OREANDA-NEWS. October 29, 2012. The Grand Ceremony of 2012 National Director of the Year award took place on Thursday 25th October in Moscow hosted by the Association of Independent Directors, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and international professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Severstal, one of the world’s leading steel and steel-related mining companies, was the official partner of the prestigious National Director of the Year award.

Alexei Mordashov, CEO of Severstal, was a member of the judging panel who selected the winners. The panel’s task was to evaluate independent directors sitting on the Boards of Russian companies whose job it is to ensure their company’s corporate governance is in line with international standards. Mr. Mordashov commented: “In the current macroeconomic environment, Independent Directors need to be flexible and ready to respond quickly to changes in the business environment.”

Christopher Clark, Independent Chairman of Severstal’s Board of Directors, and Severstal’s Corporate Secretary, Oleg Tsvetkov (who also sat on the awards’ judging panel) were present at the awards ceremony. Mr. Clark, who presented the award for the Best Chairman of the Board of Directors, commented: “Excellence in corporate governance is a core value for Severstal and I believe it is an essential characteristic for all good businesses and a crucial foundation for engaging with employees, investors and other stakeholders.”

Severstal’s Independent Directors have previously won numerous laureates in the Director of the Year award category. This year, because Severstal was the official partner of the award, Severstal’s directors were unable to be nominated but all five of the Company’s independent Board members and its Corporate Secretary were named amongst the 50 best Independent Directors, the 25 Best Chairmen of the Board of Directors, and the 25 best Corporate Secretaries categories.