Who wants to be a board member?
To meet requirements of the commercialization and privatization law, which came into force on July 28, the Treasury Ministry is currently looking for a few thousand people who could fill the supervisory boards of more than 300 public companies that will soon be privatized by the government under its Commercialization 300 program.
Candidates no longer need to pass an exam to become a board member, but the ideal person should hold a PhD in economics or law and be licensed as an investment adviser. They should also specialize in corporate strategy, financial analysis and business management, and previous working experience on such boards is also needed.
"I like the idea of forming professional supervisory boards filled with PhD holders in companies in which the state has shares," says Robert Gwiazdowski from the Adam Smith Center. "However, this recruitment process might be just a public-relations trick. What really matters here is to make sure that those boards play the right part in those companies, so that a bench-marking law (ustawa kominowa) won't be needed."
Those who are interested in the offer should fill out the application form that can be found on the Ministry's website until the end of September. The first part of the selection process is due at the beginning of November, when short-listed candidates will be interviewed in Warsaw.
The first 15 companies are scheduled to be privatized by the end of June 2007. Among those listed by the Treasury Ministry are: the Wieliczka salt mine, the Koneser vodka factory, the National Publishing Institute and the Military Aviation Factory in Łód.
