Roman Szwed

Chairman of ATM
By : Greg Goodale

   For Roman Szwed, 49, a timely transition from academic life to the world of business placed him at the helm of one of Poland’s largest information technology firms.

   Szwed’s academic career began in 1976 with a degree in physics from the University of Warsaw and a doctorate, which allowed him to take up a research post at the CERN nuclear research institute in Geneva, where he spent three years.

   On his return to Poland, Szwed became head of the computer center at the Warsaw University physics department. Three years later his work on the construction of a particle detector for the DESY nuclear science institute in Hamburg put him in touch with U.S. computer firm Silicon Graphics, which provided him with essential links to the advanced computer business.

   When Szwed began his first post at ATM in 1991, the company had already been on the Polish market for four years and was seeking to diversify away from the declining personal computer market. Szwed was involved in the sale of Silicon Graphics machines to research and development institutions in Poland, and eventually for television, film production and computer-aided design applications.

   Under Szwed, ATM was formed into a joint stock company in 1997 and has had its core business transform from personal computer assembly to network construction and system integration services, responsible for the corporate network of Polish mobile operator Era. The company’s sale of its Internet provider AToM in 1999 marked a shift toward network operating services that was bolstered by the construction of Atman, the 150-kilometer fiber-optic Warsaw Metropolitan Area Network in 2000, which the company started marketing this year.

   Past notes:

   1978 – Lectured in physics at Warsaw University

   1980 – Received a PhD in physics from Warsaw University

   1983 – Appointed head of the physics department computer center

   1991 – Appointed ATM’s advanced computer systems director

   1994 – Appointed chairman of ATM

   2001 – ATM starts operating its fiber-optic network in Warsaw

   Word of advice:

   “A good tender is a difficult tender. In such tenders you only have two or three companies that are able to submit offers.”