Tomáš Drucker

Tomáš Drucker (born 20 July 1978) is a Slovak manager and politician who serves as the Minister of Education. From 2016 to 2018, he served as the Minister of Health and subsequently the Minister of Interior Affairs for less than a month in March and April 2018. He is a graduate of the London Business School's Sloan program.

Early life

Drucker studied computer science at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava and law at the University of Trnava. In 2023, he obtained the Sloan Master in Management and Leadership (MSc Sloan) from the London Business School.

Business career

Between 1997 and 2012, Drucker worked in the private sector in management positions while having served on boards of various public enterprises from 2006.

In 2012, Drucker became the CEO of Slovenská pošta, a state-run mail service giant, which he managed to make profitable while avoiding large-scale layoffs. Drucker made a fundamental impact on the positive management whilst creating new areas of provided services.

In 2016, Drucker received the Forbes magazine and consulting firm PwC award "The Most Respected CEO 2016".

Political career

As Minister of Health, Drucker focused on digitalization of the Slovak healthcare system. In the first six months, he filed seven criminal reports, canceled contracts for approximately 18 million euros and the delivery of the insured's smart card information system. Later, Drucker summarized his work in TA3 as follows: "We implement changes in the field of hospital management, which means that there is a standard collective body today."

Following the Murder of Ján Kuciak, Drucker was tasked to restore the credibility of the interior affairs ministry. Nonetheless, he resigned after less than a month arguing he did not see himself as an authentic unifying figure that is needed to do the job.

In August 2019, Drucker announced formation of a new party Good Choice and became its leader. The party received 3.06% in the 2020 Slovak parliamentary election, well short of the 5% representation threshold but just enough to pass the 3% threshold, making political parties eligible for public funding. He resigned as a party leader in 2022 to focus on obtaining the Master of Science in Leadership and Strategy degree (MSc Sloan) in London. Drucker ran on the Voice list in the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election and subsequently became the minister of education.

At the end of October 2023, Drucker became the Minister of Education, Research, Development, and Youth of Slovakia. He continued the work of his predecessors by advancing the new curricular reform for elementary schools. He introduced a program of changes encompassing 40 projects, including changes in kindergarten funding, secondary school reform, university funding, desegregation, and inclusion. Drucker aimed to support the mental health of children and teachers. In 2024, he implemented the so-called compensatory allowances for teachers, which caused discontent among some educators.

In autumn 2024, he introduced a reform package titled ''The Velvet Revolution in Education'', which included shifting kindergarten funding from municipalities to the state, implementing a new system for lifelong learning, banning mobile phones in elementary schools, and introducing reforms in desegregation, mental health, education for foreigners, debureaucratization, and secondary school optimization. The reforms received support from both the ruling coalition and the opposition.

Personal life

Drucker is married with two children. Matúš Šutaj Eštok described Drucker as a conservative and a practicing Roman Catholic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drucker, Tomáš
1978 births
Living people
Politicians from Bratislava
Good Choice politicians
Voice – Social Democracy politicians
Health ministers of Slovakia
Education ministers of Slovakia
Interior ministers of Slovakia
Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava alumni
Slovak Roman Catholics