Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Vladimír Janík
Vladimír has worked in corporate HR since 1998 and in retained executive search since 2007. Since then, he has led more than 300 retained searches for CEO, board and C-level roles across CEE, with selected assignments in DACH and the UK — many in regulated or transaction-driven environments where leadership decisions face formal scrutiny.
He works with owners, boards and investors on CEO succession, board appointments and confidential C-level searches, particularly across regulated financial services, aviation and aerospace, and telecommunications, as well as in investor-governed or transaction-driven businesses. Vladimír remains personally accountable for each mandate, leading clarification, market approach, candidate calibration and final alignment with support from Menity’s research team.
Professional profile
Senior appointments rarely fail on capability alone
“A senior appointment is a decision that has to hold inside the business — not a selection exercise.”
— Vladimír Janík
That perspective comes from nine years in telecom and banking before Menity, culminating in his role as HR Director during the HVB Bank–UniCredit integration — an environment where ownership change, regulatory scrutiny and compressed integration timelines converged.
Vladimír’s original training was not in HR but in military aviation operations — a field shaped by time-critical decision-making, operational uncertainty and clear accountability for the outcome. He holds a master’s degree from the Military Aviation Academy of General M. R. Štefánik in Košice. That background is one reason his work remains close to regulated sectors, where leadership appointments may require formal suitability assessment, security clearance or approval by a competent authority.
Executive search focus
CEO succession
Board appointments
Confidential C-level search
Sector experience
Aviation & aerospace
Financial services
Telecommunications
Geographic markets
Based in Prague
CEE — Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Poland
Selected DACH & UK mandates
Mandate context
Appointments with an external deadline
Many of Vladimír’s mandates share one feature: the date by which the appointment must be in place is set outside the company.
Regulated appointments
Certain aviation appointments for accountable managers and nominated persons are subject to acceptance by the competent authority; members of a bank’s management body may be subject to NBS or ECB fit and proper assessment, depending on the institution. Vladimír screens for the applicable regulatory eligibility requirements before the shortlist; final assessment or acceptance remains with the relevant authority.
Transactions and ownership change
CEO and C-level appointments before, during and after a transaction, when executive structure, accountabilities and continuity are being redefined against a closing timeline. This includes private equity-backed and investor-governed businesses, as well as restructuring where retention of key leaders is under pressure.
Selected appointments in regulated sectors
Aviation — CTO, CHRO and Chief Compliance Officer appointments
Banking — Management Board and C-level appointments for Chief Risk Officer, CHRO, CFO, CIO and Chief Sales Officer
Selected perspectives
Insights and conversations
Analysis by Vladimír and conversations he has conducted with senior executives on leadership decisions across CEE since 2025. He asked every guest what should remain after a leader moves on. None named strategy, structure or process. Their answers converged on people—their judgement, ownership and ability to carry the work forward.
How Menity works
Two founding partners. One operating standard.
Menity works exclusively on a retained basis and does not accept contingency assignments. Every mandate is led by a founding partner and supported by Menity’s research team. The partner remains accountable from mandate clarification and market approach through candidate calibration and final alignment.
Menity has operated this way since 2007.
Confidential. Retained. Partner-led.
When the mandate requires senior judgement
Vladimír works with CEOs, boards and owners on CEO succession, Board appointments and confidential C-level searches across CEE, with selected cross-border mandates into DACH and the UK. Initial conversations are confidential; a mandate begins only when its scope and terms are agreed.
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