Speakers

Alexander Tolchinsky,
Member of the Executive Board
Alfa Bank

Tolchinsky is a member of the Executive Board and Alfa Bank’s Head of Corporate Finance. He is responsible for capital markets, M&A and advisory work for the Bank’s clients. Prior to joining the Bank in 1998, he was Director of Credit Suisse First Boston in Moscow (1996-98) and a partner at McKinsey & Company (1989-95). He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of the Moscow Civil Engineering Institute. Tolchinsky was born in Ukraine on 6 December 1955.

Simon Vine,
Head of Fixed Income and Foreign Exchange at Alfa Bank
Alfa Bank

Simon Vine is Head of the Fixed Income and Currency Markets Division of Alfa Bank. His responsibilities include structured finance, fixed income sales and trading, international and local markets, and foreign exchange (FX). His division provides a world-beating financial advisory service, and currently accounts for over 40 per cent of the Russian inter-bank market volume in FX trading.
Prior to joining the Bank in 1998, he was Senior Director of derivatives at American Express Bank. He managed a proprietary hedge fund at Refco, the Foreign Exchange and Metals Options Group at Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), and foreign exchange trading at Société Générale both in inter-bank activities and on the floors of the Philadelphia and Chicago Exchanges. Vine holds an MBA from Columbia Business School (US) and a BA from the Institute of Finance and Economics in Moscow. He was born in Moscow on 19 September 1966.

Alex Gurion, VP, Corporate Development
AMTEL Holdings

Alex Gurion is a Vice-President of AMTEL Holdings Company. He is responsible for corporate development and strategy including corporate finance, information technology and branding.

Mr. Gurion joined Amtel in December of 2001 and has played a central role in negotiating strategic partnership deal with Nokian Tyres PLC (Finland) including forming Joint Venture and brand licensing agreements.

Prior to coming back to Russia, Mr. Gurion worked for three years at Merrill Lynch Canada and CIBC World Markets in Toronto as a partner at Executive Financial Services group. Before joining Merrill Lynch in 1998, Mr. Gurion served as a Director of Alfa Capital in Toronto. While there, he gained valuable corporate finance experience having being involved in a number of large M&A and capital markets transactions.

Before leaving Russia in 1993, Mr. Gurion held a position of First Deputy General Director of MOST-TORG a member of MOST groups of companies and simultaneously served as a President and partner at Rostrade, high-end apparel retail chain in Moscow, that he has founded in 1991. In 1989-91 Mr. Gurion served as a Director of marketing of Benetton in Moscow. Mr. Gurion started his carrier in 1986 as a sales engineer at Stankoimport, a department of Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR.

Mr. Gurion earned his Masters in Engineering with honors from P. Lumumba University in Moscow in 1985, and his MBA in finance and accounting from University of Toronto in 1998. Mr. Gurion has also numerous professional certificates in securities trading and portfolio management from Canadian Securities Institute in Toronto. Mr. Gurion has over 50 publications on investing in Canadian newspapers and magazines.

Dr Ghadir Abu Leil Cooper,
Director – Emerging Markets
Baring Asset Management

Investment Experience: 7 Years
Ghadir joined Baring Asset Management in February 1997 as a senior investment Analyst. She became an Investment Manager on our Global Emerging Markets Equity Team during the first quarter of 2000, with responsibility for research and stock selection within the Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Ghadir is a member of the Telecoms and Technology Global Sector Teams. She joined the firm from BZW Asset Management, where she specialised in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. Ghadir has a BSc and a PhD in theoretical physics from Durham University and is fluent in Arabic. She currently specialises in Russia, the Middle East and Africa.

Kasper Bartholdy,
Chief Economist – Emerging Markets
Credit Swiss First Boston

Kasper Bartholdy is a Chief Economist for Emerging Markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, of Credit Suisse First Boston, based in London. Over the past year his team has been rated number one (for economics coverage of the EMEA region) by the Central European Magazine and by Euromoney, and number two by Institutional Investor and the Greenwich Survey.

