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Business leader has big experience

Guthová helped new Prague powerhouse companies grow rapidly after Velvet Revolution

May 14th, 2008 issue

By Kira Rose

For The Post

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST

Believe in yourself, and you can achieve big things, says Marta Guthová, one of the top people running Prague Ruzyně Airport. enlarge

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST

Guthová cut her chops at Flow East, rising to board member during 13 years there. enlarge

The Guthová File

Born: 1972 in Prague
Education: Distance MBA, Open University, United Kingdom, 2003
Current position: Executive director of non-aviation business and services, Prague Ruzyně Airport
Favorite book: Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary

Martha Guthová is one of a talented new breed of business leaders in key positions in the Czech Republic — funny, committed and tough as nails.

The 36-year-old manager of Prague Ruzyně Airport has been a major player in modernizing the signature location in the past two years. She has rented out all of the airport’s retail space, renewed old contracts of existing customers and raised all nonaviation revenues.

As the executive director of nonaviation business and services perches on a windowsill, the backdrop of airplanes behind her serves as a testament to her work.

“Her expertise in matters of retail business, together with her ability and willingness to learn about aviation, is the best combination,” says Jiří Pos, executive director of aviation business and operations. “She is hard-working, focused and delivers results.”

But the road to her current success wasn’t always easy.

Head of office

Born in Prague in 1972, Guthová “did not expect a democratic country” growing up.

So, when the Velvet Revolution came in 1989, the high-school student decided to seize the opportunity for a new life. After graduation, she moved to California in 1990 and worked for two years as an au pair and physiotherapist.

“I tried to build my life there. I wasn’t sure if the new political situation would remain, and I was afraid of the old times recurring,” says Guthová.

But, when her father came to California to assure Guthová that the political situation was stable, she decided to return home.

When she arrived back in Prague, Guthová found herself in a unique position as a fluent Czech and English speaker. She was quickly snapped up in 1993 as an assistant by Flow East investment group, the company known for its stores Blue Praha, Body Basics and Swatch outlet.

As an assistant, young Guthová was a quick learner with new administrative tasks, and she was soon running the office, as well as a team of accountants.

But many of her 50-plus-year-old female underlings were less than keen on the prospect of being managed by a much younger woman. Several told her so, constantly trying to prove Guthová was too young to handle so much responsibility.

“It’s interesting to discuss after so many years,” Guthová says with a mischievous, girlish smile. “One lady recently told me what her feelings were in 1993; how obnoxious and nasty she thought I was. Fortunately, we became very good friends.”

Besides running the office, Guthová was given the authority to purchase and manage historic properties in the city center. She ended up managing all three of Flow East’s top retail chains.

In 1997, Guthová became the company’s first Czech board member, responsible for legal affairs and acquisitions.

Those were heady times with monumental changes for foreign companies in the Czech Republic. For example, when Flow East signed a joint venture with Goldman Sachs International, to create DEMAC Financial Services s.r.o. in 1999, Guthová served as an adviser to the newly established loan management company.

DEMAC has worked on corporate restructuring for companies such as 220-employee Fofsa, a phosphorus producing company, and Vinium, with 105 workers, which produces wine.

If that wasn’t enough work and responsibility for someone in her 20s, Guthová also became a student, earning a distance master’s degree in business administration from the United Kingdom’s Open University in 2003.

But it was a business meeting in 2006 with the airport’s previous general director that made Guthová’s career really take off.

She was soon offered a job as director of commercial activities, responsible for central purchasing, price policies and food and beverages for airport workers.

After 13 years at Flow East, Guthová was a little apprehensive about changing jobs. She said she didn’t expect to last more than a year.

But former boss James Woolf of Flow East says he doesn’t see how Guthová could have failed.

“She is a very devoted, dedicated and hard-working employee who is passionate about whatever she does,” Woolf says. “Her best quality is that she is from the new breed of Czechs who are completely honest.”

Standing up for self-promotion

“I always enjoy it where I can make a difference, taking the status quo and moving it to improve people’s image,” Guthová says. “That’s how I believe a person can have new ideas and be innovative.”

As a woman in a male-dominated world, Guthová knows how to stand up for herself.

“If a woman’s not satisfied with her treatment, it’s not because she’s a woman but because she’s not aggressive enough,” she says.

For Guthová, a woman must stand her ground and be assertive — otherwise, she does not get the respect that she deserves.

Guthová says many potential business leaders lack “self-presentation skills.” To help them learn how to promote themselves, Guthová is collaborating with the British Business Forum (BBF) networking group to establish a mentorship program that starts this month.

BBF Board Member Jo Weaver, who worked with Guthová to develop the new program, says she has unique insight into business issues in the Czech Republic that foreign business leaders and men in business “cannot necessarily understand.”

“She was one of the first people to get involved in the workings of the BBF and, personally, has been extremely supportive,” Weaver says.

Years ago, Guthová considered becoming a politician. However, she was deterred by the country’s short history of democracy and her feelings that its culture and media sometimes move in the wrong direction.

“There are some good women in politics but they keep a low profile because every time someone promotes themselves, the Czech press doesn’t allow them to exist in peace,” Guthová laments. She maintains that someone going into politics must strongly believe that she can make a difference. She also advises other women striving to attain positions of power to retain their morals.

“I am proud that no one made me lose my integrity,” Guthová says. “If you don’t believe in yourself, you cannot lead people or become a valuable member of a team. You can’t have power that people respect.”

Everyone around her can see Guthová’s natural authority, says Klara Perglová, the airport’s senior commercial officer.

“To put it simply, she’s an enormous driver, who can lead her colleagues to distraction with her élan,” Perglová says. “She’s also a professional, from whom we can learn a constructive approach to any problem.”

Kira Rose can be reached at features@praguepost.com

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