Ruben Vardanyan
Social investor, co-founder of the Noôdome project

In 1992, he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, earned advanced degrees at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford Universities, and completed business programs in New York, Fontainebleau, and Singapore. Within Russia and internationally, Ruben Vardaryan has received such accolades as the AIB Presidential Award for his contribution to the development of education, a Common Group Award for outstanding achievements in conflict resolution, the development of local communities, and the consolidation of peace, and being named one of the 100 world leaders of the future.

For 30 years he has been bringing people with different backgrounds, experience and opportunities together to implement partnership projects. With the assistance of Vardanyan, Troika Dialog (now Sberbank CIB), the SKOLKOVO Business School, Phoenix Advisors, PhilinPhilgood, UWC Dilijan College, Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST), and the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative have had and are each having a considerable socio-economic effect at the local and global levels. On both a commercial and charitable basis, Ruben, his family and various groups of partners from around the world have invested more than USD 1.5 billion in global education, healthcare, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), solving humanitarian problems, and developing traditions of continuity and philanthropy.

Oksana Oracheva
General Directorof the Vladimir Potanin Foundation

Oksana Oracheva is General Director of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation. She keeps strategic programs, partnerships and operations on track, fosters innovative thinking, oversees programs and projects development and is responsible for the Foundation’s international activities and global partnerships.

Oksana was chair of the Governing Council of the Russian Donors Forum. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2010 Oksana served as Russia Program Director of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program at Moscow office of the Institute of International Education. In 1999–2000 she was an editor of the bi-weekly Russian Regional Bulletin published by East-West Institute Moscow Center. Oksana is a political scientist and has over 20 years of work experience in non-profit sector.

Since 1989 she has been teaching different courses on Political History and Political Science. She has written extensively on federalism, center-periphery relations and good governance. Oksana holds a MSocSc in Political Science degree of the University of Birmingham (UK) and a PhD in Political History from Perm State University (Russia) and did research as a Visiting Professor at Yale University.
Oksana is a winner of Fulbright and Chevening Scholarship awards.

Tatyana Ivshina
Executive Director of the foundation Ulyanovsk – The Capital of Culture

She graduated from the Moscow State Institute of Culture, and graduated with honors from the Kirov Polytechnic Institute, majoring in Economics and Production Management, and has completed internships in Finland and in the USA in arts and culture management.

She has held leading positions in the field of culture in the Kirov and Ulyanovsk regions for about 30 years. She served as the program director of the program Cultural Capital of the Volga Region in Kirov, which was implemented with the support of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District, Sergey Kiriyenko. Over the course of the project, she often received letters of thanks and certificates of honor from senior state and municipal authorities.

Grigory Zaslavskiy
Кector of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts (GITIS), theater critic

Grigory Zaslavskiy graduated from the Russian Institute of Theater Arts, Department for Theater Studies, in 1993, holds PhD in Philology (2011). He worked at the magazine “Moscow Observer, he was as an editor, a Deputy Head and then the Head of the Cultural Department at “Independent Newspaper”. Mr. Zaslavsky worked as a commentator and a Deputy Head of the information service at Radio “Majak-24”. Since 2007, he is a cultural commentator at the radio station “Vesti-FM”. Grigory Zaslavskiy anchors programs “Culture/Tourism” and “the Cult of Personality” at the “Mir” channel.

Since 2011, he is an Associate Professor at Moscow State University, School of Television Studies and at the Russian Institute of Theater Arts, Department for Theater Studies. Since 2016, Grigory Zaslavskiy is the Rector of the Russian Institute of Theater Arts. 

Mr. Zaslavskiy is awarded the Moscow city prize in literature and art. He is a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Irina Ryazanova
Founder and Executive Director, Bolshaya Peremena Philanthropic Foundation

Graduated from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics of the MAI, certified as a coach by the Erikson International University of Coaching, MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics. She started working as a programmer but went into teaching out her passion for it, which must have rubbed off from her mother and grandmother, who gave their whole lives teaching.

