Herman Gref was born on 8 February, 1964 at Panfilovo, Pavlodar Region, Kazakhstan.

In 1982-1984, he served in the Soviet Army.

In 1990 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Omsk State University, with the diploma on jurisprudence.

In 1990-1993, he took a postgraduate course at the Faculty of Law of Leningrad State University.

In 1991-1992, he was first rank legal adviser at the Committee for Economic Development and Property, Administration of Petrodvoretz, St Petersburg.

From 1992 to 1994 he served as Chairman of the Property Committee and Deputy Head, Administration of Petrodvoretz, St Petersburg Mayor’s Office.

Ruben Vardanian is Troika Dialog’s Board Chairman and CEO. He started as an employee at Troika Dialog when the company was founded and worked his way up to become the head of the company in 1992. From then on, Vardanian solidified his role as a key figure in Russia’s capit al markets.

Graduating from Moscow State University with a degree in Economics with Honours, he was a trainee at BANCA CRT in Italy and Merrill Lynch’s Emerging Market Training Programme in New York City (1992), as well as doing a course work at INSEAD (France) and Harvard Business School.

Born: 16 September 1923, Singapore

Education:

1935 – 1939 – Raffles Institution 1940-1942 – Raffles College, Singapore

1942-1945 – (Spent Japanese occupation in Singapore)

1946-1949 – Fitzwilliam, Cambridge, England. Graduated in 1949 with First Class Honours in Law, with a star for distinction in the final examinations (1969 Honorary Fellow)

1946 – 1950 – Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law (1969 Honorary Bencher)

Activities:

1951 – Advocate & Solicitor Legal Adviser to several trade unions

1954 – Helped found People’s Action Party (PAP). Became Secretary-General. Held this office, except for brief period in 1957, until November 1992

April 1955 – Contested General Election for the
Tanjong Pagar Constituency, a workingclass
dock area, and became one of
three PAP Assemblymen. Has remained
the representative of Tanjong Pagar
Constituency since 1955

May 1959 – PAP won the General Election.
Became Prime Minister

1963-1965 – One of 15 MPs from Singapore to
the Parliament of Malaysia, from 16
September 1963 until 9 August 1965,
when Singapore separated from the
Federation

Deputy Prime Minister and Chief of the Government Staff Sergei Sobyanin is the man at the forefront of Russia’s economic policy implementation and modernisation efforts. He is the Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Modernisation and Technology Development and a member of the Skolkovo (Innograd, centre for innovations) Advisory Council, both of which are chaired by President Medvedev. Being in charge of the implementation of decisions and instructions of the President and the Government of Russia, as well as the civil service and administrative reform, he also chairs regular meeting of the Government Commission for Introduction of Information Technology at Government Agencies (e-government).

Replacing Dmitry Medvedev who would become the First Deputy Prime Minister, he was previously President’s Putin Chief of Staff from 2005 to 2008 and remained his top executive with latter becoming Russia’s Prime Minister in May 2008. Before that, from 2001-2005 Sergei Sobyanin was Governor of Tyumen region, where he was born in 1958 and had grown up the ranks from a mechanic at Chelyabinsk pipe plant to Mayor of Kogalym city Administration, First Deputy Head of Hanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District, Chairman of its legislature and a member of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament – the Federation Council. Known as the “energy center of Russia” because of its huge hydrocarbon resources, Tyumen region, located in the most northern part of Russia, ranks its first in terms of industrial production, 87% of which come from oil & gas sector. Under Sergei Sobyanin term as Tyumen’s governor, the region was leading in carrying out reforms in the housing and communal services, public health and education, doubling of government spending in these areas.

