From one title to six, WBJ multiplies
Today marks the fifth anniversary issue of the Warsaw Business Journal. Over these five years, the WBJ has been bringing you informative news stories that hopefully have helped you make the right decisions for your business. Whether warning you ahead of time about new tax legislation or informing you about the latest banking merger, the WBJ has strived to bring you "news that you can use" to run a more profitable business.
The Warsaw Business Journal started back in 1994, after Thom Barnhardt and Steve O'Connor flew to Warsaw for a weekend from Budapest (home of their successful first newspaper, the Budapest Business Journal). Both loved living and working in Budapest, but needed to see for themselves if the hype about Poland's economic potential was warranted. As the legend goes, O'Connor and Barnhardt needed only to walk down Aleje Jerozolimskie from the Forum Hotel to where Reform Plaza now stands for them to declare the time had come for the birth of the Warsaw Business Journal.
The story from there, at least where Poland is concerned, has evolved over the five years to include a number of annual ancillary products (such as the Book of Lists and City Guide Polska), three completely fresh start-ups (Lokale Immobilia, Poland A.M. and Voyage) and an acquisition (Warsaw Insider.) Almost all of these titles centered around our chief mission of providing "must-read-to-succeed" business news to the international business community, and all but Voyage (which we sold to the publishers of Playboy in August this year) are still in our portfolio of publications.
But from my perspective as managing director, the real joys of these five years has been working with the amazing group of employees here on ulica Sloneczna. In my 12 years in business journal publishing, I've been privileged to work next to some of the most professional individuals in the industry, as well as witness some amazing up-and-coming stars gain experience and take on roles with increased responsibility inside the organization.
This fall, after breaking numerous stories in the banking sector, Malgorzata Halaba was promoted from senior reporter to news editor. Several months ago, Anna Nowacka was promoted to publisher of Lokale Immobilia. Marketing and Circulation Director Lucyna Jeglinska started with us in our first year, and quickly rose to take on the challenges of leading that department. And finally, Slawek Parfianowicz started as a production assistant and now heads the department. While that spans numerous divisions within the operation, the one key element that links them together is that each of them is dedicated to putting the best possible product into your hands. None of these people would hesitate to stay in the office overnight to ensure that the product for which they're responsible is of the best quality or is on time. In closing, I'd like to thank not only the above individuals but all of our employees, past and present, for their hard work and dedication. I look forward to the next five years of publishing with you.
Russ Havens arrived in Poland in 1996 to become associate publisher of the WBJ and now serves as country manager. Previously, he worked at the Prague Business Journal as marketing and circulation director.
