Siniša Mali
| Siniša Mali | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 73rd Mayor of Belgrade | |
|
Assumed office 24 April 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Dragan Đilas |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
25 August 1972 Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Nationality | Serbian |
| Political party | Independent |
| Children | 3 |
| Profession | Economist |
Siniša Mali (Serbian Cyrillic: Синиша Мали, pronounced [sǐniʃa mâːliː], born 25 August 1972[1]) is a Serbian economist and politician, and current Mayor of Belgrade since 24 April 2014.[2]
Education
Siniša Mali graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade in 1995, where he also received a Master of Arts degree in 1998. As a Ron Brown scholar, he received a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from Washington University in St. Louis, USA. He also received a Master of Arts degree from the School of Economics, University of Belgrade. In 2013, he defended his PhD dissertation on the topic “Value Creation through Restructuring and Privatization - Experience of Serbia”, at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade.
Business career
Mali worked for Deloitte & Touche in Belgrade between 1995 and 1997, and in its Prague office from 1999 to 2001. During his stay in the United States in 1998, he briefly worked in Credit Suisse First Boston in Mergers & Acquisitions group. In 2001, he was appointed assistant minister for privatization of the Serbian Government. He also worked at the Privatization Agency of the Republic of Serbia as a director of the Tender Privatization Center.[1] In 2004, he established his own consulting company, specializing in mergers, acquisitions and business consolidation.[3]
Mali has served as a chairman of several boards of directors, including Fiat Automobili Srbija, Komercijalna banka and Air Serbia.[4] He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a member of CFA Institute, Serbian Business Angels Network, Fulbright Alumni Association of Serbia and British–Serbian Business Club. He is a licensed portfolio manager at the Belgrade Stock Exchange.[1]
Political career
In 2012, Mali became the advisor for economy to First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić. Following the ousting of Mayor Dragan Đilas in 2013, Mali was appointed President of the Temporary Council of Belgrade.[1]
Mayor of Belgrade
After the 2014 election in Belgrade, Mali was elected Mayor on the proposal of the winning Serbian Progressive Party. Although he is technically not a party member, he has been a close associate and a personal friend of the party's leader Aleksandar Vučić.[5]
During his first year of the tenure, Mali introduced austerity measures and advocated much tighter budget balancing of the city. In August 2014, he stated that the new measures already cut the annual budget deficit from 20% down to 10%, by introducing spending cuts in public utility companies and the city administration.[6] In October, he presented the 2014 budget revision to the assembly, stressing that it was the first revision ever brought forward because the incomes exceeded expectations. He also warned that 2015 would be a critical year for Belgrade's financing, as the due loans to be returned amount to €83 million, amounting to about one fifth of the city's planned budget.[7] 2015 budget was adopted on 30 December 2014, with planned spending of RSD 80.2 billion (around 660 million euro), of which one fifth is planned for capital investments, and the deficit would be RSD 4.15 bn (approximately 5%).[8]
Ph.D. thesis controversy
In July 2014, liberal-left website "Peščanik" disputed authenticity of Mali's Ph.D. thesis, along with similar analyses of theses of politicians Nebojša Stefanović and Aleksandar Šapić.[9] In September 2014, German publisher De Gruyter announced that the article published in their journal, which qualified Mali for the title, contains uncited paragraphs from a doctoral dissertation of Stifanos Hailemariam, "Corporate Value Creation, Governance and Privatisation: Restructuring and Managing Enterprises in Transition – The Case of Eritrea", University of Groningen (2001).[10] The Faculty of Organizational Sciences refused to officially investigate the accusations.[11]
On January 20, 2015, Szymon Cyfert, Editor in Chief of the "Organization and Management" journal, retracted Mali's article "Value Creation Through Restructuring - Key Value Drivers and Value Creation Models" from the journal, explaining that some of the passages from the paper are "nearly identical to doctoral thesis by Stifanos Hailemariam".[12] After reviewing the correction submitted by the main co - author, the Editorial Board has published a revised version of the study and replaced the Retraction Notice with a Corrigendum.[13]
Personal life
Mali is married and has three children, sons Teodor and Viktor, and daughter Lola. He is a keen sportsman, and expressed a desire to run the half-marathon race on the 2015 Belgrade Marathon.[14]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Sinisa Mali becomes Belgrade mayor, Tanjug News Agency, 24 April 2014
- ↑ Siniša Mali gradonačelnik Beograda (in Serbian), RTS
- ↑ Izveštaj o doktorskoj disertaciji (PDF) (in Serbian), Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade, 6 December 2010
- ↑ "Siniša Mali, PhD, CFA". Official Website of the City of Belgrade. 18 September 2014.
- ↑ Sve o Siniši Malom (in Serbian), Telegraf, 12 February 2014
- ↑ "Mali: Next year will be difficult for Belgrade". Tanjug. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ↑ "Belgrade City Assembly adopts budget revision". Tanjug. 30 October 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ↑ "USVOJEN BUDŽET GRADA Naknade za porodilje od januara veće?" (in Serbian). Blic. 30 December 2014.
- ↑ Velike tajne Malog majstora – Ili kako je Siniša Mali ukrao doktorat (in Serbian), Peščanik, 9 July 2014
- ↑ Iz Nemačke s ljubavlju (in Serbian), Peščanik, 8 September 2014
- ↑ Jovana Gligorijević (17 July 2014), Doktorati su u modi (in Serbian), Vreme
- ↑ Retraction Notice to Siniša Mali, Sladana Barjaktarović Rakočević, Gehorghie Savoiu (PDF), Peščanik, 20 January 2015
- ↑ http://kolegia.sgh.waw.pl/pl/KZiF/publikacje/koik/numery/Documents/2012_NR_4(153)_NOWY.pdf
- ↑ Mali: Prvi put na "severu" sa 18 godina (in Serbian), Večernje Novosti, 30 April 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Dragan Đilas |
Mayor of Belgrade 2014–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
|  | |