The Independent Directors

The Independent Directors are prominent experts with no affiliation to railways who offer an unbiased perspective on the outcome of all discussions and on how effective the Forum is for those participating.
In 2011, the Forum will see the following Independent Directors:

Mikhail Berger
General Director
United Media Holding Company

Born in 1953.
Graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Lomonosov Moscow State University (1973–1978).
Began work on the Sovetskaya Torgovlya paper (1978–1986). Worked as an observer and as economics editor of Izvestiya (1986–1997), and as chief editor of the socio-political daily newspaper Segodnya (1997–2001) and of the magazines Delovaya Khronika and Yezhenedelny Zhurnal (2001–2005). Currently General Director of the United Media holding company (Business FM and Kino FM radio stations and the BFM.ru internet portal), General Director of the Rumedia group of companies (a major regional media holding company), and Professor of the Department of Media Management and Media Business at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow State University). For a number of years he has been a columnist on The Moscow Times and has presented his own shows on the Ekho Moskvy radio station, where he continues to broadcast regularly.
Member of the Public Collegium for Complaints against the Press, member of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, member of the Russian Radio Academy.
Well known economics journalist, winner of the USSR Union of Journalists prize and a number of specialist professional prizes. Winner of the national “Book of the year” prize (2008) in the business literature category for his book Chubais’s cross.

Mikhail DMITRIEV
President
Centre of Strategic Developments

Born in 1961.
Graduated in 1983 from Voznesensky Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute (now the St Petersburg University of Economics and Finance), specialising in economic cybernetics.
In 1989, he received the degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences at the Voznesensky Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute.
In 1997, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
1983–1990: a researcher at the Leningrad Financial and Economic Institute.
1991–1993: a People’s Deputy of the Russian Federation, chairman of a sub-committee and deputy chairman of the Committee of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation on issues concerning inter-republican relations, regional policy and cooperation.
1993–1994: a Member of the Commission for Legislative Proposals under the President of the Russian Federation.
1994–1995: Deputy Director of the Institute for Economic Analysis
1994–1995: a Member of the Russian Federation Government’s Committee for economic reform.
1996–1997: Leader of the economic programme, Carnegie Moscow Centre.
1997–1998: First Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Development of the Russian Federation.
1998–2000: Member of the Advisory Council, Carnegie Moscow Centre.
2000 to May 2004: First Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation.
From June 2004, Research Director, and from October 2005 President of the Centre for Strategic Research Foundation.

Carl-Stefan NEUMANN
Director of Frankfurt Office
McKinsey & Company

Carl-Stefan is a Director at the Frankfurt Office of McKinsey & Co and a Senior Partner in McKinsey’s worldwide Travel, Transport & Logistics Practice.
During his 20 years with the Firm he has extensively served logistics, mail and parcel companies as well as air-, rail-, and road-transportation clients. Examples of his experience include:
Corporate strategy development for a diversified transportation client active in shipping, ports and logistics.
Development of a logistics sector strategy for a South East Asian government incl. customs, port haulage, road management regimes.
Supporting an extensive acquisition program for a transportation client.
Major post-merger integration work in parcel and logistics industries, creating pan-European and global networks.
Cost improvement program for a logistics network – resulting in an increase of productivity by 20% and significant quality improvements.
Customer-oriented revision of marketing and sales function of postal business aiming at a 15% increase in sales – mostly implemented by now.
Apart from his work with transportation companies, Carl-Stefan has experience in the automotive and telecommunications industries. Carl-Stefan holds a Ph.D. from the Max-Planck-Institute (Solid State Research). Prior to this, he studied physics and mathematics at the Universities of Karlsruhe and Cambridge (UK), holding a grant of the German National Scholarship Foundation.