having a profile is actually a hacker’s dream, as it enables someone to “steal” your profile by creating one with a picture of you. Once a hacker has a profile of you on, say, Facebook or LinkedIn, it can learn untold information about you, and in the future it will be extremely hard to prove that the profile is not you.

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

•

43

Events AmCham in Warsaw

Meeting the new ambassador

Halloween masquerade

he Am1 Cham Board had lunch with the new US Ambassador, Paul W. Jones, in October. The meeting focused on central issues for American business in Poland. The venue was the Bristol Hotel in Warsaw.

mCham members and friends dusted off their Halloween costumes for the Halloween Business Mixer held at the Champions Restaurant at the Warsaw Marriott. The winners of the bestcostume competition took home wonderful prizes sponsored by Mary Kay, Adoria Vineyards and Casinos Poland.

T

3

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1. The meeting in progress. 2. Joanna Bensz, AmCham Vice Chair (CH2M Polska); Paul Fogo, AmCham Treasurer (JF Legal).

3. Tony Housh, AmCham Chairman (APCO Worldwide); Marek Kapuściński, Procter & Gamble Central Europe. 4. Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Managing Director; Roman Rewald, Weil Gotshal. 5. Jolanta Jaworska, IBM Poland & Baltics; Marek Kapuściński; Anna Jakubowski, Coca-Cola. 6. Judith Gliniecki, AmCham Vice Chair (CEE Equity Partners); Paul W. Jones, US Ambassador to Poland. 7. Joseph Wancer, Bank BGŻ BNP Paribas; Paul W. Jones. 8. Rick Lada, AmCham Secretary; Paul W. Jones.

9. Judith Gliniecki; Paul W. Jones; Joanna Bensz.

44

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

A

6

9

2

1

4

7

5

8

10

11

1. Robert Grader, Warsaw Marriott Hotel; Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Managing Director. 2. The party in full swing.

3. Robert Grader; Beata Pawłowska, Oriflame; Bogusław Czerwiński. 4. Marzena Drela, Dorota Serafin, AmCham.

5. Anita Kowalska, AmCham; Mariusz Paszkiel, Warsaw Marriott Hotel; Marzena Drela. 6. Joanna Bensz, AmCham Vice Chair (CH2M Polska); Małgorzata Wadzińska, Procter & Gamble. 7. Robert Grader; Roy Panzarella, Lockheed Martin. 8. Nate Espino; Christopher Smith. 9. Matt Lynch; Marek Sowa. 10. Dorota Dabrowski; Tony Housh, AmCham Chairman (APCO Worldwide). 11. Tony Clairey, Robert Grader.

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

45

Events AmCham in Warsaw

AmCham in Gdańsk

New political horizons

Y-generation dilemmas

1 he AmCham Monthly Meeting in November focused on politics following the parliamentary elections and the win of Law & Justice. The venue of the meeting was the Hemisphere Room at the InterContinental Warsaw Hotel.

lobal trends in HR were the topic at the meeting held in November by AmCham Gdańsk in cooperation with the Scandinavian Chamber of Commerce in Poland. The speaker, Natalia Pisarek, team leader of Human Capital Consulting at Deloitte Consulting, talked about the challenges Generation Y poses for companies in such areas as engagement and internal communications.

T 2

3

G

4

Natalia Pisarek, team leader of Human Capital Consulting at Deloitte Consulting, delivers her presentation.

5

6

7

Boost your company exposure by sponsoring AmCham events 8

9

10

We offer a unique opportunity to increase your company’s visibility through sponsorship of AmCham events, by promoting your company to the business and diplomatic community and receiving media coverage. AmCham events in Warsaw include business mixers, high-level discussion panels at CEO Forums, as well as our big annual events, the 4th of July Picnic and the AmCham Diner at the Krynica Economic Forum and the European Economic Congress in Katowice, which attract hundreds of guests.

In addition to AmCham’s Warsaw events, companies can sponsor events in Kraków, Katowice, Wrocław, and Gdańsk. Events include business mixers, conferences, the AmCham Academy in Kraków, and more.

1. Tony Housh, AmCham Chairman (APCO Worldwide), moderated the meeting; Andrzej Bobiński, senior analyst, Polityka Insight; Łukasz Warzecha, commentator, W Sieci; Tomasz Wróblewski, editor in chief, Wprost. 2. Tony Housh; Pat Burke, EY. 3. Zofia Leśniewska, Polityka; Marzena Drela, AmCham. 4. Steen Hommel, Danish Ambassador to Poland. 5. Michał Kuczyński, Edelman; Marek Śmigielski, Invenergy. 6. Michał Koczalski, CEC Government Relations; Grzegorz Wasiewski, White & Case. 7. Tony Housh; Judith Gliniecki, AmCham Vice Chair (CEE Equity Partners); Marten Schoenrock, InterContinental Warsaw Hotel. 8. Roy Panzarella, Lockheed Martin. 9. Joanna Mroczek, CBRE; Ronald B. Given. 10. Ewa Nowaczewska, BAE Systems; Jarosław Witek, DLA Piper Wiater.