Born on 20 May 1941, Mr Goh Chok Tong is Senior Minister of Singapore and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Mr Goh joined the Administrative Service of the Singapore Government in 1964. In 1969, he joined the national shipping company, Neptune Orient Lines, and was its Managing Director from 1973 to 1977. In 1976, Mr Goh was elected the Member of Parliament for Marine Parade Constituency and has been re-elected in eight subse quent elections, most recently in 2006. In 1977, he was appointed Senior Minister of State for Finance. Between 1979 and 1990, Mr Goh held various ministerial positions as Minister for Trade and Industry, Minister for Health and Minister for Defence. In 1985, he was also appointed First Deputy Prime Minister.

Prof Rohan Abeyaratne was appointed Director of SMART in March 2009. SMART is MIT’s first, and to-date only, research centre outside of the United States. It is MIT’s largest international programme.

Prior to this, Prof Abeyaratne was its Associate Department Head from 1996-2001, and was subsequently appointed as the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT from 2001-2008. He has held visiting faculty positions at the California Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, and the University of Minnesota.

Alexander Bazhenov is currently the Director of PPP Center and Vnesheconombank (Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs) in Russia. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors (Independent) at JSC Economic Institute of Utilities, and Member of Board of Directors with JSC Zarubezhneft. He had executive training at AT Kearney, Suez and JF Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He has become involved with various significant companies and it started in 1987 in Salyut Design Bureau of State Space Research and Production Center. Subsequently in 2002, he was appointed the Bureau’s Deputy CEO. From 1997 to 1999, he was the Principal at AT Kearney Strategic Management Consultancy in Moscow. Then, Bazhenov was picked to be the Deputy Director of Ondeo Services, a water and waste management company from 1999 to 2003.

In 2003, he was the Deputy CEO of JSC Russian Utility Systems in Moscow for a year. After Bazhenov’s one year stint with JSC, he became the Executive Vice President of Eurasian Water Partnership Ltd, a national private operator of the municipal infrastructure for water supplies and drainage systems, and Member of the Board of JSC Evraziyiskiy. Then he was appointed Deputy Director in Infrastructure from 2007 to 2008 in Vnesheconombank.

Sergey Brilev is the Deputy Director and Anchor for TV Channel “Rossiya” (RTR has the second largest viewership in Russia) since 2006. He has been an active member of Presidium Council on Foreign and Defense Policy from 2008.

Armed with a degree in Foreign Languages from Institute of Montevideo in Uruguay, Brilev worked as a trainee and staff writer in Komsomolskaya Pravda (meaning “Komsomol Truth”), a tabloid and official newspaper of Central Committee of Komsomol. After his three-year stint with the tabloid, Brilev became a foreign desk correspondent for the Moscow News Weekly. Being immersed in the daily grind of news and public affairs, he studied International Relations in Moscow State University.

Chan Soo Sen is the Executive Vice President of Singbridge International Singapore Pte Ltd, that is involved in city development and infrastructure. He did his undergraduate studies in Oxford and postgraduate studies in Stanford Business School in the US.

After completing his studies, Chan served in the Administrative Service of Singapore’s Ministries of Defence, Education and Home Affairs for 13 years. True to his calling in public service, he founded a community self-help organisation wherein he is the Executive Director. Leaving the Administrative Service in 1994, he became the first Chief Executive Officer of China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Co Ltd (CSSD) and was instrumental in laying a firm foundation for its future growth.

Sergey Cheremin was born in 1963 in Kislovodsk. He graduated with honors in 1989 from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations with a specialization in international journalism and completed his postgraduate course at Moscow State University specializing in global economic issues. In 1992, he was an intern at the New York Institute under the Investments and International Accounts Program and in 1993 joined a course for banking specialists at Fairfield University (USA).

Chong Siak Ching is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ascendas Pte Ltd. She was appointed and presently sits on the boards of Ascendas Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries. In November 2002, Ascendas pioneered Singapore’s first business space trust, Ascendas REIT. Then in August 2008, Ascendas unveiled its first India-based properties business trust, Ascendas India Trust.

She is the Deputy Chairman of Spring Singapore, the enterprise development agency of Singapore and Chairman of IE Singapore’s Network India Steering Committee. In addition, Chong is a Council Member of the Singapore Business Federation. With her extensive experience in business space management, she was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Jurong Town Corporation.

