Sándor Csányi

Sándor Csányi, chairman-CEO of OTP Bank and one of Hungary's wealthiest businessmen with close ties to Viktor Orbán, became chairman of the board of trustees of the foundation that took over the former Szent István University (later renamed the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, MATE) under the 'model change' scheme, effective January 4, 2021, alongside agriculture minister István Nagy, government commissioner János Lázár, and other government-aligned figures. This placed him at the head of the private foundation controlling one of the largest universities transferred out of state maintenance under the model-change program, which shifted public assets and governance to government-aligned businessmen and politicians. Effective June 15, 2026, he resigned from the board of trustees of both the MATE and University of Sopron foundations, citing that the foundations' scope of authority would shrink significantly while chairmanship duties would still require substantial time — a resignation that came alongside similar departures by Oszkár Világi (MOL) and József Váradi (Wizz Air), amid an opposition (Tisza Party) push to legislate changes to the KEKVA foundation model.