2023 ESG Leadership Conference | Future-Proof Leadership konference

IKONA PROJEKT 1 1 1 | 2023 ESG Leadership Conference

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Past ESG conferences

Who were the speakers at our previous conferences? What were we discussing? What carbon footprint did the conference produce? You can find out below.

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Speakers at the 2023 ESG Leadership Conference

Alessandro Pasqualle

Owner and Executive President, Mattoni 1873;
president of Natural Mineral Waters Europe
(NMWE)

Alessandro Pasquale took over the management of Mattoni 1873 in 2007. Under his leadership, the company became the number one in the Central European region. Mattoni 1873 operates 11 factories in 8 countries in Central and Southern Europe, bottling local spring and natural mineral waters and producing global beverage brands. Mr. Pasquale has a long-standing passion for the sustainability of the entire European beverage industry. As the newly elected President of NMWE (Natural Mineral Waters Europe), he promotes the principles of the circular economy both at the level of individual countries and within the EU.
Maxfield Weiss

Executive Director, CDP Europe

Maxfield Weiss leads all CDP activities in Europe as Executive Director, supporting environmental disclosure, information gathering and action among companies, financial institutions and local governments. Prior to this role, he was Director of Corporate Engagement at CDP Europe. Outside of CDP, Maxfield oversaw the supply chain environmental responsibility program at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he created the world’s first climate science-based supply chain management program, leading to his inclusion in the 2018 Environmental Leader 75 list of elite environmental managers.
Katarína Navrátilová

Director General, Tesco Stores Czech Republic

Katarína has been working for Tesco since 2000, when she became a purchasing coordinator. After working in various positions, she took on the role of Sales Director for Tesco – Kipa in Turkey and became a member of the board. After 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, which enabled Tesco to deliver healthy, affordable and sustainable products to customers. She currently holds the position of General Manager 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 the entire GasNet. The largest domestic gas distributor is following the path of ESG and renewable gases such as biomethane and hydrogen. As a member of the Management Board and Chief Services Officer, she determines the direction of GasNet in the areas of ESG, human resources, communication, purchasing, facility & car fleet. Building a corporate culture based on GasNet’s values - safety, reliability and respect – is absolutely essential for Erika. Erika has also worked as a professional consultant, manager and HR director at innogy (formerly RWE), EuroTel, Hewlett Packard, Sanofi and BAXTER.
Marek Lang

Member of the Board of Directors of the JRD; Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Union of Modern Energy

Marek Lang is in charge of the Energo and Plasma divisions in the JRD Group. The Energo portfolio includes the second largest wind farm in the Czech Republic and photovoltaic power plants in the Czech Republic and Hungary. The Plasma division offers an innovative method of waste processing based on plasma gasification and vitrification. In addition, Marek Lang is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Modern Energy. 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

Martin Hausenblas is a patriot from Ústí nad Labem, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, former municipal politician, visionary and innovator. In 2000, he founded the company ADLER Czech, today Malfini, a manufacturer and exporter of advertising textiles, which since 2010 has focused on the sustainability of the entire process, including waste minimization. He is the founder of Liftago, which aims to help develop autonomous vehicles and reduce emissions from urban transport. Martin’s vision is the Czech Republic as a transport, energy and data crossroads of Europe – which is why he also co-founded the Puls Institute and supports the construction of high-speed lines.
Štěpán Kopřiva

CTO and Co-Founder, Blindspot Solutions

Štěpán is an engineer by training and an entrepreneur by 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 global software company Blindspot Solutions, headquartered in Prague. The company develops and delivers comprehensive solutions based on machine learning, artificial intelligence and optimization principles. In the last four years, Blindspot has been ranked among the fastest growing companies in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and has won the Microsoft Digital Transformation Award 2021.
Ladislav Miko

Advisor to the Ministry of the Environment, Advisor to President Petr Pavel for Sustainability

Ladislav Miko is a soil biologist, ecologist and environmentalist. He is the author of many scientific papers and documentary films. He works as a teacher of ecology, environmental sciences and restoration ecology at the University of Prague and the University of Antwerp. He was Deputy Minister of the Environment and Minister of the Environment (2009). He was also Director for Biodiversity at the European Commission’s DG ENV and Director General of DG SANTE. Since 2022, he has been an advisor to the Minister of the Environment and a 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, PPF Group

Jan Růžička is the Head of External Relations of PPF Group. He is responsible for GR, PR, regulation, thought leadership and ESG. He lived and worked for Home Credit Group in Hong Kong for more than 4 years, 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 in the ministries of culture and health and was one of the prominent figures in the healthcare reform. He lectures pro bono at the university on fintech, innovation and behavioral economics.
Eva Kotýnková

Corporate Communications Manager, Tchibo Praha
Martin Růžička

Director of Decarbonization,
ORLEN Unipetrol

Martin Růžička, Director of the Decarbonization Department, has been working in the field of development and optimization at ORLEN Unipetrol for more than 15 years, a significant part of it in managerial positions. His current responsibilities include primarily sustainable projects, their development and implementation. Specifically, this concerns the development of recycling technologies for waste processing 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 ESG Director, ČEZ Group

Kateřina Bohuslavová heads the ESG department, where she promotes a data- and science-based approach to addressing sustainability issues. She represents CEZ Group on the Executive Committee of the Council for Social Responsibility and Sustainability 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 Administration 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, such as Berkeley Law.
Věra Babišová

Founder, A-Giga

Věra Babišová is the founder of A-Giga, which is a significant partner of large companies in the field of outsourcing customer processes and customer care. For more than 10 years, it has been connecting business with social activities, actively helping the socially excluded to get into the labor market. The sustainable business model of call centers in prisons also solves the social problem of low employment and unqualified prisoners, and thus the high risk of their recidivism. After their release, they have the opportunity to work in “civilian” call centers. The company has received several awards for this activity, including the prestigious Austrian award for social innovation Sozial Marie 2015.
Pavlína Louženská

Founder, Trendspotterky.com

Pavlína writes a newsletter about new technologies at pavlinaspeaks.com and has a consulting agency and a podcast about trends Trendspotterky.com. Over the past year, she has helped 300+ companies in countries across Europe, not only as a Lead Mentor for Google for Startups for Europe and Africa. She works for various VC funds as a consultant and scout. She founded the #HolkyzMarketingu platform, which trains 10,000 women and men annually.
Martina Popenková

Director of Public and Client Relations,
Ipsos

Martina Popenková joined Ipsos in 2010 as an Account Director responsible for research in the areas of innovation, potential measurement and sales forecasting, as well as projects dealing with branding and broader market understanding. She is now a Senior Client Director dedicated to implementing research results into company processes across many sectors. Before joining Ipsos, Martina worked for several years for Kantar in the UK.
Sandra Feltham

Founder, Flagship Impact; Preseident, Business Leaders Forum

Sandra Feltham is a leading expert on sustainable development and ESG in the Czech Republic. She is the President of the Business Leaders Forum and owns Flagship, a consulting agency specializing in responsible business in Central and Eastern Europe.

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Carbon Footprint of the 2023 conference

You probably know that our conferences not only cover the topic of sustainability thematically, but also try to follow the principles of sustainability as much as possible. That’s why we chose, for example, meat-free catering or attendee name tags on growing paper that participants can plant, and much more. In 2023, we also measured the conference’s carbon footprint for the first time, so that we know where we are and can set a benchmark base year for the upcoming years. How did the measurement turn out?