Choo Chiau Beng is the Chief Executive Officer of Keppel Corporation Ltd and also the Chairman of Keppel Land Limited, Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd and Keppel Energy Pte Ltd.

A Colombo Plan Scholarship was awarded to Choo to study Naval Architecture in the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Graduating in 1970 with First Class Honours in Bachelor of Science, Choo finished his Master of Science Degree in Naval Architecture the following year. To further his knowledge, he attended the Programme for Management Development in Harvard Business School in 1982 and is a member of Wharton Society of Fellows, University of Pennsylvania.

Anatoly Chubais was appointed Chief Executive Officer of RUSNANO in September 2008 and is Russia’s Co-Chairman of the EU-Russia Industrialists’ Round Table since 2000. He was the Chairman of the Management Board of RAO Unified Energy System of Russia from 1998 to 2008 and was in the government service from 1990 to 1998.

Fong Saik Hay graduated from NUS (Singapore) with first class honours in Mechanical Engineering in 1981. In the year of 1985, he received his Master of Science in Computer, Information and Control Engineering from University Of Michigan. To cap off his engineering education, he attended the 76th Programme for Management Development at Harvard University in 2001.

He started as SVP (Engineering) in ST Kinetics where he managed and directed the product development, technology acquisition, engineering human resources development and relevant support activities. Aside from leading successfully the built-up of indigenous armoured vehicle design capabilities, he led investments into desalination and environmental-friendly technologies such as fuel cells, electric/hybrid drives, energy efficient hydraulics, super capacitor technology and Stirling Motors.

George Gens is one of those top executives who determine the trends of the contemporary Russian IT-market evolution. Founded by him in 1989 LANIT was one of the first private companies in Russia. Today it is among one of the companies of Russia that play the leading role in a lot of core computer-industry spheres. Having started as a software distributor (in 1989 LANIT became the first Novell official partner in the USSR) George Gens successively and steadily developed the comprehensive IT-company. His remarkable business capabilities and fundamental knowledge on economics (he received first MS and then PhD degree in economics at the Moscow State University) proved to be useful to him in order, when launching and controling the fast growing enterprise.

Today the LANIT Group is one of the leading Russian suppliers of IT-services. The head company – LANIT and five other companies within the group are located in Moscow, while the branches and affiliates operate in S-Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Barnaul, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski, Kiev (the Ukraine), Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

Ho Kwon Ping is the Executive Chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings, which owns both listed and private companies, engaged in development, ownership and operation of hotels, resorts, spas, residential homes, retail galleries and other lifestyle activities in the region.

Educated in Tunghai University (Taiwan), Stanford University (California) and University of Singapore, Ho started as a broadcast & financial journalist and was the Economics Editor of Far Eastern Economic Review. After his stint in journalism, he joined the family business in 1981. Encouraged by the success of rehabilitating a piece of environmentally damaged land into Asia’s first integrated resort, Laguna Phuket, Ho decided to launch the company’s own global hotel brand catered to high-end travelers. Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts was set up to build and manage luxury boutique hotels and resorts, steeped in Asian tradition and sensitive to the environment.

Kundapur Vaman Kamath is the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICICI Bank Limited, India’s second largest bank. Kamath has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and finished his Management Studies at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

With education in engineering and management, Kamath chose the career path in the financial sector. He started his career in 1971 at ICICI, an Indian financial institution that founded ICICI Bank and merged in 2002. In 1988, he moved on to work in Asian Development Bank and spent several years in the South-East Asia before returning to ICICI as its Managing Director & CEO in 1996.

Under his leadership, the ICICI Group transformed itself into a diversified, technology-driven financial services group that captured leadership position across banking, insurance and asset management in India, and with impressive international presence.

Eugene Kaspersky’s love for mathematics determined his “technical” future. One of his hobbies during high school was to solve problems published in mathematical journals. He spent his last 2 years of high school taking physics and mathematics courses in a specialised programme for gifted students organised and affiliated with Moscow State University.

