Business programme

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to the entire planet, and has required governments and business to come together to comprehensively respond. The pandemic has also raised people’s awareness of the importance of environmental management and the need for better social and corporate governance in business. Today, more than USD 30 trillion in investment is being managed by funds guided by ESG principles, and global investors have come to realize that ESG principles offer a reliable indicator as to whether a company will be able to achieve sustainable growth while offering attractive returns. Many analysts forecast that within a few years companies which choose not to focus on sustainable development and CSR will be unable to raise capital. Even today, good ESG compliance is boosting the ability of Russian companies to leverage their assets by, for example, raising low-interest debt capital for adhering to environmental protection rules. What approaches are Russian companies adopting to implement ESG principles while pursuing business strategies, and how might this lead to greater innovation? What regulatory policies and management methods are enabling companies in Russia to employ green principles so as to increase productivity and competitiveness and more closely align with sustainable development concepts? Which industries have already moved to incorporate the ESG agenda, and are there sectors that are less compatible with ESG principles?

Moderator
Irina Bokova, Director General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO (2009-2017)

Irina Bokova

Member of the Board of Directors, Independent Director, PhosAgro PJSC

Irina Bokova graduated with a degree in International Relations from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1976. In 1989 she was a Ford Foundation Fellow at the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs and in 1999 completed an executive program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has held positions such as Bulgaria's first Secretary of State for European Integration, Foreign Minister of Bulgaria a.i., twice an MP, Ambassador of Bulgaria to France and Monaco, and the Permanent Representative of the republic of Bulgaria to UNESCO. Irina Bokova also contributed to the new Bulgarian Constitution in 1991.
Irina Bokova was the Director-General of UNESCO for two four-year terms (2009 - 2017). She was the first woman and the first Eastern European leader of the Organisation.
She has received state honors from many countries and honorary doctorate from a number of universities, among them MGIMO, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow State University.

Panellists
Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank
Pavel Grachev, Chief Executive Officer, Polyus
Andrey Guryev, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Management Board, PhosAgro
Yuri Levin, Rector, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO
Vyacheslav Nikolaev, President, Chairman of the Management Board, MTS
Nikolay Nikolaev, Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Natural Resources, Property and Land Relations
Svetlana Radionova, Head, Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources
Dmitry Snesar, Senior Vice President, Head of Client Coverage, VTB
Nazim Efendiev, Chief Executive Officer, Management Company METALLOINVEST

Alexander Vedyakhin

First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank

Graduate degree (with honors) in Economics and Global Economy from Volgograd State Technical University
Candidate of Economic Sciences (PhD)
Between 1999 and 2008, Alexander Vedyakhin worked in a Volgograd branch of Sberbank of Russia, where he advanced from senior cashier-controller to deputy branch manager
2008-2012 – First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank in Ukraine
In 2012-2015, Alexander Vedyakhin was a member of the Executive Board and Chief Risk Officer (CRO) in Sberbank-owned DenizBank (Turkey)
In 2015-2018, he held the position of Senior Vice President of Sberbank, CRO of Sberbank Group
Since June 2018 — member of the Executive Board, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, responsible for Retail Business, Corporate and Investment Business, Wealth Management (Insurance), Sales Network, Problem Assets
Besides core business, Mr Vedyakhin supervises and coordinates the work of Sberbank’s AI Lab, various data science units, and a number of other innovation-related activities

Pavel Grachev

Chief Executive Officer, Polyus

Andrey Guryev

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Management Board, PhosAgro

Vyacheslav Nikolaev

President, Chairman of the Management Board, MTS

Vyacheslav Nikolaev was appointed First Vice President for Customer Experience & Marketing in August 2019, having earlier served as Vice President for Marketing beginning in June 2017.
Vyacheslav first joined the Company in 2004 and has held a number of senior positions in marketing and commercial management, including as B2B Director from 2011–2017 and before that as Group Director for Commercial Control, as well as Director of MTS Russia.
Before joining MTS, Vyacheslav worked as a supervising telecoms analyst, leading the sector research teams at Trust and Renaissance Capital. Vyacheslav began his professional career in 1997 as a consultant at European Public Policy Advisers (UK) and J'son and Partners (Sweden).
Vyacheslav was born in 1970. He graduated from the Faculty of Computational Mathematics & Cybernetics at Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1993.

