Jiří Suchánek, the new manager of OKD Foundation (NOKD), heard about the opening when he was in Shanghai as a member of the Czech project team at the World Expo 2010. As an economist, he is familiar with the nonprofit sector and has previously been involved in other 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 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,”Suchánek said in press release.
The NOKD is a corporate foundation that was established in early 2008 in part to support education, sports and cultural activities and social and medical services. The NOKD’s key objectives also include providing support for the North Moravian region, including mining traditions, and assisting nonprofit organizations in processing European projects. Coal mining company OKD and other firms in the New World Resources (NWR) group are the foundation’s most significant donors. ‘I admire those people who make their living a thousand meters under the ground.’
The foundation supports more than 300 projects in the Moravia-Silesia region, as well as projects across the Czech Republic. The OKD Foundation since its inception in 2008 has supported more than 800 projects with over Kč 123 million, according to figures relased by the foundation.
“We had a lot of candidates and some candidates were really interesting, but Jiří Suchánek was our clear favorite. He has worked in the nonprofit sector, has experience from abroad and is very creative. This should enhance the activities of the foundation to an even higher level. So we waited several months for him to complete his [Expo 2010] mission in Shanghai,” Petra Mašínová, chairwoman of the NOKD managment board, said in a press release.
No time for the museum
Suchánek first came to Ostrava, North Moravia, three years ago as a visitor to the Colours of Ostrava Festival, for which OKD is a major partner. “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,” Suchánek said shortly after starting his new job.
He is already getting a handle on things. “I, [foundation officer] Zuzana Macháčková and my deputy Lenka Marková have found time to launch work on evaluating the activities of the foundation, which will celebrate its third birthday this year. As chance would have it, the foundation is also moving, so we were extremely busy,” Suchánek said in the press release.
Suchánek graduated from the University of Economics, Prague (VŠE). He has worked as a financial consultant, sales representative, project manager and from 2007 to 2009 as director of the festival SOBOfest. From 2008 until December 2010, he worked as production manager and a representative of the Czech pavilion at EXPO 2010 in Shanghai. He replaces Blanka Týřová, who had led the foundation since it was established. Marková was acting director of the foundation until Suchánek completed his work in China and became available.
