The Economy Ministry on Friday selected the executive search company to provide advice in recruiting private sector managers for the first five state-run companies, which shows the project is roughly on schedule.
If things move forward at this rate, state-run Hidroelectrica, Oltchim, Romarm, SNLO and Electrica Furnizare will have the first managers by next February, selected as part of the biggest project undertaken by President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Emil Boc. Under the circumstances, ZF suggests a list of eight experienced private sector managers that might be on the shortlists of headhunters in less than five months.
Mihai David, Doru Voicu, Adrian Baicusi and Cristian Secosan are just some of the top executives that have proven they can run businesses worth hundreds of millions of euros over the course of time, that they can manage thousands of employees and keep companies profitable even in times of troubled economy.
Their expertise is precisely what the state-owned companies need, which generate millions of euros in losses annually and have been unable to get out of debt for years. So far, general managers have been politically appointed and their terms ended after a few months or maybe one or two years, because of minister changes. The project to introduce private management for major state-run companies is the first major attempt of the government to modernize public administration, with help from professionals.
The proposition for this project came from Economy Minister Ion Ariton at the beginning of the year and the officials of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank put it on Romania’s to-do list.
A good choice for hydropower producer Hidroelectrica, a company with EUR779.4 million sales and EUR69.6 million profit in 2010, which employs 5,227 people would be either Doru Voicu or Mihai David. Doru Voicu was the development director of the Czech energy group CEZ’s local unit for almost five years. Early last year he decided to go to work for the then Economy Minister Adriean Videanu as energy business advisor. Before joining CEZ he had worked for state-run Electrica, where he was in charge of privatizations. During his term, CEZ pursued an aggressive development on the Romanian market, including the biggest wind farm to be built in this country, a EUR1.1 billion investment and the reactors 3 and 4 of Cernavoda nuclear plant. He got an MBA degree in 2006 and is currently running Ibcoenerg, a hydropower and wind power consulting and engineering company.
Mihai David ran Hidroelectrica from July 2009 through December 2010. He had been previously better known for his political career with Brasov branch of the Social-Democrat Party (PSD). During his term at the helm of Hidroelectrica, a series of changes happened such as the renegotiation of the direct contracts negotiated with certain companies at the beginning of the last decade. His replacement was expected once Videanu stopped being economy minister and no reason was provided for it, even though the company made its highest profit since 2005 during his term, almost EUR70 million.
The new manager of Hidroelectrica should get EUR53,700 in gross salary per month.
ZF’s suggestion for the manager of Societatea Nationala a Lignitului Oltenia (National Lignite Company Oltenia – SNLO), a company with EUR214.5 million revenue and EUR15.1 million losses in 2010 is Adrian Baicusi. The new manager should run a company with 8,371 employees.
Baicusi is one of the best-known managers on the local market, with more than 15 years of experience, working for OMV and Siemens Romania. He agreed to a two-year term at the helm of national grid company Transelectrica in 2009, after having run the local unit of Siemens. He is currently running the operations of the largest security services G4S company on the local market, a EUR100 million business with over 6,000 employees. The SNLO manager should get EUR25,800 in gross salary per month.
Romarm, a company with EUR1.9 million revenue and EUR1.95 million losses in 2010, which employs 310 people, should be run by either Monica Iavorschi or Gheorghe Dobra.
Monica Iavorschi is the general manager of Arctic Romania home appliances manufacturer. She started her career at Coats, worked for Avon for four years and then joined Arctic as marketing manager. Artic’s sales rose by 6% in 2010, to EUR200 million.
Gheorghe Dobra is the general manager of Alro Slatina. He has been working for Alro since graduating college in 1984 and became general manager of the aluminum smelter in 1993. He is also a member of the board of directors of Alro Slatina and chairman the board of the Romanian Metallurgical Society. Alro Slatina is one of the biggest plants in Romania, which exports to 25 countries.
Romarm’s new manager should get EUR11,800 per month in gross salary.
A suitable candidate for chemical plant Oltchim, with EUR311.7 million revenue and EUR53.1 million losses in 2010, which employs 3,570 people, would be Greg Konieczny. He is the head of the local team of Franklin Templeton, which manages investment fund Fondul Proprietatea, and also the executive vice-president and general manager of the research department of Templeton Poland. Franklin Templeton is one of the largest investment managers worldwide, managing $600 billion in assets. Oltchim’s new manager should get EUR22,600 in gross salary per month.
For Electrica Furnizare (which does not exist as a legal entity registered with the Finance Ministry, so that financial data are the sum of the financial results posted in 2010 by Electrica Furnizare Muntenia Nord, Electrica Furnizare Transilvania Nord and Electrica Furnizare Transilvania Sud), which posted EUR910 million in revenue and EUR6.11 million losses last year, and has 1,117 employees, ZF has two recommendations, Cristian Secosan and Ion Lungu.
Cristian Secosan has been general manager of local operations of Siemens for two years. Before working for Siemens, he was general manager of E.ON Moldova Furnizare, a company that sells electricity and was created by reorganization of former Electrica Moldova. He also worked for Alstom and ABB.
Ion Lungu is currently CEZ Trade general manager. He joined the company in 2007 and has an over 30-year experience in the energy sector, which includes the position of chairman of the National Energy Regulatory Authority. There are no data available as to what salary the new manager should get.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)