Herman Gref: Sberbank CEO

Herman Gref was born on February 8, 1964, at Panfilovo, Pavlador Region in Russia. Hermann served in the Soviet Army from 1982 to 1984. Specializing in jurisprudence he graduated from the Faculty of Law of Omsk State University in 19990. Herman then took a postgraduate course at the Faculty of Law of Leningrad State University from 1990 to 1993.

He was first legal adviser at the Committee for Economic Development and Property, Administration of Petrodvoretz, St. Petersburg from 1991 to 1992. Herman was appointed Head of Petrodvertz Regional Agency of the Municipal Property Committee, St Petersburg Mayor’s Office in 1992. He served as Chairman of the Property Committee and Deputy Head, Administration of Petrodvoretz from 1992 to 1994.

Herman continued his rise through the government bureaucracy he was appointed in 1994 as Deputy Chairman and later, First Deputy Chairman of the Municipal Property Committee, St Petersburg Mayor’s Office.  From 1997 to 1998 Herman was Vice Governor and Chairman of the Municipal  Property Committee of St Petersburg Mayor’s Office.

Then Herman’s career took an even bigger turn as he began to hold office at the national level. He held the post of First Deputy Minister of the State Property of Russia from 1998 to 2000. Then for more than seven years from May 2000 to September 2007, Herman was the Minister for Economic Development and Trade of Russia. This is a very high ranking position that raised his stock as an executive.

He was also considered an economic liberal who viewed that any business where profit is to be made should belong to the private sector.  Herman was a supporter of Russia’s entrance into the WTO.

Herman made the transition to the private sector becoming the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Serbank of Russia in November 2007. One of the things he wanted to do upon taking the posts was to ensure “maximum openness and transparency” in the bank’s decisions.

A stated by Serbank it accounts for around one-third of Russia’s banking system serving more than 110 million customers in Russia alone, which is more than half of the country’s population.