Programme

Liam Halligan is an economist, writer and broadcaster. Since 2002, he has written his weekly Economics Agenda column in the UK’s Sunday Telegraph - which enjoys a large international following and has been recognized with a highly-coveted British Press Award. He is also Editor-at-Large and columnist for Business New Europe. Between 2007 and 2013, Liam was Chief Economist at Prosperity Capital Management, the world’s largest Russia/CIS-focused asset manager, controlling $4bn of investments for a range of institutional clients. During the 1990s, Liam was a Co-Founder of Russian Economic Trends and the Russian European Centre for Economic Policy. He was also a columnist on The Moscow Times. Liam has been a reporter for The Economist and Financial Times and was also Economics Correspondent at Channel 4 News - where he wrote, researched and presented a string of award-winning documentaries on economic and financial themes. He remains a regular commentator on global economic affairs for the BBC, CNN, CNBC, Sky, RT, Al Jazeera and other broadcasting outlets. Liam holds economics degrees from the University of Warwick and Oxford University. He is both a British and Irish citizen.

Makram Azar is a Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Barclays. He sits on the Executive Committee of Investment Banking in EMEA and has executive management responsibility for many emerging markets around the world including Russia, CIS, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa as well as Latin America. Mr. Azar joined Barclays in September 2010 from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) where he was Managing Director and Head of Middle East and North Africa. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Azar had spent 18 years at Lehman Brothers, latterly as Managing Director, Global Head of Sovereign Wealth Funds and Chairman of Media Investment Banking for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Previously he led the Media, Consumer & Retail Investment Banking businesses of Lehman Brothers in EMEA, based in London. Mr. Azar holds a master's degree in Management and Finance from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris and a BA in Applied Economics from the University Paris-IX Dauphine.

Marina Loshak was born 22 November 1955 in Odessa. She graduated from The Odesa I. I. Mechnikov National University; specialization –Classical Philology. She worked in The State museum of literature in Odessa and The Mayakovsky museum of literature (Moscow). 1998 – The Head of PR Department (The Stolichny Bank) and the curator of the Stolichny Bank art collection. 1999–2003 – The Director of The Moscow Centre of Arts where she organized numerous The Russian avant-garde exhibitions. 2005–2006 – The Director of Gary Tatintsian Gallery. Since 2007 – The co-owner and the Art-director of Proun Gallery. 3 July 2012 – June 2013 – The Art-director of The Moscow Museum and Exhibition Association Manege (which included The Central exhibition hall “Manege”, The Moscow State Exhibition Hall “New Manege”, The Museum and Exhibition Center “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman”, The Exhibition Hall “Chekhov’s House”, The Moscow state museum of Vadim Sidura, The D.A. Nalbandyan workshop museum). Since 11 June 2013 – The Director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. She is the member of the Expert Council of Kandinsky Prize.

Lord (Peter) Mandelson, born in 1953, is a former European Trade Commissioner and British First Secretary of State. As EU Trade Commissioner between 2004 and 2008, he negotiated trade agreements with many countries and led European negotiations in the WTO Doha World Trade Round. He was Minister without Portfolio, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Northern Ireland Secretary and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in the British government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 1997 and 2010. He was Member of Parliament for Hartlepool in the UK from 1992 until 2004 and Director of Campaigns and Communications for the Labour party between 1985 and 1990. He is also President of the Policy Network think tank, senior advisor to Lazard and non-executive director of AFK Sistema.

Roger Munnings is a member of the Boards of Directors of Sistema and of LUKoil. On both Boards he has the status of Independent Director. He chairs the Board Human Resources Committee of LUKoil and the Board Audit, Finance and Risk Management Committee of Sistema. He has also been an Independent Director of SUEK. Mr Munnings has been actively involved in the Russian business world since the mid nineties He is currently Chairman of the Russo British Chamber of Commerce, having been Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of the Association of European Businesses in Russia, a member of the Board of the US Russia Business Council, Chairman of the Audit Committee Institute in Russia and a member of the UK Government’s working group on trade and investment between Russia and Great Britain. Roger’s principal career was, from 1974 to 2008, with the international “Big Four” accounting, consulting and auditing firm, KPMG, where he was Chairman and President of KPMG Russia and the CIS from 1996 to 2008 living with his family in Moscow throughout that time, Chairman of KPMG’s Global Energy and Natural Resources Practice from 1993 to 2008 and a member of KPMG’s International Council, the senior governance body of the international firm from 1998 to 2008. Roger is also a member of the Russian National Council on Corporate Governance, the Russian Institute of Directors and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and was part of RSPP’s Task Force in preparation for the G20/B20 meetings in St Petersburg in 2013. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in the UK and a Graduate of Oxford University with the degree of Master of Arts in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, Roger was appointed CBE in the UK in HM The Queen’s New Year’s Honours List in 2007.

Since 2009 JSC VTB Bank, Senior Vice President. In November 2009, he was appointed Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board. 2008-2009 VTB Capital plc (London), CEO. 2007-2008 Bank Lehman Brothers (Hong Kong), CFO for Asia-Pacific. 2004-2007 Bank Lehman Brothers (Tokyo), Treasurer for Asia-Pacific. 2002-2004 Bank Lehman Brothers (Tokyo), Head of Asset and Liability Management. 2002 Mr. Moos graduated from London Business School as Master of Finance. 1995-2002 Bank Lehman Brothers (London), Debt Management, Capital and Transaction Planning, Asset and Liability Management. 1993 Mr. Moos graduated from Kiev State Economic University with honors, specializing in Finance and Credit. 1972 Born in Chapayevsk.

Education: graduated from the State Institute for Theatre Arts (GITIS, specialising in theatre history. 1966–1971 State Institute for Theatre Arts (GITIS) 1971–1972 GITIS, Department of the history of foreign theatre 1972–1973 Army service 1973–1987 Iskusstvo Publishing House, Teatr magazine, Correspondent, Senior Editor, Acting Executive Secretary 1987–1990 Iskusstvo Publishing House, Teatr magazine, Deputy Editor-in-chief 1991–1993 Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Kultura editorial and publishing unit, General Director 1993–1997 Ministry of Culture, Deputy Minister 1997–1998 All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), Kultura television channel, Deputy Chairman, Editor-in-chief of Kultura television channel 1998–2000 VGTRK, Chairman 2000–2004 Ministry of Culture, Minister 2004–June 2008 Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography, Head July 2008–present Presidential Executive Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Special Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation, Ambassador-at-large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.