Martin Zaimov

Martin Mihaylov Zaimov (Bulgarian: Мартин Михайлов Заимов; born 16 April 1962) is a Bulgarian financier and politician, former deputy director of the Bulgarian National Bank and 2007 mayor of Sofia candidate supported by the Union of the Democratic Forces and Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria.

Zaimov was born in 1962 in Geneva, Switzerland, where his mother Klavdia Zaimova was working at the United Nations Office. His father was the British long-time Associated Press foreign correspondent Michael Goldsmith.^[1] Zaimova and Goldsmith later divorced.^[2] Martin Zaimov belongs to the noted Zaimov family: he is the grandson of General Vladimir Zaimov and the great grandson of revolutionary Stoyan Zaimov.^[3]

Zaimov graduated in electronic technology from the Technical University of Sofia and in macroeconomy from the London School of Economics. He is fluent in English, French and Russian.^[1] Zaimov is divorced and has three children.^[4]

Martin Zaimov has worked for several French companies, including the Louis Dreyfus Group. In 1992, he founded the Bulgarian Auditing Company with Levon Hampartsumyan; the company was subsequently bought out by Coopers & Lybrand (since 1998 PricewaterhouseCoopers). In 1997, he was Vice Minister of Commerce in the Stefan Sofiyanski interim government.^[5] From 1 July 1997 on, Zaimov was deputy director of the Bulgarian National Bank, in charge of the currency board. In 2003, he resigned shortly before completing his term and was appointed executive director and board chairman of Postbank. He quit in 2004. Since 2007, he has been board member of Société Générale-owned Expressbank.

In 2007, Martin Zaimov ran for Mayor of Sofia, supported by the right-wing Union of the Democratic Forces and Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria. Zaimov came second with 17.77% of votes, behind current Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov of GERB who gathered 53.43%.^[6] Zaimov was elected to the Capital Municipal Council, which selected him as deputy chairman.

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