When Petr Kellner of PPF spoke in late-May to HN and MFD, the reporters treated him like a celebrity and asked questions suitable for one. Many business questions went unasked, such as, "How has Kellner managed to surround himself with such talent?" The impressive list of new faces is long and includes Evžen Hart, Lard Friese, Tomáš Brzobohatý, Miroslav Nosál, Erich Čomor, Tomáš Spurný and Milan Tománek, to name a few. Hart, PPF's head of HR, told Czech Radio that working alongside Kellner is very inspirational and enriching. Working for Kellner is also financially enriching, and in a sense Kellner is buying respect. It seems to be a successful strategy. Whether the impetus behind the new direction was Kellner's recent illness, his JV with Generali or a general epiphany, he's changing PPF in a way that almost no other home-grown Czech company has been changed before. [ Czech Republic Investments Česká pojišťovna human resources joint venture prostate cancer ]
