In 2007, Marić attended the executive education program in Management at Young Global Leaders School of Klaus Schwab at the Harvard University.

Marić earned his Ph.D. in 2008 from the Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business with thesis The Impact of Foreign Direct Investments on the Productivity of Croatian Companies.

His main responsibility was to bring macroeconomic forecasting and work on the state budget, as well as direct cooperation with the European Commission in the field of economic dialogue.

[5] According to a poll conducted in April 2016 by IPSOS Puls for Nova TV, Marić was considered the second most popular member of the Government after Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković.

On 20 April 2017, 46 MPs from the SDP, HNS, HSS, HSU, ŽZ and SNAGA backed by the 15 MPs from MOST, submitted a proposal for a motion of no confidence against Marić after the Committee on Conflict of Interest concluded that Marić, who served as an Executive Director for Strategy and Capital in Agrokor prior to taking office as a minister, participated in the Government session held on 10 April 2017 where the Government was deciding on the proposal for appointing the extraordinary manager in the Agrokor by which Marić violated provisions of the Law on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest which stipulates that a state official has to exempt himself from all proceedings which could directly or indirectly affect a company in which he worked prior to taking office.