After graduating in 1987 from Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science majoring in Mathematical Engineering, Kaspersky worked at a multidisciplinary research institute. He detected the Cascade virus on his computer which he analysed and developed a disinfection utility for it – the first such utility he developed. He started collecting malicious programmes and disinfection modules for them. This extraordinary collection formed the foundation of the famous anti-virus database in Kaspersky Anti-Virus. Today, this database includes more than 4 million records and is one of the most complete anti-virus databases in the world.

Anton Konnov joined Allen & Overy, one of the premier international law firms in Russia in 1997 and became a Partner in 2009. He graduated from Moscow University, Law College (1999) and studied again in New York University, School of Law (2006).

A qualified attorney in New York, Konnov concentrates on corporate transactions, including cross-border mergers and acquisitions. He has advised major Russian and foreign companies in connection with share and asset deals, establishment and operation of joint ventures, securities issues, corporate governance and shareholder disputes.

Igor Kucheryavy is the President and CEO of Tronic Group of companies and serves on the company’s Board of Directors. Ukraine-born Kucheryavy played a key role in several corporate initiatives, while personally leading business development activities with strategic partners and new clients.

Since joining Tronic, Kucheryavy served as Deputy GM of international consulting company in Moscow, doing business and technology consultancy for Russian enterprises and government organisation. He was previously working for the largest Moscow IT company as Project Manager and Chief of Department.

Oleg Larichev has been with Troika Dialog since 1996 and with Troika Dialog Asset Management since 1998. Prior to joining Troika Dialog, Oleg worked as an economic expert with the Russian European Centre for Economic Policy. He has 13 years’ experience in Russia’s securities markets has been a member of the TDAM Investment Committee since March 1998. He was promoted to CIO in April 2005.

Lim Chuan Poh was appointed A*STAR Chairman in April 2007 to lead the agency in conducting world-class scientific research and developing human capital for a vibrant knowledge-based, innovationdriven Singapore.

He graduated with Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Mathematics in 1983 and received a Master of Arts degree in 1988 from Cambridge University. Lim continued his studies from Cornell University in 1993, receiving his Masters in Business Administration degree (with distinction). He attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School in 2003.

Prior to helming A*STAR, Lim was awarded with SAF Overseas Scholarship and spent 23 years with the Singapore Armed Forces. He held various appointments in the course of his military career, and last held the office of the Chief of Defence Force. Lim oversaw the operational deployment of SAF Peacekeeping Troops to Timor Leste and led SAF efforts to implement measure to counter terrorism. He spearheaded the development of SAF as a technologically advanced integrated force ready and capable of a spectrum of operations.

Loi Pok Yen graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) degree from National University of Singapore. In November 2004, Loi joined the Board and was appointed Group CEO in January 2005.

Prof Kishore Mahbubani is currently the Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School) at the National University of Singapore.

In 1971, Prof Mahbubani graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Philosophy from the University of Singapore. He went on to receive his Masters Degree in Philosophy from Dalhousie University, Canada in 1976 and an honorary doctorate in 1995. He served as a Fellow of the Center for International Affairs in Harvard University from 1991 to 1992.

Ng joined Tat Hong Holdings Ltd in 1979 and was appointed as the Managing Director on 25 October 1991. With more than 30 years of experience in the heavy equipment and plant hiring businesses under his helm, he bears overall responsibility for developing and spearheading the company’s corporate planning and policy, and strategy formulation. This includes the review of new business developments and potential acquisitions in the region.

As the Acting CE O of Tat Hong China, Ng is also overseeing the company’s five tower crane rental subsidiaries in China, as well as its investment in the 24%-owned associated company, the Singapore-listed Yongmao Holdings Limited.

Rajinder Sethi was in the family business, running one of Eastern India’s leading travel agency. In 1989, Sethi set up the Moscow office for a Singapore company, Agio Countertrade Pte Ltd. From 1990 to 1997, he was a Partner and Head of CIS operations, and becoming its Chairman for Russian operations until 2000. Agio was a major player in the market and it paved way for Sethi to be knowledgeable in addition to being well connected within the Russian business and government sector.

Sethi’s experiences through the transition of Soviet Union into new Russia has given him an insider’s perspective that few expatriate businessmen have. Living in Russia for over 20 years, Sethi has learnt to understand its system and discover its potential. Importantly, he has built up a network of friends among the expatriate community and the Russian elite.

Andrei Sharonov joined Troika Dialog as a Managing Director in July 2007. He was appointed Managing Director and Head of IB at Troika Dialog Group on July 2009.

Before joining Troika Dialog, Sharonov held the position of State Secretary/Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation. Sharonov worked at the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade for 10 years, including 9 years when he was Deputy Minister.

From 1992 to 1996, Sharonov was the Chairman of the Russian Federation Youth Committee. His career in Public Administration began in 1991 as the Chairman of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic State Committee for youth policy. He was one of the People’s Deputy of USSR from 1989 to 1991.

Kotaro Tamura, aged 46, is a former Senator and former Vice Minister for fiscal and economic policy-making and financial affairs. Though he has taken a break from politics, he is actively engaged in promoting Japan’s businesses, technologies and culture to the world. He is the CEO of Tamura Institute which supports and links foreign companies with Japan’s businesses and has offices in Tokyo and Singapore.

Before entering politics, he was an investment banker by profession and held different positions in the business sector. He was an M&A dealmaker at Yamaichi Securities, Chief Editor and Director at the newspaper Nihonkai Shimbun. In addition to his distinguished career in business, he has string of degrees from some of the world’s top universities – Bachelors from Wasada University, Masters in Business Administration from Keio University, Law degree from Duke Law School, Masters from Yale University and Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Roustam Tariko, the founder of Russia’s No. 1 premium vodka and the country’s largest private consumer finance bank, is one of Russia’s most successful entrepreneurs.

In 1998, he launched Russian Standard Vodka, Russia’s leading premium vodka that is recognised for its purity, authenticity and exceptional taste. Russian Standard Vodka, which is Russia’s only truly global vodka brand, accounts for 60 percent of the premium vodka market in Russia and is exported to more than 75 countries.

Ambassador Michael Tay initiated the Russia Singapore Business Forum (RSBF) in 2006, which is today the only international businessto- business platform engaging Russian business. As the Executive Director of the RSBF, he has been instrumental in contributing to the success of the forum. He is concurrently an Adjunct Professor in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

In 2009, Ambassador Tay was the 17th Executive Director of Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat. He took office at one of the most challenging moments in APEC’s 20-year history due to the global recession. His main priority was to keep APEC focused on the path of free trade, resisting protectionism while accelerating economic integration of the Asia-Pacific, and improving links with the business community. He brought to the position his unique strengths and experience in mobilising business linkages, in forging new ways of building diplomatic ties, and in strategic foreign policy thinking.

From 2003 to 2008, Ambassador Tay served as Singapore’s Ambassador to Russia. He changed the nature of Singapore-Russia diplomatic ties when he commissioned – as a private sector initiative – the renowned Russian composer, Vladimir Martynov, to compose a symphony about Singapore. The finished piece, Singapore: A Geopolitical Utopia, is an enduring testament to the collaboration. This demonstration of the value of soft power and non-traditional diplomacy has reinforced Ambassador Tay’s belief that the real agents of change in regional and global processes are people and ideas.

Simon SC Tay LLB Hons (National University of Singapore) LLM (Harvard) is a lawyer, adviser on political, economic issues and public intellectual. He teaches International Law and Public Policy at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Showing brilliance at a young age, he was a Fullbright scholar (1993-94) at Harvard Law School, where he won the Laylin prize for best thesis in International Law. In 2002, he was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship in the USA. Doing well in school is not enough for Tay, he was involved and officiated myriad of international summits tackling foreign relations to economic issues such as WTO ministerial meeting between Singapore and Japan.

