Juliana Slaschova President

Juliana Slaschova is a renowned communication consultant in Russia with extensive experience in PR, IR, crisis management and corporate social responsibility projects.

She has worked in the field of public relations and strategic communications for over 14 years. Juliana’s career started in a US-based company Quasar Communications, where she was responsible for preparation of foreign investment conferences for Russian businessmen in the United States and for publishing the monthly Moscow Business Journal. She joined Mikhailov & Partners for the first time in 1994, developing her carrier from an account manager to the Client Service Director and then a Partner. In this last position, she was responsible for coordination and implementation of large-scale PR campaigns for Russian and multinational companies.

Between 2002 and 2004, Juliana held the office of Corporate Communications Director with ESN Group, supervising the Company’s relations with regional government bodies, partners and mass media.

In 2004, she worked for BBDO Group as a consultant/partner and was responsible for the creation of a new PR agency within the group, as well as internal and external public relations.

In 2005, Ms. Slaschova returned to be appointed President of Mikhailov & Partners Strategic Communications Management. She currently supervises the strategic development of the Company, including corporate infrastructure, key accounts, and new business.

With Mikhailov & Partners, she invoked more than 100 communication campaigns for Russian and international clients in Moscow and other regions. Three campaigns conducted under Juliana’s management received the national Silver Archer PR Award.

In 2007, Juliana Slaschova was included in Kariera Magazine’s rating of most influential Russian businesswomen. The newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda gave her its Impeccable Reputation Award in the Best PR Specialist category.

In the autumn of 2007, she was among the three leaders in the Professional Services category of Russia’s Top 1000 Managers ranking issued by the Russian Managers Association and Kommersant Publishing House.

Juliana won the Russian Media Manager 2007 Award in the Public Relations category.

Boris Firsov Senior Partner and Managing Director

Boris has worked in the business of financial and corporate communications for over 12 years. Since 2000, he has been our Senior Partner and Managing Director, supervising the Company’s practices and regional branches (Ukraine and St Petersburg).

He accumulated vast managerial experience in over 100 communications projects with an aggregate value of more than $30M... Some of these projects won national awards in the field of public relations.

Boris is a personal advisor to heads of major domestic and international companies and some CIS public officials.

He is the author of several methodologies for matching companies’ communications with such business objectives as improving the market value, market share, or competitive position. His methodologies are used by the Agency while it designs and implements financial, corporate, and social communications projects.

Boris has a degree in Economics from Moscow State University.

Alexey Yudin Partner and CEO

Alexey Yudin has been working in the field of communications since 2000. Since 2010, he has been the CEO of Mikhailov and Partners, before which he hold the position of company's Managing director and headed M&P’s Financial Communications Practice.

Mr. Yudin has participated in more than 200 projects related to client companies’ complex business processes (IPO, restructuring, consolidation of subsidiaries, mergers and acquisitions, fundraising, corporate development), as well as crisis response.

He oversaw and participated in projects for Gazprom, Total, Siemens, Statoil, Wintershall, TNK-BP, Аlrosa, Troika Dialog, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Telenor, Renaissance Capital, MTS, Onexim, Renova, Ilim Pulp, Russian Olympic Committee, VTB, OGK-2, OGK-3, Nidan, Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport and many others.

Mr. Yudin holds a degree in journalism from Moscow State University, as well as an MBA from Kingston University, UK.

Marina Starodubskaya General Director, Mikhailov & Partners Ukraine

Marina has worked in communications counselling for more than 7 years in Ukraine, other CIS countries, Europe, and the United States specialising in various business sectors (development, metallurgy, engineering, finance, banking, etc.). She has created and conducts more than 30 strategic communications training programmes for top managers. She has written over 100 publications in online and printed media, including contributions to the 2005 and 2006 digests called “Win or Lose: Winning Strategies” issued by Maximum Publishing House.

Marina Starodubskaya is the Vice President of the Ukrainian Association of Public Relations (UAPR), Chairman of the Committee for Corporate Social Responsibility within the European Business Association (ЕВА), and a member of the UN Expert Group on Corporate Social Responsibility in Ukraine.

Marina received a BBA degree from the International Christian University in Vienna and an international qualification in Public Relations from Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), London.

Alexey Ryabinkin Director, Financial Communications Practice

Alexey has worked in financial and corporate communications since 2003. He has been the head of Financial Communications at M&P since 2008.

Before joing M&P he has been the head of media relations at ChTPZ Group, a leader in the Russian metallurgical sector.

Alexey has extensive experience in strategy building, capital markets and crisis communications in Russia and internationally, leading teams comprising of media, legal and IR specialists.

His successful projects include IPOs of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port and of OGK-5, media relations at ONEXIM Group, shareholder rights’ protection in Caspian Energy’s international corporate conflict as well as strategic communications services for Telenor Group.

Zhana Rustem General Director, Mikhailov & Partners Central Asia

Zhana Rustem has worked in the field of communications for more than 10 years and is a head of M&P Central Asia.

