Top 50 Executives – The Most Influential Business Services Executives in Hungary 2023 Sample

Foreword 4 HUNGARIAN BUSINESS SERVICES 5 The Power of the CEE’s Business Services Magnet 6 COVID-hangover and Inflation Provide Challenges to Services Sector 12 Stable Contributor to GDP Growth Reaching Greater Maturity 16 Building a Global Career and Perspectives From Hungary 20

BUSINESS SERVICES EXECUTIVE BIOGRAPHIES 22

Kornél Csajtai 24 Prabal Datta 26 Erik DiPaolo 28 Gabriella Fodor 30 Péter Győri 32 Zoltán Havasi 34 Richard von Ketteler 36 Martin Kikstein 38 Byung Kim 40 Miklós Koczor 42 Károly Kodaj 44 László Kónya 46 Alex Laffan 48 István Lenk 50

Norbert Makk 52 Dr. Róbert Marciniak 54 Markus Martens 56 Gergely Pusztai 58 Zsolt Szmolinka 60 Bence Vinkó 62 Dorota Zabłocka 64 COMPANY LISTINGS 66 Businesses With Shared Service Centers Operating in Hungary 67

Published in 2023 • EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robin Marshall • CONTRIBUTORS: Balázs Barabás, Annamária Bálint, Gyöngyi Keszthelyi, Mihály Kovács, Csilla Lengyel, Robin Marshall, Bálint Szőnyi, Erika Törsök • LISTS: BBJ Research (research@bbj.hu) • NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES: Should be submitted in English to news@bbj.hu • LAYOUT: Zsolt Pataki • PUBLISHER: Tamás Botka, Business Publishing Services Kft. • Address: Madách Trade Center, 1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13-14. • Telephone +36 (1) 398-0344, Fax +36 (1) 398-0345, • ADVERTISING: AMS Services Kft. • CEO: Balázs Román • SALES: sales@bbj.hu • CIRCULATION AND SUBSCRIPTIONS: circulation@bbj.hu • www.budapestbusinessjournal.com • ISSN 2939-7588

Foreword

We start the New Year with a new title and a new look: Welcome to the Top 50 Executives in Business Services.

First, that new look. Our highly successful “Top” series of publications has been rebranded “Top 50 Executives.” Thus, “Top Business Services Executives” becomes “Top 50 Executives in Business Services.” Next month will see another new title, which started life on the planning board as Top Energy Executives, and now becomes “Top 50 Executives in Energy.” Each publication, which also has new headline typography, features a listing of the Top 50 executives (though we actually include 60 in this title). There are also detailed biographies of many of these leaders, introducing the personality behind the position, and editorial content specifically tailored to each particular field. Business Services fully warrants its own publication in the “Top 50 Executives” series. It is a sector that has evolved in front of our eyes over the past couple of decades. It started out with lowly call centers and workbench platforms; basic roles were brought here by multinationals because Hungary offered a labor cost benefit. You don’t have to be an employment genius to realize that is an evolutionary dead-end. When the “Big Bang” expansion of the European Union brought in a sizeable chuck of the old Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc in 2004, the stated aim of all those states was “convergence,” that is bringing their economies, living standards and salaries into line with the more established EU states. Once that is achieved, the cost benefit evaporates, and soon after

that, so would those simple jobs, heading further east or south in search of newer, cheaper labor pools.

Having proved the quality of the labor force, the sector thus started actively going after higher skilled, more complex roles that build on Hungarian skillsets such as math; Morgan Stanley, for example, does a lot of its mathematical modeling work in Hungary. The point is that these roles won’t simply be shipped to a cheaper market once Budapest hits pay parity with Berlin. For a start, the accumulated knowledge of the people inside what are now known as business services centers and centers of excellence is itself an example of added value.

According to the latest figures available on the statistica.com website, released in December 2022, the services sector contributed a 57.01% share to Hungary’s GDP in 2021 (a broadly consistent figure, though the highest in the period dating back to 2011), with industry responsible for 24.25% and agriculture 3.35%. The Association of Business Service Leaders in Hungary estimates that the business services sector employs about 90,000 people in the country. This, then, is our look at one of the most significant sectors of the local economy. We hope you find it informative and useful.

