Karel Hirman (born 1 June 1970) is a Slovak engineer, manager and politician. Since September 2022 he has served as the Economy minister of Slovakia.

Early life

Hirman studied oil and gas extraction and transport at the

Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas The Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas () is a public university in Moscow, Russia. The university was founded in 1930 and is named after the geologist Ivan Gubkin. The university is colloquially known as Kerosinka (), meaning 'keros ...

and mining at the

Technical University of Košice Technical University of Košice () is the second largest university of technology in Slovakia. University Structure * Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and Geotechnology * Faculty of Materials, Metallurgy and Recycling * Faculty ...

Professional career

After graduation, Hirman worked as a journalist for the Czech Press Agency as well the Slovak Economic weekly Trend, covering the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

and energy topics. Since 2005, Herman managed several energy companies in Slovakia, including

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

public heating provider Tepláreň Košice, state-owned oil transportation company TRANSPETROL as well as nickel distributor ENERGY-METAL. Herman was in charge of implementation of a large-scale energy consumption optimization project funded by the

European Investment Bank The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the 27 member states. It is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt sol ...

in the

Prešov region The Prešov Region (, ; ), also Priashiv Region (, ), is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 of which have town status. The region was established in 1996 and is the mos ...

. Between 2007 and 2014 he headed the energy department of the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency. He is also a regular contributor to the outputs of the think tank Slovak Foreign Policy Association.

Political career

Hirman served as an advisor to multiple politician, including the Foreign Affairs minister

Miroslav Lajčák Miroslav Lajčák (born 20 March 1963) is a Slovak politician and diplomat, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic. In addition, Lajčák also served as President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 72nd session f ...

and the Prime Minister

Iveta Radičová Iveta Radičová (; ; born 7 December 1956) is a Slovak sociologist and former politician who served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2010 to 2012. The first woman to hold the position, Radičová led a Radičová's Cabinet, coalition governme ...

. He also advised the

Christian Democratic Movement The Christian Democratic Movement (, KDH) is a Christian democratic political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an observer of the Centrist Democrat International The Centrist Democrat International ...

and the

Progressive Slovakia Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Michal Šimečka, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and ...

parties on their energy policies. He also served in the team of

Ivan Mikloš Ivan Mikloš (born 2 June 1960) is a Slovak politician who served as Minister of Finance of Slovakia from 2002 to 2006, and Deputy Prime Minister for Economy between 1998 and 2002. Biography Mikloš became the only opposition member of the Supe ...

advising the Ukrainian prime minister

Volodymyr Groysman Volodymyr Borysovych Groysman (; born 20 January 1978) is a Ukrainian statesman, politician, and businessman. He served as the 16th Prime Minister of Ukraine from 14 April 2016, to 29 August 2019. From 2006 to 2014, he was the mayor of Vinny ...

. Following the abdication of

Richard Sulík Richard Sulík (; born 12 January 1968) is a Slovak politician, economist and businessman. He is the leader of the political party Freedom and Solidarity and served as Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy in Government of ...

, Hirman was included in the government as a Minister of the Economy on 13 September 2022.

References

1970 births Living people Economy ministers of Slovakia Slovak engineers {{Government of Slovakia 2021, state=autocollapse