Before he joined the Firm in 1996, Mr. Bartholdy was Lead Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London from 1991 to 1996. Prior to this, he was a Country Economist with the International Monetary Fund in Washington from 1986 until 1991.

Mr. Bartholdy began his career as a Management Consultant with Bisballe Planning in Denmark from 1984 to 1986.

Mr. Bartholdy graduated from the Universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus with Masters degrees in Economics, Computer Science and Journalism.

David Hexter, Deputy Vice President, Business Group Director
EBRD

Mr Hexter estabilished the EBRD's Financial Institutions practice within the EBRD which has grown to 30% of our business.

Since 1999 he has been Business Group Director for Russia and Central Asia in addition to his responsibility for oversight of the Bank's equity portfolio, portfolio management within the banking department and marketing.

He spent 22 years with Citibank in a variety of posts and locations. at various times he managed or served in senior capacities in Citibank operations in Luxembourg, Greece, South Africa, the UK and the USA. Prior to joining the EBRD in 1992 he was Divisional Executive for Citibank Central & Eastern Europe, responsible for opening banks in that part of the world. Mr Hexter holds an MA from Oxford University and an MBA from Cranfield Business School.

Konstantin Shmelyov, Investment Director
Finartis

Mr. Shmelyov is the Investment Director at Finartis Moscow. He has the overall responsibility for M&A activity, strategic partnerships, and investment analyses. He was previously at Altium Capital (formerly Apax Partners & Co), ABN AMRO, and Inkombank. Mr. Shmelyov holds an M.S. in Finance from the London School of Economics and the Moscow State Academy of Management. He is fluent in Russian and English.

Andrei V. Kruglov, Head of Corporate Finance
Gazprom

Andrei V. Kruglov was born on January 24, 1969 in St-Petersburg. Married, has a son.
In 1994 graduated from Leningrad technology Institute, has a degree in engineering.
In 1995 had a course of “Credit and Finance” and “Banking” in St-Petersburg Institute of advanced post graduate studies under St-Petersburg economy and finance University.
In 1997 he received a PhD in economics.
In 2000 became an associate professor in banking.
In 1995-2001 worked as Senior Expert of the Department of international finance institutes, investments and credit of the Division for foreign economy relationship; Head of Department of technical cooperation with foreign countries and international organizations; Head of foreign trade and investments Department of foreign economy cooperation Division of the Committee for foreign relationship of St-Petersburg city hall; Head of Department in the Committee for foreign relationship of the St-Petersburg Administration.
2001-2002 – Deputy General Director of “Invest-In” company in Velikii Novgorod.
Since April 2002 is the Head of Corporate Finance Division of OAO Gazprom.

William Browder, Managing Director
Hermitage Capital Management, Moscow

For the past six years, William Browder has been running Hermitage Capital Management, the leading international asset management firm, which currently manages $400M. Mr. Browder started Hermitage Capital in 1996 in partnership with the late Edmond Safra. In 1996 and 1997, Hermitage Fund was ranked “Best Performing Fund in the World” by Micropal and “Best Russian Fund” by Lipper (1997-1998.) Mr. Browder’s position on corporate governance practices in Russia has made him a leading shareholder rights activist and outspoken fighter for better corporate governance. He serves as a member of the OECD/World Bank roundtable on Corporate Governance in Russia, and often reports on shareholder rights issues to international financial institutions. He was named a Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in Davos 2001, and is a regular speaker at Bloomberg, CNBC, Euromoney conferences and serves as a Russia expert to FT, Wall Street Journal and New York Times. Prior to starting Hermitage, Mr. Browder was a Vice President at Salomon Brothers where he managed the firm’s proprietary investments in Russia. Before that, he was a management consultant within the East European practice of the Boston Consulting Group in London. He received an MBA from Stanford Business School and a BA in Economics with highest honors from the University of Chicago.

