Boris Miksic's Double Life

In the first week of January 2005, large groups gathered in the streets of the Croatian capital of Zagreb in support of presidential candidate Boris Miksic. Exit polls and early returns in the nation’s presidential election on January 2 showed Miksic in second place, with roughly 20 percent of the vote. The incumbent, Stjepan (Stipe) Mesic, had failed to earn 50 percent of the vote, which meant that a runoff election would be held between the top two vote getters.

Miksic had been riding an incredible wave. He’d entered the race only months before, investing nearly $1 million of his own money and rising from obscurity to surpass in popular support most of the 13 candidates in the field. Even more remarkable: For the last 30 years, Miksic has lived in Minnesota, where he had founded and built a $50 million corrosion-resistance business with customers worldwide.

But when the votes from Croatians living outside Croatia, including the large contingency in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina, were publicly announced, the tally for Jadranka Kosor—whose party dominated the parliament and who had finished third in the local voting—leapfrogged that of Miksic, who finished with just under 18 percent by the official record. (Mesic went on to win the runoff.)

Thus, the protest march of Miksic supporters in Zagreb. There were charges of vote tampering, and some of the pro-Miksic protests became rather raucous. In the end, Miksic conceded, faced with bureaucratic and legal resistance to his challenge, and concerned that his image would be tarnished if his supporters were portrayed by the state-run media as disorganized. He soon announced his candidacy for a seat on the Zagreb City Council, which he won the following May.

Miksic’s money certainly helped bolster his late entry in the presidential campaign. But Miksic, who has dual U.S. and Croatian citizenship, wants the focus to be on his economic message of Croatian independence and American-style opportunity. He wants Croatians to experience the entrepreneurial opportunities that he’s taken advantage of in the U.S. It’s a platform that’s distinctive in Croatian politics. And it’s a message that he has lived.

A 4,800-Mile Commute

Miksic is founder and CEO of Cortec Corporation, a White Bear Township–based company that manufactures anti-corrosion chemicals, films, and packaging products that are sold worldwide. Its revenue approached $50 million last year and is growing steadily towards Miksic’s target of $100 million annually within the next five years.

While continuing to build Cortec, Miksic also spends about a week each month in Croatia for voting, committee meetings, and various other civic duties as a member of the Zagreb City Council. He is Zagreb’s only independent councilman, unallied with any of the country’s major parties. In this public role—and with his extensive business experience—he also serves on several corporate boards overseas. “It’s a lot of work,” he says. “Zagreb or the government has control over most of those companies: our national airport, the city’s public transportation system. Things like that.” Being a council member may be a step or two down from the presidency, but it still has some power. “The city council is sort of the country’s second parliament,” he says, “You have the [national] government, and you have Zagreb.”