Sergei Makhlai

Sergei Makhlai a Russian businessman, the son of Vladimir Makhlai who headed Togliattiazot in 1985-2011. Since 2011, he is the chairman of the board of TogliattiAzot,^[1] one of Russia's largest producers of ammonium.

Biography

Born in 1969 in Gubakha, Perm Region, where he attended a local school. Sergei Makhlai entered Perm Polytechnic Institute in 1986. In 1987-1989, he did military service, then worked for several years in middle management positions in construction companies in the city of Togliatti.

In 1993 he graduated from Togliatti State University with a bachelor's degree. His major was Machinery and Equipment for chemical industry, construction of companies and patenting. In 1994 he moved to the U.S., where since 1996 he has been the General Manager of a company, which specializes in selling equipment for the chemical industry and real estate.

In 2003 he received a master's degree in Business Administration in the University of North Carolina.

Since 2004, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of JSCB Togliattikhimbank (Togliatti) and since 2005 he has been a member of the Board of Directors of JSCB RTS (Togliatti).

In March 2011 he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Togliattiazot.^[2] re-elected in March 2012^[3].

Since 2012 he has been on the supervisory board of Togliatti State University.

He is married and has two daughters.

TogliattiAzot

Following election as the board chairman in 2011, Sergei Makhlai announced a large-scale modernization program of the plant’s facilities through 2020. With his arrival the quality of corporate governance improved while revenues, tax payments and dividends increased^[4][5].

Sergei Makhlai has repeatedly stated in his interviews to the media that since 1996 there have been several attempts of illegal takeover of Togliattiazot^[6].

In September 2012, under Segei Makhlai's watch, TogliattiAzot workers held a rally and issued a proclamation suggesting that jailed members of the punk-group Pussy Riot to be released and send to work at TogliattiAzot instead. This incident gained worldwide media attention in light of the Pussy Riot trial.^[7] This event prompted an interview with Sergei Makhlai to a famous Huffington Post journalist Simon Shuster. In this interview Sergei Makhlai spoke positively about the Russian business climate and noted that western political experts in their opinions about events in Russia often distort the reality and use double-talk^[8].

In December 2014, in response to a reporter’s question whether Togliattiazot has become a foreign company, Sergei Makhlai said that “Togliattiazot has been and will always be a Russian company”. “The plant is a major employer in Togliatti and is among top 3 primary tax payers of the Samara region”, he stated^[9].

Chess support

Head of FIDE Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has expressed gratitude to Sergei Makhlai for support of chess after Togliattiazot became FIDE’s key sponsor in April 2015^[10].

References