ALUMNI 2011/2012

Matthias is the CFO of a small company in south Moravia owned by the Siemens AG, Industry Sector. He started his career in 1992 at Siemens in Hamburg. On several stations in Germany and also abroad, he has built up his career as a commercial manager specializing in sales, governance functions, and compliance. Due to his current position, he has been facing cross-cultural Czech-German challenges. He applied for the CGYPP because it’s an interesting opportunity for him to get an insight into other social, political, cultural, and governmental perspectives outside his business environment, and it offers a cross-cultural collaboration. He also hopes to exchange experience with other interesting people.

Libor works as the head of the Corporate Services at the E.ON Czech Group, the second largest energy company on the Czech market. Beside providing legal services for the E.ON Czech Group, he is also responsible for the follow-up developments in energy policy on the Czech market and within the EU to ensure the best position of the Group on the market. He graduated from the University of Brno in the German and Dutch languages and in Pedagogy. Prior to that, he studied Business Economy in Gmünd, Austria. By joining the CGYPP, he wants to deepen his understanding of the Czech-German business relations and to meet new interesting people.

Thomas is the Founder and Managing Director of “atraversa”, a startup company specialized in the development and implementation of intercultural integration concepts for international sports clubs and multinational companies. After he worked in Corporate and Investment Banking in Hamburg, he was employed as a Regional Business Manager/Executive Assistant at the UniCredit Group in Milan. He studied Business Administration and International Business in Passau and Florence, and held a post as a lecturer at the State University of Management in Moscow. He received his Ph.D. degree with a thesis on intercultural strategies of German expatriates in Czech Republic and Italy. By participating in the CGYPP, he hopes to engage in discussions with people of different professional backgrounds.

David is currently a freelance economist who pursues his Ph.D. in economics at Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague. He previously worked on the modeling of fiscal issues for Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany at OGResearch. Before that, he worked for the Czech National Bank, where he analyzed external economic issues important for the Czech economy. He hopes that CGYPP will provide different perspectives and become a platform to articulate and discuss his own ideas. He is looking forward to establish new friendships from both sides of the boarder.

Jan Krčmář heads the Contact Office of the City of Vienna in Prague. He oversees the implementation of Vienna’s successful communications strategy. He is also responsible for Public Affairs and coordinates joint projects between the two town halls. He studied Political Science and History in Vienna and Prague, specializing in public perception of politics and policy. He has worked for several media and communications companies, such as Reuters or the New York Times. Jan joined the CGYPP to actively participate in the vital cross-border dialogue and to gain a new behind-the-scenes perspective on bilateral issues.

Jana is the Head of Collateral Management of Local Credit Office in COMMERZBANK Aktiengesellschaft, Prague Branch in the Czech Republic. She is responsible for the preparation and the management of the collateral for the structured deals, and she also works with corporate and private clients. She studied law in Brno, acquired professional skills in the public sector, particularly from the legal screening negotiations by the European Commission in Brussels during the harmonization process before the Czech Republic joined European Union. She sees her participation in the CGYPP as a great opportunity to broaden her knowledge of miscellaneous professions. She also wants to deepen her understanding of current Czech-German relations.

Maria works as a project manager at IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany. There she is responsible for the coordination of international network projects. She studied European Studies in Magdeburg and Stockholm, and holds a Master’s degree in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges. She applied for the CGYPP because she hopes to get a deeper insight into the social and economic dimensions of the Czech-German relations.

Josef has been a Human Resources business partner at Škoda Auto a.s. in Kvasiny, a member of the Volkswagen Automaker Group, since 2008. As an HR person, he is responsible for education, social relations, etc. He has been working for Škoda Auto since 2003. First he went through a training program, then he worked in production in different positions. He graduated from the Business and Management School at Brno University. He has applied to join the CGYPP to better understand the relationship between the Czech and Germanspeaking countries, and to extend his knowledge of the current opportunities.

Linda obtained BA from the Institute of international territorial studies of Charles University in Prague. She spent one year in Oxford, pursuing specialization in Hebrew and Jewish studies. She finished her studies by receiving a French equivalent of the MA at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Her working experience includes both the public and private sectors: She started her career as a Deputy Director, and later the Director of the Diplomatic Academy of the MFA, currently she is engaged in the private sector – she is the Learning and Development Director of the Czech ICT company Servodata. She teaches at the Anglo-American University and she is also the Head of Development at the ELAI. She is looking forward to exchanging ideas on the topic of adult education and training with regards to sharing the best practices and networking.

Michal works as an architect at the office of Petr Hajek Architekti in Prague. He graduated from the Czech Technical University, Faculty of Architecture. During his studies, he won internships at the Technical University in Vienna, the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, and Kansas State University in the USA. As an architect, he worked in New York and in Vienna. He would like to contribute to changing the role of architecture, which he considers rather underrated. By joining the CGYPP, he intends to participate in a similar open-minded interdisciplinary discussion and in an exchange, which will expand the professional knowledge of all the participants.

Christina works at the Department for the Quality of Teaching of Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt. Consequently, she is eager to see first-hand how Czech universities implement the Bologna reform. She studied Communication and Cultural Management in Friedrichshafen, and earned her first degree in American Studies, Government, and Psychology in Frankfurt and Worcester. Christina is looking forward to discussing what a university of the future will teach – and what life-long learning means for young European professionals.

Josefine works at the German Embassy in Prague, where she heads the Cultural and Protocol Departments. She graduated from the Free University in Berlin, and received her Doctoral Degree in international relations from the University of Oxford. Prior to joining the German Foreign Office, her work experience included two years at the Foreign Policy Department of the Office of the Czech President Vaclav Havel. She was seconded from the Policy Planning Staff at the German Foreign Office to the Policy Planning Staff at the Czech Foreign Office in 2005. Before she came to Prague in 2010, she had served four years at the Commercial Section of the German General Consulate in Shanghai.