Pavel Řehák
President, Aspen Institute CE; Founder, Direct family
Pavel Řehák studied International Relations at the University of Economics in Prague and received his MBA at Northwestern University. He previously worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company for seven years, then worked as an advisor to Česká pojišťovna, where he eventually joined and worked for seven years, of which three years as CEO. In 2013, he left Česká pojišťovna and founded the investment company VIGO Investments with former colleagues from McKinsey. Together with his partners, he bought the Czech branch of the loss-making Slovenian insurance company Triglav and the Direct pojišťovna brand in 2014 to establish a completely new Direct pojišťovna. Direct is now the fastest-growing insurer and the largest Czech-owned player on the market. In addition to the insurance company, the Direct group also includes the Direct Nadace foundation, Direct auto, the leasing company Birne, the system for corporate expenses Fidoo and the investment platform Fondee. Apart from developing his business activities, he helped the Czech government cope with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic while creating a mathematical model for the spread of Coronavirus disease and supporting several key projects in prevention and emergency response to the pandemic. Last but not least, Pavel is President of Aspen Institute Central Europe.