4th US-CEE Connection Weekend

Speakers 2026 Edition

Distinguished experts from the 2026 US-CEE Connection Weekend

Keynote Speakers

The Honorable Mark T. Uyeda

The Honorable Mark T. Uyeda

Commissioner, US Securities & Exchange Commission

Mark T. Uyeda was sworn into office as a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 30, 2022, after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He was sworn in for a second term as Commissioner on December 28, 2023, after being confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a five-year term expiring in 2028.

The Honorable Phyllis C. Borzi

The Honorable Phyllis C. Borzi

Former Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security, U.S. Department of Labor; Catholic Law, Board of Visitors

A former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) from 2009 until 2017, overseeing approximately 700,000 private-sector retirement plans and 2.3 million group health plans as well as additional welfare benefit plans that together provide benefits to approximately 150 million Americans.

Jurand Drop

Jurand Drop

Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Finance

Jurand Drop holds position of Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Finance. He assists the Minister of Finance in running the macroeconomic policy and broader economic policies, as well as shaping the regulatory framework of the financial markets in Poland. In particular, he supervises departments of: Macroeconomic Policy, Public Debt, Development of Financial Market, and Efficiency of Public Expenditures and Accounting.

Prof. Jim Mazurkiewicz

Prof. Jim Mazurkiewicz

Professor, Regents Fellow & Leadership Program Director, Texas A&M University

Jim Mazurkiewicz is a native of the Brazos Valley. His family settled in Washington County from Poland at the end of the ninetieth century (1880’s) and they still own and operate the family farm in Chappell Hill, Texas. He is a proud 5t h generation Polish-Texan with 100% Wielkopolska/Kujawskiego heritage. He graduated from Waller High School and received a B.S. and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and a Master from Texas Tech University.

J.C. Boggs

J.C. Boggs

Chair, Catholic University of America Board of Visitors, King & Spalding's Government Advocacy and Public Policy Group

J.C. Boggs is a partner at the international law firm of King & Spalding, where he helps clients shape public policy, including the preparation of comments, position papers, and other advocacy communications on proposed legislative and regulatory changes. He is frequently called upon to represent financial services and technology companies before policymakers around the world and at all levels of government.


American Speakers

Prof. Leah Wortham

Prof. Leah Wortham

Professor Emerita of Law, Catholic Law Director of CUA-UJ Cooperative Programs

CUA Director of CUA-UJ Law Programs, namely American Law Program, International Business and Trade Summer Law Program, and LL.M. in American Law. Professor Emerita of Law; J.D. (Harvard Law School).

Prof. Christopher Ross

Prof. Christopher Ross

Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, Catholic Law

Chris Ross joined Catholic Law in August 2023. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law, Director of Experiential Curriculum, and the Managing Director of Columbus Community Legal Services, the law school's pro bono law firm and home of its clinical education programs. As Managing Director, he supports the clinical faculty in the education and training of clinic students and is responsible for administration of the clinic relating to client services, communications, and office management.

Prof. Jack W. Murphy

Prof. Jack W. Murphy

Director, Securities Law Program, Catholic Law

Practising lawyer in securities law for 33 years, retiring in 2018 from Dechert, LLP, where he was a senior partner in the firm’s Financial Services Practice Group and provided legal advice to registered mutual funds, closed-end funds and investment advisers in connection with all aspects of their operations.

Prof. John Polanin

Prof. John Polanin

Director of the Compliance, Investigations, and Corporate Responsibility Program, Catholic Law

John retired in November 2023 as the Head of Compliance for Macquarie Bank Europe based in Dublin, Ireland. Previously John served as the Global Head of Compliance for Macquarie Group based in Sydney, Australia. Before joining Macquarie as Regional Head of Compliance Americas in New York, John was Global Head of Legal & Compliance Policy for UBS AG, Head of Compliance in the Americas for UBS Wealth Management and UBS Investment Bank, Managing Attorney at UBS Warburg, and Deputy General Counsel at PaineWebber Incorporated. John practiced law and served as Branch Chief in the SEC Division of Trading & Markets, Assistant General Counsel at Credit Suisse First Boston and Chief Compliance Officer at SG Cowen Securities Corporation before joining PaineWebber.

Prof. Stephen Payne

Prof. Stephen Payne

Dean, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America

Dean of the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America; graduate of B.S. Cornell University; J.D. Yale Law School. Dean Payne was a partner and the chair of the FDA and Health Care practice group at the global law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Elizabeth Lance

Elizabeth Lance

Assistant Chief Counsel, ICI Global Affairs

Elizabeth Lance is Assistant Chief Counsel at the Investment Company Institute. Before joining ICI, Elizabeth was Vice President and Legal Counsel for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at T. Rowe Price where she was responsible for monitoring global regulatory developments affecting T. Rowe Price’s entities, products, distribution and operations, including advisory, investments, and corporate functions.

Fred Schmidt

Fred Schmidt

Partner, Mentor for International Expansion, Capital Factory

For the past 20 years, alongside building various businesses, I have focused considerable energy on growing opportunities in and between Austin/Texas and London/theUK. Well, my work on this front is largely done as both of those cities and economies are operating at the top of their game and a big new direct Trade Pact was signed in 2024 between the UK and Texas.


European Speakers

Mateusz Jurczyk

Mateusz Jurczyk

Branch Director, Kraków & Katowice American Chamber of Commerce in Poland

M.A. (Faculty of Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University in Kraków), MBA (University of Bedfordshire, UK). He joined the American Chamber of Commerce in January 2019, to run the Kraków and Katowice Branch of AmCham Poland and was appointed Branch Director in January 2021.

Mariusz Wawer

Mariusz Wawer

Head of Governmental Affairs & ESG 3M CEE, Board Member AmCham Poland

Mariusz Wawer holds a position Head of Governmental Relations & ESG for all 3M entities in Poland and Central Europe. Responsible for strategic planning & coordination of regulatory & public affairs activities as well as communication with key company stakeholders and trade organizations.

Małgorzata Podrecka

Małgorzata Podrecka

Vice-President Management Board, Legal Service, Compliance, Sustainability, & Corporate Responsibility, CAN-PACK S.A.

Habilitated Doctor of Legal Sciences (Jagiellonian University). Graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków; former student at the Catholic University of Leuven (Tempus Program); recipient of a scholarship from the Bavarian Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and the Arts (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich); graduate of Tadeusz Kościuszko High School in Myślenice

Att. Tomasz Chmal

Att. Tomasz Chmal

Trzeciak|Chmal

Attorney-at-law, partner at Trzeciak|Chmal, former partner at White & Case leading energy practice, co-founder of Business & Science Poland in Brussels, graduate of IBTSLP and Boeing Scholar at CUA Columbus School of Law in Washington DC. Member of the boards of Polish NGOs: Tertio Millennio Institute as well as School for Leaders.

Wojciech Jarosiński, LL.M.

Wojciech Jarosiński, LL.M.

Partner, Peak Legal; Co-founder, Expedition Cooperative

LL.M. in American Law (CUA); advocate admitted to the Warsaw Bar; partner at Peak Legal; from 2018 to 2021, named as the top dispute resolution lawyer in Poland by Rzeczpospolita Daily; featured in the Who's Who of Foreign Attorneys section of the National Jurist Fall 2019; co-founder at Expedition Cooperative; member of CUA Law School’s Board of Visitors. He has led or supervised more than three hundred technology litigations, the aggregated value of which exceeds a couple billion USD.

Maciej Kliś

Maciej Kliś

Vice president of Management Board BGK

He graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Jagiellonian University, where he also completed doctoral studies and lectured at the university. He was a Harvard University fellow and has participated in numerous academic programs in Poland and abroad, with a particular focus on the United States, including at Stanford University.

Dr Krzysztof Skawiańczyk, LL.M.

Dr Krzysztof Skawiańczyk, LL.M.

Partner, Skawiańczyk & Stanek Attorneys-at-Law

Attorney-at-law, LL.M (The Catholic University of America – Washington, D.C.), co-founder and partner at Skawiańczyk & Stanek Adwokaci i Radcowie Prawni, a law partnership based in Kraków. He specializes in commercial, business, civil, family, and criminal law, with a particular focus on white-collar crimes.

Dawid Malinowski

Corporate Senior Associate, Bexley Beaumont

Dawid is an English-qualified solicitor. In his transactional practice, he focuses on private equity and mergers & acquisitions transactions. He also routinely advises his clients on general corporate matters, such as shareholders' agreements, share buybacks, etc., and provides support in relation to commercial contracts (NDAs, MSAs, collaboration agreements, etc.).

Bartłomiej Kot

Bartłomiej Kot

Head of Public Policy, Startup Poland & Foreign and security policy strategist, Aspen Institute CE Warsaw Office

Bartłomiej Kot – Head of Public Policy, Startup Poland & foreign and security policy strategist, Aspen Institute CE Warsaw Office. Previously for over 6 years Bart worked as the Program Director at the Warsaw Security Forum. In Brussels he collaborated with the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies – the official think tank of the European People's Party (EPP).

Katarzyna Stradomska

Katarzyna Stradomska

Senior Expert at Polish Competition Authority

Katarzyna Stradomska is an EU-qualified lawyer (adwokat) specializing in foreign direct investment (FDI) screening and merger control, with a background in litigation and mediation.

Dr Gaspar Kot

Dr Gaspar Kot

Catholic Law LLM

Gaspar Kot is a markets, products, and structuring lawyer at UBS Asset Management in Zurich, Switzerland. PhD in law (Jagiellonian University in Kraków) and a member of the attorneys-at-law bar in Poland. He also holds an LL.M. degree from the University of Heidelberg as well as The Catholic University of America.

Łukasz Chyla

Łukasz Chyla

Program Director for US-CEE Connection Weekend

Fulbright Alumni Ambassador, Fulbright Junior Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School in New York (2023), and the Foundation for Polish Science START Fellow. Conducts research on financial markets regulation at the Business Law Department of the Jagiellonian University. Manager for External Relations at the Kościuszko Mound Committee in Kraków.

Dr Wojciech Bańczyk

Dr Wojciech Bańczyk

Director of the CUA-UJ American Law Program, attorney at law

Director of the CUA-UJ American Law Program, Ph.D. in law (diploma with distinction), assistant at the Chair of Civil Law UJ, attorney at law, court expert in American inheritance law.

More speakers will be announced soon.

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