On February 20, 2008, Columbia Business School's Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business welcomed Ludwik Sobolewski, president of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, to campus to speak about the ongoing development of the leading stock exchange in Central Europe and the growth of capital markets in the region.

"Sixteen or 17 years ago, there was nothing in terms of a free economy in Poland," Ludwik Sobolewski said, underscoring how far Poland has come economically since the founding of the exchange in April 1991. "Everything had to be constructed," he said. "All infrastructure had to be built or rebuilt." Economically encumbered for decades after World War II as a Communist state under Soviet control, Poland has worked assiduously to liberalize its economy since overthrowing Communist rule in 1989. Rich with symbolism, the exchange once was located in the swept-out former headquarters of the Polish Communist Party.