„Do Business Leaders
in the CEE region
act sustainably?“
6th annual conference held under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
September 14, 2023
The Congress Centre of the Czech National Bank
ESG > Leadership
„Do Business Leaders
in the CEE region
act sustainably?“
6th annual conference held
under the auspices of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Czech Republic
September 14, 2023
The Congress Centre of the Czech National Bank
About the Conference
6th year of unique conference
focused on local business leaders and their relationship to ESG and sustainability
Trends in sustainability
from experts from the private and academic spheres
Sustainability strategy
as perceived by top managers
Best Practices
of sustainable and responsible projects and activities
Opportunity to discuss with top managers
in panel discussions and at discussion tables
Yearly results of Ipsos and Business Leaders Forum survey
Successful Leader and ESG - employee opinions
Interpreting
from/into English
Sustainable conference
with a measured carbon footprint and a strategy to reduce it
As part of the 6th edition of the ESG Leadership Conference, we have a few changes for you. The whole conference will be more interactive and you will be able to participate in panel discussions via the sli.do app. We will offer you inspiration from Czech leaders as well as from abroad. We hope that the morning part of the conference will bring you lots of ideas and aha moments, which you will then be able to discuss with your sustainability colleagues in the afternoon. During the discussion tables on specific topics we will go in depth, share ideas with each other and also look for synergies that can result in partnerships.
At the end of the day there will be space for networking.
Performing This Year
Alessandro Pasquale
Owner and Executive President, Mattoni 1873; President of Natural Mineral Waters Europe (NMWE)
Alessandro Pasquale assumed leadership of Mattoni 1873 in 2007. Under his administration the company became No.1 in the Central European region. Mattoni 1873 operates 11 factories in 8 countries of Central and Southern Europe, bottling local spring and natural mineral waters and producing world-class beverage brands.
Mr. Pasquale's long-term passion lies in sustainability of the entire European beverage industry. As the newly elected President of NMWE (Natural Mineral Waters Europe), he promotes the circular economy principles both at country level and within the EU.
Maxfield Weiss
Executive Director, CDP Europe
Maxfield leads all CDP’s activities in Europe as Executive Director, driving environmental disclosure, insight and action among companies, financial institutions and local governments. Prior to this role, he was Director of Corporate Engagement at CDP Europe. Outside CDP, Maxfield oversaw the environmental supply chain responsibility program at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, creating the world’s first supply chain management program based on climate science, leading to his recognition on the 2018 Environmental Leader 75 list of elite environmental managers.
Katarína Navrátilová
Chief Executive Officer, Tesco Stores Czech Republic
Katarína has been working for Tesco since 2000, when she became a purchasing coordinator. After moving through various positions, she took over the role of Sales Director for Tesco - Kipa in Turkey and became a member of the Board of Directors. Upon returning home, she became HR Director for Central Europe and a member of the Exec team. As Product Director for Central Europe, she played a key role in building partnerships with suppliers, enabling Tesco to deliver healthy, affordable and sustainable products to customers. She currently holds the position of Chief Executive Officer for the Czech Republic.
Erika Vorlová
Chief Services Officer, GasNet
Sustainability, modern and green energy, education, diversity and inclusion - key topics not only for Erika, but for GasNet as a whole. The country's largest domestic gas distributor is following the path of ESG and renewable gasses such as biomethane and hydrogen. As a member of the Management Board and Chief Services Officer, she sets GasNet's direction in the areas of ESG, human resources, communication, procurement, facility & car fleet. Building a company culture based on GasNet's values of safety, reliability and respect is essential to Erika's role.
Erika has also worked as an expert consultant, manager and HR director at innogy (formerly RWE), EuroTel, Hewlett Packard, Sanofi and BAXTER.
Marek Lang
Member of the Board of Directors of JRD; Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Modern Energy Association
Marek Lang is responsible for the Energo and Plasma divisions of the JRD Group. The Energo portfolio includes the second largest wind park in the Czech Republic and photovoltaic power plants in the Czech Republic and Hungary. The Plasma division offers an innovative way of waste treatment based on plasma gasification and vitrification. In addition, Marek Lang is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Modern Energy Association. He is a graduate of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, majoring in Cybernetics and Control Engineering.
Martin Hausenblas
Member of the supervisory board of Malfini, co-founder of Liftago
In 2000, he founded ADLER Czech, now Malfini, a manufacturer and exporter of promotional textiles, which since 2010 has focused on the sustainability of the entire process, including waste minimization.
He is the founder of Liftago, a company that aims to help the development of autonomous vehicles and reduce transport emissions in cities.
Martin's vision is for the Czech Republic to be the transport, energy and data crossroads of Europe - which is why he co-founded the Puls Institute and supports the construction of high-speed lines.
Štěpán Kopřiva
CTO, Co-founder Blindspot Solutions
Štěpán is an engineer through education and an entrepreneur at heart. He has long-term experience in solving business problems by deploying solutions built on artificial intelligence (e.g., industrial applications and products). In 2014, he co-founded the award-winning Blindspot Solutions, a globally operating software company based in Prague. The company develops and delivers comprehensive solutions based on machine learning, artificial intelligence, and optimization principles. In the last four years, Blindspot ranked among the fastest-growing companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking and won Microsoft Digital Transformation Award 2021.
Ladislav Miko
Advisor to Ministry of Environment, Advisor to President Petr Pavel on sustainability
Ladislav Miko is a soil biologist, ecologist and environmentalist. He is the author of many scientific papers and documentary films. He is a teacher of ecology, environmental sciences and restoration ecology at Charles University in Prague and the University of Antwerp. He was Deputy Minister of the Environment and Minister of the Environment (2009). He was also Director of Biodiversity at DG ENV of the European Commission and Director General of DG SANTE. Since 2022, he has been Advisor to the Minister of the Environment and Special Representative of the Czech Government for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. He is an advisor on sustainability to President Petr Pavel.
Jan Růžička
Chief External Affairs Officer at PPF Group
Jan Růžička is the Chief External Affairs Officer at PPF Group. He is responsible for GR, PR, regulatory, thought leadership and ESG. Jan lived and worked more than 4 years for Home Credit Group in Hong Kong, from where he managed teams in the USA, Asia, and Europe responsible for Corporate Affairs, Regulatory, PR, CSR, and ESG. Before coming to Asia, he worked for the Czech government for ten years at the Ministries of Culture and Health and was one of the prominent figures in health reform. Jan is also a pro bono university lecturer, teaching fintech, innovation, and behavioral economics.
Monika Kissová
CSR specialist, Tchibo
During her long career in multinational and consultancy companies, Monika has built up a broad know-how especially in the field of marketing and business. For the last 5 years she has been working on the topics of volunteering, social responsibility and sustainability. She believes in, that sustainability is not just something nice to have, but a matter of survival for every company.
Martin Růžička
Director of Decarbonisation, ORLEN
Martin Růžička, Director of Decarbonisation, has been working in the field of development and optimisation at ORLEN Unipetrol for more than 15 years, a significant part of which in managerial positions. His main responsibilities are currently sustainable projects, their development and implementation. Specifically, this includes the development of recycling technologies for waste treatment and low-emission technologies, such as the use of hydrogen in transport and biofuels for conventional liquid fuels. He is a graduate of the University of Chemical Technology in Prague.
Kateřina Bohuslavová
Chief Sustainability Officer and the Head of ESG Office of CEZ Group
Kateřina Bohuslavová heads the ESG office, where she promotes a data-driven and science-based approach to addressing sustainability issues. She represents CEZ Group on the Executive Committee of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability Council of the global non-profit think tank The Conference Board and on the Sustainability Expert Team of the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic. She is a member of the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Economics in Prague. She has been Vice President of the CBCSD Presidium since 2022. She graduated from Oxford University and Charles University in Prague. She continues her education in certified executive education courses, e.g. at Berkeley Law.
Věra Babišová
Founder of A-Giga
Věra Babišová is the founder of A-Giga, which is a major partner of large companies in the field of customer process outsourcing and customer care. For more than 10 years she has been connecting business with social activities, actively helping the socially excluded to enter the labour market. The sustainable business model created for call centres in prisons also solves the social problem of low employment and unskilled prisoners and thus the high risk of recidivism. Upon release, they have the opportunity to be employed in "civilian" call centres. The company has received several awards for this work, including the prestigious Austrian Social Innovation Award Sozial Marie 2015.
