Background
Herman Gref was born in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan) into a family of ethnic German deportees who were exiled there in 1941.
economist politician private sector banker
Herman Gref was born in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan) into a family of ethnic German deportees who were exiled there in 1941.
After fulfilling two years of military service, he studied law at Omsk State University in Siberia from 1985 to 1990.
He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia from May 2000 to September 2007. He currently is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Executive Board of the largest Russian bank Sberbank. He then moved to Leningrad (now Saint St. Petersburg) and taught law at Leningrad University until completing his post-graduate degree in 1993.
In 1992 – 1998 Gref worked on several positions at the Saint St. Petersburg City Administration.
He was also appointed to the board of the Federal Commission for the Securities Market of the Russian Federation and the board of state-owned Svyazinvest and Gazprom in 1999. Gref was first appointed as Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Economic Development and Trade on May 18, 2000 and was reappointed to the position in the succeeding Cabinet in 2004.
Herman Gref was a major advocate of Russia’s joining the World Trade Organisation. He is also responsible for creation of the Stabilisation Fund.
Gref was considered as one of the liberal reformers in Vladimir Putin"s administration of the early and mid-2000s, besides Alexei Kudrin.
In November 2007 Gref was elected as president of the state-owned savings bank Sberbank at an extraordinary general meeting. Under Gref’s leadership, the bank has undergone a number of radical changes aimed at improving its efficiency and corporate culture.
In August 1998, Herman Gref was appointed First Deputy Minister of State Property of the Russian Federation, and was a member of its board until 2000. Herman Gref is member of boards and supervisory boards of a number of companies, including Yandex.
