Team

Metropolitan Capital Solutions is managed by a team of four Partners: Waldemar Maj and Wojtek Stankiewicz, who have founded the Firm in 2009, and Krzysztof Dresler and Artur Kluz, who have recently joined us. Each of our Founding Partners brings close to two decades of first hand corporate experience in advisory, management and transactions to the table. While each of our Partners has accumulated broad experience across many industries and functions, their focal areas complement each other, allowing Metropolitan to serve our Clients in an unsurpassed way.

Our Partners have completed more than 200 advisory projects over the last decade. They have served Polish mid-size firms alongside leading global corporations. They have crafted and implemented growth strategies and built new businesses, restructured operations and cut costs, arranged financing and led M&A transactions - all this across more than 20 markets globally.

Our Partners work directly with a strong in-house team of managers, associates and analysts and additionally draw on the support of a wide network of consultants to assist them in serving Clients. As each project calls for a particular mix of skills and experience, in each case our team is carefully selected from a wide pool of available experts - at Metropolitan there is no "one size fits all".

Waldemar Maj

Waldemar Maj has close to 20 years of experience in banking, industry, consulting, and government. He is a Founding Partner of Metropolitan Capital Solutions and Member of the Supervisory Boards of listed companies: PZU, Ciech, and Bank BGZ. He spent over 10 years in investment and corporate banking in Switzerland (UBS), USA (IFC/World Bank), and Poland. He was Vice-President/CFO of PKN Orlen, a Fortune Global 500 company, Vice-President of Bank BGZ/Rabobank Group, and President/CEO of DZ Bank Polska. He also worked for McKinsey & Company and was an Advisor to the Minister of Finance. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and Ph.D. in Physics. In his free time he runs marathons.

Wojtek Stankiewicz has close to 20 years of experience in strategy and growth, restructuring and profit improvement, as well as M&A, acquired above all while working for McKinsey & Company in Poland, CEE, US and the Middle East, as the second most senior Polish partner. Wojtek has served a broad spectrum of clients, multinationals and local mid-size enterprises alike, primarily across telecom, banking, consumer goods, retail and transportation. Cofounding Metropolitan in 2009, he has above all been active in consumer goods, retail and telecommunications - both in transactions and consulting. He is an active investor - having set up a small real-estate fund and backed several entrepreneurial projects as active investor. Wojtek holds an MA in Economics and an MBA from INSEAD and speaks fluent English and German, with working knowledge of French and Spanish.

Krzysztof Dresler has 15 years of experience in financial sector, mainly in banking. . He is a Partner of Metropolitan Capital Solutions, the Secretary of the Supervisory Board of PZU SA, and Chairmen of the Board of Polish Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. He spent over 10 years in banking working for two biggest banks in Poland: PKO Bank Polski SA and Pekao Group. In the years 2008 - 2011 Krzysztof was a Deputy Chairmen of the Management Board of PKO Bank Polski SA. In previous years he worked as managing director, responsible for asset and liabilities management for Pekao SA, chief financial officer in Xelion. Doradcy Finansowi (Unicredit Group), director of market risk department, and planning and controlling department in PKO Bank Polski SA. He also worked for the National Depositary for Securities on the risk management system related to derivatives instruments introduced to trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, and in the years 1998 - 2006 at the Warsaw School of Economics specializing in monetary and currency policies and globalization of financial markets. Krzysztof holds an MA in Finance at Warsaw School of Economics, and has completed many foreign seminars and programs among others MBA based program "„Managing and Leadership" organized by University of New Brunswick. In his free time he runs long-distance races.

Artur Kluz has over 10 years of experience in international investments, corporate governance, private equity and M&A transactions, acquired while working and advising on projects in US, Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia. He is a Partner of Metropolitan Capital Solutions, Member of the Advisory Board of LeadPlace and DeedCast Inc. in New York and a qualified attorney at law admitted in Poland. He worked in New York (American Stock Exchange - New York Stock Exchange AMEX, Holland & Knight LLP, Barcino Capitas Limited) and Poland (Kulczyk Holding) and has been a corporate attorney with Linklaters. Artur is a graduate of IESE Business School and received law degree from Fordham University School of Law, University of Buckingham School of Law and Warsaw University School of Law. He completed the Executive M&A program at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He is a member of the Foreign Policy Association in New York and is actively involved in international relations and pro bono initiatives.

Pawel Dobrowolski

Pawel Dobrowolski since 1995 has been advising company owners and managers on strategic business issues. During this time he has worked on over 50 M&A transactions of which some 20 have successfully closed at an aggregate value of over Euro 1 bln - on behalf of his clients he also authored numerous business plans and strategies.

Piotr Labenz has 6 years of experience in management consulting. At McKinsey & Company he served leading players in Poland, Central Europe and South Africa across a broad range of industries, from retail and telco to heavy industry.

Szymon Piątkowski has 7 years of professional experience in M&A, transaction advisory, restructuring and assurance / audit services across a broad spectrum of industries, primarily in banking, manufacturing, fashion, IT and automotive. Prior to joining Metropolitan Capital Solutions, Szymon worked for Big4 companies including a 4-year period in the UK and Italy.