Boris Mints

Boris Iosifovich Mints (Russian: Минц, Борис Иосифович); – Russian entrepreneur, public person and philanthropist, Chairman of the Board of Directors at an investment company O1 Group.^[1]

Biography

Mr. Mints was born in Moldova in the family of a military engineer, Iosif Samuilovich Mints (born 1932). His mother, Lusia Izrailevna Milter (1936–2007, Kodyma, Ukrainian SSR), worked as a librarian; as a child in 1941–1944 she was deported to the ghetto in Chechelnik in Transnistria, where 14 members of her family died. Both grandfathers – Samuil Iosifovich Mints (1892–1942) and Srul Gershkovich Milter (1901–1944) - perished in the Great Patriotic War.

In 1980 he graduated from the Physical Faculty of Ivanovo State University, PhD in Technical Sciences, A.P. of Academic Department of Higher Mathematics.^[2]

1983-1990: Work at the Ivanovo Textile Institute.

From 1990–1994 he held the position of Vice Mayor of Ivanovo, and was the Head of the City Property Management Committee.

From 1994–1996 he was the Head of the Main Directorate of the State Property Committee of the Russian Federation, member of the Board of the State Property Committee.

From 1996–2000 he was the Head of the Russian Presidential Directorate for Local Government; Secretary of the Council for Local Government in the Russian Federation (chaired by the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin). In 2000 Mints was removed from his position as head of the Presidential Directorate on Local Government by then acting President Vladimir Putin.^[3]

From 2001–2003 he acted as General Director of REN TV media holding.

From 2004–2013 he was the Chairman of the Board of Directors, and since 2012 he was the President of Otkritie Financial Corporation.

In 2004 he founded an investment company, O1 Group, owning and managing assets in real estate and financial sectors.^[4]

In 2010 he founded an investment company, O1 Properties for the management of real estate assets and a holding structure for O1 Group.^[5]O1 Properties is now the largest owner of office real estate in Russia.

In 2013 he ceased to be a shareholder of FC Otkritie upon disposition of his shareholding to business partners Vadim Belyaev and Ruben Aganbegyan.

Currently he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at O1 Group.^[6]

In 2013 and 2014 he acquired three non-governmental pension funds: Stalfond, Telekom-Soyuz and Blagosostoyanie OPS which were merged under a common tradename Future.^[7]

Between 2014 and 2015 he acquired stakes in Austrian companies CA Immo and Immofinanz.^[8][9]

Starting from 2014 he commenced the active development of his personal project - Russia’s first Museum of Russian Impressionism.^[10]

2016: Foundation of Future Financial Group, one of the largest pension asset managers in Russia, managing four leading funds in the compulsory and non-state pension sector (Future, Telecom-Union, Education and Social Development).

2016 (April): CA Immo and Immofinanz announced a merger after Immofinanz purchased a 26% stake in CA Immo from the O1 Group.^[11]

2016 (October): O1 Group held an IPO of the shares of Future Financial Group on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

He is a Class 1 Actual State Counselor of the Russian Federation (the qualification category was awarded by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 1006 on September 11, 1997).

Boris Mints is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

He is the founder and Chairman of Yegor Gaidar Foundation.^[12]

Honorary Professor of Tel Aviv University.

Member of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University.^[13]

Member of the Capital Campaign Cabinet of Tel Aviv University.

President (and founder) of the Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges at Tel-Aviv University. The Institute was inaugurated in May 2016.^[14]

Family

• Wife – Marina Vladimirovna Mints
• Children – sons Dmitry (born December 15, 1981), Alexander (born October 14, 1988) and Igor (born October 14, 1988), and daughter Alena (born October 11, 2006).

Hobbies and Interests

Collects paintings, plays chess and tennis.

Charity and patronage

Boris Mints is a committed supporter of cultural and social projects. He led and planned the creation of the first Museum of Russian impressionism at the converted Bolshevik confectionery factory in Moscow, where paintings from his own collection are the core of the permanent exhibition. In 2014, before opening at the Bolshevik site, the Museum held a series of exhibitions in Moscow and Russian regions, and also launched a creative and educational program for children. The first section of the Museum was opened in May 2016, displaying works by outstanding Russian artists such as Konstantin Korovin, Pyotr Konchalovsky, Yury Pimenov, Valentin Serov, etc. Mr. Mints began to collect Russian Impressionist paintings more than 15 years ago and the collection now contains several hundred works.

Mr. Mints facilitated the installation in Moscow in September 2014 of a sculptural and spatial composition by the outstanding Russian sculptor and academician Georgy Frangulyan adjacent to the White Square business center (owned by O1 Properties). Following a trend that has become increasingly popular in many cities and countries, the project takes art beyond the walls of museums, integrating it organically with everyday life, enriching the urban space and giving it meaning.

Mr. Mints is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the CER (the Conference of European Rabbis), which is the largest Jewish religious structure in Europe, and provides support to Jewish communities.

In May 2016, the world’s first Museum of Russian Impressionism was opened at the Bolshevik cultural and business center in Moscow. As well as displaying the personal collection of Mr. Mints, the Museum also hosts regular exhibitions of impressionist works from other countries.

In 2017, the Museum of Russian Impressionism presented one of the best works by Valery Koshlyakov The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2016, cardboard, tempera, 315x185 cm) to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The donation was part of a large-scale action, in which a number of leading Russian collectors of contemporary art donated works to the Centre Pompidou, where they will be displayed in a special exhibition.

Mr. Mints also supports international projects with social and cultural significance. In 2015 he encouraged the establishment of the Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges named after Boris Mints in collaboration with Tel Aviv University and became its first donor.^[15] The institute will bring together researchers from Tel Aviv University and other leading universities, which will research pressing issues and formulate solutions and deliver strategic policy recommendations.

Moreover the companies of O1 Group support a number of iconic cultural events – theater fests Golden Mask, «Territory», a festival of street theatres in Arkhangelsk, the Vladimir Spivakov Foundation projects and others.

Awards and Rankings

Boris Iosifovich Mints, the founder of the Museum of Russian Impressionism, won Prize named after Yekaterina Romanovna Dashkova in the “Philanthropist” category. In 2014, the Miloserdiye awards ceremony took place to honour public persons for commitment to humanitarian values. Boris Mints became the first winner of this award. In May 2015, Mr. Mints was awarded a Patron of the Arts Diploma as part of the Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova Prize in recognition of his work to create the Museum of Russian Impressionism.Boris Mints is No.72 in the Forbes ranking of Russian Billionaires and No.1567 in the Forbes World’s Billionaires’ ranking.

Relative sources

• Website of the O1 Group
• Website of the Museum of Russian Impressionism
• Forbes 2017:The World's Billionaires

References