The famous Russian economist Igor Yurgens, president of the All-Russian Union of Insurers, an expert, scientist, publicist and just an interesting person, says little about himself. Therefore, in the eyes of the general public, he is a closed and obscure figure. Meanwhile, the life of Igor Yuryevich is very interesting.
Family and childhood
Yurgens Igor Yuryevich was born on November 6, 1952 in Moscow, in a family with a rich history. Igor’s grandfather once worked in the famous company of Alfred Nobel. Historically, Jurgens descended from Baltic Germans. But Igor’s father, Yuri Teodorovich, spent most of his life in Azerbaijan, in Baku. There he graduated from Baku University. During the war, Jurgens fought in the Northern Fleet, served in a submarine. After World War II, he returned to Baku, where he worked as a journalist, and then began to advance along the trade union line and for many years was the secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Oil Workers' Unions. The pinnacle of his career was the post of Secretary of the All-Union Central Committee of the Oil Workers' Unions. At one time, senior Jurgens was also the chief editor of the Trud newspapers. Igor’s mother, Lyudmila Yakovlevna, worked for many years as a music teacher. Igor’s childhood was quite prosperous and happy, the family had plenty, the mother devoted a lot of time to the boy, and he did not cause any particular problems to his parents.
Education
Igor studied very well at school. And after graduating from high school, in 1969, Igor Yurgens entered the Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, at the Faculty of Economics, which successfully graduates in 1974. Teachers recall Jurgens as an active and motivated student. Igor Yuryevich has not lost touch with his alma mater, and today he is chairman of the graduate club of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University.
Carier start
After university, Igor Yurgens rushes in the footsteps of his father and takes a job in the international administration of the All-Russian Central Committee of Trade Unions. For 6 years he worked as a secretary and carried out various assignments, for example, he organized tours in the USA of the Volzhanka choreographic ensemble. For yesterday’s graduate, it was a very good job at that time. Ill-wishers say that Igor was obliged by such a place exclusively to his father’s connections. Even during his studies at the university, Jurgens relied on the study of foreign languages, he speaks good English and French, and this allowed him to get a promotion.
UNESCO
In 1980, Igor Yurgens was appointed to the post of employee of the UNESCO Office for International Relations in Paris. He was recommended for this job at the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. For five years, Jurgens worked at UNESCO, establishing external relations with the Soviet Union. There is no exact information about the name of his position in this organization. It is known that he worked in the UN Department of Foreign Relations in the field of science, culture and education.
Union activity
In 1985, Yurgens Igor Yuryevich, whose biography has been associated with trade unions for many years, returns to the Soviet Union. He continues to work at the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, now as a consultant to international governance. And two years later he becomes deputy head of this department. And in 1990 he headed it. While working in trade unions, Jurgens traveled a lot around the USSR, often visited abroad, including working as a consultant to the trade union movement in Afghanistan.
In 1990, the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions ceased to exist, and the All-Union Confederation of Trade Unions of the Soviet Union was created in its place, and Jurgens was elected its secretary. In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, the General Confederation of Trade Unions was created, Igor Yuryevich became the deputy chairman of this organization. In essence, it was a successor union of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. Jurgens worked in it until 1997.
Insurance business
In 1996, Igor Yurievich first began working in the insurance industry. He was elected chairman of the board of directors of the international insurance company of the Mesco trade unions. The company specialized in voluntary insurance of residential premises under the preferential program of the government of Moscow. In April 1998, a new large trade union appeared, headed by Igor Yurgens. The All-Russian Union of Insurers is an organization designed to defend the interests of insurance business entrepreneurs at different levels of government. Jurgens's candidacy for the post of chairman was nominated on the grounds that he had by that time established great ties in the government and in the economic sphere. Igor Yurievich worked in this position until 2002. In 2001, he was elected a member of the board of directors of the ROSNO insurance company, which contradicted the rules established in the BCC, and in 2002, Jurgens resigned from the Union of Insurers.
In 2013, he was re-elected as chairman of the BCC. And since 2015, he is also the president of PCA. Today, Igor Yurgens successfully combines work in the Union of Insurers and the Russian Union of Auto Insurers. These organizations are involved in protecting the rights of representatives of the insurance business, in essence being trade unions of a new format. Jurgens continues to do what is familiar to him. But on his way he gained another experience.