46

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

For more information on events, please contact us at

anita.kowalska@amcham.pl

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

47

Events AmCham in Warsaw

Grooming talent

T

he finale of the 1st edition of “30 Under 30”—a mentoring program addressed to managers below age 30 who work at AmCham member companies—was hosted by the American commercial real estate consultancy CBRE, with all project participants in attendance. The guest of honor was Paul W. Jones, US Ambassador to Poland. In-kind sponsors of the event were CocaCola Poland Services and Adoria Vineyards.

Thank you, Elvis!

I

1

n November, AmCham held its Thanksgiving party at the Blue Cactus Restaurant and Iguana Lounge. The party coincided with Anita Kowalska’s 20th anniversary with AmCham, for which she received a certificate and a handshake from the chairman. Elvis Presley made a rare appearance.

3

2

1

2

4

5

3 6

4

5

7

8

6 9

10

Sponsor

1. AmCham 30 Under 30 Program graduates with Magda Pavlak-Chiaradia, ERM Poland; Paul W. Jones, US Ambassador to Poland (center); Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Managing Director (second from right); and Daniel Bienias (far right), CBRE. 2. Dorota Dabrowski; Kuba Kądziałko, CH Robinson; Magda Pavlak-Chiaradia; Paul W. Jones. 3. Dorota Dabrowski; Barbara Sobowska, Weil Gotshal; Magda Pavlak-Chiaradia; Paul W. Jones.

4. Katarzyna Gajewska, Natalia Wenzławska, Urszula Główka, CBRE. 5. Paul W. Jones. 6. Dagmara Jasik, CDM Smith; Aleksandra Śmietanko, Orange; Agata Chmielewska, Lionbridge Poland.

48

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

1. The party in progress. 2. Piotr Grajewski, Santa Fe Partners, operator of the Blue Cactus Restaurant and Iguana Lounge.

3. Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Managing Director; Anita Kowalska, AmCham; Tony Housh, AmCham Chairman (APCO Worldwide). 4. The King in action. 5. Joseph Wancer, AmCham Board Member (Bank BGŻ BNP Paribas); Krystyna Wancer; Monika Thieme. 6. Jolanta Tourel; Lucyna Jaremczuk, Ministry of Economy. 7. Maria Mużarowska, Trenda Group; Barbara Pocialik, AmCham. 8. Marek Matraszek, CEC Government Relations; Tony Housh. 9. Elvis; Dorota Dabrowski; Tim Hyland, FCm Travel Express. 10. Michał Szczerba, member of the Polish Parliament; Marzena Drela, AmCham.

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

49

Events AmCham in Warsaw

Wrapping it up

A

mCham’s Annual General Meeting included the auditor’s report and the annual report, which were approved by a quorum of members. The highlights of the evening included an address by Ambassador Paul W. Jones and the AmCham student essay contest winners. The meeting was followed by a holiday reception and grand raffle.

1

3

4

6

9

2

11

10

12

5

13

14

15

16

17

18

7

Executive Sponsor

50

8

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

In Kind Sponsors

1. Paul W. Jones, US Ambassador to Poland. 2. Tony Housh, AmCham Chairman (APCO Worldwide). 3. Darcy Nicolle, UTC. 4. Dorota Dabrowski, AmCham Managing Director. 5. Agnieszka Ostaszewska, PwC. 6. Judith Gliniecki, AmCham Vice Chair (CEE Equity Partners); Paul W. Jones; Tony Housh. 7. Marta Pawlak, AmCham; Joseph Wancer, AmCham Board Member (Bank BGŻ BNP Paribas); Marzena Drela, AmCham; Tony Housh. 8. The official part of the AGM in progress. 9. Dorota Dabrowski; Alon Redlich, UTC; Paweł Wideł, General Motors. 10. Roman Rewald, AmCham Board Member (Weil Gotshal); Marzena Drela; John Lynch, AmCham Board Member (Lynka).11. Jacek Stryczyński, Lionbridge; Rick Lada, AmCham Secretary; Joseph Wancer; Jolanta Jaworska. 12. Judith Gliniecki; Robert Grader, Warsaw Marriott Hotel; Tony Housh. 13. Giulia Blada plays Chopin.

14. Roman Lewandowski, International Technology Sourcing; Alina Gronek, AmCham Gdańsk Branch Director; Darcy Nicolle.

15. Marek Matraszek, CEC Government Relations; Piotr Bonisławski, Eli Lilly; Michał Koczalski, CEC Government Relations.

16. Agnieszka Kosowska, Roche; Tony Housh; David DeBenedetti. 17. Dorota Dabrowski; Michał Cieślak, member of the Polish Parliament, who won an Air France–KLM/Delta ticket to the US in the raffle; Anita Kowalska, AmCham. 18. John Lynch, AmCham Board Member (Lynka); Anna Jakubowski, AmCham Board Member (Coca-Cola); Sebastian Arana, 3M; Tony Housh.

