János Csák

Businessman and former ambassador János Csák sat on the board of trustees of the Maecenas Universitatis Corvini Foundation between 2019 and 2020 — the foundation created on 1 July 2019 that became the first in Hungary to take over a state university, Corvinus University of Budapest, under the government's 'model change' program. The state endowed the foundation with 10 percent each of the shares of oil company MOL and pharmaceutical firm Richter, a financing structure critics said was unpredictable: in 2020, for instance, MOL paid no dividend at all. Csák served as Minister of Culture and Innovation from 24 May 2022 to 30 June 2024, overseeing his ministry's full portfolio of foundation-run ('model change') universities, museums, and the National Cultural Fund. In July 2023, at the Tusványos festival, he compared the United States to 'a corpse whose nails keep growing' — physically active but with 'no soul left behind it' — a remark that drew wide attention. He resigned in June 2024, saying he had completed in two years the work planned for four; he was succeeded by Balázs Hankó.