She has been working with orphans, both in orphanages and foster families, for 23 years, to promoting the education of such disadvantaged children. For nearly 20 years, she has worked with a group of professional teachers at Big Change, a foundation she established to help rebuild the inner strength and capabilities of children with special needs, guiding them along the path toward independence. In 2018, she received the gratitude of the Mayor of Moscow for her contribution to the implementation of socially significant projects and civic initiatives.

Tatyana Davydova
Scientific Secretary of the Chuvash National Museum of the Ministry of Culture of Chuvashia

Winner of the competition to study in the Vladimir Potatin Foundation's Advanced Training Course Endowment Growth Strategy

She has worked at the Chuvash National Museum for 17 years. Her areas of interest include museums in general, social partnership, design activities, target capital, fundraising, and museum development

Larisa Kozhanova
Program Director of the Anya Chizhova Philanthropic Foundation for Aid to Children with Incurable Diseases

She received a degree in a programming and philology from Chuvash State University and in management consulting from RANEPA. She is an entrepreneur operating in the field of consulting.

5 years ago, he volunteered to help organize and develop a philanthropic foundation the main objective of which was to attract donations, grants, and subsidies. He believes philanthropy is a prerequisite to be considered a socially active person and the best tool for social change in Russia.

Anna Shilova

Member of the board of the autonomous non-profit organization League of Dreams, graduated from the M. Sechenova Moscow Medical Academy and the Harvard Business School's MBA program. She has worked in marketing at Procter & Gamble and in investment funds and Private Banking at Sberbank.

8 years ago, she helped Sergey and Natalia Belogolovtsev start the project Skis of Dreams (now League of Dreams). He has been managing the financial activities of this project for 5 years and is responsible for the organization's strategic development and marketing.

The amount of financing attracted by League of Dreams has risen to RUB 65 million, a 300% increase. In 2014, League of Dreams received a grant from the Vladimir Potanin Foundation for the formation of an endowment fund. The League of Dreams' public reports have been honored as following Gold reporting standards by the Donors ' Forum three times.

Denis Kamaldinov
A coach and consultant on strategic planning, and the monitoring and evaluation of social projects, Chairman of the Board of the NGO Humanitarian Project

Graduated from the Novosibirsk State Medical Academy There, he also taught at the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Narcology at the Faculty of Advanced Medical Training and defended his Ph.D. thesis on the formation of identity during the use of opiates.

He has been working as a trainer in social programs for the prevention of HIV, drug addiction and STIs for 28 years and is a member of the HIV/AIDS Coordination Council of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. He worked as a psychotherapist at Juventus, a consultative and diagnostic center for children and adolescents. he has served as a consultant in programs to combat HIV infection and prevent drug use within Russia and across the EECA region. He has also served as a consultant for UN agencies such as UNICEF, the WHO, UNFPA, and UNAIDS.

He is a co-founder of the NGO Humanitarian Project for which he has served as the permanent chairman for 23 years. The organization implements HIV prevention programs among high-risk groups in the Novosibirsk region, as well as as a federal-level methodological center involving projects supported by the local Ministry of Health, the Russian Presidential Grant Fund, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and others.

Olga Egel
Deputy Head for Social Development of the GAOORDI St. Petersburg Association of Public Assemblies of Parents of Disabled Children

She graduated from the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Social Pedagogy and Psychology with a degree in psychology.

Expert and methodologist in the social and labor adaptation of disabled people, assisted living, and assisted employment. GAOORDI unites the parents of children with disabilities or rare and genetic diseases. The organization systematically and consistently implements programs offering a way for people with a disabilities to navigate society, from help early on to the establishment of an independent life.

Alexander Svetakov
Chairman of the General Meeting of the Absolut-Pomosch Philanthropic Foundation

Alexander established the “Absolute-Help”, “Light” Foundations and the boarding inclusive school “Absolute”. He is a member of the Council under the Government of the Russian Federation on Patronage in the Social Sector. Billionaire.