Pavlína Louženská
Founder of Trendspotterky.com
Pavlína writes a newsletter about new technologies at pavlinaspeaks.com and has a consulting agency and a podcast on trends at Trendspotterky.com. In the last year she has helped 300+ companies in countries across Europe, not only as a Lead Mentor for Google for Startups in Europe and Africa.
She works for various VC funds as a consultant and scout. She founded the #HolkyzMarketing platform, which trains 10,000 women and men a year.
Martina Popenková
Senior Client Director, Ipsos
Martina joined Ipsos in 2010. In her role, she was responsible for research in the field of innovation, potential measurement research and sales forecasting, but also for the projects focused on a brand and a general understanding of the market. Now, as Senior Client Director, she is dedicated to implementing research results into the processes of companies across sectors. Before joining Ipsos, Martina worked for Kantar in the UK for several years.
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Program
| 8:45 | Open door |
| 9:00 - 9:10 | Welcome |
| 9:10 - 9:40 | Keynote speaches Alessandro Pasquale - owner and executive president, Mattoni 1873; President of Natural Mineral Waters Europe (NMWE) Maxfield Weiss - CDP Executive Director in Europe |
| 9:40 - 9:50 | ESG in crisis? interview between Jan Růžička, BLF Executive Committee member, Chief External Affairs Officer at PPF Group and Sandra Feltham, BLF President, Flagship Director |
| 9:50 - 10:30 | Future trends panel discussion moderated by Prof. Vladimír Kočí, VŠCHT Marek Lang - Member of the Board of Directors of JRD; Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Modern Energy Association Martin Hausenblas - member of the supervisory board of Malfini, co-founder of Liftago Pavlína Louženská - founder of Trendspotterky.com Štěpán Kopřiva - CTO, co-founder, Blindspot Solutions |
| 10:30 - 10:50 | Coffee break |
| 10:50 - 11:35 | Lessons Learned panel discussion moderated by Jaroslav Kramer, director of Cover Story, project [ta] Udržitelnost Katarína Navrátilová - CEO, Tesco Ladislav Miko - Ministry of Environment, advisor to President Petr Pavel on sustainability Erika Vorlová - Chief Services Officer, Member of the Management Board, GasNet Věra Babišová - founder, A-Giga |
| 11:35 - 12:20 | Best practices panel - TED style presentations Martin Růžička - Head of Decarbonisation, Orlen Unipetrol Monika Kissová - CSR specialist, Tchibo Kateřina Bohuslavová - Chief Sustainability Officer and the Head of ESG Office of CEZ Group |
| 12:20 - 12:30 | Presentation of the Successful Leader and ESG research Martina Popenková - Senior Client Director, Ipsos |
| 12:30 - 12:40 | Czech Sustainability Leader Award the news will be announced by Sandra Feltham and Michaela Stachová |
| 12:40 - 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 - 14:45 | Mastermind I. – four round tables Homecredit Mastermind - topic: Sustainable products - do we have a market for them? Tchibo Mastermind - topic: Internal ESG communication. Orlen Unipetrol Mastermind - topic: Upskilling - educating employees for sustainable transformation. Flagship Mastermind - topic: Dual materiality - how will it ensure compliance with EU legislation and improve your business case? |
| 14:45 - 16:00 | Mastermind II. – four round tables Homecredit Mastermind - topic: Sustainable products - do we have a market for them? Tchibo Mastermind - topic: Internal ESG communication. Orlen Unipetrol Mastermind - topic: Upskilling - educating employees for sustainable transformation. Flagship Mastermind - topic: Dual materiality - how will it ensure compliance with EU legislation and improve your business case? |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | Networking |
The capacity of the conference is full. Registration is closed.
All-day marathon of lectures and inspiration.
Masterclasses with your sustainability colleagues and finding common solutions
Answering your questions in panel discussions with CEOs and top managers.
Networking with business leaders and experts in sustainability of top companies at the Czech market.
Contact
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