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

51

Events AmCham in Wrocław

One night only

T

he annual International Christmas Evening, cohosted by AmCham, the German-Polish Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK), the British Polish Chamber of Commerce, and the FrenchPolish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFP), attracted over 200 guests from Wrocław and the region of Lower Silesia. The venue was the Sofitel Wrocław Old Town.

6

Platinum Sponsor

7

1

Golden Sponsors

8 2

3

Silver Sponsors

9

10

5

4

Bronze Sponsors 11

12

1. Iwona Makowiecka, AHK; Ilona Chodorowska, BPCC; Monika Ciesielska-Mróz, AmCham Wrocław Director (PM Group); Monika Constant, CCIFP. 2. Michael Kern, AHK; Nicholas Richardson, BPCC; Krzysztof Bramorski, Lower Silesia Governor’s Office; Christiane Botschen, German Consulate General in Wrocław; Joanna Bensz, AmCham Vice Chair (CH2M Hill). 3. Maciej Lipkowski, Sage; Rafał Olesiński, Olesiński & Partners. 4. Networking opportunities. 5. Anna Nojszewska, Volvo Polska; Joanna Bensz; Mike Whitney, Adoria Winery. 6. Ilona Chodorowska; Monika Ciesielska-Mróz; Iwona Makowiecka. 7. The Sofitel Wrocław Old Town.

8. Bartosz Mońca, Casinos Poland. 9. Some creative sponsor activity. 10. Joanna Matryba; Roman Sitko, Mondelēz Polska.

11. Eva Rogoż; Marta Jura, Jutta Hutsch, Ideaplace. 12. Performance by FreeWolni.

52

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

53

Events AmCham in Kraków & Katowice

Mixing before the seasonal break

T

he AmCham Kraków & Katowice Christmas Mixer was preceded by a panel discussion on challenges managers face in diverse environments. The venue was the Sheraton Kraków Hotel, and the sponsors were Motorola Solutions, Pagea and EY. In the formal part of the holiday reception, long-term members headquartered in southern Poland received Certificates of Membership.

2

1

10

3

11

4

6

5

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016

12

13

14

15

16

17

7

1. Joanna Bensz, AmCham Vice Chair (CH2M Polska). 2. Walter Braunohler, US Consul General in Kraków. 3. Ramón Tancinco, Cisco Systems Polska; Olaf Kammel, Delphi; Dr Anna Zaroda-Dąbrowska, Orange Hill. 4. Marzena Drela, AmCham Deputy Director; Angela Saliba, Sheraton Kraków Hotel. 5. Marzena Drela; Joanna Bensz; Jarosław Maślanka, Pagea Systems. 6. Joanna Bensz; Magdalena Rabiej, Motorola. 7. Marek Rajca, Silgan White Cap. 8. The venue in festive decor. 9. Joanna Bensz; Olaf Kammel. 10. Dorota Adamska, BP; Marzena Drela. 11. The reception in progress. 12. Michał Kacprzak, PM Group; Krzysztof Handzel, CBRE; Ramón Tancinco; Olaf Kammel. 13. Richard Lucas, a lucky raffle winner; Joanna Bensz; Marzena Drela. 14. Marek Rajca; Ryszard Kruk, Enterprise Investors. 15. Rafał Sękowski, CBRE; Jowita Gdula, Iron Mountain. 16. The CH2M Polska team: Katarzyna Chmurzyńska, Joanna Bensz, Agnieszka Steblecka-Janceczko, Żaneta Cielecka. 17. Donald C. Emerick, US Consulate in Kraków; Przemysław Roth, Rolls-Royce.

54

9

8

Sponsors

Supporting sponsors

WINTER 2016 AMERICAN INVESTOR

55

Events AmCham in Gdańsk

Mixing by the sea

T

2

1 he Hilton Gdańsk Hotel was the venue of the AmCham Christmas Dinner Mixer for the Pomerania region, held by AmCham Gdańsk in December. The event attracted leaders of AmCham member companies as well as representatives of local business, government and academia.

3

4

6

5

7

8

1. The mixer in progress. 2. Maciej Smoliński, Pol-Mare. 3. Alina Gronek, AmCham Gdańsk Director (Adecco Poland); Dorota Serafin, AmCham. 4. Monika Wróbel, Hilton; Andrea Povchanova, Katarzyna Klimowicz, First Data; Anna Sławek, Universal Express; Bogusław Kowal, KPMG. 5. Alina Gronek; Joanna Grabowska, ICT. 6. Izabela Pasztak, Manpower; Adam Schroeder, Cushman & Wakefield. 7. The Sunreef Yachts team: Monika Puciłowska, Paulina Żełobowska, Karolina Paszkiewicz. 8. Sławomir Michalewski, BPH GE Capital; Andrzej Dżuryk, Société Générale.

Sponsors

56

AMERICAN INVESTOR WINTER 2016