Branko Radujko, outgoing director of Telekom Srbije - Midfielder

Branko Radujko (Photo: lična arhiva)

"So young and already director general" was the most usual comment on the appointment of Branko Radujko as CEO of Telekom Srbije about three years ago.

He assumed the position of director general of the company that is one of the carriers of country's economic system after leaving the position of the secretary of the president of Serbia.

Since he is a member of the Democratic Party, his appointment was considered by many as a purely political act. That is why Radujko had a difficult time to prove his competence.

He has recently officially confirmed that he will leave the position of CEO as soon as the tendering procedure for the sale of Telekom is finished.

We do not doubt that his performance will be analyzed many times in the days to come and that there will be certain objections, especially to the latest period.

At the time when he was nominated for the position, the general objection of the public to the decision on his appointment was that Radujko lacked experience in running any company, let alone a big company like Telekom.

Is he competent enough?

He graduated from the Law Faculty. There were some funny comments on the government's decision, saying that it is not surprising that a lawyer is appointed as the new director of the national telecommunications company since the minister of telecommunications is a psychologist, which was the case at the time. However, much more important was how actively Radujko would advocate further liberalization of the telecommunications market in Serbia, especially in the fixed telephony where Telekom was the strongest player, which was not that good for Telekom from a logical point of view. In addition, Telekom CEO and minister of telecommunications were members of the same party at the time.

He was the deputy chairman of the Managing Board of Jugoimport SDPR, a member of the Managing Board of HIP Petrohemija and the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, as well as the chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Guarantee Fund of Serbia.

He is a member of the Democratic Party since 1998. He started his career as a law clerk and then worked for two years in the international humanitarian sector on the projects aimed at returning refugees to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. In early 2002 he was appointed as an adviser of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic for the refugee issues. He later assumed the position of the head of cabinet of Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic, while President Boris Tadic appointed him as his adviser for regional policy in August 2004 and he assumed the position of secretary general of the president of Serbia in June 2006. At the time when that government was formed, he was also mentioned as a candidate for the chief of the Security-Information Agency (BIA).

When a journalists examines a politician

Aleksandra, Stefan and Aleksa Radujko (Photo: lična arhiva)

Branko Radujko was born on July 17, 1974, in Knin. He is married with Aleksandra, a journalist who is former editor-in-chief of the TV station Avala and current owner of the marketing agency New Media Team.

He met his attractive wife in summer 2003, on a business trip in Salzburg.

"We saw each other again in Belgrade after some time and that is how it all started. One year later we got married and we have been enjoying our marriage ever since", Ms. Radujko told the media.

Aleksandra says Branko Radujko is not much of a cook, but he helps her a lot around the house.

- He even knows how to iron a shirt, but I allow him to do that only if he wears a sweater over the shirt.

Branko and Aleksandra have two sons - Stefan and Aleksa.