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 According to Forbes, Vladimir Potanin is 25-th in the world
rank of the richest people. In March 2008 his fortune was estimated at 19.3
billion dollars. Today he is the president and the chairman of the Board of directors
of CJSC «Holding Company «Interros», as well as a member of the Public Chamber.
Vladimir Potanin was born in 1961.
In 1988 he graduated from the Moscow State Institute and
started working in the All-Union trade associations «Soyuzpromeksport». Even
then he was notable for leadership and talent to achieve perfect result by managing
people around him. Just after 2 years, he opens up foreign trade association
«Interros». That was done with the support of Shilin who was the former Deputy
Minister of Foreign Economic Relations. In a short time, the company began to show
large return. Potanin did not stop and with the help of Chernomyrdin, Chubais
and Shokhin created the «ONEKSIMbank». Business specialized on the maintenance
of foreign trade operations, which required a license to work with special
exproters. Potanin received it without any problems.
There was a moment in the Potanin's biography when he was taking up the post of
First Vice-Premier of the Russian Government, being directly responsible for
finance. People believe that this appointment was the Kremlin's gratitude for
the work in elections headquarters of Boris Yeltsin under the leadership of
Chubais and sponsorship injections also. But evil languages assured that being
at such a high position Potanin was first and foremost interested in
«ONEKSIMbank» development. Sergei Dorenko claimed that up to 60% of the
country's budget was concentrated there. Whatever the case, Potanin worked as
the First Vice-Premier less than a year. After the resignation, he returned to
business.
In April 2005, Vladimir Potanin allowed himself to criticize the Kremlin.
Protecting small and medium businesses, he drew attention to the plenty of bureaucracies
and corruption. He also spoke negatively about the reform of natural
monopolies. Potanin said literally these words: «The state is too keen on it's
presence in the economy». However, in May of that year, after sentencing
Khodorkovsky and Lebedev, the oligarch declined to comment on the court decision.
In November 2005, Potanin became a member of the Public Chamber. At the first
meeting he was elected Chairman of the Commission on the development of
charity, mercy and volunteerism. The decision was absolutely logical, due to Potanin's
long patronage activities. Yet in 1995, he founded «Fund Unity of Orthodox
Peoples». In 2002 he spent a million dollars to buy a «Inkombank»'s «Black
Square» by Malevich. After that the masterpiece was handed over to the Russian
Museum Fund. The next year, on April 19, he was elected as a chairman of the
board of trustees of museum «State Hermitage». He helped in creating the
Orthodox University, for which, as well as for other Merit, awarded by the
Russian Orthodox Church Order of St. Vladimir II and III degree and Venerable
Order of St. Sergius Radonezh III degree. And in January 2007, Potanin was
awarded the French Order of «Arts and elegant literature» for a significant
contribution to the art exhibition «When Russia Spoke French», held at the
Cathedral of Invalids four years earlier.
Potanin also received media's attention. In 2006 after the restaurateur Arkady
Novikov he became a moderator and the main hero of the reality-show «Candidate»
on TNT channel.The winner of the project
received a guaranteed position of top managers in one of the Potanin's companies,
with a salary of three million rubles a year. It is difficult to say what forced
the businessman to participate. There were no problems with the staff indeed. Potanin
explained that he wanted to show how difficult is the business. As well, it is
a truism; the magnitude of his personality was presented really well, as
Potanin became the main «star» in the project.
Despite the fact that Vladimir Potanin is rather authoritarian leader, he tries
to maintain smooth relations with subordinates. It is believed, that the main
weakness is his unbridled desire for luxury. The chic atmosphere of his cabinet
and apartments surprises even the colleagues. Potanin is fluent in French and
English. The list of his hobbies includes soccer, tennis, downhill skiing and
chess.
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