Board of Directors, Supervisory Board and Audit Committee
Board of Directors
Zsolt Müllner
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Chairman of the Board graduated as an economist from Budapest University of Economics and has worked for the Wallis Group since 1994. Between 1994 and 2004, he acted as the Managing Director of Wallis Motor, the principal dealership and importer of BMW in Hungary. Thereafter, he put his several years of managerial experience to good use as the Chairman and CEO of Wallis Auto Holding and then from 2000 as a Board member at Wallis, as well. In 2007, he became the CEO of Wallis Asset Management, and, at the same time, he was appointed as a Board Member to the manufacturer Graboplast and Wing, Wallis’s real estate division and later also as the Chairman of Venturio venture capital fund. He has been instrumental, among other things, in the establishment of Alteo Group, an entity now listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange, where Zsolt has served as a Board Member since its foundation. He was also responsible for the stock exchange listing of Wallis’s automotive business line as AutoWallis Group.
Gábor Ormosy
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
The CEO of AutoWallis Group worked as CFO and then CEO of Wallis Auto Holding from 2004, with responsibility for the reorganisation of the cars business line, after he became CFO of the Wallis Group. Gábor graduated from Corvinus University, Budapest and Georgetown University in the US. In 2006, he founded and acted as CEO of MAG Zrt., a subsidiary of the Hungarian Development Bank responsible for the administration of EU grants for small and medium-sized enterprises, following which he served in various senior positions with MKB Bank and the Veolia group.
Ferenc Vaczlavik
MEMBER OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ferenc Vaczlavik graduated as an Economist from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration. His career started at Magyar Telekom (Matáv) in 1998, and he then transitioned to one of the Group’s subsidiaries to perform management tasks both in Hungary and abroad. Between 2010 and 2014, he worked at the Hungarian subsidiary of Liberty Global, Chello Central Europe, where he was responsible for the region as Financial Director. He then worked in a similar position at the Central European subsidiary of AMC Networks Inc., AMC Networks Central Europe, between 2014 and 2018. He has been the CFO of AutoWallis Plc. since 2021.
Tibor Veres
MEMBER OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tibor Veres graduated from the Moscow State University as an economist in 1986 and established the Wallis Group in 1989, where he continues to be principal owner and Chairman. In the course of the past 35 years, the Wallis Group has developed a prominent regional position in a number of commercial and industrial areas thanks to its domestic and international activities. In his career as an entrepreneur, executive, and investor, Tibor Veres has participated in the foundation and success of a number of renowned companies. This includes, among others, the WING Group, Praktiker, Graboplast, Pannon GSM, Milton Bank, Market Zrt., Index, Danubius Rádió, as well as AutoWallis and Alteo, both of which are listed in the Prime Category on the Budapest Stock Exchange. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors at the WING Group and Graboplast and of the Board of Trustees of the Hungarian UNICEF.
Gyula Mező
MEMBER OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gyula Mező obtained an electrical engineering degree at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Electrical Engineering in 1989, followed by an engineering economist degree at the Corvinus University of Budapest in 1993. He started his professional career in 1990 at DuPont de Nemours Hungary Kft., where he held senior positions in customer, IT, and marketing services. From 1994, he was Finance Director of Leo Burnett Kft. for four years, and from 1998 he held the position of Controlling Director and then CFO of Citibank Zrt. for eight years. From 2007 to 2008, he worked as the Economic Director of EnergoSolar Magyarország Kft. Over the course of the past 15 years, he has been the Deputy CFO of Wallis Asset Management Zrt., a Member of the Board of Directors at Alteo Nyrt. from 2015 to 2023, and Chairman of its Board of Directors starting from 2018. He is currently the CEO of Wallis Asset Management and a Member of the Board of Directors at Graboplast Zrt. and FoxPost Zrt. and of the Supervisory Board at Praktiker Kft.