Union of Industrialists
In 2000, Jurgens became a member of the board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. And a year later he was elected vice president and secretary of this union. This organization pursued the goal of improving the business climate in the country, promoting modernization and economic development, creating a positive image of a Russian businessman inside the country and beyond. In this position, Jurgens worked until 2005.
In 2006, he returned to the RSPP at the invitation of A. Shokhin, who led the union. At first he worked there without publicizing his participation, and then he entered the bureau of the RSPP board.
Renaissance Capital
In 2005, completely unexpectedly, Igor Yurgens, whose photo could be seen in reports from any major insurance event, goes to work in an investment company. Everyone who asked Jurgens the question of why he switched to work at Renaissance Capital received the answer that investment is the main area in the economy that interests him. In the company, he entered the so-called four lobbyists, that is, the group that defended the interests of the financial group at different levels of government. Igor Yurievich was engaged in interaction with government and state organizations. Jurgens joined Renaissance Capital at the invitation of A. Shokhin, with whom he worked closely with the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Until 2005, Igor Yurievich was engaged in establishing interaction between the investment group and the government. I have not yet received offers to work for the government itself. In 2010, Jurgens left Renaissance Capital.
Institute of Contemporary Development
Back in 2006, Jurgens became president of the non-profit foundation Center for the Development of the Information Society, which worked out optimal scenarios for the country's economic development. In 2008, this fund was transformed into INSOR (Institute for Contemporary Development), whose board of trustees was soon headed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Jurgens became chairman of the board. The purpose of the organization was expert work to discuss and justify national government projects. Under the leadership of Jurgens, an excellent team of professional professionals in various fields, primarily economists, has gathered. INSOR worked out and discussed various options for reforming the pension, legislative and political system, but the public did not see any obvious projects from this organization, except for the Strategy 2012 project. And today, Igor Yurievich continues to work at the Institute under the government of D. Medvedev.
Social Activities and Worldview
Igor Yurgens is an extremely active person. In addition to his professional activities, he manages to deal a lot with various socially significant projects. Moreover, he always adhered to the right positions. In 1994, he became co-chair of the Russian Social Democratic Union. In 1995, he ran for the State Duma from the Labor Union bloc, but loses the election. In 1997, he again goes to the polls - to the Moscow Duma from the Parliamentarism Development Fund - and loses again. In 1998, he entered the Moscow Club of Creditors. In 1999, his name was mentioned as an adviser to the candidate for deputy of the State Duma, Yevgeny Primakov. In 2002, Jurgens became chairman of the Chamber of Commerce's financial markets committee. He later left this post, but remained a member of the TTP. In 2008, Igor Yurievich became co-chairman of the Just Cause party.
Jurgens has repeatedly criticized the economic course of Russian President V. Putin. In 2011, he was spotted among the protesters against rigging the results of elections in the State Duma. Igor Yuryevich often speaks at various conferences and forums, he is a member of the boards of directors of many large companies and organizations in Russia, including Nestle, British Petroleum, Hewlett Packard and others.
Scientific and journalistic activities
Igor Jurgens writes and publishes a lot of scientific and journalistic texts. In 2001, he defended his thesis and became a candidate of economic sciences. For many years he has authored the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, has published a lot in online publications, and acts as an expert in various programs. He edited the textbook “Risk Management”. His books “Immediate Tasks of the Russian Authority”, “Draft of the Future”, “Russia of the 21st Century: the Image of the Desired Tomorrow” received a great response.
Teaching activities
Since 2007, Igor Yurgens, whose biography is closely connected with the economy, begins to work at the Higher School of Economics. He leads a permanent seminar "GR in modern Russia", is a professor at the Department of Theory and Practice of Interaction between Business and Government. Jurgens is a member of the editorial board of two scientific journals, supervises the writing of dissertations.
Awards
For his active social activities, Yurgens Igor Yuryevich received several high awards, including the Order of Honor, Sergius of Radnezhsky, the French Order of Merit, the Order of St. Charles (Monaco), several departmental medals and diplomas.
