Petr Svoboda
5) Heritage Champions
Jury Member & Chair of the Selection Committee
Czechia
Petr graduated from the Pharmaceutical Department of Charles University followed by a doctoral degree in pharmacology (1985). In 1989, he started developing business for ICI Pharmaceuticals in Czechoslovakia and moved to the UK for ICI/Zeneca in 1992, where he worked in various positions for the UK as well as for a number of European and Asian markets. In 1998 he became the Managing Director for Zeneca in Finland. Consequently, he acted as the Managing Director for AstraZeneca, Novartis and Baxter in CZ/Slovakia. When completing the restitution process of inherited estate at the turn of the century, he gradually moved to its management. He joined the Czech Association of Castle and Manor Houses Owners (AMHZ), was elected to the Board and consequently as Vice-President in 2013. He served as Vice-President for four terms till spring 2024. Petr has been actively representing AMHZ at the European Historic Houses Association (EHHA) meetings, as well as at other national Association meetings e.g. Austria, UK, NextGen. He was also present at the International Cultural Heritage Conference in Dublin in June 2017. In 2018 he was elected to Europa Nostra Council. He initiated and consequently completed the establishment of Europa Nostra Representation in the Czech Republic in 2019 of which he is the Head. In 2022 he was elected as Vice-President of Europa Nostra. He is also a Chairman of the Czech-Liechtenstein Society since 2021.