Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev (Russian: Александр Иванович Медведев; Aleksandr Ivanovich Medvedev) (born 14 August 1955 in Shakhtyorsk, Sakhalin Oblast) is the current Deputy Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Russian energy company Gazprom, president of the Kontinental Hockey League,[1] and the Director-General of Gazprom's export arm Gazprom Export. He is a member of the Coordination Committee of RosUkrEnergo and a member of the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG.
In 1978, he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. From 1978 to 1989 he worked at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations. In 1989–1991 he was a director of the Soviet owned Donau Bank AG in Vienna and a managing director of bank's subsidiary company Inter Trade Consult GmbH. There are speculations that he had an undercover KGB job because he worked at Donau Bank at the same time as Andrei Akimov, another KGB officer and now Gazprombank's chief.[2][3]
From 1991 to 1996 and from 1998 to 2002 he was director of the Austrian IMAG Investment Management & Advisory Group GmbH. Between 1997 and 1998 he was a vice president of the Eastern oil company (Восточная нефтяная компания) in Moscow. Since August 2002, Alexander Medvedev is the Director-General of Gazprom Export (former Gazeksport) and the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Gazprom.
Since 2008, Alexander Medvedev has served as president of the Kontinental Hockey League. He is also the president of SKA Saint Petersburg hockey club and Russia's representative to the International Ice Hockey Federation Council.
In December, 2008, it was reported in The New York Times that at one point Medvedev predicted Gazprom's market value would reach $1 trillion by 2014. He was also reported to have, in light of the subsequent collapse in the market value (down some 76% to $85 billion; from 3rd in the world to 35th), attributed the fall in value to the condition of the Moscow stock market (see Russian Trading System and Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange) and to the global financial crisis.[4]
In May, 2009, Medvedev stated he had interest in acquiring and owning a rival NHL franchise. He reportedly expressed interest in up to ten different teams, but has narrowed down his list to three. Medvedev was expected to talk to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly by mid-May, though the subject matter of the meeting is unknown.[5]
Medvedev has played key role in Gazprom's opaque intermediaries such as RosUkrEnergo, Centrex Group, Gazprom Germania, and YugoRosGaz.[6]