State-owned enterprises: Changing faces, familiar patterns

The governing coalition enters the new year with Civic Coalition (KO) in its most dominant position since taking office in 2023. The Polish People’s Party (PSL) is posting dismal poll numbers, while the already divided Poland 2050 is faring even worse. The New Left remains relatively stable, although the prime minister’s unilateral decision to abandon work on a bill concerning the National Labor Inspectorate has come as a cold shower for the party led by Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty. Another key challenge for the coalition will be a draft law authored by Poland 2050 aimed at depoliticizing companies with State Treasury participation.

Depoliticization as a political issue

Lawmakers from Poland 2050 party have long argued that management boards of companies with State Treasury participation should not include individuals tied to the governing parties. Yet despite the governing coalition being halfway through its term, the Sejm has yet to take up the matter. An earlier draft – also authored by Poland 2050 -stalled at the committee stage after failing to win the support of Civic Coalition (KO) and the Polish People’s Party (PSL) – its coalition partners.

In October 2025, speaking on the radio, KO’s Robert Kropiwnicki described the proposal as “off the rails.” At the time, the deputy head of the Ministry of State Assets argued that it would strip the government of control over companies with State Treasury participation (SSPs). A revised draft has since been prepared, and Poland 2050 is counting on backing from its coalition partners. On January 7, the government was working on its opinion of the proposal.

It is also worth recalling that during the two-year term of the coalition, three different politicians have already occupied the post of minister of state assets. From December 2023 to May 2024, the role was held by Borys Budka (KO). He was succeeded by the nonpartisan Jakub Jaworowski, who served as head of the ministry until July 2025. Since the summer of last year, the minister overseeing most state-owned companies has been Wojciech Balczun. If stability is hard to find among the “chiefs of all chiefs,” can it be found within the companies themselves?

To investigate this, we decided to examine the turnover at the top of companies with State Treasury participation. Our goal is to verify whether:

• the CEO positions have been filled by individuals connected or not connected to the coalition, and
• executive and decision-making stability has been established within these state-owned enterprises (SSPs).

In other words – are those appointed to CEO positions being replaced too quickly by new managers?

An aviation exception

For our analysis, we selected nearly 30 key SSPs. We focused on the largest publicly listed companies as well as strategic financial, energy, transport, and mining enterprises. The picture that emerges is mixed when viewed against one of the 100 specific pledges of the Civic Coalition (KO). Item 68 on that list read:

“In companies with State Treasury participation, we will dismiss all members of supervisory boards and management boards. We will hold new, transparent recruitment processes, where decisions will be based on competence rather than family or party connections.”

The first sentence can largely be considered accurate. Indeed, in almost all of the companies we analyzed, CEOs appointed under the previous government were replaced. The exception is LOT Polish Airlines. At the state carrier, the CEO appointed under the United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica / ZP) government initially survived the leadership change. Even there, however, the transition was far from smooth: Michał Fijoł, who had been CEO since June 2023, was dismissed by the supervisory board in December 2024, only to be reinstated three months later.

Further analysis shows that, aside from the initial post-United Right reshuffles, there were 12 additional CEO rotations in the companies we studied – excluding acting CEOs.

This means that, on average, a top executive position in a major state-owned company changes hands once every two months. By comparison, during the first term of the United Right government, such rotations occurred on average every 20 days. Progress has been made – but is it enough to be satisfying?

New faces, old habits

Let us return to the Civic Coalition’s 68th specific pledge. Under the current government, are appointments truly based on competence rather than family or party ties?

In 2024, journalists from Onet portal examined the political affiliations of members of the management board of Totalizator Sportowy (TS), the state-owned lottery operator. Szymon Piegza and Marcin Terlik revealed that local activists from the Civic Coalition (KO), the Polish People’s Party (PSL), and the Left had been appointed as regional branch directors at TS. The findings caused a stir. One consequence was the dismissal of TS’s chief executive, Rafał Krzemień. At the time, Jakub Jaworowski, then minister of state assets, spoke of a failure to meet the highest recruitment standards at Totalizator. Today, neither Mr. Krzemień remains at TS nor Mr. Jaworowski at the Ministry of State Assets.

Instances of party-line hiring have also been reported at smaller state-owned enterprises. One example is CS Natura Tour, a subsidiary of PKP, the national railway group, where PSL-linked appointments were made.

