Former Sochi-2014 committee president heads Timchenko's Volga Group
MOSCOW. Oct 6 (Interfax) - The former president of the Sochi-2014 organizational committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko has been named head of Volga Group, the company that holds the assets of billionaire Gennady Timchenko.
Chernyshenko's appointment will mark a change in the management model of Volga Group, national daily Kommersant reported on Monday, citing sources at the group. Until now, all key decisions were developed and made by Timchenko, while management was responsible for implementing them, the paper said.
"The new director is a step toward a strategic holding, management will be more involved in the business," the paper quoted one source as saying.
"The main functional duties entrusted to Dmitry Chernyshenko will be control over the efficiency of investments and implementation of major projects, establishment of unified management standards in the group, participation in the development of strategic decisions, [and] the search for new investment opportunities," Volga Group said.
The paper said that Chernyshenko came to the organizational committee of the Olympics from his own company Media Arts Group, one of Russia's top ten advertising and communications groups by advertising purchases, which Chernyshenko founded with classmates from the Stankin technical institute in 1989.
"At one point we began to work on sports marketing at a level that almost no one could reach. Chernyshenko worled on major sporting events and apparently was spotted by someone," the paper quoted Media Arts Group cofounder Ilya Slutsky as saying.
Chernyshenko left the group in 2005, reportedly sold his stake in the business and headed the campaign to hold the Winter Olympics in Sochi, becoming president of the organizational committee two years later. The Sochi-2014 organizational committee is now being liquidated and Chernyshenko has not been president of the committee since August 11.
Volga Group, which is wholly owned by Timchenko, combines his assets in Russia and abroad, including a 23% stake in leading Russian independent gas producer Novatek , 15.3% of petrochemicals company Sibur, 80% of Transoil, 63% of Stroytransgaz group, 31.5% of CJSC STG, 30% of Kolmar, 12.5% of Sogaz and 8% of Bank Rossiya.