Meet your host, Doug Barry, and today's guests: U.S. DOC BISNIS Representatives Marina Johnson, Roman Vvedensky and Igor B. Yegorov, along with International Trade Specialist Charles Raether, Representative.


Marina Johnson
Representative
BISNIS, Lower Volga and Southern Russia
Marina Johnson has been the Representative of the U.S. Department of Commerce's (DOC) Business Information Service for the Newly Independent States (BISNIS) in Lower Volga and Southern Russia (covering the Samara, Volgograd, Ulyanovsk, Penza, Astrakhan, Rostov and Krasnodar Regions and the Republics of Kalmykiya) since September 2001. Johnson provides BISNIS with export and partner leads of Russian companies and writes regional overviews, commercial news updates and industry reports on most promising developments in the regions she covers. Johnson has written numerous articles for the BISNIS web page, including regional overviews of the Ulyanovsk Region, which was published in the Russia Journal, as well as reports on various topics such as SME development in Samara, telecom, banking overview in the lower Volga and southern Russia, and financing opportunities in Samara region. Johnson is a graduate from the State University of Samara, Russia. Before BISNIS, Marina worked for such organizations as EBRD, USAID and Coca Cola.

Roman Vvedensky
Representative
BISNIS, Upper Volga Region
Roman Vvedensky joined BISNIS in late 2000. Geographically, he covers the Upper Volga region of Russia, known for a strong presence of companies in automotive, aerospace, shipbuilding, engineering, IT, pharmaceutical, construction and petrochemical industries. The local BISNIS office resides in the city of Nizhny Novgorod which is also the administrative center for the Volga Federal District, one of the seven major regions of Russia. Vvedensky has regularly visited three neighboring Russian regions: Nizhny Novgorod region, the Chuvash Republic and the Republic of Tatarstan. Vvedensky’s prior experience is in the finance and local economic development.

Igor B. Yegorov
Representative
BISNIS, Northwest Russia
Igor B. Yegorov has been the Representative of BISNIS in Northwest Russia since 2000. Yegorov assists Russian and U.S. companies active in the northwest region of Russia; he also serves as editor of the BISNIS Vestnik, a quarterly Russian publication aimed at promoting U.S. exports and investments throughout Eurasia. Yegorov has recently completed reports on the Engineering Services Market in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region (Opportunities and Challenges), General Overview of St. Petersburg’s Labor Market, Establishing Operations in St. Petersburg, Background Analysis of Some Factors in Planning Russian Market Strategy and Residential Housing Construction Market in St. Petersburg. Yegorov has a specific focus on the financial sector due to his prior financial background in banking. He has written several reports on various financing topics (Leasing In Russia, Financing Trade and Investment in Northwest Russia, etc.). Yegorov is a graduate from the Economic Department of the St. Petersburg State University, Russia, and holds a Ph.D. degree in international economics from the St. Petersburg University of Economics and Finance.

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Charles Raether
International Trade Specialist
BISNIS, Washington, D.C.
Charles Raether is an International Trade Specialist at BISNIS in Washington, D.C. where he serves as country manager for Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Raether also covers the automotive industry, agribusiness, franchising and legal affairs throughout Eurasia. In this capacity, Raether provides guidance to U.S. companies seeking to enter these markets, drawing upon his extensive experience in the region. Raether is also co-editor of the Vestnik, BISNIS’ Russian-language business quarterly. In the 1990s, Raether worked in Moscow at a financial services company advising companies on the Russian securities market as well as working on a variety of restructuring projects under the auspices of the World Bank, EBRD and EU. In addition, he worked as a legal advisor for legal technical assistance programs in various Eurasian countries. Raether also practiced as an attorney at Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C. in the venture capital/private equity group. Raether received his J.D. from Georgetown University and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Doug Barry
Director of Communications
U.S. Commercial Service, Washington, D.C.
Doug Barry joined the U.S. Commercial Service, the global business solutions unit of the Department of Commerce, in 1998. Barry has served as an international trade specialist, helping U.S. companies enter emerging markets in Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. He earned his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University and has graduate degrees from New York University and Columbia University.

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