Nikolay Nikolaev

Chairman of the Committee of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on Natural Resources, Property and Land Relations

Nikolai Nikolaev was born in 1970 in Moscow. In 2014, he graduated from the Orthodox Institute of St. John the Theologian with a degree in Religion Studies.

Since 2013 – Vice-President of the OPORA Russia Public Association, Head of the Committee on Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility.
Since 2014 – Head of the Russian Popular Front’s Centre ‘People’s Expertise’ for independent supervision over the implementation of the presidential executive orders of May 2012, Moscow.
Since 2016 – Deputy of the Seventh State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, Property and Land.

Awarded the second-class medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.

Svetlana Radionova

Head, Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources

Dmitry Snesar

Senior Vice President, Head of Client Coverage, VTB

Mr. Snesar joined VTB Bank in 2011 as the Head of Metals & Mining Coverage. In the end of 2012 he became the Deputy Global Head of Fixed Income, Global Head of Fixed Income Sales. From December 2014 till May 2016 Dmitry held the position of First Deputy Chairman at Bank of Moscow.
Before his career with VTB Group Dmitry worked as Head of Investment Banking department at Deutsche Bank in Moscow and General Director and CFO at United Financial Group.
In 1995 Dmitry Snesar graduated from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics with a degree in Economics. Dmitry speaks English and Spanish.
Dmitry has been a Member of the Board of Directors at VTB Leasing, NPF VTB Pension fund, RusHydro OJSC, Lenfilm JSC, Channel One Russia JSC. Dmitry was a Member of Supervisory Board at VTB Bank (France).

Nazim Efendiev

Chief Executive Officer, Management Company METALLOINVEST

Graduate of the Military Institute of Foreign Languages, the Academy of National Economy (MBA programme) and Kingston University in the UK (specialised international management programme), and completed the advanced management programme at IESE Business School of the University of Navarra.

Since April 2020 - Chief Executive Officer of Management Company METALLOINVEST LLC
03.2012 - 05.2020 - First Deputy CEO, Sales Director of Management Company METALLOINVEST LLC
2011- 2012 - Deputy CEO, Government Relations Director of Management Company METALLOINVEST LLC
2010 - 2011 - Managing Director at Ural Steel JSC
2009 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation JSC
2007- 2009 - CEO of Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation JSC
2007- CEO of Uralmashzavod JSC
2006- 2007 - Executive Director of Management Company METALLOINVEST LLC
2004- 2006 - CEO of Ural Steel JSC
2002 - 2004 – Marketing Director at NOSTA JSC (Ural Steel JSC)
1996 - 2002 – Worked at Siberian Aluminium, as the Deputy Commercial Director of the Sayan Aluminium Plant, the Director of the Trading House of Samara Metallurgical Plant, Chief of the rolling division at Russian Aluminium

Recipient of the title of Honorary Metallurgist (2014), the Badge of Honour for Labour and the Fatherland (2015), the Medal for Merit to the Fatherland 2nd Class (2017), a letter of appreciation from the Governor of the Belgorod region (2019), the medal "300 Years of the College of Mining of Russia" (2019).

Front row participants
Avy Burstin, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director, Amber Lion Partners
Aleksey Ivanov, Senior Vice President, Commerce and Business Development, EVRAZ plc
Igor Korytko, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, Tube Metallurgical Company (TMK)
Elena Feoktistova, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship Directorate, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP)

Igor Korytko

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, Tube Metallurgical Company (TMK)

Elena Feoktistova

Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship Directorate, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP)