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Around Town

'Primed to grow' breakfast

By Benjamin Thomas Cunningham
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 10th, 2007 issue

It’s not every day you get to have breakfast with a prime minister.
Mirek Topolánek is arguably the “big man” in the Czech Republic, but he seems to travel amazingly light in the capital city for being such an important guy.
There were no apparent in-your-face security measures for him at a American Chamber of Commerce breakfast at the Hilton Hotel Oct. 4. It was a refreshing change of pace to walk into the hotel (the same one where U.S. President George W. Bush reportedly stayed in June on his quick fly-through visit), pick up a nametag and sit down without going through a metal detector, getting bags, packages and purses checked or seeing any extra uniformed security around.
Topolánek showed up with three aides after everyone else was already seated and eating. He didn’t seem to have any other security detail, although they could have been waiting outside.
Other key people in a room full of the movers and shakers of the Prague business world also appeared to be sans security, including Richard Graber, U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic; Ronald Adams, chief executive officer of Czech truck manufacturer Tatra Corp., who was with his wife; and Jan Spurný, the ABN-AMRO bigwig.
Weston Stacey, AmCham’s executive director, praised the Hilton for its handling of the low-key event. Bodyguards and security cameras were more discreet than we’ve ever seen — we didn’t spot a thing to indicate the event required any special attention, despite the extremely high-profile name.
We did spot and chat with Michael Specking, the Hilton’s general manager, and Markéta Šebková, who runs the Hilton’s marketing and PR ship. Stacey’s crew was also out in force, smiling and taking names at the door.
Irena Brichta, head of Brichta & Partners, an executive search firm, seemed to know everyone in the room, and Lucie Pilipová, a partner in Gastro Žofín, gave us three cards, the better to explain all of her dealings around the Continent, including real estate investments in holiday getaways on the Costa del Sol in Spain.
But, back to Topolánek, who cracked jokes and kept the sell-out crowd happy with business-friendly topics like his plans to sink billions of crowns into research and development at universities around the country and an anti-corruption plan that will include specifics on keeping any one individual or group from handling large sums of money.
He also mentioned the country’s need to find more workers if its economic growth is to continue, and brought up its new bankruptcy law, which has gotten going with help from AmCham members from Škoda Auto and Honeywell. The chamber has had a hand in helping out with preparing electronic registers in connection with the new law and with training for those in the justice system who are to implement it, according to Stacey.
We also saw a whole host of real estate folks sitting up front and centering on Otto Jelinek, who is the new head of Colliers International for Central and Eastern Europe, and was a world-champion figure skater in 1962. Luke Moxham-Price was there, who recently arrived from Vancouver, Canada, to be regional operations director, as was Gordon Dreger, whom we frequently see out and about.
Michael Mullen, a partner at law firm Havel & Holásek, was happy but not surprised to hear from another attendee that his firm is tops when the business community needs help. Erik Best, owner of the Fleet Sheet, and well-known political pundit, regaled us with tales.
Topolánek has now spoken to chamber members four years in a row, each year moving up a notch in his profession, Stacey pointed out. We’re not sure how he can top his current job at next year’s event, but we’ll be looking forward to it.

Benjamin Thomas Cunningham can be reached at bcunningham@praguepost.com


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