Leadership

Mr. Ferenc Daróczi has more than three decades of experience in construction, investment and real estate development. He began his career with almost six years of construction work in Germany before returning to Hungary to develop the ECE ÁRKÁD shopping centers in Budapest, Pécs und Győr, as team leader. In 2008, he was appointed Managing Director of HOCHTIEF Development Kft, whose name is associated with the development of the Capital Square office building in Budapest. Since 2013, he has been managing a private investment management and real estate development company, which has continuously prepared and implemented factories, monument projects, logistics projects, office buildings and residential projects in Hungary, realizing hundreds of thousands of square meters of investments so far.  He also acts as the Hungarian managing director of three large international real estate companies, specifically highlighted Allianz Eiffel Square Kft of Allianz Group and Szervita Square Kft of Union Group, which are emblematic office buildings on the Budapest office market.

Ferenc Daróczi graduated in architecture from the Ybl Miklós Technical University in Budapest. He has been a member of the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) since 2012.

Magdalena Frąckowiak is an attorney-at-law with over 15 years of professional experience in legal advice in commercial, corporate, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and financing matters. She is authorized to practice as a lawyer in Poland and Great Britain. Mrs. Frąckowiak specializes in transaction advisory, in particular M&A transactions, Venture Capital, financing and cross-border transactions. Mrs. Frąckowiak started her career at KPG Spółka Partnerska Attorneys Keller, Książek, Grodzińska (currently Keller&Wspólnicy sp.k.) and later worked for Credit Suisse Poland Sp. z o. o., Global Trading Group (Cash Equities Trading Support). Currently, Mrs. Frąckowiak is an attorney at LSW Bieńkowski, Laskowski, Leśnodorski, Melzacki i Wspólnicy sp.k.

Magdalena Frąckowiak graduated in law, Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics of the University of Wrocław, and then completed legal training. Additionally, graduated from English-language LL.M postgraduate studies with specialization in International Commercial Law at Kozminski University, Warsaw.

László Gut graduated from the Faculty of Finance and Accountancy of the Budapest Business School in 2014.

Mr. Gut started his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young, gaining significant experience – among others - in real estate and oil & gas industries. As an auditor, he observed the operation of listed companies from close and participated in a number of management boards, audit committee and supervisory board meetings. After 8 years, he decided to look for new challenges in his professional career and joined Optima Investment Ltd. Since January 2022 he leads the financial department.

Mr. István Hegedüs is a graduate of the predecessor institution of Budapest Corvinus University, as economist. He has extensive, decades-long entrepreneurial experience and knowledge. Throughout his career, he has been involved in start-ups where he was holding top management positions in newly established businesses in industries including media, finance, food. Mr. Hegedüs manages Optima Group in his capacity of CEO since March 2025.

Dominik Januszewski is a Senior Advisor in the field of management and finance with more than 25 years of experience in Ernst&Young and Artur Andersen. Between 2005-2019 he worked as a Partner in Ernst&Young, responsible for business advisory, transaction consulting, privatization projects, as well as financial audits. Between 2016 and 2019 was a member of European Executive Boards of Ernst&Young Financial Sector Division. His clients included the largest financial institutions in Poland. Currently, he is responsible for Strategic Consulting team of JLL, focusing on development and implementation of ESG and energy optimisation strategies for enterprises.

Mr. Januszewski is a Polish Chartered Auditor. He completed many professional trainings relating to advisory and management. In 2018 completed the course for Top Executives in Harvard Business School. In 2022 obtained the University of Cambridge Certificate: „Business Sustainability Management”. Dominik Januszewski graduated from University of Łódź, Economics and Sociology Department, Finance and Banking Faculty.

Artur Kozieja, the founder of the Europlan group, is an experienced investor and investment banker who, between 1995 and 2017, worked as a senior executive at Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital in London, where he was responsible for M&A transactions and the raising of capital for corporations, banks and countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, as a partner in a family hotel business started in 1983, he also developed hotel projects in Lower Silesia in Poland. Since 2017, as part of the Europlan group, he has been carrying out hotel investments in Poland, where he has opened, among other things, the Lake Hill Resort & Spa hotel complex in the Karkonosze Mountains and the Metropolo by Golden Tulip hotel in Cracow, and is currently preparing several hotel projects in cooperation with international hotel chains.

Artur Kozieja holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and is a graduate of the Diplomatic Academy in Beijing (China).

Mr. Ferenc Minárik is a wide-experienced attorney-at-law who has more than 15 year experience in real estate developmentand M&A transactions, as well as in corporate governance. As an attorney-at-law he manages several international real estate portfolios of his clients. In 2018 he acquired the Real Estate Lawyer of the Year award in Hungary. In the last few years he moved on to the financial markets and he provides professional legal assistance for Hungarian banks and financial institutions as well.

Dr. Ferenc Minarik graduated from Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE) in 2009.

Marcin Murawski graduated from the Faculty of Management of Warsaw University. He also holds the following certificates: ACCA, ACCA Practising Certificate, KIBR entitlement, CIA.He has been an independent member of the supervisory board and chairman of the audit committee of: GTC S.A., Apart S.A., SecoWarwick S.A., SANTANDER-AVIVA JV TU S.A., SANTANDER-AVIVA JV TUNŻ S.A. Mr Murawski was an independent member of the supervisory board and chairman of the audit committee of CCC S.A until 2019. Between 2005 and 2012 Mr Murawski was a director of the internal audit department at WARTA Group - KBC GROUEP NV and secretary of the audit committee at TUIR WARTA S.A. and TUNŻ WARTA S.A. Between 1997 and 2005 he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers Sp. z o.o., as manager of the audit department (2002-2005), senior assistant in the audit department (1999-2001), assistant in the audit department (1997-1999).

Dr. Sarolta Várszegi is an attorney-at-law holding an LL.M. from University College London (UCL) and the Certified European Financial Analyst (CEFA) designation, with 20 years of experience in advising corporate clients on corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, as well as capital markets transactions involving debt instruments and shares, stock exchange listings, and corporate governance. She started her practice in the Budapest offices of international law firms such as Clifford Chance and White & Case. Before establishing Várszegi Law Firm, she held the position of manager, and subsequently associate partner at EY, co-heading the legal service line and managing complex projects.

Dr. Sarolta Várszegi is a member of the Issuers Committee of the Budapest Stock Exchange.