Even so, some companies continue to be headed by overtly political appointees. A special – if “honorary” – mention goes to Krajowa Grupa Spożywcza (KGS), the National Food Group. While in many firms (though not all) chief executive roles are now held by experienced managers without direct party affiliations, KGS has preserved the old standards. Towards the end of the United Right’s tenure, KGS was run by Marek Zagórski, a former Law and Justice (PiS) MP and minister for digital affairs. He took up the post relatively late, in April 2023, relinquishing his parliamentary seat to do so, and remained in charge through 2025. He was then replaced by Leszek Świętochowski.

The new head of KGS is a politician from the Polish People’s Party (PSL). As recently as 2023, he ran for parliament on the Third Way (TD) party ticket. He also served as a PSL MP between 2001 and 2005 and was president of the Agricultural Property Agency from 2012 to 2015, when PSL governed in coalition with Civic Platform (PO).

Links between company chiefs and the Civic Coalition milieu are particularly visible in the railway sector.

Interactive chart

Pełny ekran

Turmoil on the rails at PKP Cargo…

Across all the companies reviewed (with the exception of LOT Polish airlines), chief executives were appointed at the outset of the current government. In most cases, they still hold their posts.

That said, several firms have seen far more churn. The most management-volatile group comprises the railway companies. At PKP Cargo alone, there were as many as four changes at the top under the current administration.

In April 2024, PKP Cargo’s chief executive, Dariusz Seliga – a former Law and Justice (PiS) MP – was first suspended and then dismissed. He was replaced by Marcin Wojewódka as acting CEO. Mr. Wojewódka, an economist and legal adviser, remained in the role until the end of 2024. It was a turbulent period. The company entered restructuring proceedings, and nearly 4,000 employees were laid off as part of collective redundancies. After stepping down, Mr. Wojewódka moved to the supervisory board. His interim successor as acting CEO was Paweł Miłek, then the management board member responsible for commercial affairs.

In December 2025, Mr. Wojewódka again made headlines after selling more than 90,000 shares in the company, only to repurchase them later at a lower price. Poland’s financial watchdog, the KNF, took an interest, and Mr. Wojewódka was dismissed from the supervisory board.

At the start of 2025, Agnieszka Wasilewska-Semail – selected through an open competition – began her term as chief executive of PKP Cargo. She lasted less than a year. At the end of December 2025, the supervisory board removed her from office, without disclosing the reasons. She was replaced on an interim basis by Monika Starecka.

PKP Cargo is not the only railway company where stability at the top remains elusive.

…and in regional rail services

More recently, the public has learned of personnel changes at Polregio, the regional passenger operator. After the Civic Coalition (KO) took power, Krzysztof Pietrzykowski was appointed chief executive in June 2024. Previously, he had worked at Warsaw’s Rapid Urban Rail (SKM) and at the Supreme Audit Office. During Donald Tusk’s second term as prime minister, he also served in the political office of one of the ministries, placing him within the milieu of today’s Civic Coalition. Following Mr. Tusk’s return to power, he took up a post at Polregio.

Mr. Pietrzykowski’s tenure proved short-lived. In October 2025, he was replaced by Aleksandra Grzywaczewska, who has been employed at Polregio since 2015.

Against this backdrop, PKP SA appears to be something of an outlier. Since 2024, its chief executive has been Alan Beroud. Previously, he ran Warsaw’s SKM between 2019 and 2024 – his first role leading a railway company. He did, however, bring earlier management experience from other sectors. In 2019, members of the civic association Miasto Jest Nasze (the city is ours) suggested that Mr. Beroud’s appointment at the time may have been influenced by his father Marek’s personal acquaintance with Robert Soszyński, then a deputy mayor of Warsaw from Civic Platform (PO). Under the PO–PSL governments, Mr. Beroud senior and Mr. Soszyński had both headed state-owned companies in the oil sector. Alan Beroud himself did not respond to questions from Gazeta Wyborcza daily, which covered the matter at the time.

Energy on the move

Railway companies are not the only state-owned firms to experience leadership changes midterm under the current government. Heads of mining companies also left their posts prematurely. In February 2025, Leszek Pietraszek departed Polish Mining Group (Polska Grupa Górnicza, PGG) to become vice-marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship. He was succeeded as CEO by Łukasz Deja.

