German Gref
| German Oskarovich Gref Герман Оскарович Греф | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Russian Federation | |
| In office 18 May 2000 – 21 September 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Andrei Shapovalyants |
| Succeeded by | Elvira Nabiullina |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 8, 1964 Panfilovo, Pavlodar oblast' Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union |
| Citizenship | Russian Federation |
| Political party | No affiliation |
| Signature |  |
German Oskarovich Gref (Russian: Герман Оскарович Греф, German: Hermann Gräf; born February 8, 1964) is a Russian economist of German ethnicity, the founder of Center of the Strategic Development. He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia from May 2000 to September 2007. He currently is the president of Sberbank.
Education and early career
Gref was born in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan), the son 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 moved to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and taught law at Leningrad University until completing his post-graduate degree in 1993. At the same time Gref worked in the Saint Petersburg City Administration as legal adviser -a position he had also held when in Kazakhstan- and in other jobs, most dealing with property and real estate.
Moscow years 1998-present
In August 1998, Gref was appointed First Deputy Minister of State Property of the Russian Federation, and was a member of its board until 2000. 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 Gazprom in 1999, both positions he still holds.
Gref was first appointed as Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Economic Development and Trade by Vladimir Putin on May 18, 2000 until Putin sacked Mikhail Kasyanov's Cabinet in March 2004. Gref was reappointed to the position in the succeeding Cabinet, headed by Mikhail Fradkov. Gref was one of major advocates of joining the World Trade Organisation. He is also responsible for creation of the Stabilisation Fund. It was originally gathered for payments of the Russian external loan, but soon overran its limits. This sparked a controversy among Russian economists whether the government should spend Stabfund money on current needs, or as Gref preferred, hold and invest in stock investments.
Gref was considered as one of the liberal reformers in Putin's Administration, besides Mikhail Zurabov, Minister of Health and Social Development until September 2007, and Alexei Kudrin, Minister of Finance, and a Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Putin. In early 2005, the three men came under fire for reforms of benefits for the elderly that they had suggested and the State Duma had approved in 2004. Many reforms had to do with replacing benefits, such as medical care and transportation, with cash benefits. This replacement angered many of the elderly because transportation costs were increasing. Protests took place all over Russia, but neither the administration nor the State Duma responded to these protests in any substantial way. The President reprimanded Kudrin on national television, and a few members of the State Duma went on a hunger strike for a short period of time. A no-confidence vote against Fradkov's cabinet was called by the State Duma in early February, 2005 but failed. Some analysts saw the waffair as an attempt to either discredit or replace one of the three men by other members of the cabinet, but despite this Gref, Kudrin, and Zurabov all retained their jobs.
In September 2007, Gref was dismissed from the Cabinet after Fradkov was replaced by Victor Zubkov.[1] In November 2007 he was elected as president of Sberbank at an extraordinary general meeting on.[2]
Personal life
Gref married the designer Yana on May 1, 2004 in the throne room of Peterhof Palace.[3] His wife has a teenage son from a prior relationship, just as Gref has a son, Oleg, from his marriage with Yelena, who refused to move to Moscow when German Gref was called into the government in 1998.[3][4] Since 2006 the couple has a daughter. Oleg studied jurisprudence in St. Petersburg until 2004 and moved to Germany for further education. Gref speaks German and loves Goethe and German Expressionism.[4]
References
- ↑ James Rodgers, "New Russian cabinet takes charge", BBC News, September 25, 2007.
- ↑ Catrina Stewart, "Sberbank Approves Gref as New Head", The Moscow Times, November 29, 2007.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "German Gref heiratet im Peterhofer Thronsaal", Russland Aktuell, 5 May 2004, accessed 6 August 2010
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Герман Греф в Лентапедии
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