René Jež is the founder of Lionhearted s.r.o. and the driving force behind Young Lions CZ, the Czech Republic's official creative competition affiliated with the global Cannes Lions festival. He began his career in marketing in the 1990s, holding senior roles at Regie Radio Music, IP Praha, and Mediatel before co-founding the media consultancy Flemedia. After more than a decade running the Flema awards, René founded Lionhearted to focus entirely on developing talent in brand communications. He has directed Young Lions for over seventeen annual editions, building a program that has seen more than 1,000 teams compete. René's mission centers on combining creative excellence and personal excellence to grow the next generation of Czech communications leaders.