Spouse of the President

Aleš Musar was born on 16 July 1965 in Ljubljana. In 1991 he graduated in chemistry from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology of the University of Ljubljana, where he also worked as a young researcher and assistant to Professor Dr Aleksandra Kornhauser Frazer. Under her mentorship, he earned his master’s degree in Scientific and Technical Informatics in 1994. In 1999 he defended his PhD thesis at Lancaster University Management School (UK). Also in the UK, he earned a PhD degree in 2000, which was officially recognised at the University of Ljubljana in 2001. In 2003, he was tenured as an assistant professor at the University of Ljubljana.

During his time at the university, Musar worked on various projects for UNESCO, EBRD, UNDP, US EPA and the World Bank, where he was also employed in 1993. In 2000, he joined Aktiva Group, where he managed various projects and was involved in setting up and managing venture capital funds. In 2003, he and his partners founded the S.T. Hammer Group, within which he had a number of responsibilities in the management and control of the group’s companies. He was a member of supervisory boards and boards of directors of investment and production companies in Slovenia, Belgium, the USA, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.

In 2016, after ending his work in the S.T. Hammer Group, Musar bought at auction the cultural monument Russian Dacha in Zgornje Gameljne near Ljubljana, which was in need of major renovation. After being left abandoned and decaying for more than a decade, this beautiful building has regained its glowing appearance of 1908. Today, the villa again appears in the colours it proudly displayed before the First World War. The renovation was carried out in accordance with the conservation plan in cooperation with and under the supervision of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. The complete renovation of the Russian Dacha, which Musar carried out together with the conservator in charge, Damjana Pediček Terseglav, and the chief conservator, Jože Drešar, brought him the 2020 Stele Prize awarded by the Slovenian Conservation Society.

Aleš Musar is now focusing on the development of the Russian Dacha, redeveloping the villa’s wider surroundings to create a cultural hub on the outskirts of Ljubljana. As the spouse of the President of Slovenia, he will also be involved in projects to protect and promote Slovenia’s cultural heritage both at home and abroad.