Ivan Mikloš was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic in 2002-2006 and 2010-2012. In the first government of Mikuláš Dzurinda, during the years 1998-2002, he held the post of Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy. In 1991, he became Minister of Privatization (1991-1992). Subsequently, in 1992 he co-founded and until 1998 led the economic think-tank MESA10. In the period 2006-2010 and 2012-2016, he was a member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. In 2014, he was re-elected as the president of the MESA10 think tank and became a member of the board of international advisers of the National Reform Council of Ukraine and the VoxUkraine platform. During the years 2015-2016, he held the position of chief advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Finance and was also an advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Economy. From April 2016 to August 2019, he served as the chief economic adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. After the change of government, from November 2019 to March 2020, he was the economic advisor to the newly elected Prime Minister of Ukraine. In 2016-2020, he led the strategic group for the support of reforms in Ukraine (SAGSUR). He is also a co-founder of the Ukrainian economic think-tank Center for Economic Strategy. From August 2021, he is a member of the Strategic Council for the Implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic led by the Prime Minister. From November 2021, he also works as an advisor to the Prime Minister of Moldova. In March 2022, he became an adviser to the President of the Slovak Republic in the field of economic policy.
Ivan Mikloš was one of the leading figures of economic transformation in Slovakia. During his tenure in the governments of Mikuláš Dzurinda in the years 1998-2002 and 2002-2006, Slovakia recorded several international successes, including entry into the OECD (2000), NATO (2004) and the European Union (2004). He was the main architect of the reforms, thanks to which Slovakia was named the most reformed country in the world in 2004 by the World Bank. He was awarded “Best Minister of Finance” in 2004 according to Euromoney magazine poll. He is the recipient of many domestic and international awards and the author of numerous professional publications, articles and blogs.

Dr. Oliver Grünberg studied physics at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where he subsequently obtained a doctorate in mechanical engineering. He has been working for the Volkswagen Group since 1995. From 2007 to 2009, he headed vehicle production at the Volkswagen Group Rus plant in Kaluga. In 2010, he held the position of Managing Director and Director of Technical Affairs at ŠKODA AUTO India. Two years later, he took over responsibility for the VGR-GAZ project in Nizhny Novgorod. From 2014 to 2017, he headed the ŠKODA AUTO brand planning department in Mladá Boleslav. From there, in 2017, he returned to Russia, where he worked as Technical Director and Deputy General Manager at Volkswagen Group Rus in Kaluga. Since 2019, he has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Directors for the technical area at Volkswagen Slovakia.

Alexandr Vondra is a Czech politician and diplomat. He is currently Member of the European Parliament. He is former Minister of Defense (2010-2012), as well as Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs (2007-2009) and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (2006-2007). He was the Czech Government’s Plenipotentiary for the preparation of the NATO Summit in Prague (2002). He also served as Czech Ambassador to the United States (1997-2001). He worked as a foreign policy advisor to former President Václav Havel. During the Velvet Revolution in November 1989, he became a co-founder and leading member of the Civic Forum movement.

Experienced General Manager with 18 years history of working in many manufacturing and administrative positions within Toyota Corporation. Skilled in Engineering, Quality, Project, Manufacturing and Administration management.

He heads the External Relations / Environment / Social Services department at Volkswagen Slovakia, a.s. In the past, he was responsible for the management of the entire logistics at Volkswagen Slovakia and also held several management positions within the Volkswagen Group in Portugal and the USA. Since 2018, he is the President of the Automotive Industry Association of the Slovak Republic (second term). In 2018, he was elected Vice President of the Federation of Slovak Industrial and Transport Associations.

Ivan Hodač is a Founder and President of the Aspen Institute Prague. He was Secretary-General of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) from 2001 until October 2013. He is the Chairman of the Board at cabinet DN. The Financial Times listed him among the most influential personalities in Brussels politics. Before joining ACEA, he was Senior Vice-President and Head of the Time Warner Corporate office for Europe. Previously he was Secretary-General of the trade organization IFMA/IMACE, Senior Economist at Didier & Associates, and Assistant Professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. He was born in Prague, where he studied mechanical engineering. He completed his education in economics and political science at the University of Copenhagen and the College of Europe in Bruges (European studies).

