5th Home Appliances Congress

Minister of
Economic Development and Technology

Waldemar Buda is 39 years old and was born on 21 September 1982 in Turek. In 2006 he graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Łódź. Between 2007 and 2011 he served his legal advisor apprenticeship. In 2011 he qualified as a legal advisor and opened a legal advisor's office. In 2011 he worked as a legal advisor at the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture, the paying agency for the European Agricultural Fund. In 2014, he obtained a mandate as a city councilor in the City of Łódź. In 2015, he was active in the legal aid office of Polish presidential candidate Andrzej Duda. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, he won a parliamentary seat on the Law and Justice list in Łódż. He became a member of the Law and Justice Parliamentary Club and sat on the Justice and Human Rights Committee, the Legislative Committee and the Extraordinary Committee for Changes to the Codifications, where he served as Vice-Chairman. He has dealt with issues relating to tenants' rights and the protection of cooperatives' rights, including helping more than 2,000 people through the free legal advice provided by his MP's office. Waldemar Buda also co-wrote the law on bailiffs and participated in the work on amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure. He has served as Secretary of the Sejm since 2018. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he again won a parliamentary seat in the Łódź constituency on the PiS list, receiving over 50,000 votes (which was the best individual result in the constituency). Waldemar Buda is married with two children, his passion is running - he organises the Charity Running Pilgrimage to Częstochowa every year.

CEO of BSH in Poland,
Chairman of the Council
Employers' Association APPLiA Polska

He is an economist and a graduate of the University of Lodz. After graduation, he taught for several years at the Accounting Department of the University of Lodz, at business schools and in the Accountants Association in Poland. Co-author of the Polish-German-English dictionary of accounting and banking. Consultant in the field of financial management, tax consultancy, information systems in consulting companies. In 2003, he became a statutory auditor. Member of the Supervisory Board of Zelmer S.A. From 2010 to 2014, elected unanimously for two terms, he socially served as President of CECED Poland - European Association of Domestic Appliance Manufacturers. In 2015 he received the prestigious Wektor 2014 award of the Employers of the Republic of Poland for his personal contribution to the development of the white goods manufacturers' industry, innovative ideas and innovative solutions, consistently implemented in BSH Poland.

Co-Managing Director Bluerank,
Chairman of the council
of the Chamber
of Electronic Commerce

He has been working in the Internet industry for over 20 years. Co-owner of Bluerank, responsible for the area of explore: partnerships, international expansion of the company and e-commerce ventures. Chairman of the Council at the Chamber of Electronic Commerce. Pioneer of research on user experience and satisfaction, co-creator of opiniac.com platform. An initiator of international agreements of digital marketing agencies. A promoter of Bluerank's charity actions. According to Dziennik Łódzki - one of the best managers of 2017. Ultramarathon runner, fan of hard-rock and Labrador retriever dogs.

President of Whirlpool Company Polska,
Senior Director of Whirlpool manufacturing operations for the North Area

In this role, he is responsible for Poland, Slovakia and the UK. Federico Rosales is 38 years old. Born in Argentina and with a background in Engineering, He moved to Europe in 2006 and lived and worked in different countries. He joined Whirlpool in 2008 and covered roles across different functions in the company. For two years (2011-2013) he was the director of one of the company plants in Wrocław. As the President of Whirlpool Company Polska, Federico Rosales is also placed in Wrocław.

Secretary of State
in the Ministry of Economic
Development and Technology,
Government Plenipotentiary
for Foreign Investments

On August 17, 2021, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki appointed Grzegorz Piechowiak as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. From January 19, 2020, he was the secretary of state at the Ministry of Economic Development, and then at the Ministry of Economic Development, Labour and Technology. He is also the Government Plenipotentiary for Foreign Investments. Grzegorz Piechowiak was born on September 14, 1963 in Piła. He is a graduate of sociology from the Faculty of History and Social Sciences at the Warsaw Theological Academy (currently Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University). He also completed post-graduate studies in Corporate Management in Crisis and Bankruptcy at the Higher Vocational School “Personnel for Europe” in Poznań. He holds a receiver’s licence and is qualified as a candidate for supervisory boards of sole shareholder companies of the State Treasury. In the years 1992–1997 he worked, among others, as a vice-consul at the Polish embassy in Rome. In the years 2002-2006 he was a councilor of the Piła County Council on behalf of the Porozumienie Samorządowe [Local Government Agreement], and then he was the Director of the Department of Transport in the District Starosty in Piła (2007-2008). For several years he also ran his own business. He is a member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in the 3rd, 8th and current term of office. He is the chairman of the Bilateral Polish-Italian Group and the Parliamentary Team for Police. He co-founded the Stanislaw Staszic State University of Applied Sciences in Piła in Piła. He was awarded (in 2018) by the Senate of the University with the honorary title and the Legatus Almae Matris medal. He was decorated with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (in 2000). Married, father of daughter and son.

