Retained executive search · Led from CEE
Industrial and Automotive Executive Search in CEE
We find CEOs, managing directors and plant directors who can improve margins, launch production and win new business. We also assess whether your current management can deliver the plan and who is ready to succeed your CEO.
Peter Nemčok leads your assignment from Bratislava, supported by our CEE research team. He personally assesses candidates or your management team and presents the recommendation to you.
Advisory is available without a search.
Former commercial roles at General Motors and Orange.
Co-founded and runs Menity.
Before you hire, promote or invest
When to involve Menity
01
Find plant and operations leaders who have taken production from first parts to the required volume and quality. We check their personal responsibility for hiring, supplier readiness and launch or transfer results.
03
A strong plant director is not automatically ready to run several sites. We find operations leaders and verify how they allocated production and investment, addressed underperforming plants and held local managers accountable.
05
Compare internal and external successors against the production, cost and growth targets they will inherit, decide when each could take over and define the preparation they need.
02
Find a leader who has improved margins under cost and volume pressure. We check savings, quality and delivery results, including during downsizing or production transfers. We can assess your current team before you decide to replace anyone.
04
Find a commercial director who can win profitable contracts with new customers. We check which business candidates personally won, how they negotiated prices and whether the contracts delivered the expected margin.
06
After an acquisition or PE investment, assess whether management can deliver the new owner’s production, cost and growth targets. We clarify decision-making authority, recommend whom to retain or develop, and recruit where gaps remain.
Completed mandates
Who should lead the business
Examples of how Menity helped clients appoint an operations director, recruit a European CHRO for plant restructuring and prepare an internal CEO successor. Client names remain confidential.
5
Automotive · New ownership · Changing production requirements · 2026
CEE Operations Director
The brief: following an acquisition, a manufacturer needed an Operations Director across five CEE countries. New orders brought by the investor required changes to production processes and the supply chain alongside expansion.
CEE countries within the role’s remit
Our contribution: we advised the board to shift from a group-level profile to hands-on production leadership. We identified a candidate with experience across automotive and machinery, including moving production between lines and sites and adapting production processes for new order types.
The client appointed the candidate against the revised brief.
Industrial · Internal succession · 2025
A CEO successor inside the business
The European headquarters expected an external search. Our assessment identified an internal successor who met the requirements but needed six months of preparation.
Interviews, a business case, and psychometrics assessed the successor’s readiness. We recommended an internal appointment with a transition plan. No external search was launched.
The client appointed the internal successor.
Automotive · Post-merger restructuring · 2025
European Chief HR Officer
Following a merger, the newly appointed CEO needed a European CHRO to prepare 12 plants for restructuring: closing two sites, supporting a cross-border production transfer and managing union negotiations and employment law matters.
We identified a candidate with experience in M&A, restructuring and business exits. Assessment combined multiple interview stages, references, psychometrics and a business case.
The client appointed the candidate from our shortlist.
Conversations with industrial and automotive leaders
Leaders Talk & CEO Perspective
Interviews by Menity founding partners Vladimír Janík and Peter Nemčok.
CEO Perspective · September 2026
Managing Director
PERI Slovensko
Leaders Talk · May 2026
VP Retail Ops. & eMobility
Managing Director Slovakia
OMV
Leaders Talk · November 2025
General Plant Director
Stellantis Slovakia
Slovnaft (MOL Group)
Sector perspectives · CEE · October 2026
What we check in manufacturing leaders
Market developments and the evidence we look for in candidates’ track records.
Managing Director / Plant Director / CFO
Protecting margins and securing new programmes
In CLEPA’s spring 2026 survey, 76% of respondents expected profitability below 5% for 2026.
We check how candidates improved plant margins and made the case to headquarters for new programmes or investment—and what was approved and delivered.
COO / Operations Director / Plant Director
Changing production while keeping deliveries on track
Battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for 23.7% of Czech passenger car production in September 2026.
We examine how candidates adapted production processes and supplier arrangements for new programmes while maintaining deliveries on existing ones.
Managing Director / Operations Director
Turning production into cash
Austria’s metal technology industry association reported weak orders and rising finished-goods inventories in August 2026.
For machinery and equipment manufacturers, we check how candidates controlled project costs, reduced cash tied up in inventory and completed deliveries on time.
Questions before a senior mandate
What boards, CEOs and CHROs ask first
Why choose Menity for an industrial or automotive search in CEE?
Peter Nemčok held commercial roles at General Motors and Orange before co-founding Menity in 2007. He has since built and run the firm while leading industrial and automotive searches. He works with you to define what the person must deliver, which decisions they will own and what support they will have from headquarters.
Will a plant director search get the same partner involvement as a CEO search?
Yes. Peter takes your brief, personally assesses candidates and presents his recommendation, supported by our CEE research team. You discuss candidate strengths, concerns and the final choice directly with him. We check references in the relevant local language and confirm willingness to work at your specific plant location before presenting candidates.
Are there OEMs or suppliers whose executives you cannot approach for us?
Before you commit, we identify any client commitments that prevent us from approaching executives at your target companies. We explain how these restrictions affect the search and agree which companies to include.
Speak with Peter Nemčok
Discuss a search or leadership review
Discuss a planned appointment, CEO succession or a review of your leadership team.
Co-Founder &
Managing Partner
Leads Menity’s Industrial & Automotive assignments.
Based in Bratislava. Working across CEE.
Confidential. Retained. Partner-led.