Programme

Many experts believe that business today is overwhelmed with a focus on short-term results. The myopic desire to satisfy shareholders often overshadows company’s socially important purpose. Focusing on achieving a strong financial performance as soon as possible and at any cost deprives businesses of their ability to fathom what might happen later as a result of their operations – not only in the long term, but even in the medium term. Problems such as environmental pollution, climate change, and many others are too often ignored. What should be done to ensure that global businesses reconsider their priorities and is such a change possible? Or is the problem of short-term interests exaggerated and the market will find its own solutions?

Moderator
Vladimir Gerasimov, First Deputy General Director, Executive Director, Interfax Information Services Group

Vladimir Gerasimov

First Deputy General Director, Executive Director, Interfax Information Services Group

Responsible at Interfax for financial and business information and services for business, and for the operations of the Group's international partnerships. Graduated from Moscow State University's Faculty of Journalism and worked in Foreign Broadcasting before joining Interfax in 1991, where he created the news agency's first business and finance products. Head of business and finance information at Interfax, and, from 1998, became the agency's deputy head, then first deputy head. His projects include SPARK, Russia's leading risk assessment system, and the disclosure site, www.e-disclosure.ru. Oversaw the creation of SPARK Marketing procurement analysis system, and of X-Compliance, Russia's first system for ensuring fulfillment of legislation on the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Helped set up the United Credit Bureau, a Russian market leader in credit information, and oversees the operations of the joint venture that Interfax set up with Dun & Bradstreet, a market leader for information on foreign companies. Plays an active role in the Open Government, and is a member of the Open Data Council and has served on the public councils of the Federal Tax Service and Federal State Statistics Service in recent years. He is one of the leading media industry managers, according to the Russian Managers Association TOP 1000 ranking.

Panellists
Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy, Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board of Directors, Alfa-Bank
Yury Isaev, General Director, Deposit Insurance Agency
Igor Lotakov, Country Managing Partner, PwC Russia
David Rafalovsky, Executive Vice President, Head of Technology Block, Sberbank; Chief Technology Officer, Sberbank Group
Tatsuyoshi Saijo, Professor, Center for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability, Osaka University; Program Director, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature
Guzel Sanzhapova, Founder, Cocco Bello
Andrew Somers, President, A.B.Somers & Associates; President, American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (2000 - 2013)

Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy

Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board of Directors, Alfa-Bank

Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Alfa-Bank on August 1, 2018.
Before Mr. Verkhoshinskiy joined Alfa-Bank, he held various positions at VTB Group. He served as Vice-President and Head of Corporate Business Development and Strategy at VTB Bank from 2009 till 2011. He became Deputy President and Chairman of the Board at the Bank of Moscow in January 2012 to oversee the Retail and Small Business division, mortgage lending, and private banking service. In May 2016, Mr. Verkhoshinskiy returned to VTB Bank after its merger with the Bank of Moscow to oversee Retail Business as a member of the Board.
Prior to his employment with VTB Group, Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy worked for the Moscow offices of Citibank, the investment fund VR Capital, and the consulting company McKinsey&Co.
Mr. Verkhoshinskiy is a cum-laude graduate of the Finance Academy of the Russian Government majoring in Finance and Credit and a holder of the Presidential Scholarship. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree and Public Management Program degree of Stanford University (USA).

Yury Isaev

General Director, Deposit Insurance Agency

Yuri Isaev was born in Moscow on January 1, 1972. In 1994 he graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute, School of Economics. He holds a PhD in economics.
In 1992 he joined Russian Credit Bank as economic analyst, where he held various positions, including head of division, Deputy Chairman of the Board, First Deputy Chairman of the Board and President, Chairman of the Board.
2001: President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Impeksbank.
2002 – 2004: Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade.
2004: Advisor to the First Deputy Head of Federal Security Service; Deputy CEO, Rusal.
2005: Chairman of the Board, Russian Development Bank
2007: First Deputy Chairman, Social State Association "All-Russian sports society" Dynamo"
2008-2013: Deputy of the State Duma, V and VI convocation; Deputy Head of Financial Market Committee.
Fluent in English and in French.

