Our Speakers

On October 1, 2022, Peter Lednický assumed the position of the new CEO of the holding Penta Hospitals International (PHI). Its mission is to continue the dynamic growth and implementation of the group’s long-term strategy, the main pillars of which are an unconditional focus on the needs and satisfaction of the patient, obtaining a position as an employer, and further direction towards the digitalization, integration and operational excellence of the entire chain of hospitals and outpatient clinics in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Peter Lednický came to PHI from his previous position as CEO of Unilabs Slovakia. 27 years ago, he founded Alphamedical, which under his leadership gradually became the largest network of laboratories in Central and Eastern Europe and in 2017 became part of the international Unilabs chain with its headquarters in Switzerland. This fast growing laboratory diagnostics company grew up in the Penta Investments group. After years spent in an international environment, Peter Lednický returned to the portfolio of healthcare projects, i.e., to the area where he started in the past.

Václav Jirků is a Partner at Penta Investments, where he leads healthcare investments and oversees human resources strategy. With over 19 years of experience in healthcare management and investment, he has played a key role in the development of major projects, including the Dr. Max pharmacy chain, Penta Hospitals International, Dovera health insurance, and ProCare outpatient healthcare services. Before transitioning into business management, Václav built a strong medical background as Head of the Critical Care Department at Kolín County Hospital and as a cardioanesthesiologist at the prestigious Faculty Hospital Motol in Prague. He holds a Medical Doctor degree from Charles University in Prague.

Jozef Karlik started as the CFO of the holding company Penta Hospitals International (PHI) in April 2024. His primary objectives are focusing on increasing operational excellence in all areas of Finance, securing external financing to drive further inorganic growth, achieving effective capital allocation and providing support in delivering on M&A objectives. Jozef Karlik joined PHI from Unilabs Slovakia, international laboratory chain, where he had been CFO for 16 years, during the period responsible for 3 CEE markets – Poland, Slovakia and the Czech republic. Prior to Unilabs, Jozef held CFO positions in the mobile telephone operators Millicom in Laos and Western Wireless International in Slovenia. Jozef holds MBA degree from IESE Business school in Barcelona, Spain.

Jan Havlis joined Penta Hospitals International in December 2024. He has spent most of his career in General Management and Commercial roles within the consumer goods industry. After starting his career in the marketing department of cereal producer EMCO and spending 10 years at Procter & Gamble, he transitioned from the role of Country Manager for Cyprus, Iceland, and Malta to Stock Spirits Group. There, he served as General Manager for the Czech Republic, later expanding his responsibilities to include Slovakia and 40 export markets. His tenure involved overseeing complex operations, managing diverse teams, leading M&A initiatives, and driving significant revenue growth. For the past nine years, he has served as Vice President of an industry union and is also a Board Member of Supersonic Food, an innovative functional healthy food start-up. Jan studied mathematics, informatics, business management, and marketing, and graduated from the Prague University of Economics and Business.

Karol Piasecki graduated in law from the University of Bialystok. He has been managing companies in the healthcare market for more than 20 years. He specializes in building long-term growth strategies, restructuring companies, integration processes and change management.
Between 2008 and 2010, he carried out the restructuring of DOZ S.A., the largest chain of pharmacies in Poland. In 2008, Karol Piasecki and his team introduced the first e-commerce platform on the pharmacy market based on the click&collect model. Between 2011 and 2019, Karol held the position of CEO of Dr. Max. During his work, he increased the company’s sales more than tenfold and created one of the largest pharmacy chains in the country. Since 2019, he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of EMC Instytut Medyczny SA and acts as the Executive Director of the EMC Capital Group, which is successfully developing a network of almost 40 medical units in Poland.

Barbora Vaculíková has been leading the Czech Penta Hospitals for more than 8 years. Under her leadership, the company grew from a small regional hospital to the position of the largest private operator of medical and social housing services in the Czech Republic. Today, it operates 11 acute and follow-up care hospitals, a network of specialized clinics, and also more than 3,700 beds in homes with a special ALZHEIMER HOME regime. The company is economically stable and continues to grow dynamically despite the unions. Today, the group employs more than 6,000 people in the Czech Republic. Barbora has been in the healthcare industry throughout her whole professional career, from the position of midwife and ICU nurse to manager and director of quality and safety of care to her current role. Her long-term topic is the economy in healthcare and the integration of patient care, its effectiveness, quality and availability.

Radoslav Čuha has been working at Penta Hospitals Slovakia since 2020. At first, as Director for Business Development, he primarily focused on the strategic area of ​​reprofiling hospitals of the Svet zdravia network. From July 2020, he took up the position of Medical Director. He was fully responsible for the operational area of ​​curative-preventive and nursing care during both waves of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021 He was designed as CEO Penta Hospitals Slovakia. In the past, Radoslav Čuha worked for 8 years as the Director of the J. A. Reiman Faculty Hospital in Prešov. He graduated from the UPJŠ Faculty of Medicine in Košice. His speciality is surgery and traumatology.

Maciej has been associated with the Penta Group since 2013 and has been involved in the broad development of the Group from the very beginning—both through the integration of new units into the Group and the organic growth of hospitals. He has progressed through all career levels within our organization, starting as an analyst responsible for market monitoring in search of potential acquisition targets, advancing to the position of Director responsible for all acquisition processes within the Group, managing a hospital, and ultimately assuming the role of Director of Quality. In his work on process optimization within the Group, he utilizes Lean methodology tools and obtained the title of Lean Healthcare Master in 2021. He holds a degree in economics with a specialization in finance and banking.

Martin Šimo started his career as a neurologist at the Spišská Nová Ves Hospital. Later he became its medical deputy and also the deputy chief physician in the field of neurology for a hospital network. Trained as a national methodologist in the field of the DRG classification system, he was actively training hospital staff, as a member of the working group he participated in the creation and development of hospital information systems. Since June 2021, he has held the position of medical director of the Penta Hospitals Slovakia network of hospitals and polyclinics. He graduated from the Jessenius Medical Faculty of Comenius University in Martin.

MUDr. Jiří Štefan brings over 35 years of healthcare experience to his role. His career trajectory spans from internal medicine and gastroenterology specialist at Karlovy Vary Hospital to executive positions, including nine years as the hospital’s director. In 2009, he took leadership of Ostrov Hospital, which later joined Penta Hospitals in 2016. Since 2017, he has served as Chief Medical Officer, overseeing medical operations across the group. Dr. Štefan maintains clinical practice at Vintířov while leading the group’s palliative care initiative. He is actively involved in professional societies JEP and serves on the Hospital Association Council for the Karlovy Vary Region. Dr. Štefan graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Hradec Králové.