He graduated from the faculties of History and English at Vienna University. From 1982, he worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an ambassador and the General Director of the Department for the Cultural Affairs. In 1984-1986, he was the Secretary of the Austrian People’s Party. He was the first General Consul of the Republic of Austria in Cracow (1990-1995); later he moved to the Austrian Institute of Culture in London, being its chair until 1999. He also held the position of the Head of Institut in Vienna. He is the author of historic works and an expert on the period of late Habsburg Monarchy, with the emphasis on its national identity and ethnic conflicts. Currently, he is the Head of the Political and Cultural Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ČEZ was established in 1992. The capital group of CEZ was formed in 2003 out of a merger of companies involved in the distribution of energy. The group is regarded as one of the top 10 biggest energy sector companies in Europe. It is the biggest producer of energy in the Czech Republic. The group has 90 Czech and foreign companies, including 2 nuclear power plants, 15 coal CHP plants, 16 hydroelectric power plants, 1 solar power plant, 2 wind farms and 5 Czech energy distributors. The company has been listed on Prague and Warsaw Stock Exchanges. CEZ was ranked this year as the fifth company in the List of 500 biggest companies in Central and Eastern Europe according to „Rzeczpospolita” daily. President of CEZ Board is Martin Roman (see photo)

The Polish-American Freedom Foundation was established in the USA by the Polish-American Enterprise Fund which has been operating since May 1990. The Foundation opened a Representative Office in Poland in 2000. The Foundation acts for consolidating civil society, democracy and the market economy in Poland. It also supports transformation processes in other CEE countries. The Foundation finances its operations from the revenues of a perpetual fund, which has its source in the funds of the Polish-American Enterprise Fund. To date the PAEF has transferred to the Foundation the amount of 237.5 million USD. The President of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation is Jerzy Koźmiński (see photo), a former Ambassador of Poland to the USA.