President of the Slovak Republic

Vladimír Talian

Advisor on Internal Politics

In 1998 and 2003 he worked for the civic campaigns “I vote therefore I am” and “We care” and he worked with the Hlava 98 association to assist the democratic opposition in Belarus. He worked in radio broadcasting for several years. In 2006 he became the head of the Broadcasting Council of Slovenský rozhlas (Slovak Radio) and he worked for the station Radio_FM. He was an advisor to Lucia Žitňanská as minister of justice and member of parliament. He helped with the communication strategy for Matúš Vallo’s mayoral election campaign in Bratislava.

Michal Novota

Advisor on Internal Politics

He is an expert in political marketing, strategy and communication. He devoted himself to foreign, municipal and social policy. He worked as a strategist at the MARK / BBDO advertising agency, a program officer and trainer at the International Republican Institute and a spokesman for the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency. He wrote and created programs for .týždeň magazine. He is a member of the Brand Council in Superbrands Slovakia and a member of the European Association of Political Consultants.

Jarmila Lajčáková

Advisor on Human and Minority Rights, Domestic Violence and Mental Health

A lawyer specialising in human and minority rights. She worked for over 10 years in CVEK – Centre for the Research of Ethnicity and Culture, where alongside research she cooperated with local authorities and schools in eastern and central Slovakia on practical programmes for Roma integration. In 2013, she launched a programme to support Roma students, “You too have a chance”, in cooperation with the University of Economics. This programme has already helped several Roma students to graduate successfully. She has taught human rights, justice theory and minority rights at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University since 2007.

Radovan Pala

Advisor on Law and Justice

He studied law at Comenius University in Bratislava, with stays at Charles University in Prague and the Free University of Berlin. He received an LL.M. degree summa cum laude in international commercial law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen in 2003. He is a founder managing partner of the law firm Taylor Wessing, which has become one of the largest international law firms operating in the Slovak market since its establishment in 2004. He is the co-author of a monogram on cross-border mergers and extensive commentary on the Slovak Commercial Code. He was involved in drafting legislation to restrict the activity of “letterbox” (shell) companies.

Norbert Kurilla

Advisor on the Environment, Energy, Climate Change and the Business Environment

An environmental diplomat and economist. He is an experienced international expert in policymaking on environment and climate change. He was an employee of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic for many years, where he also held the post of state secretary. He spent 8 years in Slovakia’s Permanent Representation to the EU and was the Slovak representative in the Management Board of the European Environment Agency. He is currently vice-chair of the OECD Green Action Task Force.

Jana Kobzová

Foreign Policy Advisor

An expert on the European Union, Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. She worked in London-based think tank the European Council on Foreign Relations. In Brussels, she worked for the European Endowment for Democracy and a consultancy Rasmussen Global. She wrote a series of policy studies and co-authored a book on Slovakia’s policy after the EU and NATO accession.

Ivan Mikloš

Advisor on Economic Policy

Economist, Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Slovak Republic (2002-2006, 2010-2012), Deputy Prime Minister for Economy (1998-2002), and Minister of Privatization (1991-1992). During 2006-2010 and 2012-2016 he was a Member of Parliament. In years 2015-2020, he held various advisory positions in Ukraine, including being a Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine and chairing the Strategic Advisory Group for Support of Ukrainian Reforms (SAGSUR). He is also a Co-founder of the Ukrainian economic think-tank Centre for Economic Strategy. He currently holds the position of President of the economic think-tank MESA10. Since August 2021, he has been a member of the Strategic Council for the Implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic led by the Prime Minister, and since November he has also been an Adviser to the Prime Minister of Moldova.

Marián Giba

Advisor on Law and Justice

He is a graduate of the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague. After successfully completing his doctoral studies in 2010, he received his doctorate in constitutional law at Sorbonne University in Paris and also at Comenius University in Bratislava, where he has been working since 2006. He is currently an associate professor and head of the Department of Constitutional Law at Comenius University. He is the author of the monograph Judicial Review of Constitutionality in France, the author or co-author of several dozen publications in the field of law and a regular participant in scientific conferences and a member of the French Association of Constitutional Law. From 2015 to 2019, he was an adviser to the President of the Republic in the area of constitutional law.

Oľga Gyárfášová

Advisor on Social Affairs

Sociologist, researcher and university teacher focusing on political sociology, social inclusion, minority rights and the situation of vulnerable and marginalised groups. She works at the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava and cooperates with the Institute for Public Affairs on research projects on a wide range of social and political issues. She has participated in several civil society campaigns.

Martin Strižinec

Spokesperson

He joined the radio station Rádio Expres in 2001, the television station TA3 in 2009 and state broadcaster RTVS in 2013. He presented news and commentary programmes, including 5 years on the most popular political discussion programme “O 5 minút 12” (Five to Twelve). He is currently a doctoral student in journalism in the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University in Bratislava.

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