Charles Kovacs

Charles is an American with more than 45 years of experience in international and investment banking, and in government relations. He has lived and worked in Hungary since 1991, after 20 years with the Chase Manhattan Bank, in New York, Frankfurt, Singapore, Beirut, Athens, and London. In Budapest, he was Director, Corporate Finance and Privatization at Price Waterhouse, and then Head of the Budapest office of Barclays de ZoeteWedd Ltd. (BZW), and the Barclays Bank group representative office for Hungary and Slovenia.

Subsequently, Charleswas Senior Advisor at Citibank, Arthur Andersen, British Airways, and advised Lehman Brothers on government relations and private equity acquisitions until that firm’s demise. In addition Charles was one of the founding shareholders and a member of the supervisory board of a listed insurance company and worked with UNCTAD as a senior expert on international investment promotion on projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kenya.

From 1999, Charles was a consultant for Elliott Associates and in that capacity arranged and executed the acquisition of a Hungarian media company, as well the purchase of a larger one in 2013. He then served as the chairman of the supervisory board of the two merged firms.

Born in Hungary, Charles is a graduate of Clark University (B.A, with High Honors in International Relations) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A., M.A.L.D.).