Ryszard Czerniawski

Ryszard Czerniawski (born 1952) is a Polish lawyer and economist. Czerniawski was educated at the Warsaw School of Economics and the University of Warsaw. He worked as a journalist from 1976 to 1990, first at the Polish Press Agency and then at the weekly Prawo i Życie (Law and Life). In 2008, he received a Doctor of Laws degree. Between 1990 and 1991 he was head of the Legal Department within the Capital Markets Development Division at the Ministry of Privatisation; and from 1991 until 1994 a Director of the Legal Department at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, eventually becoming Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 1994, where he worked until June 2006.

From 1994 until 2006, Czerniawski was a member of the Supervisory Board of the National Depository for Securities, and between 1998 and 2001 served as the board's Chairman. In the period 2001-2003, he was a member of the Supervisory Board of Centrum Giełdowe S.A. and the company's subsidiary Infogiełda SA.

He is the author of numerous publications on securities trading, including the first edition of Commentary on the Privatisation Act (1990), Commentary on Commercial Companies' Code provisions relating to Joint Stock Companies (2001), and Commentary on the Bonds Act (2003). He is also the co-author of a commentary on the Securities Public Trading Act (1996, 2001, 2002) and a guide for supervisory board members Between law and finance (2007). Czerniawski's other publications include Giełdy (Stock Markets) (1992), Poradnik akcjonariusza (Shareholders’ Handbook) (1991), Statuty Giełdy Warszawskiej (Statutes of the Warsaw Stock Exchange) (1995), the English edition of Statutes of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (1999) and Zarząd spółki akcyjnej (The Management Board of a Joint Stock Company) (2007).

In 2000 he was awarded Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.