Early career Before joining Microsoft Russia, Olga Dergunova worked as a sales and marketing director at a Russian IT company.
Microsoft Russia (1994-2007) Olga Dergunova was hired at
Microsoft's relatively new Russian operation, which had only existed for 18 months. The operation at the time related to the licensing of the company's programs. She joined in part to gain a global perspective on the technology industry. In 1995, Dergunova was promoted to general director of the company's Russian branch, and she became its chair in 2004.
VTB Bank (2007-2012) In 2007, Olga Dergunova left Microsoft Russia to join
VTB Bank's Management Board. This occurred shortly after VTB Bank's
initial public offering in
London. Her switch to banking also occurred during the
2008 financial crisis. Her family members, including her husband who works in finance, taught her many terms necessary to operate in a bank. She was hired as a member of the company's Management board. She also worked as the head of the Second Corporate Block, serving the bank's major clients. She worked in this role from 2007 to 2012, before her appointment to the Russian government. The overall privatization efforts sought to close the
Russian governmental's budget shortfall caused by the collapse of oil prices, with efforts peaking in 2016. One of the first businesses that Dergunova oversaw that had the potential to be privatized was
Sovcomflot. However, that business had not yet been sold by the time she left her position. Another business touted to be privatized was VTB bank; at that point, the government owned 60.9 of its outstanding shares. However, that deal did not happen as well, partly due to the recovery of oil prices generating more revenue for the Russian government to avoid having to sell equity in its businesses. On the other end of the spectrum was a decree for state-owned enterprises, such as
Gazprom, to raise dividends. Due to the high degree of state ownership, a very large portion of those dividends, if not the majority, would flow to the Russian government and reduce its budget shortfall. Dergunova stated that raising dividends would raise as much as 100 billion rubles ($1.7 Billion) in additional government revenue. The lack of an acceptable sell price for equity as well as improving economic conditions in Russia stalled the efforts to privatize the economy. The
government also still owns 100% of
Sovcomflot. In January 2016, rumors of Dergunova's departure from her government position surfaced. A report by Russian media outlet,
Kommersant, claimed that Dergunova slowed down privatization attempts.
Deputy President at VTB Bank (2016-present) On June 24, 2016, Olga Dergunova rejoined VTB Bank, this time as the Chairman of its Management Board and as its Deputy President. At the beginning of her tenure, Dergunova sought to implement artificial intelligence into operations at VTB Bank, utilizing it to calculate credit risk. She also sought to utilize
biometrics in its mobile applications and customer service centers in order to better verify a customer's identity and reduce the potential for fraud. Also at the beginning of 2017, Dergunova sought to launch a new
mobile application for VTB Bank, to be launched in early 2019. == Personal life ==