02.Jury

• Prof. Ing. Michal Mejstřík, CSc., the director of the Institute of Economic Studies at Faculty of Social Sciences at the Charles University in Prague, a member of the National Economic Council (NERV). He is a specialist in the field of Financial Markets, Corporate Finance and Banking. As an econometrics graduate at the University of Economics, Prague, he acquired the Candidate of Economic Sciences title (CSc.) for his academic research in the area of evaluation of projects and his advanced studies finished at the London School of Economics (1990-91). Since 1997 he has been a professor of Banking and Firm Finances at the Charles University in Prague and since 1993 he has been establishing the prominent Czech university workplace – the Institute of Economic Studies at Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University in Prague (IES). According to Hospodářské noviny (the Czech Economic newspaper) it is ranked to be the best university workplace in the area of economic, financial and related research studies. The abstractly- logical conception of education leading to independent problem solving together with a high portion of teaching in English and obligatory studying abroad are very positively accepted by the economic practice. A number of multinational companies has therefore constituted their own professor Chairs at the IES, which is an absolutely unique phenomenon for the Czech university environment. More at http://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/

Prof. Ing. Michal Mejstřík, CSc. has issued over 150 publications home and abroad, which are frequently quoted –within the group of 1230 Czech economists he´s ranked among the five most quoted authors. At the same time he´s the Chairman of the consultant firm EEIP a.s., which is the cooperative partner of many European banks in the area of Investment Banking (especially of Raiffeisen Bank and formerly Westdeutsche Landesbank) and also a partner of consultant companies (like McKinsey  Company) in the Czech Republic. During 2002-2008 he was the deputy chairman of supervisory board of Zapadoceska plynarenska,a.s., member of the supervisory boards of Vychodoceska plynarenska a.s. and Severomoravka plynarenska a.s.

A quotation - why has the University decided to support this project:

„The Institute of Economic Studies FSV-UK is a part of the traditional Charles University, however it originated after the year 1990 as a unique school for dynamic, reflective and globally thinking economists (and this is how it is percieved home and abroad). After reading the articles of Your project we have arrived at a conviction that Your criteria of systematic searching for the best female candidate are as objective as possible and are close to our ways of thinking."

The personal decision to accept my participation:

„I like to participate on projects that help to find yet undiscovered values and talents. Your project does that very creatively.“

• Tomáš Sedláček, being a member of the National Economic Council (NERV), he is the main macroeconomist of the economic strategies in the biggest Czech bank, ČSOB. He had been serving for more than two years as an apolitical, special adviser to the Prime Vice-chairman of the Government and the Minister of Finances, with the responsibility for the field of fiscal consolidation, tax, pension and health system reform. Until the end of the mandate of Václav Havel he had been serving as an economic adviser of the president of the Czech Republic. He recieved his PhDr. degree cum laude at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University, where he is now in his fourth year of professing Ethics and Economy, Philosophy and Economy, Economic Actualities, History of Economic Thinking and Rhetoric. Further he lectures at the University of New York in Prague and at the Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He took a part in the non-governmental campaign „YES for Europe“ as a analytical team conductor. He is the author of a few impact analyses concerning the Czech Republic entering the EU and he lectures on the topic of the EU expansion as well. In co-operation with the Georgetown University and Harvard University he has written a number of case studies focusing on ethics and decision processes in transformation. He functioned as an executory secretary of the non-profit organization The Leadership Forum and now he´s the member of the board. He is the founder of the Economic Club and other non-profit organizations. His dissertation on Ethics and Economy was acknowledged with the Hlávkova cena award. He is a member of the Forum 2000 Foundation program committee and a member of the Czech Economic Society Board. His work is published in scientific and daily press.

My personal decision to take a part in the jury and on the project

„The idea of awarding a prize to a female enterpriser seemed interesting to me the first I heard about it. I´m happy to be taking a part in this event and to support it. Our economics needs a a spirit of enterprise the most and it´s an honour for me to support adventurous and successful women in this effort.“

• Jana Švenková, the partner of Mazars Audit s.r.o., graduated at the University of Economics in Prague. She´s an auditor. She has been working for the company Mazars Audit s.r.o. since 1996, where she´s responsible for the audit coordination of big international firms and medium companies (according to the Czech and international account standards). She has also experience in the field of fusion and acquitision, due diligence, internal control and the risk management etc.

The personal decision for founding this project:

"Creating a larger space for a successful and equal enforcement of women in their professional life, I consider one of the economic and social priorities in the Czech Republic. As the worldwide studies show, companies, which have a higher part of women in positions with power to take decisions and responsibility, are from the efficiency point of view much more successful. That is, they respect also the women´s view at strategic conduct of the company and it´s business priorities.

Our company Mazars is participating at an international level on the Women´s Forum for the Economy and Society project, whose main motto is as well the „support of the women´s view at key social and economic problems of today“. The women´s view means speaking about problems openly and making strategic goals for their solutions. It´s about the attempt to bring the solutions into practice and to solve the problems or at least to moderate them.

