We are deeply saddened by the news of the sudden and untimely passing of our dear colleague and friend, Ivan Leko. This is an irreplaceable loss for his family, his friends, his colleagues, and all of us who respected and loved him—and believe us, we had every reason to. Ivan was a man of brightness, a big Slavonian soul, and great kindness. Educated and well-intentioned, he was always where responsibility and challenge resided—where many of us, whether by chance or choice, would not often go. Above all, he loved his family—his wife Danijela, his four children, and his grandchildren—alongside whom, as he used to say, he managed to “run long-distance races, produce his own olive oil and beer, and occasionally go diving.”
Ivan was born in Slavonski Brod on 4 August 1973. After completing secondary school, he enrolled at the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, where he graduated in 1997 with a degree in chemical engineering. He began his career as an intern in the Quality Assurance Department of the former Tobacco Factory Rovinj, and in the following years held various managerial positions in production within tobacco factories in Zagreb and Rovinj. With the establishment of TDR d.o.o., he became Director of Operations, overseeing the entire vertically integrated supply and production chain. Since 2009, he had been a member of the Management Board of TDR, as well as a member of the Supervisory Boards of Hrvatski duhani and Istragrafika. Alongside various educational programmes and modules at Adris Academy, IEDC, and London Business School, Ivan graduated in 2013 from the Executive MBA programme at IESE Business School in Barcelona.
Following the sale of TDR d.o.o. in 2015, Ivan became Director of Operations and a member of the Regional Management Board for Adria at British American Tobacco. Since June 2020, he had been employed at Adris Group, where he served as Director of Business Improvement, focusing on real estate management and development projects. From 1 April 2021, he served as Chairman of the Management Board of Cromaris.
Thank you, dear Ivan, for the years of shared work, friendship, kindness, and the warmth you radiated.
Run peacefully through the open spaces of heaven.
Your colleagues at Cromaris