Who are the most powerful women in Serbia? As usual, Blic daily has compiled the list the most powerful women in the country in consultation with political analysts, economists, media experts and the non-governmental sector.
- Ana Brnabic
The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, has been holding an executive power position for six years and for the last two she has been the most powerful woman according to Blic. She replaced Kori Udovicki as Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government in 2016 and in 2017, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, offered her the position of Premier as a non-partisan candidate. In 2020, as an acknowledgement of her work, Vučić offered her a new term in the office. Two years ago, she joined the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), and at the last assembly meeting of the SNS she was also elected the party’s vice-president. She is the first woman Prime Minister of Serbia and the first publicly declared homosexual person in this position. She is mainly dedicated to the digitisation and faster systemic introduction of e-government in Serbia, in order for the state administration and local self-government to work more efficiently.
Before joining the executive branch of the government, Brnabic was the director of the Continental Wind Serbia Company that operates wind farms. She participated in the company’s inception. Brnabic was also the first director of the non-profit Peksim Foundation, which gives scholarships to talented students from Serbia and North Macedonia to complete their Master’s studies in Cambridge, on the condition that they return to the country once they obtain the degree and help with economic and social development. She has been a consultant to several American companies and was actively involved in founding the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED), in 2006. Ana Brnabić lives with her partner Milica Đurđić, with whom she has a three-year-old son.
- Jorgovanka Tabakovic
Since August 2012, she has been the Governor of the National Bank of Serbia. In June 2018, the Serbian Parliament elected her to the position of Governor in a new six-year term. She is one of the most influential people in the SNS party, and a trusted person of Aleksandar Vučić. She has been successfully pursuing the strong dinar policy for years, while keeping inflation under control, which proved to be a good move, especially during the pandemic and the global crisis. After graduating from the Faculty of Economics in Pristina, she worked as a high school teacher, then the financial director of the Grmija Company, followed by the position of the deputy director of the Bank of Pristina. She also worked for Telekom Srbija. Tabakovic has been elected as a member of parliament in six convocations.
- Draginja Djuric
Dragana Djuric has been the head of Banca Intesa in Serbia since 2001, first as General Manager, and since 2005, as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors. Under her leadership, the bank has become part of an international group, successfully reorganised its operations and adapted it to the policies and standards of the parent group.
- Suzana Vasiljevic
She has been one of President Aleksandar Vucic’s closest collaborators for almost a decade. Although she is officially a media consultant, the range of her responsibilities is much wider. She was among the first to join Vučić’s cabinet in 2012, when she became Defence Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister.
- Dragana Markovic
For years, she ensured the stability of public finances in the area of tax revenues and an increase in budget revenues. In the middle of last year, Dragana Markovic was re-elected as a director of the Tax Administration of Serbia for a five-year term. She came to the Tax Administration from the position of deputy head of logistics of the Security and Information Agency (BIA).
- Maja Popovic
The Minister of Justice, Maja Popović, graduated from the Faculty of Law, studied and worked abroad and at the age of 26, she became a judge of the First Municipal Court of Belgrade, the youngest ever elected in the country. She joined the Security and Information Agency (BIA) in 2014. During her work in the Agency, she was assigned to the Directorate for International Cooperation – Department for Contacts with Foreign Security Intelligence Services and Institutions – Groups of America and Europe, as Chief Inspector.
- Irena Vujovic
Vujovic has been the Minister of Environmental Protection since 2018. She is a member of the SNS Presidency and Chairperson of the SNS Supervisory Board. During her political career, she was elected to the National Assembly in two terms. Vujovic was also the Deputy Mayor of Belgrade and in 2016, she was elected to office in the Municipality of Savski Venac, where she achieved remarkable results.
- Jasmina Vasovic
Vasovic has been the new President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, as of April 2021. She graduated from the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Law in 1995, and completed her internship at the First Municipal Court in Belgrade. She was elected judge of the First Municipal Court in 2001 and from 2003 to 2009, she worked in the Criminal Section of the court. She has been a High Court judge and a Court of Appeal judge. Since 2015, Vasovic has also been in charge of the cases prosecuted by the Special Department for Organized Crime.
- Darija Kisic Tepavcevic
Minister of Labour, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs, Daria Kisic Tepavcevic is also a doctor of medicine, specializing in epidemiology, and a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade. She came into the public eye during the coronavirus pandemic when, as deputy director of the Batut Public Health Institute and a member of the government’s Crisis Response Team, she regularly informed citizens about new epidemiological measures and appropriate health care.
- Olivera Zekic
Zekic was re-elected as a member of the EMN Council (government’s electronic media supervision body) on 17 December 2020 and Chair of that body on 21 December. In October 2021, the EMN Council appointed her as a member of the interim supervisory body for media monitoring. She graduated from the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade in 2000. From 1996 to 1999, she was a journalist and editor of Dnevni Telegraf daily, then worked as a PR person at the Ministry of Science and Technology. In the early 2000s, she was involved in the activities of the Otpor organization, at the Centre for Political Analysis.
The list also includes several bankers, Mirjana Čizmarov, head of the Directorate of Civil Aviation of the Republic of Serbia (16th place), Katarina Subotić, Sales Director of Telenor (19th place), Jasmina Stojanov, Director of Nova Communications media buying agency (20th place), Aleksandra Mandić, Executive Director of United Media (owner of N1, Nova TV, Danas daily and Nova.rs) (23rd place), Milica Mitrović, wife of the owner of Pink TV (26th place), folk singers Svetlana Ražnatović Ceca (27th place) and Lepa Brena (73rd place), Tamara Vučić, wife of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić (33rd place), Chen Bo, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia (36th place), Zorana Burlić, Director of Belgrade Waterfront (38th place), directors of the biggest supermarket chains (Mercator-S, DIS, Univerexport, etc.), Milka Vojvodić, CEO of Delta Holding (39th place), Tatjana Adžić Vukičević, Director of COVID hospital in Batajnica (44th place), journalists Olivera Kovačević (46th place), Jovana Joksimović (62nd place) and Minja Miletić (57th place), Snežana Marković, head of the Constitutional Court (50th place), Marinika Tepić, opposition politician (51st place), Jelena Đoković, wife of the tennis player Novak Đoković (54th place), etc.
(Blic, 13.12.2021)
https://www.blic.rs/vesti/drustvo/ovo-je-100-najmocnijih-zena-u-srbiji/hfgvdvm
Photo credits: RAS Serbia
This post is also available in: Italiano