Bretislav Bakala

Bretislav Bakala left a PhD programme in microelectronics to focus on building Netio, the Czech power-management company he co-founded in 2015. After serving as CTO, he became CEO in 2021, but says one of his proudest achievements is becoming a business leader without having to stop being an engineer.

It’s technical instinct that still shapes the company’s direction. Over the past year, Bakala has helped turn Netio’s scalable MultiPDU concept into a market-ready solution for large dvLED and professional AV installations. Using nBus, multiple PDUs can operate as one logical system with up to 32 individually managed outputs, helping control power-up sequencing and reduce problems caused by inrush current.

He has also pushed an integration-first strategy built around open APIs and cooperation with other manufacturers. Bakala argues that AV should move further away from closed ecosystems and vendor lock-in, borrowing from IT and software where documented interfaces allow specialist products to work together.

His leadership philosophy has evolved in parallel. Rather than believing his value lies in having the answer himself, he now sees his role as creating an environment where the best answer can come from anyone.

That thinking has roots outside work too. In 2010, Bakala founded an Ultimate Frisbee team in Prague. Sixteen years later it is still active.