Before joining Mikhailov & Partners, during 2005-2009, Zhana worked in the oil and gas industry, she headed the Policy and Corporate Affairs Department at BG Kazakhstan, a subsidiary of a British company BG Group. She was responsible for government and public affairs, communications, social performance and Business Principles. In that role she was responsible for establishing and maintaining a company’s positive image, managing all external relations with the key stakeholders such as the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan, national and partner companies, media and others.

This followed a period of extensive experience in the area of Corporate, Public Affairs and Communications in the FMCG sector. Zhana held management roles at Coca-Cola CIS Services Ltd., JTI Central Asia, R. J. Reynolds - Kabisco, where she developed and managed communications strategies and plans to support business and marketing objectives of the companies. While at Coca-Cola, Zhana was in charge of setting up a number of NGOs to assist the company to manage business, she directly managed the launch of the Association of Softdrink and Juice Manufacturers and the Media Advertisers Association and assisted in the set up of the Brand Protection Group.

Zhana is an industrial engineer, graduated from Moscow Textile Institute.

Asya Pomeranets Director, Social Communications Practice

Asya has been in the strategic communications industry since 2000. In 2008, she was appointed as head of M&P’s Social Communications Practice.

Before joining Mikhailov & Partners, from 2005 till 2007, Asya worked as Senior Account Manager with The PBN Company, a well-established international communications agency. While at PBN, she was in charge of reputation research, developed and implemented corporate social responsibility and crisis management programmes, and conducted media training. Her clients included Rolf Group of Companies, PwC, Ferrero, DHL, TGC-1, Donbas Fuel & Energy Company, and others.

From 2002 till 2005, Asya worked for Open Russia Foundation, where she made a career from an average executive to a deputy director. Between 2000 and 2002, she was an advisor to the Chairman of the Yekaterinburg City Duma, dealing with international and economic issues.

In 1997, Asya graduated from Ural State University, where she completed a post-graduate course in 2000. Between 2000 and 2002, she took continuing education courses at the Centre for Transitional Economy (University of Strathclyde, UK) and the Moscow School of Political Studies (Moscow & Strasbourg).

Alexander Karmayev Head of St Petersburg Office

Alexander has worked in the communications business since 1999 in Moscow and St. Petersburg and has headed M&P’s St Petersburg office since 2007.

Prior to joining Mikhailov & Partners, he was the head of the Corporate Communications Practice with SPN Ogilvy PR. One of his most successful projects was PR support for Beeline’s rebranding process, which received a SABRE Award as the best European IT&T campaign in 2005. Other clients included CIT Finance, British American Tobacco, Ilim Pulp, GE Money Bank, Eurocement, Heineken, OGK-6, and other major companies.

Alexander has extensive experience in both national and local markets. He also conducted projects in the US, the UK, Greece, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.

Mr. Karmayev holds a degree in Journalism from St Petersburg State University.

Ellen Pinchuk Director, International Projects

Ms. Pinchuk joined the Mikhailov and Partners team as the Director of International Projects in 2010.

Ellen came to Russia in 1991 from California, where she had begun a successful career in television production. In 1999, she began working as a producer, and then as a reporter and bureau-chief for CTV Canada in Moscow. In her career in Moscow, Ellen has covered a wide variety of important stories, including the Chechen conflict, the Beslan hostage situation, space tourism, energy, and sports. She has also provided exclusive coverage for CTV in Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel and interviewed Viktor Yushchenko and Yasser Arafat.

From 2007 to 2009, Ellen was a correspondent for Bloomberg News in Moscow. During that time, she had the opportunity to interview heads of state including Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev. Ellen’s work has been lauded by the journalistic community; she has received the New York Press Club Journalism Award twice.

Ellen holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and Literature and a Master’s degree in history from Harvard University.

Yanina Kaznadeeva Director, Government Accounts

Yanina has worked in communications counselling since 1997. In 2002, she joined Mikhailov & Partners, where she is currently responsible for government accounts.

In 2001 and 2002, Yanina held the position of Press Secretary with the Investor Protection Association, a professional non-commercial organisation. Between 1997 and 2001, she worked for the Moscow office of the US-based public relations firm Burson-Marsteller/NIS on the World Bank’s project “Information Disclosure and Public Relations”, which was carried out upon request of the Russian Federal Commission on the Securities Market (FCSM).

During her professional career, Yanina Kaznadeeva contributed to various social and financial communications projects. She successfully managed the development and application of communication solutions for different business, governmental, and public entities. These solutions include promoting the use of the Social Payment Card in the northern region of Yugra, a public awareness and crisis management campaign related to monetization of social benefits in the railway transportation industry (received the National Public Relations Development Award), creating and developing the FCSM Press Centre, information support of the National Education Project, communication support for Troika Dialog-sponsored Russia Forum, and other projects.

Yanina holds a degree in Translation and Cross-Cultural Communication from Moscow State Linguistic University and an MBA degree in Strategic Management from the Institute of Business and Economy co-founded by the Academy of National Economy (Russia) and California State University, East Bay.