German Gref is the chairman of the largest Bank of Russia, Sberbank, which is the majority property of 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 origin 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 to Russian (originally: Herrmann Gräf), and then from Russian to English, losing the German pronunciation along the way. The Gref family spoke German and Russian at home, and German Oskarovich now speaks and reads German fluently.
After graduation, German Gref enters MGIMO, but for unknown reasons after the first year he leaves the institute and, after receiving a summons from the military enlistment office, goes to the city of Chapaevsk, Kuibyshev (today Samara) region, where military unit 3434 was deployed
German Gref served 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, Herman entered the Omsk State University at the Faculty of Law. After graduating, Gref remains to teach at the alma mater. But he has big ambitions and in 1990 he enters graduate school at LSU. Its supervisor was Anatoly Sobchak, who gave the young promising economist a start in life, taking him to his team, which Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin had already worked for.
Carier start
In 1991, he began working as a legal adviser to the Peterhoff Committee on Economic Development and Property. Peterhof is a city near St. Petersburg and one of the cultural pearls of Russia - it is dotted with palaces and aristocratic residences built during the time of Emperor Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg. The main concern at that time was to increase the flow of tourism to the area and the maintenance of historical buildings, while the country suffered from the consequences of the collapse of the USSR.
Over the next few years, Gref held several different positions in the administration of Peterhof and took an active part in the management of city property. In 1997, he took the post of vice-governor and chairman of the Committee on State Property Management of St. Petersburg, replacing the murdered Mikhail Manevich.
The murder of Manevich was associated with the privatization of state property. Gref is faced with a conflict of real estate agents and developers. He also had to solve the so-called "book conflict". At that time, bookstore owners were particularly active in opposing the privatization and reorganization of state property — the fate of many former state-run bookstores in key central places was a controversial issue, as new owners of well-maintained stores wanted to make huge profits by turning them into cafes and retail stores.
Particularly controversial was the redevelopment project of Strelna, a suburb of St. Petersburg. Former USSR citizens of German descent were invited to move to the city, and German companies such as Bosch and Siemens were called upon to increase their presence in the area. Gref became the subject of great media attention because of his project to create a “German colony, ” as some sources dubbed it.
Government work
In 1998, he becomes First Deputy Minister of State Property. He simultaneously worked in several state committees, as well as on the Board of Directors of companies such as Lenenergo. In 2000, New Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov appointed Gref as Minister of Economic Development. During the seven-year tenure of Gref, the Ministry reassigned the Ministry of Commerce and took on other state functions, such as controlling the territory, exporting and developing tourism.
The Minister played an active role in promoting Russia as a host of the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which took place in Sochi. For this achievement - the main priority of the Putin administration - Gref was awarded the Order of Merit to the Fatherland.
Together with Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Gref created a stabilization fund. The main goal of the fund was to facilitate the repayment of Russia's foreign debt, and when it quickly reached this goal, thanks to high oil prices, it became a buffer against fluctuations in oil prices and inflationary pressures. By the time Gref left the ministry, the fund had grown to more than $ 130 billion.
German Gref has repeatedly called "corruption" the biggest obstacle to Russia's economic development. One newspaper reported that his stance against corruption, even at the lowest levels, was so strict that his secretary was 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 Bank of Russia owned by the state.
Under the direction of Gref, the bank underwent a series of radical changes aimed at increasing its efficiency and corporate culture.
German Gref is a member of the boards and supervisory boards of a number of companies, including Yandex.