Robin Marshall Editor-in-chief Budapest Business Journal

HUNGARIAN BUSINESS SERVICES

Photo by Bojan Milinkov / Shutterstock.com

THE ROLE OF FDI IN THE BSC SECTOR IN HUNGARY

The Power of the CEE’s Business Services Magnet

It seems foreign investors just can’t get enough of Hungary when picking a location for their business services centers, as the country attracts such investments one after another. Classic behemoths and family businesses with a global reach have flocked in droves to the market to support their worldwide operation. They are also bringing ever more complex roles to their Hungarian BSCs.

Image by ESB Professional / Shutterstock.com

COVID-hangover and Inflation Provide Challenges to Services Sector

By Balázs Barabás

Rather than isolated figures, like inflation, GDP growth, or the employment rate, the state of the economy is probably better indicated by economic sentiment. This indicator is published monthly by GKI Gazdaságkutató Zrt. (GKI Economic Research Co.) and, in the case of business sentiment, it is calculated from the responses of enterprises in industry, trade, construction, and services to questions concerning the state of business and expectations of turnover and employment. (From within the services field, companies in the financial and public sectors are not included.)

In September 2022, the business confidence index was slightly increased, although it was noticeably below its July level. Except for construction, all sectors in the business sphere had become more optimistic to a greater or lesser extent, GKI found. In the services sector, the confidence index also improved in September, mainly driven by an improvement in the overall business climate and the perception of expected turnover.

The picture is not all bright, though, as both companies and households saw the future state of the Hungarian economy as increasingly unsettled in recent months. In September, this feeling further strengthened among consumers. In the business sector, except for industry, a significant improvement was seen, although concerns remained very strong.

Reasons to be concerned are plentiful. GKI also published its GDP growth forecast, which is far from good for 2023. While earlier, growth of 2.7% had been forecast, September’s revision predicted a decline of around 3.5%. That change is justified, GKI said when announcing the new data, by fasterthan-expected growth in the second quarter of 2022, a spectacular deterioration in the equilibrium, the increasingly dangerous global political and economic situation, and the austerity measures taken and expected during the year, which will have an impact in 2023.

EU MONEY?

In addition, GKI assumes the continuation of the current external environment, with slow but at least partial access to EU transfers. GKI also raised its inflation forecast to 14.5% for 2022 and around 16% for 2023. The general government deficit relative to GDP will be about 5% next year, and the financing needs relative to GDP will be alarmingly high, at 3.5-4%, even if EU transfers start to flow in, the economic research institute says. This will necessarily cause a threatening rise in foreign debt.

GKI’s 2023 forecast seems well supported by figures from 2022. The Hungarian economy indeed returned a spectacular performance in the second quarter, reaching a growth of 6.5% year on year, fueled mainly by services. The whole services sector registered a growth of no less than 10% compared to 2021.

In an economy deeply embedded in the international context, the Hungarian services sector is as strong or weak as any other element: logistics, salaries, and growth. The near future does not show much reason for optimism, but a year from now, things might start recovering.

Stable Contributor to GDP Growth Reaching Greater Maturity

Last year, the Hungarian Service and Outsourcing Association changed its name to the Association of Business Service Leaders. István Lenk, president of ABSL Hungary and managing director of Eaton Hungary Kft., spoke with the Budapest Business Journal to explain what lies behind the name change, the evolution of the business services sector in the country, and what lies ahead.

István Lenk, president of ABSL Hungary and managing director of Eaton Hungary Kft.

Building a Global Career and Perspectives From Hungary

The Budapest Business Journal spoke with Máté Fazekas, the lead of the BSS Hungary Cooperation at the American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary and head of corporate, public affairs, and brand at BT, about what AmCham and its working group are doing to promote the business services sector in Hungary.

By Robin Marshall

BBJ: How did the BSS Hungary Working Group come into being? How many members does it have, and how regularly does it meet?

Máté Fazekas: Although this sector is one of the biggest success stories of the past decade of the Hungarian economy, it is still hardly known by the public. Throughout the years, the Hungarian centers have expanded with higher level, more complex, and more added value tasks, which means more responsibility, more challenge, and higher salaries. Currently, we have more than 150 companies and over 70,000 employees in the business services sector; these are significant numbers, but we’re still a mystery for job seekers.

The BSS Hungary cooperation aims to resolve this issue, promote the sector, and raise awareness for its opportunities. This is a sector of language skills, but we are no longer one dimensional: call centers and shared services are the past; higher added value business services and centers of excellence are the present and the future.

The idea of joint efforts and resources turned into reality in February 2019 when BSS Hungary started operating under the umbrella of AmCham. We have 28 member companies, regular plenary and high-level meetings, and dedicated project teams to reach our most critical annual goals.

BBJ: What is the greatest challenge for the BSS today?

Tight labor markets? Graduate supply? Salary inflation? Sector awareness? How do you hope to overcome this?

MF: All of these are challenges, but one of the advantages of such cooperation is that we can share and discuss individual

solutions and find an even better one together. Let’s take our recently introduced meeting series called BSS TalX, where we started with the hottest topic of the summer: the deteriorating HUF/EUR exchange rate. It has different effects on each firm depending on the core business of the parent companies, but it surely melts the value of the wages of the Hungarian employees. We spent an afternoon talking about how member companies handle this situation while also sharing best practices regarding employees’ compensation.

The good news is that, thanks to our extensive educational cooperation, fresh grads are more familiar with our sector, but this is another good argument to make joint efforts. Member companies have established connections with multiple institutes, but together we can cover almost all the universities in Hungary, which is quite a remarkable network, right?

BBJ: How early in the education piece does the working group seek to get involved? Are you working purely with undergraduates, or are you trying to catch the interest and attention of high schoolers or even earlier?

MF: The sector’s focus is traditionally on language-speaking fresh grads who are agile, open-minded, and eager to start even an international career. They’re ready for new challenges, which they usually seem to find abroad, leaving the country. The business services sector can prevent this by offering them a global view and tasks locally, paired with an appealing benefits package.

Of course, not all the BSS jobs require a university degree, so we’re reaching out to vocational schools and high school students as well. Even if they don’t want to continue their studies at the tertiary level, they can find challenging tasks and a defined career path with our member companies.

BUSINESS SERVICES

EXECUTIVE BIOGRAPHIES

Photo by Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.com

COMPANY LISTINGS

Photo by 3Rawpixel.com / Shutterstock.com

Businesses With Shared Service Centers Operating in Hungary

LISTED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER*

COMPANY WEBSITE

AGCO Hungary Kft. www.agcocorp.com

TOTAL NET REVENUE IN 2021 (HUF MLN) NUMBER OF FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES IN 2022

OWNERSHIP (%) HUNGARIAN NON-HUNGARIAN

7,908 435 (–)

AGCO International Holdings B.V. (100)

Albemarle Magyarország Kft. www.albemarle.hu 4,007 296 (–)

Albemarle Corporation (100)

Arconic-Köfém Mill Products Hungary Kft. www.arconic.com 197,095 829 (–) Arconic Nederland Holding B.V. (100)

BEKO Engineering Kft. www.beko.hu 2,557 130 (–) BEKO Beteiligungs GmbH (100)

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

Emese Szakács

Dániel Hegyi, Attila Zsolt Hernold

Balázs Gábor, Zsuzsanna Ilona Varga

Éva Szakos Wágnerné

ADDRESS PHONE E-MAIL

1117 Budapest, Alíz utca 4. (1) 882-8300

Lilian.Seres@agcocorp.com

1133 Budapest, Váci út 76. (1) 883-9600 –

8000 Székesfehérvár, Verseci utca 1–15. (22) 531-200 erika.sas@arconic.com

9700 Szombathely, Körmendi út 40. (94) 512-010 eva.szakos@beko.hu

Bluebird International Zrt. www.bluebird.hu 2,070 108 Balázs Réfi (100) (–) Balázs Réfi 1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13-14. (1) 266-2420 info@bluebird.hu