Ivan Kopytov
Fundraising Director, Member of the Management Board of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO

Graduated from the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University Received letters of thanks from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for organizing and holding #EdCrunch, a conference on new educational technologies, from 2015 to 2017.

His professional interests include working with large private investors, attracting partner companies, systematic work with graduates, and new methods of fundraising.

Marina Petrova
Director of the MGIMO Endowment Fund

Graduated with honors from the Faculty of Economics of Ulyanovsk State University, earned an MBA at Wesleyan College (USA), and an Executive MBA at the MGIMO Business School. Candidate of Economic Sciences, Senior Lecturer at the Department of International Economic Relations and Foreign Economic Affairs of MGIMO. Author and co-author of publications on international economic relations and the development of endowment funds.

Executive Secretary of the MGIMO Board of Trustees, member of the Board of the National Endowment Association. Responsible for all of the university's fundraising, cooperating with the business community, and managing the capital and financing of MGIMO's projects. He is listed among the 100 Young economic leaders of Russia according to the French independent analytical center Institut Choiseul (2019, 2020).

Alexander Svistunov
Director of the Garage Museum Endowment Fund

Graduated from the International Business School And Global Economy faculty of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (2012) and majored in International Banking and Finance at the University of Roehampton (Munich, Germany, 2016). In 2016, he began his work at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art as a financial analyst, and has been the director of the museum's endowment fund since 2018.

Olga Dranichkina
Director of the Tretyakov Gallery Foundation

Graduated from the State University of Management with a degree in Management, and with honors from the Stroganov Moscow State Art and Industrial Academy. Candidate of Art History. Currently, she is studying in the program Strategy for Creating and Developing Endowment Funds at the SKOLKOVO Business School. She teaches at the Higher School of Economics and the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, conducts a course of lectures she created in the lecture hall at the Tretyakov Gallery.

She has been working at the Tretyakov Gallery for the last 6 years. In that time, the museum has launched loyalty programs and raised funds for the reconstruction of the House of S. and P. Tretyakov, the purchase of works by G. Korzhev, V. Zhilinsky, as well as the purchase of collections of art from the twentieth century. The gallery also launched a channel for online donations on its official website.

Svetlana Rusnak
Deputy Director for Development, Primorsky State Art Gallery, DalART Endowment Fund

Graduated from the Faculty of History of Far Eastern State University, completed postgraduate studies in the Department of National History. She has undergone internships in the United States and Workshops on European museum standards in Italy, under the program Endowment for Cultural Institutions in Omsk.

She worked at Vladimir K. Arseniev Museum of Far East History for 15 years. She coordinated the contest A Changing Museum in a Changing World for 4 years and served as an expert at the Potanin Foundation. She has long been actively engaged in organizing and fundraising for projects. These include an exhibition of Orthodox icon painter Yamashita Rin (Japan), an Exhibition project called Cinema and Fashion with the A. Vasilyeva Foundation, Kim Myung-suk's (Korea) The Soul of the Garden for the 25th anniversary of the start of Korean Air flights to Vladivostok, and an audio guide to the exhibition Russian Art in Korean.

Evgeniya Telistyna
Founder of the Reach for Change Foundation Supporting Social Initiatives for Children

She graduated from the History Department of the Institute of Asian and African Countries, Lomonosov Moscow State University and holds a Master's degree from MSPPU. She graduated from MIGIP as a gestalt consultant and completed programs in the field of social entrepreneurship at St. Petersburg State University Graduate School of Management, GATLA, the Oxford Business School, and SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management. She teaches at the Higher School of Economics.

