Programme

After graduating from school with a gold medal I found it difficult to decide what I most wanted to pursue: the arts or the sciences? Or maybe I should be a sportsman? Being in the top senior grade in swimming and volleyball meant I could think about a career in sport. In the end I chose space. My speciality was space geodesy and navigation. Gazing at the stars: what could be more romantic? As the period of voucher privatisation dawned, the tumultuous economic and political changes in the country brought me to the Russian Commodities and Raw Materials Exchange. I travelled the path from simple voucher purchases to investment projects across the whole country with huge enthusiasm, and along the way I increased my economic knowledge. The crisis of 1998 brought me into a major Russian-American trading company, where I successfully found my place, heading a regional department. But one’s first love is important. I returned to the stock market. The role as a senior trader enabled me to take an active part in exchange trading and to spend time with my ‘beloved’ clients. As a frequent guest of the RBK television channel I realised that this was where I could totally fulfil my potential: my experience of working on the stock market, my pleasure in meeting interesting people and my desire to be at the heart of economic events.

Makarov Valentin was born 16.04.1955 in Leningrad, Russia. Graduated from the Leningrad Aircraft Instrumentation Institute in 1978, in 1978-1985 he had been working in the Defense Industry. In 1985 entered the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute. Since “perestroika” time he has got good experience of organizing international cooperation (1988-1992 – secretary in the Russian Delegation to UNESCO, in 1996-2000 as deputy Chairman of International relations’ Committee of Administration of St Petersburg). He has also got extended managerial experience in private business (1992-1996 – in Interprivatization Foundation and in the EuroConseil Rusian-French JV consulting company). President of RUSSOFT Association (earlier Fort Ross) since its foundation on 9.9.99, he has been organizer of lobbying campaigns in the Government and Chairman of numerous IT-events in Russia and abroad (RUSSOFT Forum, Software Outsourcing Summit, Mobile Software Forum, Russian IT-seasons). Chief-editor of the annual Russian export software industry survey since its beginning in 2003. Representative of Russian IT Association (APKIT) in WITSA in 2004-2006, 2012. Invited speaker at numerous international conferences and author of dozens of articles on IT in Russia.

Born March 21, 1957 in Leningrad. 1979 – graduated from Leningrad State University (Department of Mathematics and Mechanics) specializing in Applied Mathematics. 1979–1988 – Research Assistant, Junior Scientific Researcher, Scientific Researcher of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 1986 – successfully defended his Candidate of Sciences thesis in Physics and Mathematics, USSR Academy of Sciences. 1984–1995 – Lecturer, Associate Professor of the Department of Computational Mathematics at Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, Faculty of Physics and Mechanics. 1988–1992 – Senior Scientist of the Leningrad Institute for Informatics and Automation of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 1991–1995 – Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of AstroSoft Company, St. Petersburg. 1995–1996 – Consultant of Microsoft Consulting Services, Microsoft Middle East (Dubai). 1996–1997 – Senior Consultant / Head of Practice, Microsoft Consulting Services, Microsoft Eastern Europe. 1997–1999 – Head of Accounts Department, Microsoft Representative Office in Russia, Microsoft Eastern Europe. 1999–2003 – University Relations Manager, Microsoft Research Lab (UK). 2003–2005 – Head of Government Relations, Microsoft Representative Office in Russia, Microsoft Central and Eastern Europe. 2005–2007 – Chief Strategy Officer, Cabinet of the Chairman of Microsoft in Russia and CIS Countries, Microsoft Central and Eastern Europe. 2007–2009 – General Director of Software Development Centre of EMC Corporation in St. Petersburg. Since April 2009, he has held the position of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board of RVC OJSC.

Born in 1969 in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. In 1986, Sergey entered Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Faculty of General and Applied Physics. While doing his graduate studies, Sergey joined ABBYY (formerly BIT Software) as Commercial Director, in 1991. ABBYY’s CEO since 1999, he is focusing on the company’s strategy and tactics and supervising all aspects of production, sales and marketing including research and development, project integration, management, promotion, and finance. In 2007 Sergey initiated founding a new department in MIPT, devoted to teaching computer science and artificial intelligence technologies. During his years with ABBYY, Sergey has created a vast distribution and partner network worldwide. Under his leadership ABBYY has become one of the leading IT companies in Russia and opened offices in Germany , the United States, Ukraine, the UK, Cyprus, Japan and Taiwan. Sergey Andreyev is repeatedly named among the top 100 most influential IT entrepreneurs in Russia. In 2003, he was awarded the Government Prize for Achievements in Science and Technology.