CEO of Lodz Special Economic Zone

Since April 2016, he has been managing the Łódź Special Economic Zone joint stock company. Previously, between 2010 and 2016, he was a member of the Łódź City Council, and between 2003 and 2009 he served as Deputy Mayor of Łódź, where he was responsible, among other things, for attracting investors. Between 1998 and 2001 he was a Deputy Minister of the Environment, and between 2002 and 2003 he was the President of the Water Supply and Sewage System Company Ltd. Member of the Polish Parliament of the first term (1991-1993), graduate of the University of Łódź. In his professional career he has also held positions in the management boards of commercial companies and in the sector of innovative environmental technologies. In the Łódź Special Economic Zone he established, in cooperation with investors, the Automation and Robotics School, the only school of such profile in Poland. He co-created accelerators for young technological companies - Startup Spark, Spark 2.0, S5 - 5G Technology Accelerator, "Re_Source", as well as two editions of a support programme for the education of enterprise staff in the Łódź voivodship - Strefa RozwoYou and Strefa RozwoYou 2. The Łódź zone was the only one in the world to start a programme for the implementation of 5G-based technologies in the factories of investors. In 2020. Łódź SEZ, under the management of its President Marek Michalik, won the title of the 3rd best economic zone in the world and the 1st in Europe in a ranking published by experts of the fDi Magazine (from the Financial Times group).

CEO of APPLiA Polska,
Vice President of the
Polish Chamber of Commerce

In 1991, he graduated from SGPiS/SGH with a master's degree in economics. After 20 years of working in household appliance companies, in 2004 he co-founded and since that year has been leading the household appliance employers' association, APPLiA Poland, which deals with the broad representation of the industry. For the last 15 years he has sat in the authorities of the National Chamber of Commerce KIG, where he has been vice-president since 2017. He is the chairman of the Committee for General Electrical Equipment of the Polish Committee for Standardisation, a member of the Board of Officers of CENELEC - the European standardisation organisation. He is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the recovery organization ElektroEko. In publications he specializes mainly in the field of energy efficiency, electro-recycling, market trends.

Chairman of the Polish Investment
and Trade Agency

A manager with many years of experience in both government administration and the private sector, but also in non-profit non-governmental organizations. In February 2021, he was appointed the Chairman of PAIH. Before joining the Agency, as the Director of the Department of Supervised and Subordinate Units, he was in charge of entities subordinate to the Ministry of Development, Labor and Technology. Previously, he was a member of the board of the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone, where from 2016 he was responsible, inter alia, for investments, finances and controls, as well as cooperation with institutes of higher education and universities. Over the four years of his tenure, more than 90 companies joined the Wałbrzych zone, including such significant investors as: Mercedes-Benz, Umicore, GTHR, LS, and Hongbo Clean Energy. During this time, the expenditure incurred in the zone increased by PLN 6 billion, exceeding PLN 30 billion in total. In the past, Krzysztof Drynda was an advisor to the Minister for the economy. He was also professionally related to the financial sector and ran his own business in this field. Moreover, for many years he has been an active member of non-governmental organizations. Krzysztof Drynda is a graduate of the Faculty of Electronics from the Wrocław University of Technology and is a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

President of the Management Board
ElektroEko Joint Stock

Grzegorz Skrzypczak has been President of the Management Board of ElektroEko Joint Stock (Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recovery Organisation) since 2nd February 2006. Previously, he held the position of commercial director in Fastrack (2000-2005) - a representative of the British company Kenwood and the American company Remington. Between 1991 and 1999, he was General Manager at Brabork, the official representative of Philips, Whirlpool and Airelec. He was also an economic consultant for an Italian company Merloni Polska and for a Greek producer Klimatechnik. A graduate of the Faculty of Management at the University of Warsaw and a student at the University of Michigan in the United States.

Founder of Personnel Service S.A.

Krzysztof Inglot is a strategic manager, HR expert and labor market expert with over 25 years of experience gained in large capital groups, including Work Service SA and Personnel Service SA, of which he is the founder. He conducts restructuring projects in the field of management and human resources for key companies in Poland. Author of many expert comments in the media on the current situation on the labor market. In 2013, Krzysztof Inglot acquired the rights to act as an International Mediator and Arbitrator. In 2015, he joined the team of experts of the Center for Research and Analysis of Pracodawcy RP, and in 2020 he became the Chairman of the HR Platform and a member of the Employers' Council. He is a graduate of the Wrocław University of Economics at the Faculty of Management and IT. After graduation, he was awarded the title of Human Resource Manager and completed postgraduate studies in Human Resource Management and Sales Department Management. Laureate of Vector 2019.

President of the Board
of the Employers
of the Republic of Poland

Graduate of the Cracow University of Economics. In 2002-2003, he was an advisor to the Minister of Labour and Social Policy. In 2003-2004, he was an advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister and acting director of the secretariat of the Deputy Prime Minister, Jerzy Hausner. From May 2004 to November 2005, he held the position of Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Social Policy. In 2006, he became a director in the Polish Confederation of Polish Employers Lewiatan, and then a presidential advisor and deputy director general in the Confederation of Polish Employers. In December 2007, he became Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Economy, and from December 2011 he took the same position in the Ministry of Treasury. After leaving the government, he became executive vice-president of Employers of Poland. In October 2015, on behalf of this organisation, he was appointed to the Council for Social Dialogue. He also became a member of the board of the Polish Promotion Foundation. In January 2022, he was elected President of the Board of Employers of the Republic of Poland.

COO DL Invest Group

Wirginia has been the COO of DL Invest Group for 11 years. She specializes in analysing the real estate market and in analysing the profitability of investment projects. Currently, Wirginia's primary responsibilities include overseeing all departments of the group, managing the existing facilities included in the portfolio, analysing the profitability of future investments and analysing investment risks. In addition, Wirginia is responsible for maintaining relations with foreign investors and represents the capital group at foreign events. Wirginia commercializes and supervises real estate in the logistics and warehouse segment, conducting talks with key clients of DL Invest Group.

Director for Support and Business Development

For over 20 years she has been involved in the development of the Łódź Special Economic Zone, she participated in the creation of the organizational structure and the development strategy of the Company.  Responsible for the process of obtaining Polish and foreign investment projects, their comprehensive service together with She was also responsible for contacts with local authorities, governmental structures involved in supporting investments in Poland and many Polish and foreign business support organisations. She has worked on the largest investment projects in the Łódź SEZ, including Indesit/ Whirlpool, Procter & Gamble/ Gillette, Euroglass, Kellogs, Miele. She supports the Innovation Department on an ongoing basis, where, among others, she was involved in the process of creating the S5 accelerator, where projects using 5G technology are implemented among investors of the ŁSEZ, she cooperates with startups.

Legal adviser, partner in WKB Wierciński, Kwieciński, Baehr

Expert in consumer and competition law (recommended by The Legal 500 EMEA). She has twice been ranked among the "50 most influential lawyers" in Poland by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. In the "Ranking of Law Firms 2020" of the daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita, she received an individual recommendation in the field of "Consumer Affairs." From 2014 to 2019 she served as Vice President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, where she worked for a total of 21 years. As Vice President of the OCCP, she was responsible for the consumer division, including, among others, enforcement of consumer law and supervision of the Trade Inspection. She participated in the legislative process at the national and European level. She also participated in meetings of the heads of consumer protection authorities in the European Union within the Consumer Protection Network (CPN) and was a member of the Committee for European Affairs. In 2009-2014, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Łódź Special Economic Zone. Currently, she advises companies from the following sectors: e-commerce, traditional trade, household appliances, finance, energy.