Energy Minister

NAME: SERGEI IVANOVICH SHMATKO

BORN: 26 September, 1966 in Stavropol.

EDUCATION: *In 1983 Shmatko entered the Faculty for Mechanical Mathematics at the Ural State University.  *He graduated from Ural State University in the Faculty of Political Economy in 1990.  *As a part of his studies Shmatko was sent to Marburg University in West Germany. He received Distinction for his final exams and defended his dissertation in 1992.  *In 2004, Shmatko graduated from the higher academic courses at the Military Academy of the Joint Staff of Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, with a specialization in “defence and guaranteeing security of the Russian Federation.”

CAREER: *In 1985 Dr Shmatko was drafted into the army and served in the nuclear submarine corps with the Northern Fleet.  *In 1992 Dr Shmatko began to work as an auditor at BDO Binder in Frankfurt am Main.  *In 1994 he held the position of director of RFI GmbH-Society for consultation of investments in Russia, and was also chairman of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFFI) for the European Union.  *During the period of privatization in Russia he returned to his native land where, together with a delegation of German specialists, took part in implementing the procedure in the valuation of businesses.  *From June 1995 to December 1997, Dr Shmatko worked as a researcher at the non-state organization Institute for Problems of Investment.  *He also headed the external relations management at the All-Russia Bank of Regional Development (VBRR) (state bank on a federal level, founded in September 1995).  *Dr Shmatko worked with the nuclear power station operating company Rosenergoatom as chief of the analytic centre for economic strategy from 1997 to 1999.  *In 1999 he took up the post of adviser on economic strategy to the Director General of the All-Russia Scientific Research Institute on the Operations of Nuclear Power Stations (VNIIAES).  *From 2002 to 2005 Shmatko was the chairman of the State Foundation on Conversion (set up in 1995 to assist state policy in the field of conversion of the defence industry on the basis of support of conversion programs of enterprises and organizations).  *From February to June 2005 Shmatko was vice-president at Atomstroyexport, Russia’s nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly.  *He also served as adviser to the chairman of the board for Gazprombank.  *In June 2005 Shmatko was made CEO of Atomstroyexport. *In January 2008 he was appointed Deputy Director of Atomenergoprom, to supervise foreign trade activities of the company.  *In May 2008 Shmatko was appointed Minister for Energy of the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin‘s government. *Elected to Gazprom’s Board of Directors on 26 June 2009.

MISCELLANEOUS: *Born to a family of military servicemen.  *Lived in West Germany as a child.  *Speaks German.  *Shmatko is married, has two children, Arteyom and Polina.  *According to experts, the appointment of a businessman in nuclear projects to this post is a reflection of the allocation of the country’s energy priorities.