He started his political carrier in 1969 after having worked as a journalist and having studied history and political sciences.

He was a member of the German Bundestag from 1983 until 1999, where he hold a number of senior postos and was mainly dealing with foreign and security policy and European affairs.

He was appointed Minister of State for European affairs in the Foreign Office in 1998.

In 1999 he became a member of the European Commission, responsible for enlargement until 2004.

In 2002 he also took over the responsibility for the European neighbourhood policy.

In his second term in the European Commission, from 2004 to 2011 he served as Vice-President and was in charge of enterprise and industry.

In this capacity he was the European chairperson of the Transatlantic Economic Council as of 2007.

He is now an honorary professor of Viadrina University in Frankfurt/Oder.

He have published a number of books and essays on European and other issues.

 

 

 

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Council

Former Polish prime minister, minister for European integration, one of the founders of the Liberal-Democratic Congress and Freedom Union parties, and an executive director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki has been a prominent figure in Poland’s political and economic circles for over 20 years. From October 2003 to January 2010 he was president of Pekao SA bank.

In November 2009 he was appointed Chairman of the Council of the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM). PISM is a leading Central European think tank dealing with foreign policy, European integration, security and international economic relations.

In March 2010, he was appointed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk as chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Council. The main task of the Economic Council is to provide the prime minister with independent and objective advice on the government’s current and planned activities. The Council also assesses Poland’s social and economic situation in reference to developments taking place in Europe and in the global economy.

Since 2010 Bielecki has lectured at the University of Gdańsk. In 2010, Polish President Bronisław Komorowski conferred on him Poland’s highest distinction, the Order of the White Eagle. The same year, he also received the Merito Bene distinction from the foreign minister.

 

 

Program Council Members

 

Danuta Hübner, Chair of the Committee of Regional Development in the European Parliament, Member of European Parliament

Danuta Hübner, Poland's first-ever European Commissioner, is one of her country's foremost economists and policymakers and has played a key role in the enlargement of the EU. Since July 2009 Ms. Hübner has been a Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Committee on Regional Development as well as a member of the Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis and the Delegation for Relations with the United States. In addition she is a substitute member of the Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Delegation for Relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and to the European Economic Area. In 2004 Professor Hübner was entrusted as Commissioner with the regional policy portfolio. Earlier, during the past decade, her roles in Poland's Government have included Minister for European Affairs, Head of Office of the Committee for European Integration and Secretary of State for Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade and Minister Head of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland. In 2000-2001 Professor Hübner was Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Secretary at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva. She studied at the Warsaw School of Economics where she obtained an MSc (1971) and a PhD (1974). In 1988-1990 Professor Hübner was a Fulbright scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1992 she was conferred with the scientific title of Professor of Economics by the President of the Republic of Poland. She has been awarded with five doctorates honoris causa by European universities. 

 

 Henryka Bochniarz, President of the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan

Notable personality of economic and social life of the country. PhD in Economics. Founder and head of the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan. Vice President of BUSINESSEUROPE, the largest and most prominent confederation of employers in the EU. President of Boeing Central and Eastern Europe. Member of European Commission Enterprise and Industry Advisory Group. In 2011 joined the pan European think-tank European Council on Foreign Relations. Minister of Industry and Trade in 1991 and candidate for the office of the President of Poland in 2005. Chairwoman of the Polish-Japanese Economic Committee. Since 2002, she has served as Deputy Chair of the Polish Tripartite Commission for Social and Economic Affairs and has played an active role in the dialogue between the government, employers’ and trade unions’ organizations. Mrs. Bochniarz co-founded the Congress of Women and was one of the originators of the parity legislation. She was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (2004) and the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun, Golden and Silver Star (2010). She is the laureate of the Kisiel Award for independent thinking and the Andrzej Bączkowski Award for her special contribution to social dialogue in Poland and acting beyond the political division. Author of many publications devoted to micro – and macroeconomics as well as press comments on current socio-economic issues. 

 

 

Grażyna Piotrowska-Oliwa, CEO & President of PGNiG SA

Graduated from the Academy of Music in Katowice (1993) and the National School of Public Administration in Warsaw (1997); she also holds an Executive MBA degree from INSEAD (2005). She also took a strategic planning course at Queens University, Canada (1996), a course for candidates for members of the supervisory boards of state-owned companies (exam passed in 1997), a course for investment advisors at the Privatization Center (1998), as well as courses in macroeconomics and finance at the London School of Economics (1999).

In 1997-2001, Piotrowska-Oliwa worked at the Ministry of the Treasury as head of the Department for Equity Funds and head of the Department for Strategic Companies and Financial Institutions. Subsequently, she held managerial posts at the Telekomunikacja Polska SA company, working as director of the Regulator Relations Department (2001-2006) and executive director for strategy, development and wholesale (2006-2007). In 2007-2009, Piotrowska-Oliwa was the CEO and President of the Management Board of PTK Centertel Sp. z o.o. (Orange mobile network operator). From November 2010 to March 2011 she worked as an advisor on telecommunications transactions on the private equity market. Since April 2007, she has been vice-president of the Employers of Poland organization. She was also a member of the supervisory boards of the following companies: Fundusz Górnośląski SA in Katowice, the Polish National Depository for Securities, PZU SA and ABC Data SA. In addition, she presided over the supervisory board of Orlen Deutschland GmbH. From June 2011 to March 18, 2012, she was Chief Sales Officer and Management Board Member at PKN Orlen SA. On March 19, 2012, Piotrowska-Oliwa took over as CEO and President of the Management Board at PGNiG SA.