Davor Štern (born 18 June 1947 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia) is a former Minister of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship in the

Croatian Government The Government of Croatia (), formally the Government of the Republic of Croatia (), commonly abbreviated to Croatian Government (), is the main executive branch of government in Croatia. It is led by the president of the Government (), infor ...

, businessman and entrepreneur.

Background and education

Štern was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

on 18 June 1947. His father was a

Hungarian Jew The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

and his mother was from

Šestanovac Šestanovac may refer to: * Šestanovac, Croatia, a village and municipality in Split-Dalmatia County * Šestanovac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, a village near Velika Kladuša {{geodis ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Štern himself was raised

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish. He is fluent in English, Russian, Italian, German, Hebrew and Croatian. He graduated in 1967 at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

(faculty of Petroleum, Geology and Mining). Štern is a member of the Jewish community in Zagreb.

Career

After graduation, in 1972 he worked for INA and in 1973 he was hired by Yugoslav oil pipeline. From 1976 until 1982 he worked as director of imports in INA – Commerce. In 1982 he was appointed as a branch director of INA in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, he worked in that position until 1986. From 1986 until 1991 he worked as director of Philipp Brothers – Salomon Brothers representative office in Moscow. He worked as a branch director of

Glencore Glencore plc is an Anglo-Swiss Multinational corporation, multinational commodity trading and mining company with headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, Baar, Switzerland. Glencore's oil and gas headquarters are in London, London, England as well a ...

from 1991 until 1993. From 1993 until 1994 he worked as director of Trade Consulting in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

, Austria. He was a Deputy Minister of Economy from 1994 until 1995, when he was appointed as a Minister of Economy. He held that office until 1997. In 1997 he became a general manager of INA – Oil Industry d.d. and he remained on that position until 2000. In 2001 he returned to Moscow as advisor to a president of

TNK-BP TNK-BP (, ) was a major vertically integrated Russian oil company headquartered in Moscow. It was Russia's third-largest oil producer and among the ten largest private oil companies in the world. In 2013 it was acquired by Russian oil company R ...

. He remained there until 2004 and since then he has been a director of Zagreb Trade Consulting Company. On 21 October 2010 Štern was named a member of INA supervisory board. Štern is one of the Croatia's wealthiest people, with estimated net worth of €43 million according to the list from 2007. Štern also serves as Honorary Consul General of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Philanthropy

Štern is known for his

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. He always preferred anonymous donations over those that are visible to the public.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Davor 1947 births Living people Politicians from Zagreb Croatian Jews Croatian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Croatian philanthropists Businesspeople from Zagreb University of Zagreb alumni Croatian Social Liberal Party politicians Jewish Croatian politicians Economy ministers of Croatia