German Gref is the chairman of the largest Bank of Russia, Sberbank, which is majority owned by the Central Bank of Russia. Gref worked for seven years, from 2000 to 2007, as Minister for Trade and Economic Development of the Russian Federation in the government of Prime Ministers Mikhail Kasyanov and Mikhail Fradkov.
Childhood and youth
German Gref was born on February 8, 1964 near Pavlodar, in the village of Panfilovo in Kazakhstan. His family is of German descent and was evacuated to Kazakhstan from the Donetsk region in 1941 during the German invasion. The strange spelling of his name in English is the result of his transliteration twice: once from German into Russian (originally: Herrmann Gräf) and then from Russian into English, losing German pronunciation along the way. The Gref family spoke German and Russian at home, and German Oskarovich now speaks and reads German fluently.
After graduating from school, German Gref enters MGIMO, but for unknown reasons, after the first year, he leaves the institute and, having received a summons from the military registration and enlistment office, goes to the city of Chapaevsk, Kuibyshevsk (today Samara) region, where military unit 3434 was deployed.
German Gref completed his compulsory military service in the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to reports, his army specialty is a sniper.
After military service, German entered the Omsk State University at the Faculty of Law. Having received higher education, Gref remains to teach at the alma mater. But he has big ambitions and in 1990 he entered the graduate school of Leningrad State University. His scientific supervisor was Anatoly Sobchak, who gave the young promising economist a start in life, taking him into his team, which already included Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin.
Carier start
In 1991 he began working as a legal advisor to the Committee for Economic Development and Property of Peterhoff. Peterhof is a city not far from St. Petersburg and one of the cultural gems of Russia - it is dotted with palaces and aristocratic residences built during the reign of Emperor Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg. The main concern at the time was to increase the flow of tourism to the area and the maintenance of historic buildings, while the country was suffering from the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR.
Over the next several years, Gref held several different positions in the Peterhof administration and was actively involved in the management of city property. In 1997, he took over as vice-governor and chairman of the State Property Management Committee of St. Petersburg, replacing the murdered Mikhail Manevich.
The murder of Manevich was associated with the privatization of state property. Gref faced a conflict between real estate agents and developers. He also had to solve the so-called "book conflict". At the time, bookstore owners were particularly vocal against the privatization and reorganization of state property - the fate of many former state-run bookstores in key central locations was a controversial issue as the new owners of the well-maintained stores wanted to make colossal profits by converting them into cafes and retail stores. …
Particularly controversial was the redevelopment project of Strelna, a suburb of St. Petersburg. Former Soviet citizens of German descent were invited to relocate to the city, and German companies such as Bosch and Siemens were encouraged to increase their presence in the area. Gref became the object of much media attention because of his project to create a “German colony,” as some sources dubbed it.
Work in government
In 1998 he became First Deputy Minister of State Property. He simultaneously worked on several government committees, as well as on the Boards of Directors of companies such as Lenenergo. In 2000, the new Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov appointed Gref as Minister of Economic Development. During Gref's seven-year tenure, the ministry reassigned the trade ministry and assumed other state functions such as territory control, export and tourism development.
The Minister played an active role in promoting Russia as the host of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which were held in Sochi. For this achievement - the main priority of the Putin administration - Gref was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.
Together with Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Gref created a stabilization fund. The fund's main goal was to facilitate the repayment of Russia's external debt, and when it quickly achieved that goal, thanks to high oil prices, it became a buffer against oil price swings and inflationary pressures. By the time Gref left the ministry, the fund had grown to over $ 130 billion.
German Gref has repeatedly called "corruption" the biggest obstacle to Russia's economic development. One newspaper reported that his stance on corruption, even at the lowest levels, is so strict that his secretary has been instructed to refuse boxes of chocolates on holidays.
Gref was one of the initiators of Russia's accession to the WTO, and this goal was set by his successor. Gref left the ministry when Prime Minister Fradkov was replaced by Viktor Zubkov in 2007. In November 2007, he was elected as the new chairman of Sberbank, the largest state-owned Bank of Russia.
Under Gref's leadership, the bank underwent a series of radical changes aimed at improving its efficiency and corporate culture.
German Gref is a member of the boards and supervisory boards of a number of companies, including Yandex.
Personal life
The first wife of German Oskarovich was his classmate Elena Velikanova. They signed right after the prom. Very soon they had a child, but alas, after a while they were forced to part and dissolve the marriage.
The second time the financier decided to tie the knot with the designer Yana (nee Golovin, in Glumov's previous marriage), the wedding ceremony took place on May 1, 2004 in the throne room of the Peterhof Palace.
In 2006, the couple had a daughter, two years later, another daughter. Yana Gref established the Khoroshevskaya progymnasium; both daughters of the head of Sberbank study in this elite institution. The granddaughter of German Oskarovich (daughter of a son from his first marriage) attends a kindergarten at this gymnasium.
