Petr Aven has served as President of Alfa-Bank since 1994. He is responsible for the Bank’s overall strategy and for relations with business and government leaders in Russia and abroad. He has played a central role in developing Alfa-Bank into a market leader in nearly every category of financial services. Alfa-Bank is routinely recognised as Russia’s best privately owned bank by publications like Euromoney and Global Finance.
Prior to joining the Bank, Petr Aven was Minister of Foreign Economic Relations for the Russian Federation from 1991–1992. In this role, he was the guiding force in the development of Russia’s economic and trade relations with the West, serving as Russia’s representative to the G-7, and conducting a number of high-level trade and economic missions to Western capitals. Aven was one of the most influential voices and figures in the reform circles of the early 1990’s. He was personally responsible for establishing the convertibility of the rouble and for the liberalisation of foreign trade in the government of Yegor Gaidar.
An economist by training, Aven spent several years at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria (1989–1991) and prior to that he was a senior researcher at the All-Union Institute for Systems Studies at the USSR Academy of Sciences. Aven holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Moscow State University (1980).
Petr Aven is Chairman of the Board of Directors of AlfaStrakhovanie and Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of CTC Media. He is a member of the Boards of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and of the Association for National Financial Reporting Standards. He is also a Trustee of the Russian Economic School and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
In 2007 Petr Aven became Chairman of the Russia-Latvia Business Council. Moreover Petr Aven is a trustee of Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).
Petr Aven is the author of numerous scientific papers and articles on Economic and Trade Issues and is widely quoted in the financial and trade press on matters related to the Russian economy and trade policy. He is a professor at State University — Higher School of Economics. He has received a number of international awards, most recently by Institutional Investor magazine, when he was named Russia’ Most Admired Executive in Financial Services. Aven is a frequent visitor to Western capitals where he often lectures on economic developments in Russia.
Petr Aven is a passionate supporter of the arts and theatre in Russia, and is a major collector of early twentieth century Russian Art.
