Dejan Židan, born 16 October 1967, graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Ljubljana in 1992 and received his master’s degree in veterinary sciences from the same faculty in 1999. His first employment was in the Department of Reproduction of the Livestock and Veterinary Institute for Pomurje in Murska Sobota. In May 2007, he was appointed a member of the Council for Livestock Farming at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, and in June of the same year the Senate of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Maribor awarded him the title of visiting expert of the faculty. From January 2007 until joining politics, he was the chairman of the management board of Panvita Group d. d., thus cooperating in the development of the Slovenian agricultural and food processing chain comprising various activities including arable farming, feeding stuff production, pig and poultry breeding, slaughtering and food processing and "green" energy production.

Židan started his first term as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food on 5 May 2010 and led the ministry until the appointment of a new minister on 10 February 2012. At the National Assembly elections in 2011, he was elected a deputy in the National Assembly in the electoral district of Murska Sobota. In the National Assembly, he chaired the Committee for Agriculture, Forestry, Food and the Environment. In March 2013, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and the Environment and headed the ministry until the appointment of the new government on 19 September 2014, in which he took over the new ministry responsible for agriculture, forestry and food. He also served as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia in this term. In the 2018 parliamentary elections, Židan was elected a deputy of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia and became the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia in August 2018. When the 14th Government of the Republic of Slovenia took office, he resigned as president and continued his work as a deputy.

The Government of the Republic of Slovenia appointed him State Secretary at the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology on 1 June 2022. On 24 January 2023 the Government of the Republic of Slovenia appointed him State Secretary at the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport.