János Kóka

János Kóka
Kóka and Gábor Demszky at the presentation of the first Siemens Combino tram in Budapest (2006)
Minister of Economy and Transport of Hungary
In office 4 October 2004 – 3 December 2007
Preceded by	István Csillag
Succeeded by	Csaba Kákosy
Personal details
Born	(1972-07-05)5 July 1972 Budapest, People's Republic of Hungary
Political party	SZDSZ
Profession	politician, economist

János Kóka (born on 5 July 1972) is a Hungarian businessman, private investor, IT entepreneur and manager of various enterprises, who served as Minister of Economy and Transport between 2004 and 2007. He was a member of the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) and functioned its chairman from 2007 to 2008. He also served as leader of the liberal party's parliamentary group until 2010, when SZDSZ failed to win any seats after 20 years. Kóka left the party in that year. In 2010 he returned to business life and presently works as Chairman and CEO of Cellum Global Zrt. and Chairman of the Board of Cellum Bulgaria. He is married to Kamilla Szandrocha. He has two children.

Education

He graduated at Temesvári Pelbárt Franciscan Grammar School in Esztergom. He continued his studies at Semmelweis University of Medicine, where he received his degree in 1996.

Business career

During his university studies he worked as a project manager and later Sales Director of Elender Kft. from 1994 and 1996. From 1996 he served as Managing Director of Elender Computer Kft., then from 1998 as CEO of Elender Informatics Rt. From 1999 he was Country Manager, then from 2000 European Vice President of Business Development at PSINet Inc. From July 2000 he continued his career as Chairman of the Board of Webigen Rt., then from October 2002 as CEO of Elender Business Communications. In 2004 he was elected President of Euroweb Internet Service Provider Rt. He has been a board member of the ICT Association of Hungary (IVSZ) since 2000; from March 2003 until October 2004 was President of the Association.

From 2003 prior to his ministerial appointment he served as Member of the Board of EICTA (European ICT Association) based in Brussels, and Chairman of the Hungarian-Indonesian Joint Business Council. In 2000 he was awarded ’The IT Manager of the Year’ founded by the ICT Association of Hungary. From 1999 he was Country Manager, then from 2000 European Vice President of Business Development at PSINet Inc. In 2000 he was awarded ’The IT Manager of the Year’ founded by the Association of IT Companies.

Political activities

In October 2004 he was appointed as Minister of Economy and Transport, supported by SZDSZ (Alliance of Free Democrats). During this period his main tasks included the development of business-friendly environment, stimulating the growth of corporate sector, strengthening the knowledge-based economy and increasig international presence of domestic business. In June 2006 he was reappointed as Minister of Economy and Transport. Between 2007-2008 he was President of the Liberal Party, until 2010 parliamentary group leader, member of the Budget Committee, Chairman of the Nabucco Committee, aiming to reduce the country’s reliance on Russian gas.

He became unpopular in 2006^[1] because he announced its intention to stop operation on 14 regional lines with a total length of 474 km (295 mi) at Hungarian State Railways. The government, referring to obligation under the constitution, ensured access to public transit in all settlements by installing bus routes and buses from Volán, which in cases of single railway stations for multiple villages, meant stations in the centers or ends of every settlement. This and increasing frequency theoretically can be done while reducing fuel (diesel or electricity) and maintenance cost.^[2] He regards the most important result of his ministerial activities the construction of the 500 km motorway, the arrival of 4-5 billion EUR operating capital annually in the country and the commencement of the construction of Megyeri Bridge.

On March 31, 2008, various reform-related disagreements between the MSZP and SZDSZ led the SZDSZ leader Kóka to announce that his party would quit the coalition by May 1, 2008.^[3] This also meant that the MSZP would have to form the first minority government in Hungary since the change of system. However, the legitimacy of Kóka's position as party president became questioned when it was discovered that some signatures of the delegates to the assembly electing him had been forged. Since he had won his position by a very small margin over Gábor Fodor, these votes might have changed the outcome. So a new leadership election was held in June ^[4] and Gábor Fodor was returned.^[5] In 2009 the parliamentary group he led ensured the majority of votes to elect Gordon Bajnai and facilitate the measures taken by the Bajnai Government. He did not run during the parliamentary elections in 2010 and then he did not renew his party membership.

Work experience

After breaking up with political activities in 2010^[6] he returned to business life. First he was involved in the reorganization of Cellum Groups as consultant, then in 2011 he was elected Chairman and CEO of Cellum Global Inc., established with the aim of international expansion.^[7][8][9]

As the representative of the company, in September 2011, he concluded a venture capital program agreement with Portfolion Zrt., member of the OTP Bank Group, and soon afterwards he signed an agreement with Bulgarian Corpbank about the establishment of a joint technological subsidiary.^[10] Since January 2012 he has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors in the Cellum Bulgaria subsidiary, with its head office in Bulgaria. He is a board member in MPP Zrt., which also has concern in Cellum. Under his management, the company has reported the conclusion of several international agreements of cooperation; for instance, Cellum developed the mobile payment application of MasterCard.^[11]

References

External links

• Kóka János országgyűlési adatlapja
• A managermagazin.hu portréja
• Pumázó playboy a bársonyszékben – az Index cikke Kóka János miniszteri pályafutásáról
• Az SZDSZ elnökválasztásáról szóló információk
• Kóka János honlapja
• Sose voltam a Playboy címlapján - interjú az FN24-ben
• televíziós interjú a jelenlegi üzletei tevékenységről
• Kóka János LinkdIn adatlapja