Business Advisory Board

The UNYP Business Advisory Board convenes semi-annually to review progress and future developments within the university’s School of Business.  Though all aspects of the department’s policies, procedures, and functions are regularly examined by the board, particular focus is given to full-spectrum quality control of the department’s graduate and undergraduate curricula, and the administration thereof.

The board is comprised of eleven distinguished members of the academic and business communities, each selected or invited to serve based upon superior education and skills within their respective areas of expertise.  In addition to board representation by key academic officials of the university, the UNYP Business Advisory Board is honored to avail itself of the experiences and advice offered by exceptional business people, both from the Czech community and abroad:

Jan Havel

Jan was born and lives in Prague, Czech Republic. He graduated in Finance at the Prague University of Economics and earned a Ph.D. in General Economic Theory. Later, after some gap, he graduated from the General Management Program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Aged 21, he started ACTUM Digital where he’s spent all his time since. His main responsibility is the corporate strategy and strategic development of the company. Jan’s teaching experience includes University of Economics, University of New York in Prague, Charles University, Cevro Institute, and currently Czech University of Life Sciences where he teaches international programs in Strategic Management and Strategic Marketing. Jan is a keen marathon runner, ex frisbee ultimate national team player, a sworn enemy of central banking and a former Board Advisor to the country’s Central Bank, a scholar in the tradition of the Austrian School of Economic Thought, Board Member of the Czech Liberal Institute, a fan of science-fiction and technology.

Josef Karásek

Josef has over 25 years of experience in the FMCG industry in Central Europe. He was responsible for The Coca-Cola Company business in Czech, Slovakia, Baltics, and Slovenia as Managing Director for 13 years. Josef proved to deliver on a major local business turnaround that accelerated business performance as well as on building high-performing teams in rapidly changing environments across Central and Northern Europe for an employer of FORTUNE TOP 100. Over the last 10 years, The Coca-Cola company share in carbonated soft drinks doubled in the Czech Republic, while the consumption per capita of the Coca-Cola brand doubled in Baltics from 2009 to 2014 in the single-digit market decline period. His experience and expertise include strategic planning, marketing, and commercial leadership, revenue growth management, organizational and talent development. 

Diana Rádl Rogerová

Diana Rádl Rogerová has been with Deloitte since 1996. For the past 12 years, she has been a Partner in the Audit function and, simultaneously, the Real Estate Industry Leader for Central Europe and the Financial Services Industry Leader for the Czech Republic. Over the course of more than 22 years with Deloitte, Diana has worked for major banks, real estate companies, funds, and developers and obtained significant insights into auditing, accounting and financial reporting, corporate finance advisory, and many other areas. Since 1 December 2016, Diana Rádl Rogerová has been the Office Managing Partner at the Deloitte Czech Republic and a member of the Executive Committee of Deloitte Central Europe. Diana obtained her degree at the University of Economics in Prague and speaks fluent Spanish and English.

Hadi Salavitabar

Dr. Salavitabar’s academic background is in the field of economics and finance.  After earning his Ph.D. he has, to date, completed nearly three and a half decades of service in academia as a professor, department chair, business school dean, and as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.  Dr. Salavitabar also serves on the Board of Trustees of a major bank in the U.S.       

Ivana Šedivá

Ivana is an experienced C-level leader. She served on the boards of the Top Most Admired Companies like Johnsons & Johnson or McDonald’s for almost 30 years. In 2020 Ivana left the corporate world and started her own journey.Over the last years Ivana mentored more than 1000 personal hours, and helped more than 500 startups from around the globe. She is a certified Flow Consultant. She is also a certified trainer of Google Founders Lab, OKR and Storytelling Lab, and a mentor of other mentors. Her purpose is to help motivated people stepchange their game, with a sense of meaning, with high impact, without burnout. Ivana holds a postgraduate degree in Artificial Intelligence and an MBA.

Petra Tošnarová

Petra is currently the Director of Online Sales for business customers at Avast — one of the world’s cybersecurity leaders. She started her career in advertising with Young&Rubicam, managing accounts of clients such as Philip Morris, LG Electronics, or the O2 Czech Republic. Later she ran marketing campaigns on the clients’ side, first for T-Mobile, then for Vodafone. At Avast, she led the Brand team which created and implemented the new brand identity including the current company logo, and then she positioned and marketed the consumer Security & IoT products.

Blake Wittman

Blake Wittman is currently the European Business Director at GoodCall. He has seen the inside of massive Fortune100 global giants as well as 5-person startups, and enjoyed both. He has a more than 20-year career highlighted by a passion for people and purpose. After a short stint in Citibank Blake entered the recruitment arena and began a career focused on quality relationships, strong ethics, and a deep belief in making a positive impact. Well-known executive search firm, SpenglerFox, was started and grown across Central Europe by Blake where he personally serviced leading blue-chip financial institutions. His time in Philip Morris International as lead HR Business Partner for Sales & Marketing was extremely valuable, however it was when he helped build the award-winning, venture capital-backed internet startup, Lime&Tonic, which influenced, challenged, and sharpened his view on business and the potential to impact the market. Blake is now Director of Europe, and shareholder, of Good Group, which comprises GoodCall, Recruitment Academy, and Datacruit. All three companies have a common goal of waking up the recruitment industry and evolving the human relations market.