The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, today forwarded the names of ministerial nomininees to the President of the National Assembly, France Cukjati; they are Zofija Mazej Kukovič as the new Minister of Health, and Radovan Žerjav, as the new Minister of Transport.
The candidate for the Minister of Health, Zofija Mazej Kukovič was born on 14 May 1955 in Črna na Koroškem. In 1980 she graduated in informatics from the Faculty of Organizational Sciences of the University of Maribor, and in 1989 she obtained a diploma in electrical engineering and electronics. In 1980 she passed her professional examinations in accordance with the provisions of the Construction Act. In 1995 she enrolled in an international MBA course at Brdo pri Kranju, which she completed a year later. In 2002 she attended courses on crisis management at the University of Texas.
In 1974 she was employed as a design engineer at the Development Sector of the Velenje Coalmine, while from 1977 to 1989 she worked for the ESO company as a designer of control systems. When the company faced a crisis, she also partly took over sales and project management. In 1992 the company divided, with Kukovič taking over the management of ESO Montaža, which was facing bankruptcy. With her know-how she succeeded in transforming ESO Montaža, a company dogged by liquidity and personnel problems, into a new one called Esotech d.d., which specialises in high technologies.
In recent years, she has devoted much of her time to civil associations and has given lectures at conferences in Slovenia and abroad on environment protection and its significance for health, business excellence, innovation and the transfer of knowledge from research institutions into practical applications. She has received many awards for her work, including an award by the Jožef Stefan Institute for her achievements in transferring knowledge from research institutions into practical applications. In 2002 she was chosen as Person of the Year by the Delo daily, while in 2007 she received an award for the development of project management from the Slovenian Project Management Association. She is a member of many expert associations, Director of the Economic Interest Association-Slovenian Environmental Cluster, a member of the Executive Board of the Managers' Association of Slovenia, a member of the Executive Board of the Europa Donna breast cancer organisation, and of the Board of the Savinjsko-Šaleska Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Zofija Mazej Kukovič possesses rich experience in company and human resources management, which she has proved at her work to date. The Prime Minister believes that because of her experience and know-how in leadership and management, appointing her Minister of Health would make the transitional period following the resignation of the former minister a short one. Before the end of the government’s term, the Ministry of Health has to complete important and demanding tasks. The main challenges, however, do not rest with medical expertise, but pertain to measures for improving the organisation, accessibility and efficiency of the healthcare system and medical services.
The candidate for Minister of Transport, Radovan Žerjav, born 2 December 1968, received his B.Sc from the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in 1993, and his M.Sc. in chemical engineering in 2003. In 1993 he started to work for the oil company Nafta Lendava, where he soon became head of the department for technological and logistical production preparation, and then head of development for the whole company. In 2002 he became the Technical Manager of Nafta Petrochem, while in March 2007 he became the CEO of Nafta Biodizel.
Radovan Žerjav has rich experience in managing development projects, drawing up strategies for alternative development programmes, and appropriate managerial and organisational skills.
With regard to this candidate, the PM also believes that because of his abundant managerial experience, know-how and personality, the takeover will be as short as possible, as the Ministry of Transport still has demanding and responsible duties to carry out.
The PM will nominate a candidate for the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, when a proposal is agreed on with the coalition partner.
