Web-site: http://www.alfagroup.org/

Mikhail Fridman (Ìèõàèë Ìàðàòîâè÷ Ôðèäìàí) was born in Lvov, Ukraine, in 1964.

Education: Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, 1986.

Fridman's first business ventures, which he launched while still a student, included window washing, running a discotheque, and scalping Moscow theater tickets — all of which were illegal under Soviet rule. In the wake of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's pro-market reforms, Fridman and his classmates started a delivery service.

1988: Founded Alfa Eco, a trading company out of which developed the Alfa Group Consortium, one of Russia’s largest privately owned financial-industrial conglomerates and a leader in banking, energy, telecommunications and retail. The Alfa Group Consortium incorporates Alfa Bank, one of Russia’s largest privately owned banks, and TNK-BP.

1991: Founded Alfa Bank with Pyotr Aven. It is currently the largest private bank in Russia by capital. Aven, who briefly served as foreign trade minister in 1992, has been the bank's president since 1994.

1996: Fridman was one of the Big Seven group of oligarchs who allegedly bankrolled President Boris Yeltsin's re-election campaign

2003: Sold half of Alfa group's oil subsidiary Tyumen Oil to BP for $6.15 billion. It was the biggest foreign investment in Russia to date.

November 2005-present: Member of the Public Chamber, which is comprised of business and social leaders who oversee official bodies and review and advise the government on legislative initiatives

February 2008-present: Chairman of the board of directors of Alfa Bank

Fridman is a member of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the international advisory board of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of TNK-BP and is a member of the board of directors of ABH Holdings (the holding company of Alfa-Banking Group), the supervisory board of directors of VimpelCom and X5 Retail Group.