NADÁCIA OTVORENEJ SPOLOČNOSTI – OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION HAS A NEW DIRECTOR

9.06.2015

The Board of Nadácia otvorenej spoločnosti – Open Society Foundation closed the selection process last week. From 8 June 2015, Ján Orlovský is the new head of the OSF.

The Board of the Foundation completed the open call for applicants for the position of Executive Director of the Foundation last week. Ján Orlovský succeeds Marek Kapusta, who held the position in years 2014 and 2015.

“The main task of the new director is to complete the transformation process. The process began two years ago after Foundation became independent from the parent organisation Open Society Institute in New York,” said Richard Ďurana, member of the Board. “Open Society Foundation for over 20 years has made immense piece of work for Slovakia. Thanks to the grants hundreds of our students got to know the world. Foundation played a significant part in fact that today’s Slovakia belongs to the part of Europe where the dialogue takes precedence over force solutions. Yet the main mission of the Foundation – to open space for people to gain knowledge and lead them to respect different points of view – is far from over. A long way is waiting for us. Thus, I am grateful for the trust of the Governing Board. I look forward to working with a team of enthusiastic people,” said J. Orlovský.

Orlovský has worked with non-profit organizations for more than 20 years. He has been a volunteer and a promoter of NGO activities, member and chairman of the governing boards in several of them. He has worked in government and private sector on capacity building of non-profit organizations. Between 1992 – 2002 (with one-year break) he worked in the Slovak diplomatic service. Between 2003 – 2014 he served as a spokesman of Západoslovenská Energetika, Inc. He worked to develop shared platform for NGOs and business for sustainable development (Fund for Transparent Slovakia, Business Leaders Forum). Since August 2014 until April, 2 he worked as spokesman of the political party Sieť. He also participated in rescue of a national cultural heritage in Piešťany. The town awarded him the Personality of Culture of the Year 2014.

Open Society Foundation promotes values of open society and equal opportunities for all. It is an independent organization within the European network of Open Society Institutes, with informal leader of the Open Society Institute for Europe in Barcelona.

Contact for media:

Ján Orlovský, Executive Director of OSF, jan.orlovsky@osf.sk

Natalia Tomeková, Manager for Media and Communication of OSF, natalia.tomekova@osf.sk

Richard Ďurana, Member of the Board, richard.durana@iness.sk