The Agro Woman Programme Council is responsible for giving its opinion and ideas on the activities carried out within the scope of the initiative. Council meetings are held regularly; they also serve to exchange knowledge. Here, we also discuss selected issues with the participation of external experts.
Members of the Agro Woman Programme Council:
Karolina Tarnawska
Vice-President of the Board of the Polish Sustainable Agriculture and Food Association
Karolina Tarnawska is a graduate of the Faculty of Finance and Banking at the Warsaw School of Economics. She started her professional career at ING Bank, and in the following years held various managerial positions in finance at home and abroad at McDonald’s Polska Sp. z o.o., at ING NV and as a board member at Grupa Żywiec (part of the Heineken Group). She currently holds the position of Purchasing Director at Pepco Poland Sp. z o.o. covering purchasing activities in the Pepco Group and the Dealz network. As of 2019, she is the Vice President of the Board of the Polish Sustainable Agriculture and Food Association, being the first and only woman on the Board of the Association. Together with the entire board, she spearheads the transformation of the Association so that its initiatives meet the challenges of developing sustainable agriculture and producing sustainable food. Agro Women is one of the recent initiatives initiated by Karolina Tarnawska drawing on her experience in her career and participation in various mentoring programmes. In her previous roles, she has made a name for herself as a stereotype-breaking manager, going beyond the defined canons of collaboration to build cross-functional teams with a focus on e2e, which she continues in her new role in purchasing. Privately, Karolina a mother of three daughter; she loves cooking and travelling.
Małgorzata Bojańczyk
Director of the Polish Sustainable Agriculture and Food Association
Małgorzata Bojańczyk has several years of experience in implementing projects related to agriculture and rural development and is an experienced expert on the European Union Common Agricultural Policy, the European Green Deal in relation to the agri-food market. Before joining the Association, she worked at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, where she carried out tasks related to the reform of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy. Małgorzata Bojańczyk is the author of publications in Polish and international journals on topics related to the Common Agricultural Policy, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable food production. She completed postgraduate studies at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH), Koźmiński University (Koźmiński Executive Business School), and master’s degree studies at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGH) and Bonn University in Germany. Małgorzata is a philanthropist and a lover of the environment and green lifestyle.
Monika Stanny PhD
Director, Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, Polish Academy of Sciences
Monika Stanny conducts research in spatial economics, development economics, and demography. Her research interests include issues of socio-economic determinants of rural development. She analyses population processes, deagrarianisation, and territorial cohesion. She holds a postdoctoral degree in economics – Warsaw School of Economics, College of Business Administration, 2014, a PhD degree in economics – Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development, 2003, and a master’s degree in geography – Pomeranian Academy in Słupsk, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, 1996.
Joanna Gierulska
Agro sector manager with coaching experience
Joanna Gierulska has several years of experience in implementing aid to the agricultural sector and carrying out programmes co-financed from EU funds. For many years, she has been responsible for the development of rules for the implementation of these programmes in Poland, as well as for cooperation with the European Commission. For almost a decade she has been involved in the implementation of the EU LEADER initiative addressed to local communities in rural areas. Joanna Gierulska is an expert in many international projects on supporting agriculture and rural development. She is a graduate of numerous training programmes and courses in management and communication. She has completed a comprehensive coaching training, which is internationally accredited for quality at the highest ACTP ICF level. She has also graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION:
Bożena Bochenek
Attachée agricole Ambassade de France en Pologne
Graduate of the University of Silesia and Paris IV Sorbonne University, and a sworn translator of French. Since the beginning of her career, Bożena Bochenek has been involved in international cooperation and diplomacy activities as an official of the Polish state administration in the agricultural sector. For the past eight years, she has held the position of Agricultural Attaché at the Regional Economic Department of the French Embassy in Poland – there, she works to strengthen French-Polish cooperation in the field of agriculture.
Carolien Spaans
Agriculture Counsellor at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Warsaw
Carolien Spaans has worked at the Ministry of Agriculture in the Netherlands since 2006, holding several positions, including the position of a Policy Advisor. Before moving to Warsaw in the summer of 2019, she worked as an Agriculture Advisor in the Netherlands in Ukraine. Her area of work currently includes Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The Embassy’s focus is on agricultural policy exchanges, cooperation in science and education, and connecting Dutch and Polish stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
Peter Friedmann Kraft
Counsellor for Food and Agriculture at the German Embassy in Poland