Ferenc Karvalits
MEMBER OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ferenc Karvalits obtained his degree from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration followed by an MSc in Economic Policy Management from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in New York. He started his career in b anking in 1990, was Head of the Department of the National Bank of Hungary from 1996 and its Managing Director and member of the Board of Directors from 1998 to 2001. He then held the position of Deputy CEO of Wallis Zrt. until 2002, and from 2002 to 2005 he was a member of its Board of Directors as well as co-CEO of CIB Bank. He joined FHB Bank as a Member of the Board of Directors in 2005 and went on to become the Bank’s President. Between 2007 and 2013, he was Vice President for Monetary Policy of the National Bank of Hungary and a member of the Monetary Council. From 2013 he was the Strategic Director of Wallis Asset Management Zrt., and from 2014 he was involved in the work of Venturio Kockázati Tőkealap-kezelő Zrt. and PERION Kockázati Tőkealap-kezelő Zrt. as a strategic advisor and company director. He has worked as the Deputy CEO for Strategy at Wallis Asset Management since the end of 2023. In addition to his current position, he is also a member of the Board of Directors at WING and of the Supervisory Board at Graboplast.
Bence Buday
MEMBER OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bence Buday graduated as an economist from the Corvinus University of Budapest’s Department of Management and Organization and then completed the INSEAD MBA program in Singapore and France with honors. He started his professional career in the Budapest office of McKinsey & Company, where he helped large corporations in Hungary and several other European countries to strategize and transform their businesses in a variety of industries, including banking, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals. Between 2016 and 2019, he filled various directorial positions at Vodafone Magyarország and went on to direct the planning of the acquisition and company integration of UPC Magyarország. He was CEO of Wallis Autómegosztó Zrt. from 2020 to 2023 and then joined Wallis Asset Management Zrt. in March 2023 as Director for Transformation, and is currently serving as the company’s Deputy CEO. He is a member of the Board of Directors at WING Zrt. and Graboplast Zrt. Bence Buday is currently a member of AutoWallis’s Supervisory Board and its Audit Committee, though he will be stepping down from these positions when appointed member of the Board of Directors.
Supervisory Board
Attila Chikán Jr.
CHAIRMAN OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
He is an expert in energy and economics, who graduated from the Budapest University of Economics and the College of Foreign Trade. He has been the CEO of Alteo Plc., a company listed at the Budapest Stock Exchange since its foundation in 2008. Prior to that, he worked as a financial and investment analyst in various positions. He is an expert active in sustainability issues and is the Chairman of the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (“BCSDH”).
György Ecseri
MEMBER OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial and real estate sectors. He graduated from the Engineering Department of the Technical University of Budapest and obtained his MBA degree at Durham University (UK). He has worked as a project director at the Wallis Group for ten years and acts as Board and Supervisory Board member at various members of the Group.
Géza Deme
MEMBER OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
Géza Deme graduated as an Economist from the University of Miskolc’s Department of Economic Sciences. He started his career in 1995 at K&H Bank, obtaining experience in corporate financing. In 2000, as a member of the CEO team, he worked on the renewal of the bank’s corporate processes. Between 2001 and 2002, he was a senior manager at Magyar Factor Zrt., after which he managed a successful consultancy company for 4 years as owner-manager of a trade finance and credit insurance solutions company. From 2007, he was Deputy CEO and then President and CEO of CIB Faktor Zrt., and in 2021 he became CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Start Garancia Zrt. The company built up its operations to serve its new strategy under his leadership. He has been the CEO of Széchenyi Alapok Zrt. since February 2023 and has been Chairman of the Board of Directors since April.
Péter László Lakatos
MEMBER OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD
He graduated from the Corvinus University of Budapest with a degree in Accounting – Business Valuation and later obtained a PhD degree. Then he graduated as a lawyer at the Faculty of Law of ELTE. Since 2002, he has been teaching at the Corvinus University of Budapest, where he currently heads the Institute of Accounting and Law. He has market experience in large companies and has been leading large-scale international accounting projects since 2004. He is auditor of several Hungarian listed companies and is continuously involved in advisory capital market transactions and leading accounting system changes in Hungary and abroad. He also acts as a forensic expert in capital and financial markets on complex cases.
