BUSINESS ROZHOVOR

Ing. Ján Moder,

śLóNSKI SłOWIOK

and a Businessman that

Stays True to His Word

Mr Moder hails from Slovakia, however, his heart beats for Třinec.

He is the First Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board for the

Třinec Ironworks and president of an extra league hockey club.

He is a shining example of how cooperation with a city’s leadership

can be very successful and how even industrial cities can be turned

into places where people like to live and love to return to.

Mr Moder, Třinec is a densely populated

industrial city and your name has

become inseparably connected to it,

however, you were born in Nitra, is that

correct?

I was actually born in Bratislava; Nitra is

my father’s hometown and I often traveled

there to visit him. I moved to Nitra when

I was thirteen and spent my high school

years there. I must say that I consider it my

hometown, more so than Bratislava.

For a long time now, you have been

living in Třinec. Do you feel like

a patriot?

Yes, I definitely do. I call myself the ‘ślónski

słowiok’. I love the local countryside.

Everyone who visits Třinec by train already

gets their first taste of the steel and

ironworks at the train station, however,

Třinec itself is also a city covered in

greenery and surrounded by mountains.

Every morning, as I leave my home, I can

look around and gaze upon Javorový,

Ostrý and Kozubová on one side and

Čantoryje and Prašivá on the other. The

views are truly beautiful and seeing them

first thing in the morning really helps

improve one’s mood for the day. I have

also come to really like the locals and

I have many friends here.

12 ǀ POSITIV 3/2021

What moments from the early days of

your business career do you look back

on fondly? Could you perhaps point out

some of the most important milestones?

There are multiple milestones. Right at

the beginning of the 90s, we managed to

import coking coal from Poland to what

was then Nová Huť, VSŽ Košice and

Vítkovice.

Another positive event was the

privatisation of Moravia Steel in 1996,

where we were invited to establish and

organize mainly trade relations. From

Moravia Steel we built a business service

company for the Třinec Ironworks, which

now holds a good name not just in

Europe but globally. With a clean slate, we

brought the ironworks into the EU where

we now belong among highly respected

companies.

Another important event happened in

2002, when we were recommended by

the European committee to take over the

leadership of Nová Huť. Unfortunately,

the government decided otherwise. We

also failed in the same way in the case of

Vítkovice Steel. This inspired us with more

fighting spirit, and we decided to show

everyone that we were the best.

Today, we produce Czechia’s highest

quality steel, and we are also the country’s