The Mayor of the City of Ljubljana

Zoran Janković, the Mayor of the City of Ljubljana, was born on New Year's Day 1953 in the village of Saraorci in Smederevo, where he spent his childhood. Subsequently, his family moved to Ljubljana, where he attended Poljane High School and was awarded his degree from Ljubljana University’s Faculty of Economics.

Zoran Janković’s professional career began before he had finished his studies in the investment sector at the Slovenian Post Office in 1978. Between 1979 and 1984 he, as a sales manager, represented the Grič Zagreb business and was appointed as acting director of Mercator Investa in 1984, where he worked until 1988. Between 1988 and 1990 he was vice president of Emona SOZD and acting general manager of Emona VPS. In 1990, he founded the Electa company, of which he was director until 1997. In the autumn of that year, Zoran Janković was appointed CEO of retailer Mercator, which he successfully led until November 2005, when the Board of Control released him from his duties for business reasons not connected to him, with no fault attached on his part.

Almost exactly a year later, on October 22 2006, he was overwhelmingly elected as mayor of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, receiving 62.99% of the votes cast. In the election for the City Council, his list of candidates was given sufficient electoral support for 23 of them to be elected to the 45-member council.

In addition to his very successful business career, Zoran Janković is also a member of the management board of the Manager’s Association and president of the Alumni club of Ljubljana University’s Faculty of Economics. In 2004, he concluded his 8-year mandate as president of the Slovenian Handball Association and, in 2005, was named as its first and only honorary president. In his own words, handball is one of those things closest to his heart.

For his outstanding work in the field of economics, he has received as many as eleven top-level awards and prizes. These include the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce’s award for outstanding economic achievement (2001), ‘Manager of the Year 2002’ from the Manager’s Association (2002), ‘Best Director of 2003’ awarded by Kapital magazine, ‘Foremost Manager’ awarded by Manager magazine, the Primus award for excellence in communication awarded by the Slovenian Public Relations Society, the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce and Manager’s Association (all in 2003), ‘Director of 2004’ by Kapital magazine and ‘Foremost Director’ by Manager magazine and Kline & Partner (2004), ‘Director 2005’ by Kapital magazine and ‘Foremost Director’ researched by Kline & Partner (2005); as well as the title of ‘Best Director 2006’ from Kapital magazine and ‘Best Director’ as chosen by the readers of Nedeljski dnevnik newspaper.

Just a few months after his election as Mayor of the City of Ljubljana, the editorial board of Delo newspaper selected him as Delo’s Personality of the Year 2006 in the field of politics, while the readers of Nedeljski dnevnik newspaper put him in third place in the category of Slovenian of the Year 2006.

In his personal life, Zoran Janković is married to Mija Janković and is the father of two adult sons, Damijan and Jure, as well as being the proud grandfather of Vall and Julia.