I know from my own long-term experience that in practise the Czech women are missing a positive female model of an achieved success, a model of women who are able to follow their professional goal, to overcome the barriers of professional or business environment, and at the same time not to give up their personal life. That is why I´ve decided to co-found the project „The Czech Woman – Business Personality“ , which would contribute to a positive change in percieving and solving of this reality in the Czech society, and to take a part in it with my ideas and personal engagement of my abilities.


I consider important to high-light the firms and their female owners whose business is successful from the long-term point of view, because they serve as evidence, that it is possible to joint the male-oriented conditions of the manager and business environment with a specific female approach. Their enormously inspirational examples are always hiding strong personal stories, energy and will to overcome barriers and the ability to make their dreams and desires come true. Not all is at the expense of their surroundings."

• Helena Kohoutová (the managing director of Agentury Helas s.r.o.), the founder of the „Cosmopolitan Executive Helas Ladies Club“, which links with the well-proven tradition of ladies clubs typical for the era of the first (Czech) Republic. The first meeting of the contemporary club took place in April 1999 and has been organised in regular intervals (nearly every second month) ever since. Club´s guests are mainly women who are somehow exceptional for their experiences in many different fields, directions, life standards etc. The club associates cca 450 women - owners of companies, female directors of Czech and foreign firms.

"Personally, this project is absolutely significant and symbolic for me. I believe in women´s solidarity, mutual support, understanding, cooperation and inspiration.
Eleven years ago, at a very young age, I founded my own firm and from the very beginning I´ve been realising relatively big projects with Czech and foreign subjects. At that time I considered everything as obvious, natural and logical. That´s how I was fulfiling my dreams. But today I know that without certain principles (e.g. the ones I´m mentioning) almost nothing could have been accomplished.
So with this project I am indirectly expressing my thanks to all the people – women and men, who have been helping me on the way to reach my dream."

• Alena Seoud, Managing Director Dun & Bradstreet, spol. s r.o. CR & SR, has been directing the branch of the multinational worldleading rating agency D&B for already five years. D&B is a frontier generic scoring organization, which forms the base for the objective evaluating of particular entrepreneurial subjects in the Czech Republic.

The personal decision to participate in the jury and on the project

„I have been directing the Czech and Slovakian branch of the multinational company for six years and through participating on this unique project I want to express my support to all the women who are into the business undertaking on the Czech market. As a winner of the Managing Director 2007* competition carried out by the Swedish investition group Bisnode AB owning together with D&B CR and SR over 130 firms in Europe, I know very well from my personal experience how it´s important for a woman to be recognized for her long-term contribution to the firm and society. One of the essential principles of the Bisnode AB group is i.a. the politics of equal opportunities for men and women**, which isn´t only a declaration of our owners but also an everyday practice in the various firms. I strongly believe that even the Czech female enterprisers take similar steps in their firms.

I take notice of the fact that particularly in the Central Europe it is quite hard for a woman to enforce herself in the male world, which is obvious even from the statistics of our database. Among the purely Czech firms only a 7% are led by women.

I have decided for the partnership in The Czech Woman competition 2007 also because D&B can put a great deal of objectivity into it when it comes to the choosing of the firms according to the ownership and subsequently provide valuable data for the quality analyses of the single companies.

All the entrepreneurial subjects are included in the D&B database along with the available data about their economy, ownership connection as well as various negative facts. For each firm we daily calculate their D&B Failure Score and D&B Rating that define precisely the company´s actual financial power and the rate of probability of its failure in the period of the up-coming 12 months. The more successful the firm is, the better D&B Rating and smaller D&B Failure Score.
To conclude I would like to express my confidence that even us women are able to manage firms and lead them with our activity to success, which will be confirmed as we announce the best Czech firms led by women.“

NOTES:

* Managing Director 2007 - Alena Seoud was the winner of this competition for her energetic, motivating leadership, for being the personality that provides strong fundaments and creates a positive corporate spirit, the one who boosts not only the profitability growth, but also the business and human relationships all together.

**One of the basic principles of the Bisnode group is i.a. the politics of equal opportunities for men and women.

• Vlastimil Harapes has just recently crowned his 40 years of performance at the National Theatre. He began his career as a front soloist. At the time of his top artistic path he applied in his roles both the ideal physical dispositions, elegance, spirited features and even his universally mature technique. During 1990-2002 he was the National Theatre´s ballet artistic chief, following the role of a ballet professor. He is also successful in film and theatre acting and singing. He supports many interesting projects. For an example he´s the honorary president of the Czech Special Olympics Movement.

The personal decision for taking a part in the jury:

"The Czech Women competition addresses female enterprisers independently of the size of the firm and all over the republic. I was taken by the idea of drawing attention to the effort of women, who decided to carry business and achieved outstanding results in the field of their activity. I also like the clearly defined objective criteria for selection of potential candidates."