The CEO’s chair at Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa (JSW) has proven equally hot. In February 2024, Tomasz Cudny, who had held the position for three years, was dismissed. During the transition, Paweł Rostkowski served as acting CEO, and in April 2024 Ryszard Janta took over. After just a year and a half, Janta was also removed. The acting CEO role is currently held by Bogusław Oleksy. Whoever sits at JSW’s helm faces the daunting challenge of stabilizing a company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

The most recent high-profile change occurred at PGE, the country’s largest energy producer. In December 2025, Dariusz Lubera replaced Dariusz Marzec as acting CEO. According to WysokieNapiecie.pl, Marzec and another board member were dismissed due to conflicts with the CEO of a PGE subsidiary. The clashes reportedly caught the attention of Wojciech Balczun, head of the Ministry of State Assets, who orchestrated Mr. Marzec’s removal.

By contrast, the largest SSP companies – banking firms and Orlen – appear to have remained a bastion of stability, with no further rotations following the leadership changes at the start of 2024.

Among the corporate giants, however, there is one rather ignoble exception. The CEO position at PZU, the largest insurer, has been a veritable “hot potato.” Since October 2023, three different individuals have occupied the role – not counting those serving in an acting capacity. In our coverage at XYZ, we have repeatedly reported on PZU’s internal turbulence, including tensions with trade unions and the drawn-out selection process that ultimately installed Bogdan Benczak as CEO.

Repeated changes at Grupa Azoty

Since the change of government, Grupa Azoty has seen several shifts at its chief executive level. On February 19, 2024, former West Pomeranian Voivode Tomasz Hinc – who had served as CEO since early December 2020 and was succeeded as voivode by Zbigniew Bogucki, now head of the Chancellery of the President of Poland – was briefly replaced by Krzysztof Kołodziejczyk. Mr. Kołodziejczyk served as acting CEO for a month and remained with Grupa Azoty as vice president until May 2025. In January 2025, he was appointed CEO of Grupa Azoty Polyolefins. Previously, he had held senior roles at Boryszew, Polimex-Mostostal, and Ciech.

On March 20, 2024, Adam Leszkiewicz succeeded Mr. Kołodziejczyk as CEO of Grupa Azoty. He led the company for just over a year. In Donald Tusk’s first government, he had been deputy head of the Prime Minister’s Office and deputy minister of state assets. In February 2012, two months after leaving the government, he became CEO of Grupa Azoty ZAK, a position he held until 2016. In May 2025, Mr. Leszkiewicz resigned as CEO of Grupa Azoty upon his appointment as CEO of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (arms producer), remaining with Grupa Azoty as chairman of the supervisory board.

On May 14, 2025, Andrzej Skolmowski was named acting CEO of Grupa Azoty and, a month later, became the full CEO. He too had prior ties to Grupa Azoty ZAK, serving as chairman of its supervisory board from 2011 to 2016.

Greater stability at Poczta Polska (Polish Post); the opposite at PGZ (arms producer)

There has been relative stability at Poczta Polska. In February 2022, Krzysztof Falkowski – linked to the Law and Justice party (PiS) – was replaced by Sebastian Mikosz. Mr. Mikosz is a seasoned manager with many years in the transport sector. He notably served twice as chief executive of Poland’s national carrier, LOT Polish Airlines (PLL LOT), during the Civic Platform–Polish People’s Party (PO–PSL) governments.

When Mr. Mikosz took over at Poczta Polska, its government supervisor was Jacek Bartmiński, a deputy minister of state assets from Poland 2050, who between 2013 and 2015 had reported to Mr. Mikosz at LOT. Until November 2024 – when oversight of LOT was transferred from the Ministry of State Assets to the Ministry of Infrastructure – Mr. Mikosz sat on LOT’s supervisory board. Around that time, Mr. Bartmiński left the Ministry of State Assets.

By contrast, Poland’s state-owned defense conglomerate, Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa (PGZ), has seen four chief executives under the current government; the fourth is Adam Leszkiewicz, mentioned earlier. In February 2024 Sebastian Chwałek – a PiS politician and former deputy interior and defense minister – was replaced by Tomasz Siemiątkowski. A lawyer by training, Mr. Siemiątkowski has served on several supervisory boards in the past, including those of PGZ and PKO Bank Polski (PKO BP), whose supervisory board he currently chairs. He served as PGZ’s acting chief executive for one month.

In March 2024 Krzysztof Trofimiak, a manager with ties to the defense industry, became PGZ’s chief executive. In April 2025 Arkadiusz Bąk – a manager with senior leadership experience across multiple companies and a former deputy economy minister toward the end of the PO–PSL era – served as acting chief executive for a month. When Adam Leszkiewicz was appointed chief executive, Mr. Bąk joined PGZ’s management board as a vice-president.

A conglomerate of stable companies

The Central Transport Hub (CPK) was one of the flagship projects of the Law and Justice (PiS) governments. Recently, Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the investment would proceed under the banner of Port Polska. Until January 2024 the company was led by Mikołaj Wild, previously the government’s plenipotentiary for CPK and a deputy infrastructure minister under PiS. Following Mr. Wild’s dismissal, Filip Czernicki was appointed acting chief executive and, in due course, confirmed as chief executive – a role he continues to hold. Mr. Czernicki is a lawyer specializing, among other things, in aviation law, and a manager with close ties to the aviation sector. He previously served as the plenipotentiary responsible for launching Modlin Airport.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange (Giełda Papierów Wartościowych) has also seen just one leadership change. In March 2024 Marek Dietl was replaced by Tomasz Bardziłowski, an analyst and manager with many years’ experience in the financial markets.

At Polski Holding Nieruchomości (real estate conglomerate), changes likewise began in March 2024. Artur Lebiedziński took over as acting chief executive from Marcin Mazurek. Mr. Lebiedziński had run the holding for more than two years toward the end of the PO–PSL governments. After a month, Wiesław Malicki – a manager associated with the real-estate market – was appointed chief executive.

The head of Bank Ochrony Środowiska (BOŚ Bank) has changed only once. In April 2024 Emil Ślązak was replaced as chief executive by Bartosz Kublik, a manager with many years of experience in the banking sector.

Changes also came to Bogdanka mine in April 2024. Sławomir Krenczyk, previously a member of the supervisory board, replaced Kasjan Wyligała as acting chief executive. In the same month Zbigniew Stopa was appointed chief executive of Bogdanka, marking his return to the company’s management board. He served there between 2006 and 2016, and from 2012 as chief executive.

Change at Alior; calm at PSE and Gaz-System

Alior Bank saw considerable turnover in 2024. In mid-May 2024 Grzegorz Olszewski was dismissed as chief executive. Artur Chołody was then appointed acting chief executive on a temporary basis. From mid-August, Alior Bank was led on an interim basis by its vice-president, Jacek Iljin, who held the role for two weeks. At the start of September, the duties were taken over by another vice-president, Zdzisław Wojtera, who ran the bank until November. At that point Piotr Żabski – a manager with nearly 30 years’ experience in the banking sector – was appointed chief executive.

At Polskie Sieci Energetyczne (PSE), the change of government resulted in a single change of chief executive. At the beginning of March 2024 Grzegorz Onichimowski took up the role. He is a manager with more than 30 years’ experience in the energy industry and was a co-author of the Civic Coalition’s energy platform for the 2023 parliamentary elections. He replaced Tomasz Sikorski, who had served as chief executive since early 2023 and returned to the vice-president post he had held since 2016.

In mid-February 2024 changes were also made to the management board of Gaz-System. Sławomir Hinc, a manager with many years of experience in the gas and energy sectors, replaced Marcin Chludziński as chief executive. Mr. Hinc had previously worked at Gaz-System between 2006 and 2008 as a commercial proxy.

The carousel has slowed – but not stopped

During the election campaign, the Civic Coalition (KO) pledged to restore transparency and professionalize senior management across state-owned enterprises (SSPs). In most companies, there is indeed visible stabilization in execution and decision-making. That said, party-linked appointments have not disappeared, and even more striking are changes in top management after relatively short tenures. After all, is it possible to learn from scratch – and then transform – large, complex companies in the space of just one year?

That question was asked even more often during the years of the United Right’s (ZP) rule. From October 2015 to the end of January 2018, more than 2,500 personnel changes were made to the management and supervisory boards of SSPs, according to Puls Biznesu daily. An analysis by the newspaper in 2018 found that chief executives of listed companies were being replaced more often than once every three weeks. Against that backdrop (bearing in mind that the sample above is a carefully selected one), the situation has improved: changes now occur, on average, once every two months. But is that good enough?

Expert's perspective

Fewer changes, greater professionalization

From the perspective of the executive-search market, it is clear that the scale of post-election changes at state-owned enterprises (SSPs) was significant, though smaller than in previous years. This suggests that management turnover has ceased to be an end in itself. Increasingly, attention is turning to the quality of governance processes and to whether organizations of such scale and complexity can realistically implement strategy.

Also, there has been a marked qualitative shift in how some senior roles are filled. More often, appointments now follow market-standard procedures – from structured competitions and professional support in candidate assessment to full, proactive executive-search processes conducted with the involvement of advisory firms. In practice, this applies mainly to the selection of management-board members and key executive roles; for chief executive positions at the largest companies, ownership-level decisions still tend to carry greater weight. There is also a visible increase in the Ministry of State Assets’ openness to dialogue with the market and the expert community, both on standards for appointing management and supervisory boards and, more broadly, on corporate governance.

Having said that, in companies where turnover at the top has been most frequent, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of day-to-day decisions from the consequences of long-term processes – naturally complicating any assessment of managerial effectiveness.
From the perspective of building a pipeline of managerial talent, it is also worth noting the growing number of executive-search processes focused on appointing management-board members and key executive roles, rather than chief executives alone. These processes – based on systematic assessments of competence and potential – can help broaden the pool of candidates, including women. Initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of State Assets to promote good practice and diversity are aligned with this direction and are seen as part of a long-term effort to raise management standards, with effects likely to become visible over the medium rather than the short term.

Agnieszka Kulikowska

an executive-search consultant who, until the end of 2025, was affiliated with Page Group, where over 18 years she played a role in building Page Executive and Michael Page in the Polish market and supported the appointment of more than 200 individuals to management-board positions and key director-level roles, including regional and global appointments

There is another way

During the eight years of the Civic Platform–Polish People’s Party (PO–PSL) governments between 2007 and 2015, chief executives of Poland’s largest state-owned companies tended to remain in office for many years. By way of example, Andrzej Klesyk – mentioned earlier – ran PZU for eight years. At PKO Bank Polski (PKO BP), Zbigniew Jagiełło was appointed chief executive in 2009. He not only survived a change of government but also the return of Law and Justice (PiS) to power a decade later. It was not until 2021 that he stepped down as chief executive of PKO BP.

Jacek Krawiec was appointed chief executive of Orlen in 2008 and left only after the subsequent change of government. A similar path was followed by Dariusz Lubera, currently serving as acting chief executive of PGE. In 2008 he was appointed chief executive of Tauron, a position he also held until the start of the Law and Justice (PiS) governments. As these examples show, stability at state-owned enterprises is possible. But does it go hand in hand with depoliticization?

Progress to the extent of our capabilities?

Three conclusions follow. First, the October 15 coalition – just as voters expected – replaced previous managers, often linked to the Law and Justice (PiS) camp, with new leadership. Were these “its own” appointees? In part, yes – as illustrated by cases such as KGS and Polregio. In most companies, however, the choice fell on experienced managers.

That leads to a second conclusion. Politicians continue to interfere in the management line-ups of state-owned enterprises, even when those at the helm are not directly affiliated with the parties of the current government. At times, rapid changes are favored, along with expectations of equally rapid results, rather than a commitment to long-term strategic development – an unfortunate example being the churn at PZU.

The third conclusion is that there is indeed a visible improvement in professionalization at the top of the most important state-owned companies. At the same time, reports of irregularities at lower levels – such as at Totalizator Sportowy – have also surfaced. Over just more than two years, there have been two changes at the helm of the Ministry of State Assets. Perhaps, then, it would be worth starting with greater stability in government itself. After all, leadership sets the tone.

Key Takeaways

1. While most companies have opted for experienced professionals, reports persist of irregularities in recruitment at lower levels – for instance at Totalizator Sportowy – undermining the credibility of promises of a “new quality.” Stabilization therefore requires not only clearer standards within management boards themselves, but above all greater order at the Ministry of State Assets, which is already overseen by its third minister.
2. Despite pledges of full professionalization, in many key entities – such as KGS and Polregio – appointments continue to be made of individuals linked to parties within the governing coalition. Although the scale of the phenomenon has shifted compared with previous years, political influence remains evident in the filling of the most senior management posts.
3. The analysis points to a troubling lack of decision-making continuity, with PZU as an extreme case: within a short period, the chief executive role was held by as many as six individuals. Frequent leadership changes, driven by short-term political expectations, make it impossible to implement long-term strategic objectives at critical companies.