Management team

Arkady Volozh is one of our co-founders and has been our Chief Executive Officer and a director since 2000. A serial entrepreneur with a background in computer science, Mr. Volozh co-founded several successful IT enterprises, including InfiNet Wireless, a Russian provider of wireless networking technology, and CompTek International, one of the largest distributors of network and telecom equipment in Russia. In 2000, Arkady left his position of CEO at CompTek to become the CEO of Yandex. Prior to this, the yandex.ru site was one of CompTek’s projects. Mr. Volozh has been working on search since the 1990s. Among his earlier achievements was the development of electronic search for use in patents, Russian classical literature and the Bible. Mr. Volozh holds a degree in applied mathematics from the Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas.

Ilya Segalovich is one of our co-founders and has been our Chief Technology Officer and a director since 2000. He began his career working on information retrieval technologies in 1990 at Arcadia Company, where he headed Arcadia’s software team. Mr. Segalovich placed second in the All Soviet Union Math Olympiad in 1981. Mr. Segalovich received a degree in geophysics from the S. Ordzhonikidze Moscow Geologic Exploration Institute.

Nilesh Lakhani was appointed our Chief Financial Officer in November 2007. Mr. Lakhani has held key executive management positions with international media, technology and financial services companies. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Lakhani was chief financial officer of CTC Media, a leading Nasdaq-listed Russian television broadcaster. Prior to that, Mr. Lakhani was vice president of global operations at Electronic Arts from 2003 to 2004. He previously served as chief financial officer of Pogo.com, a leading developer of online games, from 1999 to 2003. Mr. Lakhani served as senior vice president with Transamerica Corporation from 1991 to 1997. Mr. Lakhani also worked with GE Capital from 1984 to 1991, where he was responsible for financing mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Lakhani received a B.A. in economics from the University of Manchester and an M.B.A. in finance from the University of San Francisco.

Elena Chebunina is the Chief Accounting and Administrative Officer of Yandex and has led the financial management of the company since its creation in 2000. Prior to joining Yandex, Elena served as Chief Financial Officer of CompTek International. Elena holds a degree in information technology from Moscow Civil Engineering Institute.

Elena Kolmanovskaya is the Chief Editor of Yandex and has served in this capacity since the company’s creation in 2000. Prior to joining Yandex, Elena worked at CompTek International focusing on the development and promotion of information retrieval technologies. Prior to that, she worked as a programmer for East Coast Sheet Metal Corp. in New York, NY, USA, as an analyst for Pragma and as a software engineer at the All-Union Research Institute for Geological Exploration and Petroleum (VNIGNI). Elena is the author of numerous publications on Internet technologies. Currently, Elena participates in field seminars on Internet marketing and online advertising. Elena has a degree in applied mathematics from Gubkin Institute of Oil and Gas.

Alexei Tretiakov is the Chief Sales and Business Development Officer of Yandex and has held this position since 2002. He is responsible for the sales strategy and the structure of the company’s commercial department. Previously, he led Yandex’s maintenance and technical support service. Alexei joined Yandex in 2000 from CompTek International where he held a similar maintenance and technical support position. Before CompTek International, Alexei had been the Chief Technology Officer at various business units of Pioneer Group Russia. Alexei has degrees in physics and information technologies from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Dmitry Ivanov is the Chief Product Officer of Yandex and has held this position since 2005. He joined the company in 2003 to head the Yandex.News service. Earlier, Dmitry had worked as head of the Internet department at the Foundation for Effective Policy, leading the development and online promotion of media projects. He graduated from Moscow State University and has a Ph.D. in political science.

Mikhail Fadeev is the Chief System Operations Officer of Yandex. He has held this position since 2005 and has played a pivotal role in building out the company’s entire IT infrastructure. Prior to joining Yandex, he worked at CompTek International. Mikhail has degrees in physics and mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Alexey Mazurov is the Head of Development Department at Yandex. He has held this position since 2007. Alexey joined the company in 2000 as a developer. In 2004 he was promoted to Leading Software Developer and later, in 2005, he became Head of Infrastructure Technology Group in the Development Department. Prior to joining Yandex, Alexey served as a leading computer and technology support engineer at the Moscow State University.