Mikhail Moshiashvili, CEO
Ilim Pulp Enterprise

Mr. Moshiashvili has been Ilim Pulp Group's First Deputy General Director for strategic development since 2000. He graduated from the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation in international monetary and finance relations. He has a working knowledge of English, German and Hebrew.

In 1992, Mr. Moshiashvili joined the World Bank as a member of its training programmes team. He worked at the currency department of Russia's Vneshtorgbank in 1994 and 1995 – head of the fiscal operations department at ABN AMRO in Germany and Russia. Prior to joining Ilim Pulp Group, Mr. Moshiashvili organbised the first corporate Treasury in Russia at Alfa-Eco company. He was responsible for YUKOS Holding's Treasury from 1997. He developed several investment and privitisation projects in domestic coal mining industry. He was also Director of Finance at Russia's leading agro-industrial group Razgulyai before joining Ilim Pulp Group.

Igor Mazepa, Managing Director
MFK Investment Bank - Kiev

Mr. Mazepa acquired his institutional sales experience at Prospect Investments (from July 1997 until August 2000), a Kiev-based brokerage firm which he made a Number 1 in Ukraine in terms of trading volumes. He refined his experience at Foyil Securities New Europe (August 2000 – January 2002) which under his management topped the list of Ukrainian brokers.

In February 2002 he joined MFK Investment Bank in Kiev as a Managing Director.

He holds MA in International Economics, as well BA in Law from Kiev National University of Economics. Fluent in English, Russian, Ukrainian, speaks Spanish and German.

Viatcheslav Sinyugin, Deputy Chairman of the Board
RAO UES

Mr. Sinyugin was an Executive Manager at Siberia Capital between 1995-1997, before joining the Federal Commission as the Head of Regional Branch, where he stayed for a year.

In August 1998 Mr. Sinyugin became Head of Shareholder’s Capital Department and Member of the Board of RAO “UES of Russia”. In June 1999 he became the Head of Asset Management Department. In January 2000 the restructuring programme began. At first Mr. Sinyugin was its Project Manager and later in September 2000 he founded Corporate Strategy Department to complete the restructuring project.

At present Mr. Sinyugin, as a Deputy Chairman of the Board, is organising restructuring process, corporate strategy and fundraising.

Mr. Sinyugin has also attended a couple of management programs. In 1996 he attended the Finance of Today by the New York Institute of Finance and in 1997 the Practical Study-Commission of Bonds and Securities in Washington D.C., USA.

Konrad J. Reuss, Managing Director, Sovereign Ratings Group, EMEA
Standard & Poor’s

Konrad J. Reuss is managing director of Standard & Poor's soveriegn ratings group. Based in London, he heads the london team of analysts that evaluate the credit standing of sovereign governments, sovereign-supported issuers and multilateral lending institutions in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Prior to joining Standard & Poor's in 1993, Mr. Reuss worked for seven years at Deutsche bank AG, Frankfurt.

Mr. Reuss holds an M.Sc. (Econ) degree from the University of Wuerzburg, Germany.

Alan Bigman, Vice President, Director fo the Corporate Finance Department
TNK/Tyumen Oil Company

Vice-President, Director of the Corporate Finance Department (since 1998).
In 1989 Mr. Bigman graduated from Yale University (USA). From 1989 to 1990, he studied economics at Moscow University. In 1996 Mr. Bigman graduated from the Harvard School of Business, MBA program. From 1991 to 1992 he was a senior analyst at Cannon Devane Associates. From 1992 to 1994 Mr. Bigman was manager of the Land Reform Project of the International Finance Corporation. In 1995 he was appointed investment advisor at Herlitz International. In 1997 Mr. Bigman was appointed advisor to the chairman of the executive board of "RAO UES (United Energy System) of Russia". From 1996 to April 1998 he served as vice-president of Access Industries, Inc.