Sergey Beloussov is entrepreneur businessman and executive with more than 20 years’ experience of creating, developing and managing transnational companies involved in the IT sector in North America, Europe and Asia. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He received a Bachelor’s degree in physics, a Master’s degree with distinction in physics and electrical engineering, Candidate of Science degree in information technologies from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and holds more than 100 patents. Sergey Beloussov currently serves as General Director at Acronis, a leading provider of new generation data protection solutions: backup, crash data recovery and secure access systems. Acronis data backup software helps enhance the security and accessibility of servers and data. Acronis solutions are built upon 15 years of research and development and are available in more than 130 countries, are translated into 14 languages. Acronis products are used by more than 5 million end users and over 300,000 corporate customers. From 2000 to 2011, Sergey Beloussov served as General Director of Parallels, a global leader in development of virtualization and automation software for individual and corporate users and service providers. He became Chairman of the Board of Parallels in 2000. In 2010, he founded Runa Capital, a venture capital firm, where he is now a senior partner. Mr. Beloussov supports innovation and advancement of science and education. He is the founder of QWave Capital, a VC firm, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Quantum Centre, board member of the Singapore Centre for Quantum Technologies, member of the Advisory Council of Innopolis University and member of the Supervisory Board of Novosibirsk State University.

Arkady Volozh is the principal founder of Yandex and has been Chief Executive Officer and a director since 2000. A serial entrepreneur with a background in computer science, Mr. Volozh co-founded several successful IT enterprises, including InfiNet Wireless, a Russian provider of wireless networking technology, and CompTek International, one of the largest distributors of network and telecom equipment in Russia. In 2000, Arkady left his position as CEO at CompTek International to become the CEO of Yandex. Mr. Volozh started working on search in 1989, which led to him establishing Arkadia Company in 1990, a company developing search software. His early achievements include the development of electronic search for use in patents, Russian classical literature and the Bible. Mr. Volozh holds a degree in applied mathematics from the Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas.

Born in 1978, Dmitry Grishin is considered as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in Russia. After graduating with distinction from the Faculty of Robotics and Complex Automation at Moscow State Technical University and working as a software engineer on several projects, Dmitry joined Mail.Ru in 2001. He became CEO of Mail.Ru in April 2003. In 2005, he co-founded the Mail.Ru Group. He then assumed the CEO role of Mail.Ru Group in 2010. In that same year, he helped transition the company as it went public on the London Stock Exchange. Dmitry became elected Chairman of the Mail.Ru Group Board in 2012. Currently, Dmitry also serves as the head of the department of Information Technologies and Programming at St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics. His passion for innovation led him to found the Russian Code Cup – the largest competition for programmers in Eastern Europe. Through the Code Cup and other projects, he continues to foster growth in the technology sector worldwide. In 2012 Dmitry has founded Grishin Robotics, a global investment company that is dedicated to supporting personal robotics around the world.

Esther Dyson is chairman of EDventure Holdings and is an active angel investor in the US and Russia. In Russia, she sits on the Boards of Evernote and Yandex and on the Advisory Boards of IBS Group and LiveJournal, and is the lead investor in TerraLink. Her other board seats include 23andMe (consumer genetics), Airship Ventures, Meetup, NewspaperDirect and WPP Group. Her investments/advisory seats include Ion Aircraft (light sport aircraft), Keas (health care), PatientsLikeMe, Space Adventures (which arranges privates space trips with partners such as RosKosmos and Armadillo Aeroaspace) and Xcor Aerospace (rockets). Dyson is also a member of the NASA Advisory Council and chairman of its Technology and Innovation Committee, guiding the restructuring of NASA under a new budget that envisions a greater role for private space entrepreneurs. From October 2008 to March 2009, she trained as a cosmonaut in Star City outside Moscow, as backup to US space tourist Charles Simonyi. Finally, Dyson is a member of the Advisory Board for the Russian Government’s Silicon Valley project. She has been active supporting entrepreneurs in Russia since 1989 and speaks intelligible Russian.

