About us

The Czech Institute of Directors is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1998. It deals with corporate governance for corporations. It strives to promote worldwide proven standards – Best Practice – of corporate governance in the Czech Republic.

The CG Institute is a 100% owned subsidiary of the Czech Institute of Directors. It provides exclusive consulting and educational services in the field of corporate governance for members of the Institute as well as external clients.

Martin Smekal

Executive Director 

Martin Smekal is a business professional with over 30 years of corporate management experience in the Czech Republic. His experience is very broad and includes corporate governance as well as strategic planning, financial management and oversight, product development, supply chain management or innovative and digitalization projects.

He spent 20 years with Big 4 firms leading Management Consulting and Risk Advisory practices in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Martin was a member of the global leadership team of the Business Advisory practice of EY and spent 3 years in the USA and U.K.

During the past 10 years, Martin applied his experience to lead enterprises exploring innovations and digital transformation. For KKCG investment group, he founded and led two companies that built data centers and delivered ICT and cloud services to customers in the Czech Republic and in abroad.  He also contributed to establishment of another Czech cloud provider in the role of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Martin graduated from the Czech Technical University in Prague.  He also attended multiple executive development programs at the Harvard Business School, IMD or Sheffield Business School. He obtained Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) certifications.

Kamil Čermák

President 

Kamil Čermák holds a Batchelors’ degree in Finance from the University of Economics in Prague, and a Masters’ degree from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He began his career in media. In the mid-1990s he was the media spokesperson for the Minister of Industry and Trade, Vladimir Dlouhý. He then served as the director of public affairs and later as the commercial director of Český Telecom. Since 2005, he has been the CEO of several ČEZ Group companies. From 2012 to 2016, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the BM Management Group and as General Manager of Economia Publishing House, Forum Karlín, Luxury Brand Management, and Asental NV.

Currently, Kamil Čermák is Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of CEZ ESCO.

Petr Fiman

1st Vice President

Petr Fiman graduated from the Czech University of Agriculture. He is a graduate of IMD, Harvard Business School and INSEAD. He started his international career at Norsk Hydro ASA, where he worked as a management member and director of a number of companies belonging to the Group, until 2000. Since 2002, he has been Vice President of Electric Powersteering Components Europe, which is a joint venture between Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and JTEKT Corporation. Petr is also dedicated to mentoring and is a mentor in the prestigious Odyssey program.

Jakub Chytil

2nd Vice President

Jakub Chytil graduated from the Law Faculty of Charles University. At the beginning of the 1990s, he was a member of the Legal Department of the Office of President Václav Havel. He served as Corporate Counsel for Tobacco (today Philip Morris CR) and Kraft Jacobs Suchard (now Kraft Foods) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He then traveled to Lausanne (Switzerland), where he worked as a lawyer at Philip Morris International.

Upon his return, he became the corporate secretary for Telefónica O2 Czech Republic in 2003. He was a board member of the company from 2005 to 2014.

Vratislav Kulhánek

Honorary President 

Vratislav Kulhánek is a prominent Czech businessman. He participated in the management of Škoda Auto, where he was the chairman of the board of directors until 2004, then the chairman of the Supervisory Board. Currently, he is the owner of the consulting company Industrial Advisors and a member of the Supervisory Board of Kooperativa Insurance Company.

Vratislav graduated from the University of Economics in Prague and holds the academic title Dr. Honoris Causa of the Technical University of Ostrava and Košice.