Adam Góral
| Adam Góral | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 October 1955 Rzeszów, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Education | Kraków University of Economics (MA, 1979); doctorate in economic sciences, 1984 |
| Occupation | Businessman, economist |
| Employer | Asseco Poland |
| Title | President of the Management Board, Asseco Poland |
| Known for | Founder and president of Asseco Poland |
Adam Góral (born 27 October 1955 in Rzeszów) is a Polish businessman and economist, and a doctor of economic sciences. He is the founder and president of the management board of Asseco Poland, the largest Polish information technology company. Góral has led the company since its establishment as a computer division of a ketchup producer in the late 1980s, and he has announced plans to hand over the presidency to a successor at the end of 2026 while moving to chair the company's supervisory board.
Early life and education
Góral is a graduate of the 4th General Secondary School (named for Mikołaj Kopernik) in Rzeszów, which he finished in 1974. In 1979 he obtained a master's degree in economics from the Kraków University of Economics, specialising in economic cybernetics and informatics. He earned a doctorate in economic sciences in 1984, in the field of mathematical statistics and econometrics, and he is the author of more than 30 scientific papers on statistics and econometrics.
From 1979 to 1990, Góral worked at the Rzeszów branch of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (now the University of Rzeszów), first as an assistant and later as an adiunkt, a junior faculty position. In 1986 he held a research scholarship at Pennsylvania State University in the United States. Between 1991 and 1993 he took part in the Polish-American Project for Building Enterprise Institutes in Poland.
Career
1988 to 2004: from ketchup producer to Asseco Poland
In 1988, Góral and his brother founded Jazcoop, a company producing ketchup. A computer office set up within Jazcoop was spun off in 1991 as a branch of the COMP company, and this became COMP Rzeszów S.A. in 1995. After the company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and acquired the Slovak firm Asset Soft AS in 2004, it was renamed Asseco Poland, marking the start of the group's international expansion. In 2007 the company merged with Softbank, and in 2008 it acquired Prokom Software, a company controlled by Ryszard Krauze.
1999 to 2006: supervisory board positions
Between 1999 and 2006, Góral chaired or served as a member of the supervisory boards of ABAS, COMP Soft, Softlab, Softlab Trade, WA-PRO, Asseco Romania, Vistula & Wólczanka, ABG (formerly DRQ) and Asseco Systems.
2004 onward: presidency
Góral has served as president of the company's management board since 2004, responsible for the group's development strategy. He also chairs the supervisory boards of five Asseco regional subsidiaries, covering international operations, Central Europe, South Eastern Europe, Western Europe and data systems, as well as of Novum, and he is deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Asseco Business Solutions. Góral chairs the Issuers Council at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
2025 to 2026: new investor and planned succession
In early 2025, the Dutch company Total Specific Solutions, part of the Constellation Software group, became a shareholder of the company, acquiring a combined 24.84 per cent of its shares. Total Specific Solutions signed a shareholders' agreement with Góral's family foundation, the Fundacja Rodzinna Adama Górala, which holds 10.01 per cent of the shares, setting out shared principles of corporate governance.
In 2023, Góral named Rafał Kozłowski, the company's long-serving vice-president, as his intended successor as president. At the start of 2025, Kozłowski became vice-president of the company's management board. In May 2026, the shareholders' general meeting approved Góral's appointment to the supervisory board with effect from 1 January 2027, ahead of his planned move from the presidency at the end of 2026. In February 2026, Góral withdrew from an incentive programme that would have granted him 3 per cent of the company's shares, worth an estimated 450 million złoty, saying he wanted to eliminate a conflict of interest.
Public and civic activity
Góral co-founded the Wyższa Szkoła Zarządzania (School of Management) in Rzeszów and the Międzynarodowa Szkoła Bankowości i Finansów (International School of Banking and Finance) in Sandomierz. From 2001 to 2025 he served as Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic in Rzeszów. After 24 years in the post, he stepped down and was awarded a silver commemorative medal by Juraj Blanár, the Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, in recognition of his contribution to Polish-Slovak relations.
He is a co-founder and chairman of the supervisory board of the Podkarpacki Klub Biznesu (Podkarpacie Business Club). He has supported the development of sport in Rzeszów as the title sponsor of the Asseco Resovia volleyball team, which won the Polish men's volleyball championship in the 2011/2012 season, and he chairs the supervisory board of the Gdyński Klub Koszykówki Arka, a basketball club in Gdynia.
Awards and recognition
Góral's recognitions include:
- The Andrzej Wierzbicki Award, given by the Lewiatan Confederation, in 2008
- Honorary Citizen of the City of Rzeszów, awarded on 3 October 2012
- The "Most Effective President 2016" award among WIG20 companies, given by Harvard Business Review Polska
- The title of "Visionary", given by the editors of Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, in 2018
- The Medal for 70 Years of Polish Informatics, given by the Polish Information Processing Society, in 2018
- The title of "Visionary of Foreign Expansion" in the "Polish International Champion Company" poll, run by PwC and Puls Biznesu, in 2019
- The "Bulls and Bears" award in the "President of the Year" category, given by Parkiet, in 2019
- The PRB Award in the "Success" category, named for Jan Kulczyk
- The "Capital Market Personality" award in the "Bulls and Bears" competition, given by Parkiet
- Winner of the "Managerial Competence" category in the "Valuation of Presidents Top 30" ranking of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, by SEC Newgate CEE, in 2024
- The "Vector of 35 Years" award, given by Pracodawcy RP (Employers of Poland), in 2024
- The "Banker's Ace" award, given by Bankier.pl, in 2025
- A silver commemorative medal from the Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, in 2025
Assessment
Góral's central achievement is turning a small computer office attached to a ketchup producer into Asseco Poland, the country's largest information technology company, over more than two decades as its president. His long tenure spanned a series of mergers and acquisitions carried out under his presidency, including the 2004 rebranding that followed the Asset Soft purchase, the 2007 Softbank merger and the 2008 Prokom acquisition, and it has brought him sustained recognition from business and financial media in Poland.
Góral also appears to have managed his own succession deliberately rather than remaining indefinitely in post: he named a successor in 2023, agreed governance terms with an incoming institutional shareholder in 2025, and gave up a substantial personal share allocation in 2026, which he said was to eliminate a conflict of interest as that transition approached. No public criticism of his leadership is recorded in the available material; his public profile beyond the company has mainly taken the form of civic and philanthropic roles in Rzeszów and support for regional sport.