Zlatko Mateša, PhD completed his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb in 1974. He passed the bar exam in 1978 and earned his master’s degree in the same field in 1990, again from the University of Zagreb. Mateša earned his PhD at Beijing Sport University in 2009.
Over the years, Mateša has held many distinguished positions in both the private and public sectors and the Croatian government. He was the Director of Legal Affairs and then Assistant General Director for managing organizations within the Croatian oil giant portfolio, INA. From 1992 to 1993, he was the Head of Croatia’s Agency for Restructuring and Development. From 1993 to 1995, he was a Minister in the Croatian government, and in 1995 he became the Prime Minister of Croatia, a position he had held until 2000. From 2000 to 2004, he was a member of the Croatian Parliament. He served as a member of Parliament bodies: Member of the Croatian Parliament delegation to NATO and member of the Croatian Parliament Committee for Economy.
He has also taken part in many projects which require a superior level of managerial skills, such as the founding of Croatia’s national airline, Croatia Airlines, where he was also a board member, INA Rent a Car, he was a board member for Privredna Banka Zagreb and Croatia Osiguranje (1995), Croatia’s electric utility, Hrvatska Elektroprivreda, and Croatian Radiotelevision (2000).
Mateša has completed additional education at Harvard University through the Executive Education for Leaders in Development Program and at Henley Management College, where he completed specialized seminars. He is a member of several prestigious organizations, such as the Institute of Directors in London, the Strategic Management Society in the United States, and the Turnaround Management Association.
Within Olympic Movement and Sports, he holds positions at European Olympic Committee (EOC), Executive Committee, a member from 2009; ANOC Association of National Olympic Committees, member of the International Relation Committee; and was a member of the ICMG Executive Board from 2009 to 2013.
From 2002, Mateša holds the position of the President of the Croatian Olympic Committee.
At the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, he is a Vice Dean and co-founder. Within the Department of Management, Entrepreneurship, and Digital Transformation, he is a lecturer for the Strategic Management course at the undergraduate and Strategy course at the graduate level. He is also a distinguished author of many books and articles. Some of his titles include Strategic Management, Sport Management, An Introduction to Sport Law and Introduction to Strategic Management.
Zlatko Mateša has been awarded several Croatian decorations and is Honorary Consul of Mongolia in the Republic of Croatia.