Honorary Chair of the World Fellowship, Jiri started his involvement with the charity in 2009, and in 2010 he took on the role of Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Award in the Czech Republic. Following a successful restructuring and a restart of the programme in his home country, in 2015 Jiri co-founded the Award in Slovakia. Both countries have seen a substantial growth in participation.

Jiri is a Partner and Head of Infrastructure at CVC Capital Partners, which he joined in 2022 from Macquarie Asset Management, where he worked for more than ten years as Senior Managing Director, overseeing coverage and origination activities and the management of existing portfolio investments in Europe. Prior to joining Macquarie, Jiri spent 17 years in the transport and logistics sector, first as a CFO and later as a CEO, managing large-scale turnaround and market consolidation projects in Europe, Australia, and North America. Jiri has an industrial engineering background and a Master of Business Administration from the Open University Business School, UK.

As the Honorary Chair of the Fellowship, Jiri takes a leading role in the development and support of the charity around the world.