The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the former head of PKP Cargo, Wojciech Balczun, as the board chairman of the Ukrzaliznytsia the public railway company, on April 21. The relevant decision was made at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on 20 April. Thus, only eight days separated the government Nomination Committee’s decision to select Balczun and the Cabinet of Ministers’ decision to approve him.
"I want to build a team that will stay the course of change. Firstly, it should consist of employees of Ukrzaliznytsia because they possess the greatest amount of knowledge. The experience of restructuring PKP Cargo has shown that its employees were the key to its successful restructuring. They know its weaknesses and what needs to be done to change them. It is only necessary to push them toward this," Balczun said at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Balczun was born in 1970. He graduated from the University of Silesia in Katowice with a degree in political science. He also has an MBA degree. He began his career as the sales director of the Trybuna Śląska regional newspaper in Katowice and then worked at the Polish national postal service, Poczta Polska, and the bank PKO Bank Polski.
He joined Polish Railways (PKP) in 2005. He headed the supervisory board of PKP from 2005 to 2007. He was the director of the Polish freight railway company PKP Cargo from January 2008 to January 2013. He joined the supervisory board of the national carrier LOT Polish in April 2012. He is also the vice president of the Polish branch of the Vice President of the European Centre of Employers and Enterprises providing Public services (CEEP).
In 2007, he became the leader of the Chemia rock band, with which he recorded five albums. He is married with two children.
Balczun has won many business awards. He was voted Manager of the Year in 2010 for his achievement in restructuring of PKP Cargo. The Bloomberg Businessweek Polska publication included him on the list of the top 20 anti-crisis managers in 2012.
