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.

Tomáš Drucker
Drucker in 2016
Ministed of Education, Research, Development and Youth
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 October 2023
Prime Minister	Robert Fico
Preceded by	Daniel Bútora
Minister of Interior
In office 22 March 2018 – 17 April 2018
Prime Minister	Peter Pellegrini
Preceded by	Robert Kaliňák
Succeeded by	Peter Pellegrini (acting)
Minister of Health
In office 23 March 2016 – 22 March 2018
Prime Minister	Robert Fico
Preceded by	Viliam Čislák
Succeeded by	Andrea Kalavská
Personal details
Born	(1978-07-20) 20 July 1978 (age 46) Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia)
Political party	Voice – Social Democracy (2023–present)
Other political affiliations	Independent (2016–2019) Good Choice (2019–2023)
Children	2
Education	Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava University of Trnava London Business School

Early life

Drucker studied computer science at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava and law at the University of Trnava.^[1] In 2023, he obtained the Sloan Master in Management and Leadership (MSc Sloan) from the London Business School.^[2]

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.^[3][4]

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.^[5] Drucker made a fundamental impact on the positive management whilst creating new areas of provided services.^[6]

In 2016, Drucker received the Forbes magazine and consulting firm PwC award "The Most Respected CEO 2016".^[7]

Political career

As Minister of Health, Drucker focused on digitalization of the Slovak healthcare system.^[8] In the first six months, he filed seven criminal reports, canceled contracts for approximately 18 million euros^[9] and the delivery of the insured's smart card information system.^[10] 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."^[11]

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.^[12]

In August 2019, Drucker announced formation of a new party Good Choice and became its leader.^[13] 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.^[14] Drucker ran on the Voice list in the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election and subsequently became the minister of education.^[2]

At the end of October 2023, he 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. His key priority was 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.

Personal life

Drucker is married with two children.^[2]

References

1. "SITA.sk - správy a aktuality". SITA.sk (in Slovak). Retrieved 21 November 2023.
2. "Na čelo rezortu školstva sa postavil Tomáš Drucker". minedu.vs5.aglo.eu (in Slovak). 25 October 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
3. "Toto sú ministri vlády Fico III". Denník N (in Slovak). 17 March 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
4. "Pozrite si životopisy ministrov a premiéra Fica". SITA.sk (in Slovak). 23 March 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
5. "Pošta prepúšťať neplánuje, pracovníkov ubúda mierne" (in Slovak). Ekonomika SME. 7 August 2013.
6. "Slovenská Pošta" (PDF). Slovenská pošta, a.s. (in Slovak). 25 November 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
7. "Generálni riaditelia slovenských firiem si zvolili v "Slovenskom CEO prieskumu 2016" spoločnosti PwC a Forbes Najrešpektovanejšieho CEO". PwC. 11 April 2016. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017.
8. "Systém DRG by mohol byť podľa Druckera od roku 2017". SITA (in Slovak). 1 April 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
9. Čunderlíková, Jana (19 January 2017). "Bývalé firmy tety Anky prišli o zmluvy so štátnou poisťovňou". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). Bratislava: Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
10. "Minister zdravotníctva Drucker je so svojimi krokmi v rezorte spokojný". Noviny (in Slovak). 12 April 2017.
11. "Drucker: V transparentnosti zdravotníctva sme urobili veľa". Pravda (in Slovak). 9 April 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
12. Kapitán, Peter; Praus, Lucia. "Drucker ako minister vnútra skončil, opozícia vidí riešenie v predčasných voľbách". SME (in Slovak). Bratislava: Petit Press. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
13. "Tomáš Drucker definitívne zakladá stranu". Aktuality.sk (in Slovak). 14 August 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
14. "Drucker končí ako šéf Dobrej voľby: Volá po spájaní, strana má čoskoro predstaviť spoluprácu". Noviny (in Slovak). 21 December 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2023.