OREANDA-NEWS. On July 31, 2009 Sviaz-Bank’s Board of Directors resolved to terminate Alexander Zhitnik’s tenure as President-Chairman of the Management Board and to elect Denis Nozdrachev to fill the vacancy of President-Chairman of the Management Board, reported the press-centre of Sviaz-Bank.

“When Vnesheconombank was asked last September to restore Sviaz-Bank to financial health, the question was who could qualify to manage the Bank. The Vnesheconombank leadership’s choice fell on Alexander Zhitnik, a professional banker with a rich background in a multi-branch bank. As a manager handpicked to pull the Bank out of its crisis, Mr. Zhitnik accomplished the tasks assigned to him.

“Today, the Bank’s overriding objective is to step up lending to the economy’s real sector, put financial services within the reach of a broader segment of the public, and make a significant contribution to the development and funding of the communications industry, an objective that Denis Nozdrachev we have invited to fill the position of President-Chairman of the Management Board will have to cope with,” said Anatoly Tikhonov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, with reference to the Board’s decision.

Denis Nozdrachev was born in Penza 19, Penza Region, on February 23, 1973. In 1997, he graduated from the Bauman State University of Technology in Moscow, and in 2000, from the Finance Academy under the Russian Federation Government in finance and credit. He holds a master’s degree in engineering.

Mr. Nozdrachev made his first steps in banking in 1998 as an expert at the Federal and Regional Programs Division of Eurofinance Commercial Bank. In 2001 to 2006, he held a succession of positions in Vneshtorgbank, from chief specialist to director of the Investment Transactions and Services Department of the Investment Unit. In 2006, he joined Vnesheconombank as deputy director of the Structural and Financing Department, and then chief of the Project Financing Department. Before his transfer to Sviaz-Bank, Denis Nozdrachev was director of Vnesheconombank’s Infrastructure Department.