He is a Russian social entrepreneur, impact investor and venture philanthropist, cofounder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, initiator and founding partner of Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO and its first president (2006–2011), founder of UWC Dilijan College in Armenia, founder and chairman of the board of directors of PHILIN (Philanthropy Infrastructure), founder and partner of Phoenix Advisors, former CEO and controlling shareholder of Troika Dialog, an investment bank (1992–2012).

Vardanyan was born on May 25, 1968, in Yerevan. In 1985 he graduated with a gold medal from school №20 in Yerevan. Between 1986 and 1988 he completed service in the Soviet Armed Forces.

From 1985 to 1992 Vardanyan studied economics at Moscow State University, graduating with honours. He interned at Cassa di Risparmio di Torino in Italy and attended courses on emerging markets organized by Merrill Lynch in New York (1992). Later during his career, he completed post-graduate training at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France; 2000), and attended courses at Harvard Business School (2001, 2005, 2018), as well as special programs at Yale University and Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2012 and 2013).

Career in business

From 1991 to 1992 Vardanyan led the IPO division at Troika Dialog; working at the company from its founding day. From 1992 he headed Troika Dialog, holding the posts of executive director, and then president, CEO and chairman of the board of directors of Troika Dialog Group, up until the company’s sale to Sberbank on January 23, 2012.

After the sale, Vardanyan served as co-head of Sberbank CIB (until August 2013), and subsequently advisor to the presidentand chairman of the board at Sberbank (until October 2015). From 2002 to 2004 Vardanyan served as general director at Rosgosstrakh, working concurrently as Troika’s CEO.

In 2013, together with the managing director and ex-partner of Troika Dialog Mikhail Broitman, Vardanyan co-founded the investment company Vardanyan, Broitman and Partners. Along with partners, he owns and manages the Romanov Dvor and the Vozdvizhenka, premium class business centers in Moscow.

In addition to his business activities, Vardanyan is currently a board member at Kamaz, Sollers and Ameriabank (Armenia), a member of the economic council of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and a member of the board of trustees of the Investment and Venture Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan. Previously, Vardanyan served on the boards of directors, boards of trustees and advisory boards of numerous Russian and international companies in a number of key economic sectors: industry (AvtoVAZ, Sibur, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, etc.), high technology and innovation (Russian Venture Company, etc.), finance and insurance (Bank of Moscow, Rosgosstrakh, Marsh & McLennan Companies (USA), etc.), real estate and infrastructure (Sheremetyevo International Airport, AVICA).

From 2000 to 2012 Vardanyan was a member of the management board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. He is currently a member of the arbitrators’ committee of the RUIE joint corporate ethics commission. He was the first Chairman of the Young Presidents Organization(YPO) in Russia.

Early in his career, Vardanyan served on the boards of organizations comprising the infrastructure of Russia’s securities market and regulating its operations: the board of directors of the Nonprofit Partnership for Development of Russian Financial Market Russian Trading System (NP RTS) (1998-2001), the exchange council of the Moscow Exchange (1997–2002), the expert council of the Federal Commission of Securities Market (FCSM of Russia) (1996–2002), the board of directors of Depository Clearing Company CJSC (1995–1999), as well as the board of directors of the National Association of Securities Market Participants (NAUFOR) (1997–2006), including two years (1997–1998) as board chairman. He was one of the founders of “Club 2015” – a community of professional managers who created blueprints for the development of Russia until 2015.