She worked at a Red Cross hospital in Ethiopia for 2 years. She has worked in the non-profit sector in Russia for the past 11 years, combining her psychological practice and her work in charitable foundations.
She is often invited to speak at events aimed at the development and popularization of philanthropy in Russia and the promotion of corporate volunteerism and social entrepreneurship. She spoke at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok and the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Expert for the SIA social project competitions, Best Social Project of the Year, Advertising of the Future, the Mayor of Moscow's grant competition, the Effie Awards Russia, and the international Rybakov Prize.

Marina Mikhailova
Director of the Garant Community Development Philanthropic Foundation

Graduated from Pomeranian Medical University, the School of Applied Psychology of the Global Academy of Psychological Sciences, the program for the development of strategic philanthropy at the Institute of Philanthropy (USA). Consultant-expert at the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Management experience – 28 years, experience in NPOs – 24 years. Since 2000, director of Garant, a center for social technologies and development in Arkhangelsk which is engaged in the development of local philanthropy, runs an NGO training center and actively shares its experience with related organizations in Russia.

She has extensive experience in the development and promotion of new projects, real-world management consulting, and the evaluation of social programs and projects. Co-author of the methodological series How to Manage Social Projects and Have Fun Doing So, and the creator of training courses for NGOs such as Fundamentals of social Design, Fundamentals of Fundraising, etc. She has conducted more than 800 training sessions for NGOs and businesses on the various aspects of what social organizations do.

Nikita Kukushkin
Initiator of the Pomosch project, theater and film actor, one of the leading actors of the Gogol Center

In 2012, Nikita graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School, where he was a student of Kirill Serebrennikov, after which he continued to work under the guidance of the master, first at Seventh Studio, and then at Gogol Center. To date, he has been involved in most of the theater's performances.
In 2019, Nikita made his directorial debut at the Gogol Center with the play Bozhenka based on a work by Valery Pecheykin.

Nikita has organized several charitable projects (in particular, Kind Box and Kind Machine), initiated #yavpomosch, a charity food campaign for pensioners during the pandemic, and is the founder and ideological leader of the project Help.

Aleksandr Bagirov
Student, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Endowment Capital «Sports Programming at Ural Federal University»

Topic: How to create an endowment with a very specific purpose?
Name of the organization: UrFU Endowment Fund

4th-year student at the Ural Federal University, graduated from the Specialized Educational and Scientific Center of UrFU. For 4 years, he has been organizing informatics olympiad camps for schoolchildren, as well as training camps and rallies for UrFU students. Currently, he is the leader among UrFU's team of managers and coaches in sports programming. The community organizes about 20 programming olympiads annually and prepares schoolchildren and students for such competitions.

As an active member of the Board of Trustees of the endowment fund Sports Programming in UrFU, he is responsible for expanding its means for collecting donations.

Sergei Vishchipanov
General Director of Facultetus

Topic: Positioning the endowment from the first courses of study at the university with an ecosystem approach
Organization name: Facultetus

He graduated from the Faculty of Economic Security at RANEPA. While studying at the academy, he created a digital platform offering career support to students, which has already been implemented in 140 universities. As a result, Facultetus is a leading project of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, a resident of Skolkovo.

Member of the Expert Council on Employment under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. Co-founder of the Skolkovo-based company QRepublik, a developer of digital solutions for health, safety, and social support used in 9 countries. Speaker at Vivatech (France), BIO (USA) The Geneva Health Forum (Switzerland), Medica (Germany), etc.

Kirill Olginsky
Director of Communications of the Istoki Endowment Fund

Topic: How communications help NGOs grow. And what do endowments have to do with it?

Graduated from the History Department of Nizhny Novgorod State University, completed a degree and an internship in Mass Communications at Utah State University (USA). Author of more than 100 publications on social entrepreneurship, sustainable development, philanthropy, management, and personnel development.
Headed the middle management training course at the corporate universities of Uralsib Bank and Philip Morris International for 7 years. He organized the first system for developing and evaluating client managers in the field of private banking in Russia.

