Dr. Ján Oravec is a Slovak economist and reform advocate with a unique blend of experience across four key sectors: civil society, business, academia, and government. As the founder and long-time president of the F. A. Hayek Foundation – later transformed into the Institute of Freedom and Entrepreneurship – he has been a driving force behind Slovakia’s pro-market reforms since the early 1990s.
His work has included pioneering tax reform proposals, advocating for personal pension savings, and developing indices to monitor economic freedom, and competitiveness. Through his leadership, he has fostered collaboration between NGOs, businesses, and universities to promote entrepreneurship and improve the business environment.
In the private sector, Dr. Oravec served for 17 years as President of the Entrepreneurs Association of Slovakia and represented Slovak employers in major international organizations such as BusinessEurope in Brussels, the OECD in Paris, and the International Labour Organization in Geneva. His academic involvement spans over two decades, with governance roles at institutions like the Slovak University of Technology, The Economics University in Prague, and the Anglo-American University in Prague. In government, he held senior roles at the Ministry of Economy, where he contributed to Slovakia’s EU and OECD accession in early 2000s and later – in 2020 – 2022 - as the first Deputy Minister of Economy responsible for business environment he led ambitious regulatory reforms recognized by the OECD as the best practice for other OECD countries. His lifelong mission is to empower entrepreneurs as the true drivers of economic progress by improving public policy, reducing administrative burdens, and strengthening innovation and competitiveness.
Term of office: 2025-2029
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