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Stan PolovetsRussian-American businessman and philanthropist
Date of Birth: 08.06.1963
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Stan Polovets: A Trailblazing Business Leader and Philanthropist
- Business Associates
- Later Business Associates:
- Philanthropy
Stan Polovets: A Trailblazing Business Leader and Philanthropist
Early Life and EducationStan Polovets was born in Moscow, USSR, in 1963. His family immigrated to the United States in 1976, and he became a US citizen in 1983. Polovets earned a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Northridge (1985) and went on to Stanford University, where he received an MBA and MA in 1989.
Business Associates
Early Career:Before pursuing his graduate studies, Polovets worked as an analyst at Exxon, a management consultant at KPMG, and a defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, a public policy think tank. After earning his MBA from Stanford Business School, Polovets moved to New York to work at the global headquarters of Ernst & Young, where he was responsible for establishing the firm's consulting business in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
RPI, Inc.:In 1992, Polovets founded RPI, Inc., a communications and consulting firm specializing in the Russian energy sector. He served as its CEO until the firm's sale in 1998 and was an advisor to the Minister of Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan and the CEO of Mazeikiu Nafta, Lithuania's national oil company. RPI's two flagship publications, "Russian Petroleum Investor" and "Caspian Investor," continue to be published by Thomson Reuters.
TNK-BP and AAR:In 2001, Polovets joined Tyumen Oil Company (TNK), a growing Russian oil producer, as vice president for mergers and acquisitions. In 2002-2003, Polovets represented TNK in its $15 billion merger with BP, which resulted in the creation of TNK-BP. The merger became the largest corporate transaction in Russia and the largest foreign investment in a Russian company at the time. The combined company eventually became one of the world's top ten non-state oil producers, comparable in size to the likes of Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Statoil. It operated in Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Between 2003 and 2006, Polovets held several senior positions within the TNK-BP Group, including senior vice president and chief of staff to BP's chief executive in TNK-BP, Bob Dudley, who later became BP's CEO.
In 2006, Polovets briefly left the TNK-BP Group to become first vice president of Uralsib, a major Russian financial institution. In 2007, Polovets became the CEO of the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) Consortium, which owned 50% of TNK-BP. In this capacity, he represented AAR on the board and board committees of TNK-BP and its key subsidiaries and affiliates, including Slavneft (a joint venture with Gazprom Neft) and TNK Trading International (TTI, the international trading subsidiary).
In 2011, Polovets was involved in AAR's legal challenge against BP, which also owned 50% of TNK-BP. AAR filed a lawsuit to block a strategic alliance BP was seeking with Rosneft in an attempt to gain access to Russia's Arctic reserves, bypassing TNK-BP.
AAR won an injunction from the London High Court prohibiting BP from entering into the strategic alliance and pursuing a share swap with Rosneft. A similar ruling was issued by the Stockholm Arbitration Court, supporting AAR's position and preventing BP's attempted alliance with the Russian state-owned company. AAR's successful effort to block the BP-Rosneft alliance paved the way for AAR's divestment from TNK-BP two years later.
In 2013, as CEO of AAR, Polovets was involved in the sale of AAR's 50% stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft for $28 billion. BP also sold its stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft in a parallel transaction, making the $55 billion sale of TNK-BP the largest M&A deal in Russian history and the largest M&A transaction in the global energy sector in over a decade. Between 2003 and 2013, AAR's shareholders received over $20 billion in dividends from TNK-BP, and their stake increased in value from $7.5 billion to $28 billion, making it one of the most successful investments in the history of the oil and gas industry.
Later Business Associates:
From May 2013 to December 2019, Polovets served as a Senior Non-Executive Director of L1 Energy, the international investment vehicle of Alfa-Group.
From May 2014 to October 2016, Polovets was Chairman for Russia and Eastern Europe at Edelman, the world's largest public relations firm.
From September 2014 to March 2020, Polovets served as a Senior Advisor to Access Industries, a privately-owned industrial group with long-term investments in natural resources, chemicals, media, telecommunications, and real estate, owned by American entrepreneur and philanthropist Len Blavatnik. Polovets represented Access as a Senior Non-Executive Director on the board of Clal Industries, a major Israeli holding company with a diversified portfolio of investments in manufacturing, high-tech, and the consumer sector.
Philanthropy
Polovets is the Co-Founder and serves as Chairman, as well as CEO, of the Genesis Prize Foundation. The Foundation awards an annual $1 million prize to exceptional individuals whose achievements inspire and induce a sense of pride among the next generation of Jews. The Prize has a permanent endowment of $100 million and is a partnership between the Genesis Prize Foundation and the Jewish Agency for Israel (Sochnut). Each of the Laureates has forgone the prize money and directed their $1 million awards—often with supporting donors—to various philanthropic causes.
Polovets is also the Co-Founder and Honorary CEO of the Genesis Philanthropy Group (GPG), one of the largest private foundations in Jewish philanthropy, with offices in Moscow, New York, London, and Tel Aviv. Polovets was the CEO of GPG