Tay did not forget his roots, as he helmed the National Environment Agency from 2002 to 2008 and was a nominated member of Singapore Parliament for 4 consecutive years. He led public consultation on Singapore in the 21st century and the Singapore Green Plan 2012.

Vladimir Tyurenkov graduated from Moscow Bauman State Technological University with a Masters degree in Computer Science. He has done his post-graduate work at the Institute of Management Consultants USA and continued his Political Science studies in Canada. He received his MBA with specialisation in Finance from Pepperdine University, California.

Tyurenkov is a private investor and advisor to several investment groups in the US and Singapore. For more than 13 years, Tyurenkov was the Managing Director and minority shareholder of Hansberger Global Investors (HGI), a US-based money management firm. At HGI, he was a portfolio manager that was responsible for directing HGI’s Moscow office investment activity in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Before joining HGI, Tyurenkov was the Economic Advisor to the Chairman of Russian Anti-Monopoly Committee and worked on the Russian Anti-Monopoly Legislation of the First Russian government. He was also involved in establishing free economic zones in Russia.

Viktor F Vekselberg, Chairman of Supervisory Committee of Renova Group, was born on April 14, 1957 in Ukraine. He graduated with honours from the faculty of Automation and Computer Engineering of the Moscow Railway Transport Engineering Institute and continued his education with a Master’s Degree and PhD in Mathematics.

In 1990, Vekselberg was one of the founding members of Renova Managing Company and became its General Director.

He served as President since 1996 of SUAL Group, one of the leading aluminum producers in the world. In 2003, Vekselberg was appointed the Group’s Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Vekrselberg became the Chairman of TNK Management Board from April 2002 to October 2003. With the merger of TNK and BP in 2003, TNK-BP was established. Vekselberg was assigned as Managing Director for Production and Technologies and eventually joined the TNK-BP Board of Directors.

Jochen Wermuth is the Founder of the “Greater Europe” investment funds which have invested over $1 billion in Russia, and CIO and Managing Partner of Wermuth Asset Management GmbH (WAM), the Funds’ exclusive investment adviser. Delivering value in greater Europe, WAM pursues a strategy of activist value‐investing in long/short listed equity and debt, private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure, agribusiness and forestry.

In 1997 to 1998, Wermuth was Director for Russian Debt Capital Markets Origination in Deutsche Bank’s Global Markets Division, London, seconded to Moscow as a member of the management committee responsible for setting up its fully licensed subsidiary. In this capacity, he raised some $8 billion in financing for Russia. Between 1993 and 1997, he participated as an EU and World Bank finance adviser to the Russian Ministry of Finance in negotiations with the IMF and World Bank for $17 billion in budget financing.

He also co-founded and headed the Ministry’s Economic Expert Group (www.eeg.ru) and prepared economic policy plans, debt restructuring negotiations, the country’s first credit rating and its debut Eurobond issue.

Tan Sri (Dr) Francis Yeoh was a trained Civil Engineer and a recipient of Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from University of Kingston (UK), his alma mater. He was presented with a prestigious professional accolade by becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Engineers in London.

Tan Sri (Dr) Yeoh took over running his family’s company in 1988 and grew it into a business conglomerate comprising of six listed companies, with a combined market capitalisation of over RM34.3 billion (USD10.7 billion) and assets of over RM45 billion (USD13.6 billion) (as of 31 July 2010). YTL owns and manages regulated utilities and other infrastructural assets, serving 10 million customers in three continents.

Ranked by both Fortune Magazine and Business Week Magazine as one of Asia’s 25 Most Powerful and Influential Business Personalities, Tan Sri (Dr) Yeoh has won many business awards. He was Ernst and Young’s Master Entrepreneur in Malaysia and CNBC’s Malaysia CEO of the Year.