Board of Directors

Gennady Gazin was appointed as Chairman of VEON on 1 June 2020.

Mr. Gazin is the former Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company Russian and CIS practice and the former CEO of one of the largest Ukrainian business groups. Mr. Gazin is actively involved with a number of corporate and non-profit boards, primarily in technology and energy sectors. He also serves as an Affiliate Partner of Lindsay Goldberg, a New York based private equity firm.

Mr. Gazin started his professional career as a systems and telecommunications engineer at Bell Communications Research/Tellcordia and General Dynamics in the US. Mr. Gazin received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the US, a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Mr Albrecht currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Deezer.  He was born in Germany and studied law, earning a Ph.D. at the University of Bochum, before undertaking a variety of management roles in the media, technology and telecommunications industries including as Chief Executive of Millicom International Cellular S.A. (from 2012 to 2015) and Modern Times Group MTG AB (from 1998 to 2012).

Osama Bedier brings to the Board a wealth of expertise in digital technology. He is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Poynt, which develops and markets credit card processing terminals for small businesses. Mr. Bedier also serves on the Boards of QIWI, WePay and PayRange. Before founding Poynt, Mr. Bedier served as the Vice President of Payments at Google, where he created Google Wallet.  He also ran product and engineering at PayPal.

Mr Derby is founding partner of Concinnity Advisors LP.  After growing up in the United States, he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from New York University in 1983 and then spent over a decade working in Russia.  His career in banking and finance has included roles at National Westminster Bank USA and Chase Manhattan Bank.  In 1990, he established one of the first private banks in Russia, DialogBank, and in 1991 the first investment bank in Russia, Troika Dialog.  From 2003 to 2005 he served as the Managing Executive for Operations and Management, Office of the Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Mikhail Fridman has been a director of the Company since April 2010. Mr. Fridman, one of the original founders of Alfa Group Consortium, is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alfa Group Consortium, one of Russia's largest privately owned financial-industrial conglomerates. With effect from 1 July 2016, Mr Fridman stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Letterone Holdings S.A. and Letterone Investment Holdings S.A. and has continued to serve as a member of each such Board since that date.

Mr. Fridman is also a member of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank Russia and a member of the Supervisory Board of X5 Retail Group N.V. Mr. Fridman is a member of the Board of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations (USA). He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1986. Mr. Fridman was born in L’viv, Ukraine in 1964

Mr Genish is the Senior Partner and Head of Digital Retail at BTG Pactual prior to which he held a number of senior positions in the telecommunications, media and technology industries, including as Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Italia and Telefonica Brasil.  He started his career at KPMG in Israel in 1986 after graduating from the Tel Aviv University with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Economics.

Andrei Gusev is Managing Director of LetterOne Technology. Prior to joining LetterOne Technology, Mr. Gusev served as Managing Director at Altimo (2013 – 2014).

In 2011 and 2012, Mr. Gusev was Chief Executive Officer of LSE-listed X5 Retail Group N.V., and from 2006 to 2010, Mr. Gusev was Director of Business Development and M&A of X5. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Gusev served as Managing Director of the Alfa Group with overall responsibility for Investment Planning. Mr. Gusev has also worked at Bain & Company and Deloitte Consulting. In 2000 Mr. Gusev received an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (USA). Mr. Gusev graduated with a Diploma with Honors from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Lomonosov Moscow State University. 

Mr. Holt held a Group Finance Director position at Telenor ASA from 2000 to 2017. From 2006 to 2017 he was a Senior Advisor in Telenor ASA. From 1995 to 1999 he served as Executive Vice President and CFO of Aker ASA and Aker RGI ASA. Prior to this Mr. Holt held various leadership positions in the Aker Group, including Deputy President of Norwegian Contractors AS, Executive Vice President and CFO of Aker Oil and Gas Technology AS, President of Aker Real Estate AS, and Finance and Accounting Director of Aker Norcem AS. From 1978 to 1986 he served as Executive Officer and Special Advisor in the Negotiation Department in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

Mr. Holt holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree (DBA from Henley Management College/Brunel University in the UK, an MBA from the University of Queensland in Australia, and an MBA in finance from the University of Wisconsin in the US. He has also studied at Northwestern University and the Wharton School/University of Pennsylvania in the US and IMD in Switzerland. Mr. Holt has served on a number of corporate boards.

Robert Jan van de Kraats RA (Chartered Accountant) was appointed as member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committee as of 1 August 2018. He brings to the Board his experience as a seasoned international non-executive board member. Robert Jan is the former CFO, member of the Executive Board (2001-2018) and Vice Chairman (from 2006) of the Board of Randstad NV, a global provider of recruitment and staffing services. Prior to that he was a member of the Managing Board and CFO of NCM (credit insurance, currently named Atradius). He started his career with the predecessor of PWC.

From 2018 onwards Robert Jan acts as an independent non-executive director and advisor for various companies: The Royal Schiphol Group, TMF (Chairman), HEMA, Randstad Beheer, OCI and SuitSupply.

He used to serve (2013 - 2019) as an advisor to the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM / the Dutch 'SEC'). From 2013 until 2018 he served as a member of the Commission on Dutch Corporate Governance ('commissie Van Manen'), which designed a new governance code for the Netherlands. 

Mr. Glazunov has been in the leadership advisory global business for 20 years focusing on CEO succession, efficiency and performance. Being a partner of 2 top worldwide leadership consulting firms he has worked with corporate boards and founders of companies in Europe, India and Russia. 

He holds a master's degree in management from Plekhanov University. He previously completed a leadership program at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and an executive program at Singularity University in Silicon Valley, California.

Mr Pusey is a Senior Advisor at Bridge Growth Partners prior to which he was the Group Chief Technology Officer at Vodafone from 2006 to 2015.  He started his career at British Telecom in 1977 and held a variety of senior positions at Nortel Networks from 1982 to 2006, including as President for Europe from 2005.