He headed the best corporate magazine covering large private capital management, One2One Magazine (winner of the award for Best Client Magazine from the Russian Association of Communication Directors and Corporate Publishing). Based on the experience of the Russian business elite of the late 19th to early 20th century, he helped establish two premium publications, Capital Protection and Hired Managers. For 9 years, he managed media projects of Our Future, a fund for regional social programs, and was the editor-in-chief of the social entrepreneurship portal no-forum.ru

Елена Щетинина
Заместитель начальника департамента по контролю целевого использования средств Фонда целевого капитала «Истоки»

Окончила с отличием магистратуру по специальности «Финансовый менеджмент» Национального исследовательского технологического университета «МИСиС». Участвовала в создании и руководила на начальном этапе Фондом целевого капитала НИТУ «МИСиС», где занималась организацией системы привлечения благотворительных вкладов и создание единой базы данных выпускников.

11 лет работает в сфере целевых капиталов. 7 лет занимается контролем адресного использования средств целевого капитала, полноты и достоверности отчетов организаций-получателей в Фонде целевого капитала «Истоки», крупнейшем российском эндаументе в сфере благотворительности.

Evgeniya Belotelova
Managing Partner, Philin Philgood Company Group

Topic: How communications help NGOs grow. And what do endowments have to do with it?

Graduated from the Faculty of Arts of St. Petersburg State University. She has been exploring a career in the fashion industry for over 12 years, in which time she has managed several boutiques, a department at the Leningrad Trade House (DLT) with a team of more than 100 people, and worked with more than 50 premium brands. She has also managed an anti-crisis project in Yekaterinburg.

he was the executive director of the philanthropic foundation Friends for 5 years

Kristina Seleznyova
Head of Public Relations, Children-Butterflies Philanthropic Foundation

Topic: How communications help NGOs grow. And what do endowments have to do with it?

Graduated from Kutafin Moscow State Law University In private international law. She has worked as a journalist and PR manager.

Yulia Ledukhovskaya
Chief Specialist, MIPT Endowment Fund

Graduated from Kutafin Moscow State Law University University He teaches in the professional retraining program Social Innovations and Entrepreneurship under the Master of Management in Social Entrepreneurship at the Higher School of Economics. Expert at the SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management's educational program Strategy for the Creation and Development of Endowment Funds.

She was the executive director of MEPhI for 3 years. The originator of the Endowment Game Tour, a winner of a Vladimir Potanin Foundation competition. Participant in the SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management's program Strategy for the Creation and Development of Endowment Funds from 2017 to 2019.

Vladimir Luzan
Director, V. I. Surikov Krasnoyarsk Art Museum

Graduated from Siberian Federal University with a degree in art history. One of the winners of the competition Governor's Management Reserve.

He has contributed to the development of culture in Krasnoyarsk Territory in various positions for more than 13 years: at the Ministry of Culture of Krasnoyarsk Territory, the State Universal Scientific Library of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, and the Krasnoyarsk Regional Philharmonic. For the last 5 years, he has been the director of the Krasnoyarsk Surikov Art Museum, for which he has founded an Endowment Fund .

Oksana Petrova
Director of the Dobry Gorod Peterburg Philanthropic Foundation

Graduated from Volgograd State University with a degree in Regional Studies and Finance and Credit. Currently, she is studying in the Psychology Program at the East European Institute of Psychoanalysis. Participant in the CAF Foundation's international internship Future Forward for local community foundations.

She has worked in the commercial sector as a financial manager and crisis management consultant. She has been engaged in the financial management and organizational development of NPOs for more than 6 years. The originator of various independent projects dedicated to organ donation – the All-Russian flash mob Hold Your Breath and the full-length documentary Beyond the peaks.

Alla Platonova
Development Director, Tchaikovsky Perm Opera and Ballet Theater

Graduated from the Faculty of Philology of Perm State University and the Presidential Program for Training Managerial Personnel. Russian and world champion in the Global Management Challenge 2014/2015. She has served as a speaker and expert at various forums and conferences for cultural managers.

She has held leading roles at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater for 20 years. She took part in preparing and holding the International Diaghilev Festival. She is the originator and ideologist of such theater projects as Opera Extreme and Opera Quest. Sh leads all work involving public relations and the mass media and determining ways to attract additional funding and partnership programs. She coordinates ticket sales and the reception of the audience in the theater and is responsible for the overall process of commissioning works for the theater's repertoire.

Veronika Misyutina
Advisor to the Wealth Transformation Center at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO

Graduated from the Faculty of International Economic Relations at the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. Chartered Accountant of the United Kingdom (ACCA). As a partner of the international consulting company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), she has supported international business and the personal projects of Russian business families for over 20 years.

She headed the Research and Educational Center for Wealth Management and Philanthropy at the SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management for 5 years. She supervises educational programs in the field of social investment and philanthropy. Participates in specialized working groups within the relevant ministries on the development and improvement of legislation in the field of taxation, inheritance law, and philanthropy. She is a member of the boards of trustees and experts of several non-profit organizations.

Anton Belov
Director of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art

Graduated from Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (National University of Science and Technology MISiS) with a degree in the Physical Chemistry of Processes and Materials. In 2012–2013, he was a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. He has been the head of the Bachelor's Department at the National Research University Higher School of Economics since 2018.

Founder of the non-profit project Gallery White, which helps young artists create new projects. He has been publishing the bilingual magazine Artguide for 12 years. Its online version on contemporary art is by far the leading publication in its niche. He has been managing the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art for 11 years.

Tatyana Ilyushnikova

Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation

Graduated from the Polzynov Altai State Technical University, candidate of economic science. She was awarded the Medal For Services to the Fatherland of the II degree and the Certificate of Honor of the President of Russia.

She worked for companies in the real sector of the economy for 5 years and spent 10 years in various positions in the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia. For 8 years, she was a research assistant and deputy head of the Expert Department of the Presidential Administration of Russia.

Svetlana Makovetskaya
Director of the GRANI Center for Civil Analysis and Independent Research Foundation, Co-Chair of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights

Ms. Makovetskaya was the Head of the Ural Agency for support of small and medium-size enterprises. She is one of the authors of the Concept of Small Business Development in the Perm Kray. Since 2004, Svetlana has been the Program Director of the Institute of the National Project “Social Contract”. She led more than 15 research projects.
Since 2007, Svetlana has been the Director of “The Center for Civic Analysis and Independent Research, GRANI. She also runs the Centre’s programs on infrastructure development SONKO.

In 2010, Svetlana was awarded a badge of Commissioner for Human Rights in the Perm Kray for establishing the center GRANI and introducing a technology of public expertise of the state power quality. Svetlana received the golden award of the Perm Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

She is a member of the Association of independent centers for economic analysis and the Public Council of the Russian Ministry of Labour and Social Protection; Co-Chair of the Presidium of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.

Elena Topoleva-Soldunova
Member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Commission for the Development of the Non-Profit Sector and Support of Socially Oriented NGOs, Director of ANO Agency for Social Information

Elena graduated from the Philological Department of Moscow State University. Since 1994, she has been the Director of the autonomous non-commercial organization “Social Information Agency”. Since 2010, she has been a member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. In 2012-2014, Ms. Topoleva-Soldunova was the Head of the Civic Chamber Committee on Social Policy, Labour Relations and Citizens’ Quality of Life. In 2012-2016, she was a member of the Presidential Council on Civil Society Development and Human Rights. 

Elena is an active member in a number of councils and committees. She is the Vice-Chairman of the Council on Patronage in the Social Sector of the Russian Federation, Chair of the Public Council of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and Committee for the Non-Commercial Sector Development and Support of Socially-Oriented NGO. Elena Topoleva-Soldunova is a member of the Government Expert Council.   

Ms. Topoleva-Soldunova is awarded the Second Class Medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland. She was a recipient of the State Prize in media in 2018.