Mr. Dobkin is the cofounder, CEO and President of EPAM Systems. Under his direction EPAM Systems has grown to become one of the world’s leading software development outsourcing services companies. After earning an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Byelorussian National Technical University, Mr. Dobkin began his career in Minsk, Belarus. After immigrating to the United States, he held thought and technical leadership positions in Colgate-Palmolive and SAP Labs. A recipient of numerous awards, in June 2008 Ernst & Young named Mr. Dobkin winner of The Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2008 award in New Jersey, IT Consulting category. In 2006, Consulting Magazine named him to “Top 25 Most Influential Consultants”. In February 2012 Mr.Dobkin rang the NYSE Opening Bell to celebrate the company’s successful completion of its initial public offering. He continues to actively promote the former Soviet Union region and Central and Eastern Europe across the US and Western Europe by presenting at noted international industry and technology events, such as Gartner Outsourcing Summits, Forrester's GigaWorld IT Forum Europe.

Natalya Kaspersky was born in 1966 in Moscow. She graduated from the Moscow Institute of Electronic Engineering (MIEM) with a degree in Applied Mathematics. She holds a bachelor's degree from Open University in the UK. In 1997, Natalya and her former husband Yevgeny Kaspersky founded Kaspersky Lab and she became the general director. For the more than 10 years that Natalya ran the company, Kaspersky Lab went from being an unknown start-up to one of the leaders on the international IT market with turnover of half a billion (in the dollar equivalent). In 2003, Kaspersky Lab established the subsidiary InfoWatch, which began working on developments to protect companies from information leaks. In 2007, Natalya Kaspersky took over as CEO of the company. Under her leadership, InfoWatch has turned into a powerful holding companies specialising in information security in just a few years. Natalya Kaspersky actively invests in the development of high-tech companies, is a member of the advisory board at Russian Venture Company, is an advisor at the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce, and an expert in the professional organisation of security officers.

Dmitry Loschinin serves as CEO of Luxoft, an emerging global IT outsourcing leader, managing the company since its inception in 2000. Upon graduating summa cum laude from the Computational Mathematics and Cybernatics department of Moscow State University, he started his career as a software engineer in the late 1980s. Over years he worked on management positions for a number of global companies, including KED GmbH, MCP GmbH and IBM. In 1998 he joined the IBS Group (Russia’s number 1 systems integrator) where he successfully established SAP R/3 implementation practice before taking charge of the IBS initiative to offer offshore software services. This initiative eventually became Luxoft. In eight years, Luxoft has grown to over 3,000 technology specialists and built global presence with delivery centers in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and North America. Company’s client base includes some of the world’s most successful companies, such as Deutsche Bank, UBS, Boeing, Dell and IBM. To remain the leading Eastern Europe’s IT outsourcing vendor, Luxoft continuously expands its service offering, focuses on building industry-specific practices and hires best-in-class specialists.

Nikolai Puntikov is the founder of StarSoft, one of Russia’s first private software engineering firms, which he turned into a premier software services provider. In 2007, StarSoft merged with Exigen Services to become a leading force in the IT application outsourcing space in Central and Eastern Europe. Nikolai was responsible for business development and 2000-staff operations in 10 R&D centers in 6 countries in Eastern Europe, Baltics and China. Nikolai resigned from Exigen Services in 2010. Since 1991, Nikolai has been an active member of the Russian software engineering community. In June 2010, he has been elected the Chairman of the Board of the Russian Association of Software Developers (RUSSOFT). Currently, he is the President of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Russia and the Chairman of CEE-SECR, the largest software engineering conference in Russia. Nikolai holds his M.S. degree from the St. Petersburg State University and a Doctorate degree from the Institute of Informatics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Andrey Fedorov was born in 1964 in Leningrad. In 1986 he graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Railway Transport. In 1992, he founded Digital Design company together with Eugeny Gavrilov. The business idea was to organize a modern European company that produces software based on the TQM (Total Quality Management) ideology. On Andrey Fedorov’s initiative, Digital Design got the international quality certificate ISO 9001 (one of the first companies in Russia), was evaluated for compliance with CMMI quality standards, and also became a laureate of the Russian Federation Government Award in the field of quality in 2002. In 1998, Andrey Fedorov was honored by Microsoft as the first Russian Microsoft Regional Director (the leader of Software Development community). In 2005, the major international rating agency Ernst & Young recognized Andrey Fedorov, General Director of Digital Design, the best entrepreneur in 2005 in the category of Information Technology. In 2007, after studying at the INSEAD business school (France) he implemented the Blue Ocean innovation strategy at Digital Design.