Industry
Changes at HSW Management
The Supervisory Board of HSW S.A. has appointed three new members to the management board. At the same time, the previous President Jan Szwedo has been dismissed. The duties of the President are performed by one of the newly appointed board members, Wojciech Kędziera.
Responding to questions from Defence24.pl, PGZ S.A. confirmed that Jan Szwedo has been dismissed as the President of the Management Board of HSW. Jan Szwedo managed Huta Stalowa Wola from 30th August 2022 to 13th June 2024.
On 13th June, the HSW’s supervisory board, following the competitions that began in mid-May 2024, appointed three new board members. The management board now is composed of: Wojciech Kędziera, member of the board, acting President of the management board and General Director, Wiesław Szymczak, board member for manufacturing and logistics, and Barbara Cena. The competition for HSW’s CEO, which was launched in mid-May, has not yet come to an end.
Wojciech Kędziera has been working closely with Huta Stalowa Wola since the 1990s for around 20 years. First - from 1993 - he was director of HSW’s commercial office for three years, and until 2013 he held senior positions at Dressta, which was responsible for selling machines built by HSW under a licence from the US company Dresser in export markets, including Asia-Pacific. According to off-the-record information Defence24.pl obtained, Wojciech Kędziera worked closely with Krzysztof Trofiniak, the current president of PGZ, when Trofiniak was in charge of Huta Stalowa Wola.
Wiesław Szymczak, Board Member for Manufacturing and Logistics, and HSW also share some history. Previously, he held management positions in the production division and was responsible for the modernisation of the barrel manufacturing plants, one of the most important modernisation projects undertaken by HSW during the previous decade.
Huta Stalowa Wola is a manufacturer of armour, artillery and engineering equipment for the Polish Army and foreign users, including Ukraine. It supplies, Krab howitzers and other elements of the Regina squadron-level fire modules, Rak self-propelled mortars, Langusta rocket launcher systems, Baobab-K scattered mine-laying systems and ZSSW-30 turrets (built as a consortium, in collaboration with WB Electronics) and Waran 4x4 vehicles. HSW has also developed the NBPWP Borsuk platform (New Amphibious Infantry Fighting Vehicle Borsuk), leading a consortium involved in an undertaking pursued by the National Centre for Research and Development. This vehicle will be soon premiered at Eurosatory 2024. HSW also actively participates in the Homar and Wisła programmes. The HSW Group includes the Jelcz Sp. z o.o. company that delivers specialist trucks for the Armed Forces. The company also has shares in Autosan (Sanok), and Dęblin.