BP Business Service Centre Kft. www.bp.com/hungary 44,062 2,858 (–) BP Global Investments Ltd. (100) Julianna Kulczycki

BT ROC Kft. www.facebook.com/ BTCareersHungary 28,949 2,195 (–) BT (Netherlands) Holdings B.V. (100) Péter Győri

Celanese Magyarország Kft. www.celanese.com 6,583 569 (–) Celanese Holdings UK 3 Limited (100) István Katona

Citibank Europe Plc.

Magyarországi Fióktelepe Citi Solutions Center Budapest www.citibank.com/icg/sa/ emea/hungary/about-us/sharedservice-center.html

NA NA (–) Citibank Holdings Ireland Ltd. (100) Veronika Spanarova

Cognizant Technology Solutions Kft. www.cognizant.com/hu/en 14,888 1,018 (–) Cognizant Technology Solutions Luxembourg S.a r.l (100)

Manojkumar Mehta, Simon Francis White

Colliers Magyarország Kft. www.colliers.hu 1,365 18 (–) Colliers Macaulay Nicolls (Cyprus) Limited (100) Kata Mazsaroff

Computacenter Services Kft. www.computacenter.com/en-hu 4,807 493 (–) Computacenter (UK) Limited (100)

Francis Anthony Conophy, Karen Linda McInerney, Raymond Gray

Corning Hungary Adatfeldolgozó Kft. www.corning.com/emea/en 3,117 145 (–) Corning Technologies S.á r.l. (100) Katalin Csuhaj

CPL Jobs Kft. (Covalen Solutions Hungary) covalensolutions.com 1,049 216 (–) CPL Resources Ireland Holdings Limited (100) Gergely Pusztai

1133 Budapest, Árbóc utca 1-3. (1) 873-6920 hungary@bp.com

1112 Budapest, Boldizsár utca 4. (1) 777-0850 bt.roc.communications@bt.com

1134 Budapest, Váci út 80–84. (1) 672-7400 –

1138 Budapest, Váci út 80. (1) 374-5000 –

1095 Budapest, Soroksári út 44. (1) 456-7000 inquiry@cognizant.com

1124 Budapest, Csörsz utca 41. (1) 336-4200 budapest@colliers.com

1095 Budapest, Soroksári út 30-34. (1) 777-7488 –

1117 Budapest, Dombóvári út 26. (1) 481 2300 –

1114 Budapest, Bartók Béla út 43–47. (1) 501-5460 info.cee@ covalensolutions.com

Deutsche Telekom IT Solutions deutschetelekomitsolutions.hu 73,569 5,589 (–) Deutsche Telekom Csoport (100) László Kónya 1097 Budapest, Tóth Kálmán utca 2/B (1) 456-5400

FMB-TS-ITSH-Info@t-systems.com

DOQSYS Business Solutions Zrt. www.doqsys.com 1,356 49 100 (–) Ákos Gergely 1131 Budapest, Babér utca 1-5. (20) 444-0505 info@doqsys.com

DXC Technology Magyarország Kft. www.hp.hu 24,920 434 (–)

DXC Hague B.V., DXC Hague II B.V. (100) Zoltán Czibók

Eaton Enterprises (Hungary) Kft. www.eaton.com 98,388 604 (–) Eaton Global Holdings Limited (100) István Lenk

1114 Budapest, Bartók Béla út 43-47. (1) 279-8000 cegugyek@hp.com

1123 Budapest, Nagyenyed utca 8-14. (1) 499-9100 bscofficemanagement@eaton.com

* This list is ranked alphabtically, because although the companies that are included all pursue shared service activities in their business, their revenue is made up of very different types of businesses. Therefore, the differences of their revenues do not clearly reflect the role that they play in the world of shared service centers in Hungary.

TOP 50 EXECUTIVES

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BUSINESS SERVICES EXECUTIVES IN HUNGARY 2023 IS A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL