The VinoGrad Themed Venu

Сo-founder, and Vice President of Simple Group. Co-founder and teacher at Enotria Wine School, who also inspired the creation of the Simple Wine News book series. Author of books and articles on wine and a film producer.

Co-founder of Simple Wine News, a professional wine magazine, who also wrote articles for this magazine. Author of articles on wine and columnist in various magazines, including Forbes, GQ, and Aeroflot.

Author of several books: “Wines of Italy: The Second Italian Renaissance” (2001) and “Piedmont: Wines of Italy” (2014).

Executive Director of the Russian Association of Sommeliers (RAS) since its foundation in 1999.

Born: 1972 in Moscow. Graduated from the Economics Faculty of Moscow State University and completed postgraduate research at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 1999 through 2005: member of the Supervisory Council of the National Securities Market Association, of the expert council of the Financial Markets Committee under the State Duma of the Russian Federation. 2011 through 2015: held the position of Chairman of the Management Board of the National Association of Producers and Suppliers of Foodstuffs Rusprodsoyuz. June 2015: appointed head of the Autonomous Non-commercial Organization Russian Quality System (Roskachestvo), set up by Russian Government Directive. Is an active participant in many expert organisations, in particular Open Government, Expert Council of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, working group of the Public Council of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation on foodstuff quality, member of the Commission for Supervising the Code of Fair Practices. Married with three children.

Candidate of Political Sciences, Attorney, Manager, RANEPA lecturer, Chair of the Academic Council of the Retail Management Master’s Programme at HSE University

Education
 Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) (2012);
 Moscow City Government University of Management (2006)

Career
 From 2006 to 2013 worked in the Moscow City Government (Control Directorate of the Mayor of Moscow; Department of Science, Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship of the City of Moscow);
 From 2013, headed the GR block of Coca-Cola Hellenic;
 From 2015, served as the Executive Director of the Association of E-commerce Companies (AKIT);
 In 2018, elected President of AKIT;
 From 2019, Lecturer for the Digital Transformation in Business Master’s Degree Programme and the Digital Technologies in Commerce Bachelor’s Programme, Institute of Industry Management, RANEPA;
 From 2020, Chair of the Academic Council of the Retail Management Master’s Programme at HSE University.

Industry experience
 Member, Working Group on Creating a Development Strategy for Trade, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation;
 Member, Working Group on Remote Alcohol Sales, Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation;
 Member, Council on Developing the Digital Economy, Federation Council, Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation;
 Member, Expert Council, State Commission for Counteracting the Trafficking of Industrial Products;
 Member, Expert Council on Increasing Retail Market Competition, Federal Anti-monopoly Service of the Russian Federation;
 Member, Expert Council on Developing the Children’s Product Industry, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation;
 Member, Expert Group on Production, Sales, and Marking of Jewellery and Other Goods Made of Precious Metals, Federal Assay Chamber;
 Member, Expert Council on the Legislative Measures Facilitating the Development of Financial Technologies in the Russian Federation, State Duma Committee on the Financial Market;
 Member, Expert Commission on Evaluating Software for Inclusion on the List of Russian Software that Must be Installed in Advance on Individual High-Tech Devices, Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation;
 Expert, Regulatory Guillotine Working Group on Cash Register Regulations;
 Member, Regulatory Guillotine Working Group on Commerce and Consumer Rights Protection;
 Member, Regulatory Guillotine Working Group on Precious Metals and Stones;
 Expert, Regulatory Guillotine Working Group on Pharmaceutics and Medical Devices;
 Expert, Regulatory Guillotine Working Group on the Manufacture and Sale of Alcohol Products;
 Expert, Regulatory Guillotine Working Group on Communications and Information Technology;
 Council Member, Russian Jewellers' Guild;
 Member of the Board, NPP OPORA;
 Member, Committee on Supporting Entrepreneurship in the Extraction, Production, Processing, and Sale of Precious Metals, Precious Stones, and Resulting Products, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation;
 Member, Council on E-commerce, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation;
 Member, Council on Consumer Market Development, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation;
 Member, Council on IT and Digital Economy Development, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.


Awards
 Jubilee Medal from the Governor of Moscow Region for Contributing to the Development of Commerce (2020)
 Certificate of Honour from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation for Significant Contributions to the Development of Trade and Many Years of Diligent Work (2018)
 Letter of Acknowledgement from the Deputy Mayor of Moscow on Urban Policy and Construction for Active Participation in the Capital’s Public Life and Personal Contributions to the Urban Development of Moscow (2019)
 Federal State Statistics Service Badge for Active Participation in the Russian National Census (2002)