FOUNDER

Stefan Klein is a Founder and CEO of KleinVision. He devoted the last twenty years converting his flying-car dream into reality.Currently he completed the flying prototype of AirCar that has been tested successfully at Nitra airport in October 2019

EDUCATION

Having graduated from Slovak University of Technology in 1983, Klein studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (AFAD), and also at the École des Beaux Arts et Design, Saint Étienne in 1993. Klein became the Head of Department for Transport and Design at AFAD. He is responsibile for innovative research projects in cooperation with top automotive brands including Audi, Volkswagen and BMW. In 2005 he was appointed the visiting professor at Mackintosh School of Art in Glasgow.

Heiko Seitz is the Global eMobility Leader of PwC. With more than 18 years of hands-on experience in the mobility, infrastructure and energy sectors, he is a trusted advisor for governmental decision makers and industry c-suites, to shape and execute successful transformations towards sustainable and profitable eMobility ecosystems.

He is a founder and CEO of the Slovak technology company M2M Solutions focused on supply chain management support, logistics and production processes. Currently, he mainly focuses on the development of new products and innovations in the field of mobility and production. At the same time, he collaborates on many activities that contribute to solving challenges in the field of research and development.

He serves as the vice president of the Association of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic, a member of the Government Council for Science, Technology and Innovation, a member of the presidium and an industry representative in the Smart Mobility Slovakia, and at the same time as a visionary for the field of intelligent mobility.

For his significant contribution to building the intelligent industry ecosystem, including the field of intelligent mobility and the space sector, he received the award in the category Personality of Science and Technology in 2021.

She is head of Environment Department at Volkswagen Slovakia. She has been involved in the application of environmental protection in car production for 15 years – implementing the requirements of legislation and environmental management systems in production processes, design and implementation of environmental strategy or preparation of concepts and plans to reduce environmental impacts for environmental and energy-intensive technologies. As a member of the Environmental Legislation Commission of the Association of the Automotive Industry of the Slovak Republic, she prepares opinions and proposals for comments on the environmental legislation of the Slovak Republic and the EU. Since 2021, she has been active as a member of the Government Council for the Green European Agreement of the Slovak Republic for the Federation of Slovak Industrial and Transport Associations. She graduated in Environmental Protection / Geochemistry at the Faculty of Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, and later in the professional MBA program Automotive Industry of the Technical University of Vienna and the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava.

After graduating from the Prague University of Economics in 1994, he studied postgraduate economics in Saarbrücken and Hamburg and in 2002-2003 worked as an assistant at the University of Leipzig. In 2003, he joined the European Commission at the General Directorate for Economic and Financial Affairs. In the fall of 2006, he started working for the Czech state administration (deputy minister of education, then deputy prime minister for European affairs). Since 2010, he has worked in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union – first as the director of the office of the Council’s Secretary General, and since February 2016 as the director for budget, taxes and regional policy. In the years 2017-2023, he was a member of the banking board of the Czech National Bank, of which he was vice-governor for the last 4 years.

Lecturer, consultant, auditor in the automotive industry with a focus on fulfillment customer requirements. Since 2006, he has been working in the field of quality assurance and process management, prepares companies to implement IATF 16949 and VDA standards.

Adriana worked for over 20 years in senior bank management, mostly abroad. She managed the money circulation of the central European banking group Erste Group in Vienna, later its group
controlling (planning and financial strategy) as well as CFO of the largest Romanian bank BCR. After coming back to Slovakia, she worked in IT development, preparing energy high-tech strategy startup and subsequently became a co-founder of the consulting firm L.A. holding in the field of ESG consulting, which prepares trainings, specialized SW tools as well as individual consulting for small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of ESG transformation.

He has been working at EXS Slovakia since the beginning of the Slovak branch. He started working as an operations manager and slowly built it up from the ground up, soon being appointed to the position of CEO. Subsequently, a company was founded in the Czech Republic, where since 2009 he has also been working in the position of general director. Both companies carved their place on the automotive market right from the start, they are currently in the TOP 3 Providers of quality services in the automotive sector in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

She has been working at Exact Systems for 12 years. The position of Operations Director entails overall supervision of the implementation team in the Czech Republic. Systematically plans, organizes, makes decisions and leads the implementation team. He negotiates with strategic partners.

He has been working in the company for 11 years. He is responsible for managing the quality and standards of the company’s services. He performs internal audits and is in charge of training workers in the School of Quality educational project.

She has been working at EXS for 10 years, with the last 5 years as Marketing Manager. She is responsible for the organization and management of all marketing projects, events and activities of the company. She is also responsible for preparing graphic materials and advertising items, promoting the company in the media and on social networks, and taking care of employees.