Sergei Ignatyev (Сергей Михайлович Игнатьев) was born on Jan. 10, 1948, in Leningrad.

Education: Leningrad Energy College, 1967. Economics, Moscow State University, 1975. Ph.D., economics, Moscow State University, 1978.

1967-1969: Served in the armed forces

1969-1970: Technician at Gidroelektromontazh in Leningrad

1978-1988: Professor's assistant, senior lecturer at the F. Engels Leningrad Institute of Soviet Trade

1988-1991: Senior lecturer on economics at the N. A. Voznesensky Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute

1991-1992: Deputy minister of economics and finance. Yegor Gaidar invited Ignatyev into his democratic and reform-oriented government.

1992: Deputy finance minister

1992-1993: Deputy to Central Bank Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko. Ignatyev was reportedly forced out for being part of the "too liberal" Gaidar team.

1993-1996: Deputy economics minister

1996-1997: Aide on economic issues to President Yeltsin

1997-2002: First deputy finance minister. During this time, Ignatyev was involved in almost every major issue at the Finance Ministry, including internal and external debt, budget revenues, international financial organizations and macroeconomic policy. He also headed campaigns against tax evasion schemes used by big oil companies, established good relations with the IMF and the World Bank, and was responsible for macroeconomic stability (story).

March 2002-present: Chairman of the Central Bank (re-appointed in 2005). President Putin asked parliament to appoint Ignatyev following Viktor Gerashchenko's resignation (story). Unlike other new members of Putin's team, Ignatyev had no relations with the St. Petersburg administration when Putin was a deputy to former Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. At the time of his appointment, Ignatyev pledged to pursue the same "reasonable policies" as his predecessor. Gerashchenko was widely criticized for maintaining an artificially strong ruble by keeping the exchange rate steady against the dollar despite double-digit inflation (story).

Ignatyev oversaw the Central Bank's response to the 2008 economic crisis, which included a devaluation of the ruble against the dollar/euro basket (story).

Given his long tenure as a high-ranking official, Ignatyev has been surprisingly immune to scandal. In January 2007, Alexei Frenkel, a banker on trial for the murder of Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Andrei Kozlov, accused the Central Bank of being complicit in allowing customers of suspect banks to make cash withdrawals after it had cited those banks for illegal activities. Ignatyev dismissed the accusations as groundless (story).

Member of the Central Bank's board of directors.

Ignatyev is married.