Igor Lotakov

Country Managing Partner, PwC Russia

Having joined PwC in Moscow in 1995, Igor became a partner in 2006. During his twenty-year career at PwC Russia, he has helped to build a market-leading practice providing assurance and other services to a wide range of top Russian and international energy and utilities companies. Igor's diverse project track record includes the audit of complex group consolidations, provision of consulting and risk assurance services. In addition to significant client responsibilities, Igor has held a number of leadership roles within PwC. He has led the Russian Oil & Gas, Mining and Utilities practice, was Assurance Leader for Russia and Central & Eastern Europe. Igor is a member of ACCA and a CFA charterholder.

David Rafalovsky

Executive Vice President, Head of Technology Block, Sberbank; Chief Technology Officer, Sberbank Group

David holds a master's degree in Software Development from Tel Aviv University. Mr. Rafalovsky started his career at Citi as a Lead Solutions Architect and worked his way up to the position of Global Head of Finance & Risk Infrastructure Technology and Deputy Head & CTO of Global Functions Technology Services. In December 2017, Sberbank announced the appointment of Mr. Rafalovsky as a Senior Vice President, Technical Director of Sberbank Group and co-head of the Technologies unit. In August 2018, he was appointed as a Head of the Technology block. David began to carry out strategic management of the technological function of the Sberbank Group. In February 2019, David was appointed as an Executive Vice President. He leds the Group's technology strategy, including the introduction of a modern business application platform, innovative cloud infrastructure architecture, advanced enterprise analytics platform and artificial intelligence technologies. He also manages Sberbank's technology laboratories in addition to implementing the basic Agile operating model.

Tatsuyoshi Saijo

Professor, Center for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability, Osaka University; Program Director, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature

He received his PhD in economics at the University of Minnesota (1985). He was lecturer at Ohio State University, assistant professor at UC Santa Barbara, associate professor at Tsukuba, and professor at Tsukuba, Osaka, Hitotsubashi and Kochitech. His major field of interest is an emerging new field called Future Design that aims to design social systems that create ‘futurability’, and to practice those systems where decisions and behaviours towards futurability will make individuals happier if their actions will enrich future generations, even if the current benefit to them is reduced. His major publications include Negotiating with the future in Sustainability Science (2017). He is currently a member of Science Council of Japan.

Guzel Sanzhapova

Founder, Cocco Bello

Andrew Somers

President, A.B.Somers & Associates; President, American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (2000 - 2013)

Andrew B. Somers is President of A.B.Somers & Associates LLC, a consulting firm that assists clients in identifying strategic partners and investment opportunities as well as providing counsel on government relations. Since 2012, He has been Senior Advisor to Teneo Holdings, a New York City based global firm which is a trusted adviser to some of the world’s most respected companies, governments and non-profit institutions. The firm designs and executes strategies to achieve critical business objectives, protect and enhance reputation, navigate legal political and regulatory challenges in order to enhance value. In addition he is currently senior advisor to JUUL Labs, Inc, a leading San Francisco based electronic cigarette company that manufactures and markets its products worldwide. It entered the Russian market in November 2018. Mr. Somers was President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Russia for 13 years, from 2000 to 2013, during which time he transformed the Chamber into the most impactful foreign business advocacy organization in Russia. During his tenure he hosted President Obama and President Medvedev at a Moscow CEO Business summit, addressed President Putin and President Bush on business issues affecting American companies in Russia, both at the Kremlin and the New York Stock exchange, and led many business delegations to Washington DC to meet individually with over 100 senators and congressmen as well as high level cabinet officials. Under Mr. Somers’ leadership, AmCham played a key role in Russia’s WTO accession. On June 20, 2011, at his Gorki residence, Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev presented Mr. Somers with the Order of Friendship, the highest Russian state order that can be bestowed on a foreign citizen. On October 18, 2012, Mr. Somers received the Special Recognition award from the City of Moscow for his personal contribution to improving Russia's investment attractiveness. Prior to his Amcham tenure, Mr. Somers served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and member of the Board of the Directors of American Express, TRS Co., responsible for legal and regulatory matters affecting American Express business in the US and throughout the world. Mr. Somers began his career as a prosecutor in New York, as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, and a trial lawyer with the Frauds Bureau. He is a graduate of Columbia University Law School, where he was a Wien Scholar, and the Harriman Institute of Columbia University where he earned his MA in Russian History. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston College.

