Ruben Vardanyan is a Russian business leader, social entrepreneur and philanthropist of Armenian origin. In 2005, he proposed the creation of a new, private business school in Russia to guide the next generation of entrepreneurs, the future intellectual and business elite. The idea was supported by other Russian business leaders along with a number of Russian and international companies. Together with Ruben, they became founding partners of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.
Ruben serves as Deputy Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO; he is a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board's Strategy and Development Committee. In 2006-2011, he was the first President of the SKOLKOVO business school. He chairs the boards of two research centers initiated by him — the Supervisory Board of the SKOLKOVO Institute for Emerging Market Studies (SIEMS) and the Expert Council of the SKOLKOVO Wealth Transformation Center (SWTC). Ruben is also one of the founders of the Center for Negotiation and Network Studies of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.
He invests a considerable amount of money and time into the development of projects in the field of global education. Together with his wife Veronika Zonabend and partners from around the world, he created the United World College Dilijan (UWC Dilijan) in Armenia, an international boarding school for 16-19-year-olds from more than 80 countries. Ruben is currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Fundação Dom Cabral business school (FDC, Brazil) and the Board of Trustees of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Previously, he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, the International Advisory Council for Global Leadership Studies of International Christian University (Japan), the International Advisory Council of the GuangHua School of Management (China), the Advisory Council on Education under the President of South Korea, as well as the foundation councils of the International Baccalaureate Organization (Switzerland) and the New Economic School in Moscow.
Ruben is a member of the judging panel of the Yidan Prize (Hong Kong SAR), the world's largest prize which recognizes contributions to the development of education. His own achievements in this area were recognized with the AIB Presidential Award (USA) in 2018.
Ruben Vardanyan's name is inextricably linked with the history of the financial services market in Russia. He provides strategic consulting through his membership on the boards of directors of large companies in Russia and abroad, shares his knowledge and experience through meeting with young entrepreneurs and participating in mentoring programs, and creates and develops projects that unite the entrepreneurial community, such as the Atlantes business community and the Noôdome club, located in the Romanov Dvor business center. In addition, Ruben supports the publication of international bestsellers on the topics of business and entrepreneurship in Russia and chairs the judging panel of the annual PwC Business Book of the Year in Russia award. Ruben has also been awarded numerous Russian and international awards for his entrepreneurial activities. In 2001, the World Economic Forum included him in the list of "100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow", and Fortune magazine — in the list of "25 Rising Stars of the New Generation". In 2004, Ruben was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Russia, and in 2012, he was elected Chairman of the jury of the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2010, he received the GQ Russia Man of the Year award as the Best Entrepreneur.
