DERIPASKA, OLEG VLADIMIROVICH

(1968– )

Born in Dzerzhinsk,Nizhny Novgorod, Oleg Deripaska grew up inKrasnodar Kraiand graduated from bothMoscow State Universityand the Plekhanov Academy of Economics. Seeking to avoid poverty, he abandoned theoretical physics in favor of more practical studies, a decision that ultimately led him into metals trading. He later became the chief financial officer of Aluminprodukt, which allowed him to obtain a stake in a Siberian aluminum smelter. He survived and eventually excelled in themafia-linked world of aluminum, ultimately allying withRoman Abramovichto create Russian Aluminum (RusAl). The company, currently the world’s second-largest aluminum producer, has annual sales of $4 billion. Deripaska also has interests in the automobile, energy, and insurance industries. He is chief executive officer of Basic Element Company (BasEl), one of Russia’s leading investment firms.Forbesmagazine ranked him as Russia’s richest man in the spring of 2008, though the periodical estimated that Deripaska lost more than three-quarters of his fortune during the subsequent 2008–2009global financial crisis. Deripaska is on good terms withVladimir Putinand enjoyed a close relationship withBorisYeltsin’s inner circle. He has also gained some popular support through his funding of renovation projects for dilapidatedRussian Orthodoxchurches.