He understands the Chinese, he seeks to find a common language with miners

Jiří Suchánek, the new NOKD (OKD Foundation) manager has got ten years of experience in the non-profit sector,  though from the other side of the fence

OSTRAVA – Jiří Suchánek (28), who on Monday of 17 January officially became the new manager of OKD Foundation, so far knows better the Chinese than miners. As a matter of fact he heard about the advertisement for this post in the far away Shanghai, where he was a member of the Czech project team at the World EXPO 2010. This economist is well familiar with the non-profit sector and is in his free time he is involved in three different associations.

“I can make myself understood when speaking Chinese in a restaurant, but I have to learn a lot about the work of miners and the coal mining as such.  By all means I admire those people who make their living a thousand meters under the ground. I know OKD as a socially responsible company. This is why it runs a foundation. In order to pay the hypothetical debts for the exploitation of mineral resources to the society,“ noted Suchánek who comes from Sobotka in Eastern Bohemia.

“If I join the foundation,

then I will be fully committed.

I have already moved to

the distinctive Ostrava region,“

stated Jiří Suchánek.

For the first time he came to Ostrava three years ago as a visitor to the Colours Of Ostrava Festival, for which OKD acts as one of the major partners. “I started to live here in the middle of January 2011. I and my girlfriend live in Petřkovice, very close to the Mining Museum. I have naturally not managed to visit it yet,“ said Suchánek whose first day in the new position was devoted to meeting the colleagues and getting to know the setting.

As concerns the non-profit organisations, the new NOKD (OKD Foundation) manager has so far been “on the other side“. It means he worked for associations grateful for every penny. He used to cooperate with Duha Foundation focusing on the integration and development of volunteering for youth. He holds social as well as cultural events in Jarmark and Nikolajka non-profit organisations. These have not been supported by NOKD, nevertheless its name does ring the bell.

Nonetheless, the plans for the future of the new NOKD manager have to wait till he finds his bearings. “I and Zuzana Macháčková, an officer, and Lenka Marková, my deputy, have however, found time to launch the works on the evaluation of activities conducted by the foundation which shall celebrate its third birthday this year. As chance would have it, the foundation is also moving, so we were extremely busy,“ added Suchánek.

Radek Lukša