My Life in Treasury: Michal Kawski

Michal Kawski, Head of Treasury, Gazprom Marketing & Trading

This month, Helen Sanders, Editor talks to Michal Kawski, whose career has spanned both consultancy and corporate treasury. Although most of his early career was based in Central & Eastern Europe, Michal is now based in London.

How did you first get into treasury, and what attracted you to the profession?

Treasurers often enter the profession ‘accidentally’ as part of their finance career. In contrast, it was my ambition to become a treasurer while I was still at university. A society that I belonged to at university was helpful in highlighting potential career routes and establishing external relationships with banks and corporations, so I initially got to know treasury through these contacts.

My original interest was in derivative instruments, as I appreciated the combination of innovation and logic, and the concept was relatively new in Poland. I soon realised that hedging was only part of the treasury picture, and I was further attracted to the breadth of a treasurer’s responsibilities across liquidity, risk, investment and financing.

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