Who's who in the list:
President of Neckermann Polska Biuro Podrozy
By : Robert Wylot
Krzysztof Piatek is a veteran of the travel industry, landing his first job in the sector with LOT Polish Airlines, where he stayed for 13 years. This included six years in Vienna trying to persuade Austrians to fly LOT to iron-curtain countries. In 1991, he left LOT for American Express because "the company was left with an antiquated and rigid system of management. Company morale was bad and there were no prospects for energetic people." After four years with American Express, he was headhunted by Germany's Neckermann, which asked him to prepare the operator's entry into the Polish market. He co-launched Neckermann Polska Biuro Podrozy in 1996 and is now president of the company.
Neckermann is one of the top foreign firms that came to Poland in the mid-1990s and has so far grabbed a large piece of the foreign travel pie. "We are among the top three operators in Poland," Piatek said. He added that the company is looking to expand its number of destinations this year, and that part of Neckermann's success in Poland can be attributed to its fair price scale.
Warsaw-born Piatek sees the formula for his professional success as "hard work and sticking to ethics in business," accompanied by a valuable education in foreign languages. He speaks fluent German and English as well as his native Polish.
Past notes:
1978 Graduated from Warsaw Polytechnic with a master's degree in transport organization and technology
1978 Joined LOT Polish Airlines
1991 Joined American Express
1996 Appointed manager of Neckermann Poland
Word of advice:
"Be responsible, reliable, honest and conscientious regardless of the type of business you do."
