Anthony Böhm has been appointed international president for central and eastern Europe for Global Travel Network, an international travel franchise system that just opened up a bureau in Slovakia to augment its over 400 offices around the world.
Böhm, an American, graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1970, where he majored in international studies. In 1989, Böhm journeyed to the Czech part of what was then-Czechoslovakia to see the land of his grandparents, and fell in love with the country. In 1990, Böhm started his own company called "American Dream Shops," which merchandises American sports clothing to young Czechs.
He successfully sold his business to a large Czech company. Böhm sees his niche with Global Travel Network because customers will find a full-service agency that can issue flight tickets on the spot. Böhm said that he plans on opening 5 - 6 franchises in Slovakia and 8 in the Czech Republic.
Anna Glasová, 27, has a new challenge ahead of her now that she was hired by Slovenská Sporiteľňa in February to be the bank's chief dealer. Glasová graduated from Comenius University's Faculty of Mathematics and Physics in 1992, and went straight out of school to work as a dealer with Tatra Banka.
From there, Glasová, who is married and has a three-year-old son, took a slight detour to work for Tatra Banka's customs desk before she settled in as the bank's chief dealer in January 1996. Now at Slovenská Sporiteľňa, Glasová, said her goal is to improve the bank's cooperation with institutional clients and providing information for its customers. Since she speaks English, it should be no problem, as long as her job, which she described as "never monotonous, very interesting and constantly changing," will give her the time to do it.
Karol Polakovič, 68, has joined the Bratislava office of the international accounting and management consulting organization Coopers & Lybrand as their Slovak accounting methodologist. Polakovič has a long resume in his field. Before he entered college, he went to work as an accounting methodologist at Bratislava's municipal office and continued working even as he earned his accounting degree from the Economics University in Bratislava in 1963.
From 1969-1971, Polakovič, who has written several articles about accounting, auditing, and taxes, worked as an accounting methodologist at the Slovak Statistical Office. From there, he joined the Ministry of Finance as the head of its accounting methodology unit, where among other things he helped develop current Slovak accounting regulations. Polakovič, who is married, left the ministry for Coopers & Lybrand in April.
David Keats, 37, has left his position as former advertising executive at The Slovak Spectator to join the international property leasing company Spiller & Farmer as its project manager. Although Keats graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a masters degree in German, he came to Slovakia in 1992, apparently to satiate his wanderlust in the region.
After a stint as a volunteer English teacher, Keats moved on to be the leasee and manager of Café London at the British Council, and then became an import-export expert with Mykotex. Keats, who is single and enjoys blues and jazz music, started working for The Slovak Spectator in August 1995.
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