Though Gulzhan Moldazhanova is the top female executive in Russia, she is little known outside the former Soviet Union. I hadn't heard of her, and a quick trip to my frequent first stop on the research trail, Wikipedia, surprisingly had nothing on her when I looked.
Digging a little deeper (thanks to the Globe and Mail) reveals a rags to riches story. This soft-spoken, Khazakstan-born divorced mother of a three-year-old, started her career as the secretary for an ambitious young Russian businessman named Oleg Deripaska (who does have a Wikipedia page). In only ten years she worked her way up the ladder to become CEO of Russia's biggest and fastest-growing industrial conglomerate, Basic Element. This US$23 billion company is a big player in seven domestic industries -- energy, resources, manufacturing, financial services, construction, materials, and aviation -- and recently took a US$1.54 billion stake in Canadian auto parts giant Magna International (NYSE: MGA).
Moldazhanova lives in Moscow, speaks English, and according to Fortune magazine is the 20th most powerful woman in the world. She first went to work for Deripaska when he was running an aluminum trading company. After she trained as an accountant at the Russian government's Finance Academy, her career took off. By 2003, Deripaska, and his company Rusal, had became the undisputed king of Russian aluminum. In 2006, Rusal surpassed Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) and to become the world's top aluminum maker.
Between 2000 and 2004, she had careers as Rusal's sales and marketing director, and as director of strategy and corporate development. In 2005, Deripaska appointed her CEO of Basic Element.
It appears that next up for this ever-growing conglomerate are a stake in Russia's Norilsk, the world's biggest nickel producer, and big oil producer, Russneft. The challenge for Moldazhanova is not to run Basic Element's individual companies, but to provide the support they need to fend for themselves and become ready for IPOs.
And no doubt her profile on the global stage will only increase.
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