British-Polish Tech Forum 

Ambassador Piotr Wilczek was born in Chorzów, Poland on 26 April 1962. He received his MA, PhD and Habilitation (postdoctoral) degrees from the University of Silesia in Katowice and conducted his postgraduate research/training at the University of Oxford (St Anne’s College), University of East Anglia (The British Centre for Literary Translation) and the University of London (The Warburg Institute). In 2006, he was awarded the title of Professor of Humanities by the President of the Republic of Poland.

Between 2016 and 2021, as Poland’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Ambassador Wilczek was extensively involved in promoting and strengthening transatlantic relations, especially in the areas of defence, energy and trade. In 2020, he received the Amicus Oeconomiae award from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland for his achievements in supporting and protecting the economic interests of Polish enterprises in foreign markets. On 22 December 2021, he was appointed Poland’s Ambassador to the Court of St James’s and began his mission in London on 15 February 2022.

Rafal Owczarek is Head of Trade and Investment UK & Ireland at the Polish Investment and Trade Agency. Based in London, he leads a team of experts responsible for developing export, supporting businesses, and growing foreign direct investment in Poland and in the UK.

An international trade expert, he had previously established and was Head of UK Overseas Business Network Initiative (OBNI) at the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (BMCC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The initiative was launched globally by UK Department for International Trade (DIT) to transform the support available for UK SMEs seeking to do business in high-growth, hard-to-access overseas markets.

Prior to moving to Southeast Asia, he had worked as Public Relations and Trade Officer at the Arab British Chamber of Commerce (ABCC) in London, where he was involved in developing trade and investment between the UK and the Arab world.

Rafal holds an MA in International Liaison from the University of Westminster, BA in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Leeds and BA in International Relations from Lodz University of Social Sciences.

Head of Economic Section at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in London
Karol is a career dyplomat and civil servant. Between 2013 and 2020, he worked in the Economic
Department of the European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, covering issues such
as EU trade and investment policy and Brexit; in 2020, as a counsellor in the Chancellery of the Prime
Minister of Poland; in 2021, back in the MFA, covering energy diplomacy in the Department of
Economic Cooperation. Since 2022 the Head of Economic Section at the Embassy of Poland in
London.
Karol graduated from the Warsaw University (international relations) and the SGH Warsaw School of
Economics (finances). He has PhD in Political Sciences since 2016 (Warsaw University).

Sabina Ciofu is Associate Director – International, running the International Policy and Trade Programme at techUK.

Based in Brussels, she leads our EU policy and engagement. She is also our lead on international trade policy, with a focus on the digital trade chapter in FTAs, as well as broader engagement with the G7, G20, WTO and OECD.

As a transatlantic at heart, Sabina is a GMF Marshall Memorial fellow and issue lead on the EU-US Trade and Technology Council within DigitalEurope.

Previously, she worked as a Policy Advisor to a Member of the European Parliament for almost a decade, where she specialised in tech regulation, international trade and EU-US relations.

Sabina loves building communities and bringing people together. She is the founder of the Gentlewomen’s Club and co-organiser of the Young Professionals in Digital Policy. Previously, as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, she led several youth civic engagement and gender equality projects.

She sits on the Advisory Board of the University College London European Institute and The Nine, Brussels’ first members-only club designed for women.

Sabina holds an MA in War Studies from King’s College London and a BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge

Working with Fintech companies since 2016 and Banking corporations across Europe since 2001, Andrew has a background in Human Resources and Journalism and is the Founder of DisruptionBanking magazine based out of Europe’s most prestigious Fintech StartUp Hub – Level39 in London. Additionally, he is also an Advisor to the Institute of Directors Finance & FinTech Group and the Hungarian-British Business Association.

Machine Learning, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Decentralized Finance and Blockchain, these are all technologies of the future that are with us today. Bringing more awareness to Europe about the challenges and opportunities presented by these technologies is one of Andrew’s personal goals. Creating, not Copying, that is the best way forward in the Digital Age.
Digital StartUp Ltd is the publisher of DisruptionBanking magazine ISSN 2753-779X

Lukasz is a founder of Trustedoctor, a global digital health start-up turned insurtech which is now part of Further Group. Further provides digitally enabled critical illness insurance solutions for 3.5mm in 35 countries. In July 2022, Further Group received a strategic investment from AnaCap Financial Partners, a leading private equity player, where Lukasz has completed a partial exit. Before founding Trustedoctor, Lukasz worked in structured credit trading for leading capital markets players in Europe. Outside of working hours, Lukasz is a board member of the Polish City Club and a governor of the Royal School, patroned by the Earl of Wessex; the same school that gave him a full scholarship for Sixth Form 22 years ago.

Sanghamitra Karra is currently the EMEA Head of Multicultural Client.
Strategy leading the efforts on establishing the Multicultural Innovation Lab
in EMEA and the efforts on Sustainability Strategy in the region.
• She is a member of the Race to Action Group
• Sanghamitra joined Morgan Stanley in 2007, holding a variety of roles in
Stress Testing and Scenario Analysis including for Climate Risk, Enterprise
Risk Management coverage for Investment Management and Market Risk
Methodology in Mumbai and London prior to the current role.
• Sanghamitra has a Masters degree in statistics graduating from Indian
Statistical Institute and enjoys reading and travelling. She is currently
pursing a Masters in Climate Change and Development from SOAS,
The University of London.

Bartlomiej Bartosiewicz graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology in 1991. In 1992 he started and continues his
professional career in the Asseco Group. He has experience in sales and implementation of core banking
systems, IT Treasury solution, online and mobile banking systems for clients such as: Deutsche Bank, Eurobank
(Societe Generale), Interpolis (Rabobank group). Since 2014, he has been responsible for the business
development of Asseco Digital Banking solutions in such countries as: Austria, Georgia, Nigeria, USA, Vietnam
and Great Britain.

Michael Chaffe is the CEO of Wolves Summit. He spent a decade working up to 250m under the Ocean as a Saturation Diver in the Oil & Gas industry, before entering the European VC industry in 2017.

Initially assisting UK-based startups in closing their funding rounds, he went on to acquire Central & Eastern Europe’s flagship innovation conference, Wolves Summit, in 2019. Together with a rapidly expanding team, he is leveraging the summit to build valuable bridges between the CEE innovation ecosystem and global partners & investors.

Outside of the professional realm, Mike is an avid Crossfitter, enjoys hiking in summer and skiing in winter throughout Central & Eastern Europe with his young children.

Zosia Wanat is a Sifted senior reporter covering startups in central and eastern Europe. Previously she worked for POLITICO and MLex in Brussels as a policy reporter and for the Financial Times as a reporter in London, Paris and Warsaw.

Zosia graduated from the College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities at the University of Warsaw, having spent a semester at Sciences Po, Paris, and from the College of Europe in Natolin, Warsaw. She is a fellow of the Lénaïc Fund for Quality Journalism and an alumna of the European Youth Parliament and Aspen Young Leaders Program. She speaks English, Polish and French.