H. Howard Cooper, President
Teton Petroleum Company

H. Howard Cooper (44) is the President of Teton Petroleum Company. He has got a Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance from the University of Colorado and a Master of Arts from Columbia University in New York. Mr. Cooper formed Teton Petroleum in 1996 and he has got twenty years of international oil experience. Before joining Teton, Mr. Cooper was a partner in developing the Karakuduk field in Kazakhstan, which is currently producing 8,500 barrels of oil per day.

Igor Umanskiy,
Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics and European Integration of Ukraine

Born in 1975 in the Kiev region.
Education: Graduated from Kiev State Economics University in 1997 with a Master’s degree in Business Administration.

Work experience:

2000 – 2001 Economic advisor to the Minister of Economy of Ukraine;
1998 – 2001 Economic advisor to Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine;
1997 – 1998 Chief advisor at investment department of the National Agency for development and European integration;
1997 Investment advisor at the National Agency for Reconstruction and Development.

Stephen O’Sullivan, Head of Research
United Financial Group, Moscow

Stephen O’Sullivan has twenty years experience in the oil industry, the last seven of which have been in Russia. He joined BP International in 1981 in a variety of roles, including oil trading and economic planning before moving to Total’s UK subsidiary where he was responsible for the company’s North Sea oil activities and gas transportation. He spent five years as an energy consultant in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Asia before joining MC Securities as the Head of Research and Oil & Gas Analyst in early 1995. In 1998 he joined Russia’s leading independent stockbroker United Financial Group as Head of Research and Oil and Gas Analyst in Moscow. He has been ranked the leading foreign analyst on the Russian equity market, the number two Emerging Europe oil and gas analyst in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and UFG’s team has been ranked number two on the Russian equity market in 2000, 2001 and 2002 by Institutional Investor and Extel and number three in the entire EMEA region by Reuters.

Alexei Yakovitsky, Analyst
United Financial Group, Moscow

Mr. Yakovitsky joined UFG in 2000 and covers the Moscow, St. Petersburg and regional telecommunications markets – both fixed line and wireless. Prior to UFG, Mr. Yakovitsky worked at Bridge News, where he was the Moscow Telecommunications and IT correspondent. Mr. Yakovitsky graduated in History from Moscow State University in 1997 and received an MA in Political Science from Nelson A. Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, State University of New York at Albany, in 1998.

Sergei Plastinin, President
Wimm-Bill-Dann

Sergei A. Plastinin serves as the Chairman of our Management Board, which is our Chief Executive Officer position. In 1993, he served as General Director of UT Center LLC; from 1994 to 1995 he was General Director of NPP of Juices and Drinks JSC; from 1996 to 1998 he was Deputy Director of PK Lianfruct JSC; from 1996 to 1998 he served as Deputy Director of Production of Foods CJSC; and from 1998 to 1999 he was Deputy Director of Lianozovo Dairy Plant. Since 1996, Mr. Plastinin has acted as Executive Director of PAG Rodnik CJSC. Since 1998, Mr. Plastinin has served as Deputy General Director of Production and Trade Group WBD CJSC. In addition, since 1998 Mr. Plastinin has acted as a consultant to Lianozovo Dairy Plant. All of these companies either currently are or formerly were a part of our group of companies.

Christof Ruehl, Chief Economist, Russia Country Office
World Bank

Christof Ruehl, a German national, graduated in economics from the University of Bremen and worked as a Research Associate at the universities of Bremen
(1986-88) and Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany (1988-91). In 1991, he joined the economics department of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) as an Assistant Professor. In 1996 he moved to the Office of the Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London as a Principle Economist. He joined the World Bank as a Senior Economist in 1998. In 2001, Mr. Ruehl became Chief Economist at the World Bank's Moscow office. Over the previous years, Mr. Ruehl has also held visiting positions at various universities and research institutions, among them the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, the University of Western Ontario, Canada, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna and the Central European University in Prague and Budapest (1994-96). He has published a number of books and numerous articles. His areas of specialization are macroeconomics and the economics of the transition from central planning.