OUR CROSS-CULTURAL TEAM
Bohuslav Lipovsky
Managing Partner
Lived and worked in:
Eastern Europe, Germany, Middle-East and North Africa
Nationality:
Slovak
Current residence:
Slovakia
Understands:
English, German, Slovak, Czech fluent. Spanish, French, Polish, Russian, Croatian passive
Co-founder of CE Interim Group
Bohuslav guides companies and their leaders through complex changes stemming from crisis, post-merger integration, or the pursuit of profitable growth. His expertise is in developing transformation strategies and leading multi-cultural teams.
With over 10 years of experience in Executive Interim Management at an international level, Bohuslav has contributed to numerous transformation projects. As Managing Partner for EIM Executive Interim Management, he oversaw the Global Center, CEE, Balkan, and Baltic regions. His career also includes roles as CFO and CEO at major European companies such as Lafarge, MAN Truck & Bus, and E.ON Energie. Presently, he serves on the investment committee of the Slovak Investment Holding, a Private Equity Fund managing over 1 billion Euros in investments, is an advisory board member of Trivalans Capital, and is a faculty lecturer at the University of Management in Slovakia.
Bohuslav earned his degree from the Economic University in Bratislava, Slovakia. He holds FCCA certification from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants UK, and CMA certification from the Institute of Management Accountants USA.
Michaela Lipovska
Managing Partner
Lived and worked in:
Slovakia, Austria
Nationality:
Slovak
Current residence:
Slovakia
Understands:
English, German, Czech, Slovak
Co-founder of CE Interim Group
Michaela develops go-to-market strategies and is responsible for the international growth of the CE Interim Group. Her experience in chemical engineering and manufacturing processes provides invaluable expertise for technical recruiting, especially in challenging projects demanding dedicated candidates with specific technical or manufacturing skills and know-how.
Her experience covers the building of Global Talent Management Operations for the EIM Executive Interim Management Group, where she managed an international team across four continents. For more than 10 years she was responsible for staffing global C-level projects and has huge experience in working with expats, and world citizens in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the USA. Having roots in Austria and Slovakia she bridges the East European and German cultures.
She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University in Bratislava.
Christoph Vavrik
Advisory Board Member
Lived and worked in:
Austria, Greece, Belgium, Romania, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, Zambia
Nationality:
Austria, France
Current residence:
Dubai, UAE
Understands:
English, German, French, Spanish fluent
Middle-East Operations
Christoph's multicultural background and his experience as a diplomat and politician are key in the multinational and highly dynamic context. He is a strong believer, that the cross-cultural respect and richness of a team is the most valuable asset of any organization.
Christoph has been a member of the Austrian Parliament and a diplomat in the Austrian Foreign Service. He spent more than 25 years in Marketing and General Management at Procter & Gamble, Danone, and Carlsberg, with P&L responsibility for 18 countries across Eastern & Western Europe, the Arabian Peninsula and Asia. He has been Danone’s Managing Director for Greece & Cyprus and then for Austria & Slovenia, as well as Carlsberg’s Managing Director in Myanmar, and also spent 4 years in Romania.
As a global executive, Christoph has developed more than 100 senior-level international managers in Western, Eastern, and Southern Europe, Asia, and the Middle-East. His extensive experience in repositioning businesses on the global market, and leading very diverse teams across several continents enables him to understand each client’s unique market position and design suitable future market plans.
He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics, as well as a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins University.
Markus Baltzer
Advisory Board Member
Lived and worked in:
Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Turkey, France, Poland
Nationality:
German
Current residence:
Germany
Understands:
German, English, French, Spanish, Polish
Central and Eastern Europe Operations
As former CEO of Bayer in Central Eastern Europe and ex-president of the German-Polish Chamber of Commerce in Poland, Markus governs the cooperation between Germany and CEE, with a focus on Poland. He brings his lifetime experience in the life sciences industry to the CE Interim table.
Markus has worked all his career internationally, lived in Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, Turkey, France, and Poland, and held C-Level positions with Schering, AgrEvo, Aventis, and Bayer. He is a charismatic, internationally grown leader, with a strategic view and pragmatic action, able to address individuals and groups on eye height. Based on a strong set of values he drives business with a sound sense for win-win solutions and thus has achieved numerous turnarounds.
Consequently, he is very sensitive and aware of the importance of psychological safety in an ever more cross-cultural environment and knows how to motivate people. As a certified systemic coach, Markus strongly believes in success via people and is also actively acting as a C-level coach across Europe.
Pierluigi Ghione
Advisory Board Member
Lived and worked in:
Italy, Germany, Romania, Serbia, Czech Republic
Nationality:
Italy
Current residence:
Germany
Understands:
English, German, French, Italian, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish
Southern Europe and Balkan Operations
Pierluigi is a true masterpiece of cross-cultural competence and awareness and brings southern liveliness into the international CE Interim team.
Raised and studied in Italy, his journey followed to India, Turkey, the US, Mexico, Brasil, Spain, UK, then Romania, Serbia, and CEE & Balkan region where he built and scaled several automotive plants. For 6 years he launched and stabilized operations in Serbia, Bulgaria, and Russia, before moving to Serbia again, leading more than 13.000 employees in 4 Units. Home-based in Germany, where he managed a consolidation of manufacturing footprint across Europe into two plants in the Czech Republic.
His core competence lies in the automotive and vehicle industry, where he acted as CRO, COO, Multi Plant Manager for Leoni, Magna International, Grammer, Hutchinson, IAC, and Johnson Controls, Lear Corp. specialist on a fast and smooth turnaround of Industrial footprints, and Operations.
He holds a degree of Chemical Polymeric Industry management, tuned at Clemson University in US, He is Referent person for Chamber of Commerce’s, FDI Organization, and Automotive Cluster in CEE and the Balkans.
Cezary Zieba
Advisory Board Member
Lived and worked in:
Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany, France, Poland
Nationality:
Polish
Current residence:
France, Poland
Understands:
English, Polish, French, Russian
Central and Eastern Europe Operations
Cezary has been active in general and business management on an international level for more than 30 years and has extensive experience from numerous business and transformation projects across EMEAI, CEE, Russia, and CIS.
He acted as CEO and General Manager for Johnson Matthey Battery Systems, where, besides operations management, he was responsible for the general and business transformation of the company. His cross-cultural senses were finetuned while living in Paris, and being responsible for CEE and the Balkan region at Honeywell, furthermore in the Netherlands, where he was responsible for Russia, Ukraine, and CEE operations.
He also held CEO, General Manager and Business Unit Director positions in Europe with several global companies (ICI Specialty Chemicals/Uniqema, SGS SA, Troy Chemicals Corp, 3M Safety and Security, Honeywell Industrial Safety) gaining experience in a broad variety of industries.
He holds a Master's degree in Materials Science and Engineering, with his major in electronic materials, from the Warsaw University of Technology in Warsaw, Poland, and completed post-graduate studies at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, North Carolina, US.
He is a visiting lecturer for the IPMA Association at the Warsaw School of Economics in Warsaw, Poland.
Yves Pollé
Advisory Board Member
Lived and worked in:
Bahrain, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, UAE
Nationality:
Belgium
Current residence:
Belgium
Understands:
Dutch, French, English, German, Spanish
Northern Europe Operations
Yves is an international executive with 35 years of experience, leading global and EMEA P&Ls in very diverse industries, like chemicals, HVAC, wire & cable, construction materials, appliances, renewables, transport equipment, energy, and fashion. He developed his career with Fortune 100 companies such as GE, DuPont, Ingersoll Rand, and Honeywell, becoming a growth expert.
After an initial stint in turning around a global ailing industrial business, he further honed his crisis management skills and became an expert in turnarounds. As a CEO, CRO, or CTO he supported global corporations, Private Equity portfolio companies, and SMEs leading turnarounds, distressed restructurings, value creation programs, performance improvement, and major business transformations across 4 continents.
Yves served on several Boards in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East and is also a Business Mentor.
Yves has an MSc in Industrial Sciences – Mechanical Engineering, an MEng in Applied Thermodynamics, and an International MBA from the University of Brussels, Belgium, an MSc in Industrial Management from the University of Leuven, Belgium, and completed executive programs at INSEAD, France and the University of Indiana, USA.
Lived and worked in:
Slovakia, Austria, Romania, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Cuba, Bulgaria
Nationality:
Spanish
Current residence:
Slovakia
Understands:
English, German, Slovak, Czech, Spanish, French, Italian & Portuguese
Central and Eastern Europe Operations
Juan Ramon Hernández-Soublet
Advisory Board Member
Ramón is the ideal mix of southern mentality and Central European work style. After many years spent in C-level positions working for German industry leaders like SIEMENS and RWE in the CEE region and Austria, he started his own Advisory Business and later on a Family Office. His expertise creates value for clients during the whole investment deal flow from pre-deal assessment, through the transaction process, up to a successful exit. Ramón focuses on the energy sector, mechanical engineering, and real estate. Within the CE Interim, he also covers institutional relations.
Ramón has a background in supply chain management and quality assurance, where he governed several relocation projects, improved operational processes, and supported companies in their market repositioning within the CEE region. He built and scaled several manufacturing plants in Slovakia, Austria, Germany, and Poland. After moving to the energy sector, he led international companies in their market entrance to Slovakia, Austria, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Italy, where he was responsible for business acquisitions, establishment and management of new business structures often associating the private and public sectors. These activities included privatization processes and P-P-Joint-Ventures in various Central European countries.
In addition to his deep knowledge of the energy sector, he has a strong technical background in Industrial Automation and a Business Administration certification by REFA in Regensburg.
Lived and worked in:
Germany, East-Europe, Ukraine, China, South-Korea, USA, Mexico, Morocco
Nationality:
German
Current residence:
USA
Understands:
German, English, French, Polish
USA, Mexico, Canada Operations
Frank Rauss
Advisory Board Member
Frank is an international executive with 35 years of experience in leading Asian, European, and US organizations in the automotive and manufacturing industries. He brings to the team experience from international automotive groups like Forvia, Leoni Wiring Systems, Cooper Standard Automotive, Zumtobel-lighting, and CRH, where he acted as CEO, CRO, COO, or VP of Operations.
Besides marrying a Polish HR-Professional, he has worked and lived with his family on 3 continents and in 15 countries. The international experience taught him the importance of intercultural sensitivity to make change happen and to be able to develop sustainable leaders.
After developing a benchmark site in Germany for Forvia, he started his international journey, consolidated the European operations of CRH, built an Asian organization for German harness manufacturer Leoni with 7 sites and 8.000 employees, and restructured the European footprint for an American sealing manufacturer. As an interim COO Frank managed several Tier 1 suppliers in Poland, China, USA, and Mexico. As CRO he restructured and carved out 32 sites and 6 development centers globally for a Private Equity Group.
Frank has a Bachelor's in Industrial Sciences – Mechanics and Applied Thermodynamics from the University of Osnabrück and a certificate as a European Welding Engineer from the SLV Duisburg.
Kenan Kolday
Advisory Board Member
Lived and worked in:
Turkey, USA
Nationality:
Turkey, USA
Current residence:
Turkey, USA
Understands:
English, Turkish, German, Italian
Turkey Operations
Kenan is an Industrial Engineer with an MBA from London College, experienced in turnarounds, transitions, and transformations in manufacturing Fortune 500 companies in the USA and in Turkey. He is a leader with a reputation for making people and companies successful, developing next-gen leaders, and creating high-performing teams.
During his 20+ years of multi-site and global experience in Automotive, Aerospace, Consumer Electronics, FMCG, and Consulting, he successfully led 3 plant start-ups, a military aviation business start-up, 2 plant transitions, 2 turnarounds, and worked in several high-growth companies like GKN Fokker, Cummins, Honeywell or Hitachi. He is a Six Sigma Greenbelt and has 20+ years of hands-on experience in Lean Manufacturing.
Besides his business career, he published 5 books, 1,000+ blogs, coached people for 2,500 hours, and trained 4,000 people.
