Dragan Đilas
Dragan Đilas ( Serbian - Cyrillic Драган Ђилас , born February 22, 1967 in Belgrade ) is a Serbian politician and businessman. He is a member of Demokratska Stranka (DS) and was mayor of Belgrade before Siniša Mali took office.
Life
He spent his childhood in the young district of Novi Beograd , where he also attended elementary school and high school. At that time he was still aiming for a career as a footballer, playing football for a Belgrade suburban club. He then studied aircraft construction at the mechanical engineering faculty of the University of Belgrade . He graduated with success.
He began his professional career in 1988 as a journalist for the Belgrade student radio Index. In 1989 Đilas was one of the co-founders of the radio station B92 and worked there as editor of the current service. A little later, he himself entered the media industry as an entrepreneur and founded the PR company Multicom in the Czech Republic. This made it a market leader in the PR industry. In 1998 the company Ovation emerged from Multicom. It brings TV shows like Big Brother to the Serbian market. In 2001, Đilas founded Direct Media , which has become the front runner in media advertising in Southeast Europe. In between, Dragan Đilas also worked as managing director for various advertising agencies.
The public first became aware of Dragan Đilas when, as a young student leader in the 1990s, he frankly told Slobodan Milošević to his face that he should step down as president and pave the way for democracy. At that time he was 24, student representative and leader of the protests against the regime of Slobodan Milošević. In 2000, Đilas played a leading role in the election campaign of democratic forces to overthrow the old regime.
Political career
Dragan Đilas has been a member of the Democratic Party (DS) since 2004. From 2004 to 2007 he worked closely with the Serbian President Boris Tadić . He headed a kind of ombudsman's office for citizens' questions of the president. In 2006 Dragan Đilas was elected the capital city party leader of the DS. In May 2007, Đilas became Serbia's Minister of Investment. In the race for the new mayor of Belgrade, he was able to prevail within the party against the incumbent building director, Boris Ranković, and was finally elected as the top candidate of the Social Democrats as the new town hall chief of the Serbian capital.
Public offices
Dragan Đilas has been President of the Serbian Basketball Association since 2011 .
Private life
Đilas has been divorced since 2008. His wife was Milica Delević, who was also politically active. From autumn 2003 to mid-August 2004 she headed the Office for Cooperation with the European Union of Serbia and Montenegro . Then she was Serbia's Deputy Foreign Minister from 2007 to 2008. From November 2008 she will head the office for European integration within the Serbian government.
They have two daughters together, Sofija and Jovana.
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Đilas, Dragan |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ђилас, Драган |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Serbian politician and mayor of Belgrade |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 22, 1967 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Belgrade |