Front row participants
Patrik Antoni, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ingka Group Russia
Vasyl Latsanych, Chief Executive Officer, VimpelCom
Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive Officer, CQS; Chairman of the Board of Directors, PhosAgro; Former Chief Executive Officer, London Stock Exchange Group Plc (2009 – 2017)

Patrik Antoni

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ingka Group Russia

Vasyl Latsanych

Chief Executive Officer, VimpelCom

Vasil Latsanich was born in 1972. Became top manager of MTS Ukraine since March, 2011. In October 2005 became MTS Marketing Director. In 2001 – 2005 was head of marketing of MTS Ukraine. Between 1996 and 2001 was employed by Coca-Cola Ukraine and Coca-Cola Bottlers Siberia in a variety of marketing and general management positions. Graduated Lvov’s Lisenko University in 1995. In 2010 Vasil Latsanich became a co-chariman of Tele-committee of American Commerce Chamber in Ukraine. Since 2018 Vasil Latsanich is Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom

Xavier Rolet

Chief Executive Officer, CQS; Chairman of the Board of Directors, PhosAgro; Former Chief Executive Officer, London Stock Exchange Group Plc (2009 – 2017)

Xavier R. Rolet was the CEO of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) from May 2009 to December 2017. Under his leadership, the company acquired MillenniumIT (2009), Turquoise Holdings Ltd (2010), FTSE Group (2011), TRS (2011), GATElab Srl (2012), EuroTLX Srl (2013), LCH.Clearnet (2013), Bonds.com (2014), Exactpro(2015), XTF (2015) and the Frank Russell Company (2014) from Northwestern Mutual, which in October 2015 sold its asset management division to TA Associates and Reverence Capital Partners. In 2016, he acquired Mergent, Inc. and the Yield-Book & Citigroup’s Global Fixed Income Index Business from Citigroup, making FTSE Russell the largest index company in the world with ca $15 trillion of assets under benchmark. In October 2015, LSE Group launched Curve Global, a new futures exchange co-owned with Barclays Bank, Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Société Générale, BNP Paribas and the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Under his tenure, the value of the London Stock Exchange Group increased from £800 million to £14 billion. Prior to joining the London Stock Exchange Group, Xavier Rolet worked for Lehman Brothers, Kleinwort Benson, CS First Boston and Goldman, Sachs & Co.
After graduating from the KEDGE Business School with an MSc in management science and finance in 1981, Xavier served as a second lieutenant and instructor at the French Air Force Academy, and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1984 and a post-graduate degree from Paris-based IHEDN (Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence) in 2008.
Xavier then became a member of the European Securities Markets Expert Group of the European Commission, a member of the French Government’s Conseil Stratégique de l’Attractivité(“Strategic Council for Attractiveness”), a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in France, and a member of Chatham House in London.
Xavier is a member of the Board of Overseers of Columbia University Business School, an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments FSCI (Hon), and was a member of the Financial Services Trade and Investment Board of HM Treasury (FSTIB). Since Oct 2017, he has been a member of the Committee of Expert Advisers at the Department for International Trade. He was also a member of Prime Minister David Cameron’s Business Advisory Group and was a member of the Governor of the Bank of England’s Financial Services Forum and of the Bank of England’s Open Forum. In October 2015, he was appointed an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In December 2015, he was appointed Echansonnier ‘A Camera Paramenti’ of the Echansonnerie de Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In January 2016, President of France Francois Hollande made him a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic. In July 2016, he was made an Officer of the Royal Sharifian Order of Al-Alaoui (Order of OuissamAlaouite) by His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco. In 2017, the highly respected Harvard Business Review included him on their list of the best-performing 100 CEOs in the world. Futures & Options World awarded him its 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award. He received the same Lifetime Management award in 2018 from both Risk Magazine and the City of London Wealth Management Association. In April 2018, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Young CEOs Business Summit in Atlanta, USA.
He was awarded the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation (Орден Дружбы) by Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko on behalf of Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov.