Igor Ivanovich Shuvalov (; born 4 January 1967) is the chair of the Russia's largest state development corporation VEB.RF (since May 24, 2018) and a former government official. He led VEB.RF through a modernization that significantly increased its role in the national economy and wellbeing.
Shuvalov was the First Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet and Vladimir Putin's Second Cabinet. He worked on socio-economic policies, state finances, investment climate, migration policy, development of the Far East, support for small and medium businesses, etc. He co-developed and supervised national development projects. In 2008 and 2014, he led the working group that developed the means to mitigate the after-effects of the Great Recession in Russia and the nationwide financial crisis respectively.
Shuvalov represented President of Russia in the G8 and worked on the preparation of the 2006 G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg, was the chair of the organizing committees of 2012 APEC Summit in Vladivostok, the 27th World Summer Universiade in Kazan 2013, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Shuvalov is a Honored Economist of Russia and holds a doctor of science degree in Jurisprudence. In 2022, he defended a thesis on the Legal Regulation of Entrepreneurial Activity during Socio-Economic Crisis in the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law.
Biography
Early years
Igor Shuvalov was born on 4 January 1967 in Bilibino, Chukotka, USSR, in a family of Muscovites who traveled there to work in gold production. Later, Shuvalov returned to Moscow and finished his school education there in 1984. In 1984 and 1985, he worked as a lab assistant at the Scientific Research Institute of Economics and Communications Problems (НИИ «ЭКОС») before serving in the Soviet Army (1985 to 1987).
Discharged, Shuvalov spent a year on preparatory courses at the Moscow State University and was accepted to the MSU Faculty of Law. In 1993, he graduated as a top student with a degree in Jurisprudence. Later, in 2003, Shuvalov defended his candidate of science thesis on the role of the government in the legislative process. In 2022, he earned a doctor of science degree with a thesis on regulating business during socio-economic crises.
In the MSU, Shuvalov considered a diplomatic career and specialized in international public law. His MSU professor, Lev Shestakov, recommended Shuvalov for the service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' legal department as an attaché, where he was responsible for pursuing developments in international law.
Career
Following the birth of his first child, Shuvalov left public service for private business. In 1993, he was accepted as a senior legal advisor to the ALM legal bureau owned by Alexander Mamut (where ALM stood for his initials, A. L. Mamut). In two years, he was promoted to managing partner and was called to the bar.
In ALM, Shuvalov specialized in mediating shareholder conflicts and managed the cases of ALM's many high-net-worth clients, which made him dozens of thousands of dollars in paychecks. ALM provided services to many businesspeople and enterprises, including Oleg Boyko, Roman Abramovich's Sibneft (ALM outsourced the legal department functions for the company), ORT TV channel (the bureau managed the company that consolidated private investors' shares in the state-controlled TV channel). During that time, Shuvalov sometimes acted as a nominee to incorporate new legal entities for ALM's clients.
State service
Shuvalov re-entered public service in 1997. Soon, he reached ministerial-level jobs and became a member of the President's staff in the early 2000s. In various roles, Shuvalov worked on economic policy decisions, was a point man on relations between the state and the big business and foreign investors, and designed tax reforms and support measures for small and medium businesses. In 2012, the U.S.-Russia Business Council named Shuvalov, back then the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, an advocate for improving the business climate and strengthening the U.S.-Russia commercial relationship.
Shuvalov's portfolio as a state servant includes financial reforms, privatization, and the development of measures to get the country out of the Ruble Crisis, the Great Recession in Russia in 2008, and the financial crisis of 2014. He represented the country at the World Economic Forum and G8 summits, communicated with the country's partners in the Eurasian economic associations, and led Russia's campaign for admission to the World Trade Organization. He was behind Russia's successful bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup and headed the 2013 Summer Universiade and World Cup organizing committee.
Shuvalov is considered a liberal within the Russian political elite with enough influence to oppose and counterweight the strongest siloviki hardliners in the Russian top circles, such as Igor Sechin.
Various roles, from 1997 to 2003
According to Forbes, Oleg Boyko, one of the ALM clients, convinced Shuvalov to return to state service as an opportunity to impact the future of Russia. Boyko introduced Shuvalov to Alfred Koch, the head of the Federal Agency for State Property Management. Half a year later, Shuvalov joined the Agency as the head of the department responsible for the new State Register of Federal Property of the State Committee for State Property Management and managed the sales of the federal property.
In January 1998, the Agency was reorganized into the Ministry of State Property of Russian Federation. Shuvalov was promoted to the deputy minister responsible for three departments: science, culture, and the service industry. In May, he was appointed to manage the Russian Federal Property Foundation as a deputy chair (a chairperson since September 1998) and worked on the RFPF's cooperation with the business community.
In August 1998, following the Ruble Crisis, Shuvalov was appointed to the working group to develop the measures to save the country from the crisis. Since December 1998, Shuvalov has curated the creation of the Agency for Restructuring of Credit Organizations (ARCO). In the late 1990s, he was the state representative on the boards of Rosgosstrakh, Sovcomflot, ORT, All-Russian Exhibition Center, and Gazprom.
From May 2000 to May 2003, Shuvalov served as the Minister of the Cabinet Office (the Chief of staff of the Government of Russia). He coordinated the government's legislative work, managed the Committee of Standardization, Metrology, and Certification, the state Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law, the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. Shuvalov initiated a reform of the institution, introduced qualification tests and strict standards for the staff, switched to electronic document management, and centralized the legislative activities of the Government and its cooperation with the Parliament.
In the Presidential Administration, 2003 to 2008
In May 2003, Shuvalov became one of the Aides to president in the Presidential Administration of Russia. In that role, he coordinated the working group that developed the roadmaps to reach the key goals outlined by Vladimir Putin: increase of gross domestic product, poverty reduction, etc. Shuvalov essentially worked on the fundamentals of Putin's presidential election campaign.
Shuvalov was the deputy head of the Presidential Administration from October 2003 to March 2004 and was reappointed as the President's Aide. In the following years, he curated the expert teams that prepared the long-term economic analysis for the president, was the deputy head of the Presidential Commission for Improving Public Administration and Justice and the Presidential Council on the Implementation of the National Priority Projects, and represented the president at the National Banking Council of Russia. He also was Putin's representative at G8 and the deputy head of the organizing committee to prepare Russia's chairmanship in G8.
The First Deputy Prime Minister, 2008 to 2018
When Dmitry Medvedev became the President of Russia, on 12 May 2008, Shuvalov moved to the Government as the First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and remained in that position from May 2008 to May 2018. For some time, following Alexei Kudrin's resignation as the Minister of Finance, he was de facto responsible for the government's economic bloc as a whole.
Shuvalov worked on the socio-economic development programs, monetary policy, fiscal policy, credit policy, government debt management, federal asset management, public investment policy, federal targeted programs, foreign trade and economic cooperation, migration policy, technical regulations, state property management, tariff policy, regional development, anti-monopoly and pro-competition policy, support to small and medium enterprises (SMB), housing development and affordability, road traffic safety, optimization of the government spending, and the development of monotowns.
Following the outbreak of the Great Recession in Russia in 2008 and the Russian financial crisis of 2014, Shuvalov headed the working groups tasked to reduce the after-effects of the crises. For instance, in December 2014, the timely action helped stabilize the Ruble in just days after its collapse.
Shuvalov represented Russia in international bodies as the chairperson of the Customs Union of the Eurasian Economic Union (2007 to 2012), the national coordinator on the Commonwealth of Independent States (2009 to 2018), the national representative on the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission. He led Russia's delegation at the negotiations on the creation of the Eurasian Economic Union and the negotiation with the World Trade Organization.
Shuvalov participated in the creation and execution of the National Entrepreneurial Initiative that improved conditions for small and medium businesses through tax relief, public procurement quotas, and specialized support programs. In just 7 years, from 2011 to 2018, Russia demonstrated remarkable growth in the World Bank's ease of doing business index from position 123 to 31. Shuvalov was also responsible for streamlining communication between the Russian authorities and local and international investors.
He was the head of the expert council of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, the chair of the Skolkovo Foundation, and the chair of the state-owned Prosveshcheniye publishing house. He also was the deputy secretary of the United Russia's Presidium and headed the party's list in Primorsky Krai at the 2011 Russian legislative election. He's a member of the All-Russia People's Front.
The Chairman of VEB, 2018 to present
In May 2018, Shuvalov was appointed as the head of Vnesheconombank (VEB) state development corporation (soon renamed to VEB.RF) with a task to reform it and to fulfill Vladimir Putin's so-called May Decrees, the long-term development goals.
In 2018, Shuvalov arranged the recapitalization of VEB, the sale of loss-making and non-core assets, cut the half of the VEB staff, and reduced the salaries of its executives. VEB was reorganized into a centralized investment bloc with novel approach to project financing. It also introduced a new focus on city development and infrastructure projects. A reorganized VEB positioned itself as the methodology center for sustainable development in Russia.