American Business Association of Russian Professionals

Anna S. Dvornikova
Founder & CEO, Entana Corp.

Anna is a Founder and CEO of Entana Corp., an entrepreneurship and venture advisory firm that focuses on providing business strategy, planning, fundraising, and positioning services to the early-stage technology start-ups. It also provides a part-time executive management and angel financing.

Anna is also a Co-Founder of Kovalsky Art Gallery, a contemporary art boutique that gives art lovers around the world unique access to some of the most famous Russian artists. The gallery specializes in art from the mid 20th century onwards with an emphasis on post-impressionism, avant-garde, primitivism, expressionism, and abstract art.

Previously, Anna was a Co-Founder and the VP of Business Development at BKP Security, a government IT security company. Prior to that, she was a Foreign Advisor at the international law firm, Coudert Brothers. Before moving into private business, Anna held academic research positions at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (Stanford University) and the Moscow office of the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies (Harvard University).

Anna has her J.D. from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and her Master of Laws degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. Anna is an active member of the AmBAR Board of Directors. She was 2005 AmBAR President and Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the first Silicon Valley Open Doors (SVOD-2005) Technology Investment Conference.

Stas Khirman
Co-founder and CTO, Skyrider

Prior to founding Skyrider, Mr. Khirman founded Narus, a global leader in software and technology for the telecom industry and government agencies, where he helped designed the world’s most scalable network transaction analysis system. He had previously served as the networking group leader at VDOnet, a pioneer in internet video.
Mr. Khirman brings more than 20 years of experience in the software industry as an architect, manager, visionary, and inventor; he was behind the development of a number of standards organizations and participated in the early definition of the VoIP protocol. Mr. Khirman holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Kiev.

Natasha Krol,
Managing Partner, Alexander and Krol Executive Search

Natasha Krol is a Managing Partner at Alexander and Krol, an Executive Search firm specializing in the US and Eastern European Technology Markets.

Prior to that, she was a Senior Client Partner with Korn/Ferry International’s Global Technology Market, based in the firm’s Silicon Valley office. He clients included companies like Google, HP, Audatex, TransUnion and others.

Ms. Krol has more than twenty years of experience in the development and application of information technology.
Most recently, Ms. Krol led overall marketing efforts for several start-up and medium-size Silicon Valley software companies, including Evoke Software (now Informatica) and eMotion (now Corbis).

Previously, Ms. Krol was a Founding Member, Vice President and Service Director of Advanced Information Management Strategies for the META Group (now Gartner), the leading provider of information technology research, advisory services and strategic consulting in Stamford, CT. Her clients included senior executives in Global 2000 companies, as well as the venture capital community. She was also instrumental in establishing company subsidiaries throughout Europe, South Africa and Asia Pacific.
Prior to Gartner, Ms. Krol managed advanced technologies for John Hancock Financial Services in Boston, MA, where she developed strategic technology plans and overall information architecture.

She began her career as a Marketing Officer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in St. Petersburg, Russia. Ms. Krol holds an M.S. degree in Linguistics from St. Petersburg University.

Ms. Krol has served on the technical advisory board for American Express, and has been a featured keynote speaker at more than 50 international conferences.

Alexei Kudriashov
Co-founder, President and CEO, SperaSoft, Inc.

Prior to founding SperaSoft, an offshore software development and outsourcing services company, Alexei was a Channel Development Manager with the Software Marketing Group, Sun Microsystems. He was responsible for business and channel strategy and management in driving adoption and deployment of Sun's business productivity suite worldwide. Previously, Alexei founded Martak International, Inc., a manufacturer's representative and export company, distributing hi-tech and medical equipment overseas. He received an M.S. in Management and Business from MIT, Sloan School of Management and M.D. from Volgograd Medical Academy, Russia.

Leonid Litvak, Ph.D.
Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Before joining Microsoft Leonid founded IOnKey Systems, an early-stage technology company where he was responsible for operations and product management. Prior to that he co-founded CallTheShots, an internet infrastructure company acquired by Akamai Technologies and worked for Financial Engines and Morgan Stanley. Leonid holds B.S. from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and M.S. and Ph. D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University.

Igor Plotnikov, Ph.D.
Director of Engineering, Cisco Systems

Igor Plotnikov, Ph.D., Director of Engineering, Cisco Systems. Dr. Plotnikov works on network security at Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) after the acquisition of his second startup MI Secure. Before he served as VP of Engineering at F5 Networks. He joined F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) as a result of its acquisition of uRoam, Inc. a pioneer in the SSL VPN market. Before co-founding uRoam, Dr. Plotnikov worked for Netscape Communications on key products like CoolTalk and Netscape Conference. Prior to Netscape, he held the position of scientist at InSoft, which was acquired by Netscape in 1996. Early in his career, he was a co-founder and chief engineer at Stoik Software, Ltd., a private Russian company dedicated to image processing software development. He received his physicist-engineer diploma with honors from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology followed by a Ph.D. in Physico-Mathematical Sciences from the Institute in 1988.

Marina Remennik

Attorney/Corporate Law, Heller Ehrman Attorneys

Marina Remennik joined Heller Ehrman law firm in 1998 as an Associate. Ms. Remennik has worked with a number of transactional practice groups on projects such as public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, and private financings. Her practice also includes general corporate and securities law counseling. She received her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley and B.A. in Psychology, from University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Remennik is an Associate Editor of the Berkeley Journal of International Law.

Evgeny Zaytsev,M.D., Ph.D.
Partner, Asset Management Company

Dr. Evgeny Zaytsev joined Asset Management Company in 2001 bringing diverse professional experience in operations and biomedical research.
He has been Chief Scientific Officer of Medico-Ecological Institute in Barnaul, Russia, which was responsible for studying the health and environmental effects of the former Soviet Union's nuclear testing program. The Institute developed into an internationally recognized research center during his seven-year tenure in that position. Evgeny is an author of 39 scientific and business publications, including 8 books. He received his M.D. cum laude and a Ph.D. from Altai Medical University, Russia in 1991, and his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2002.
At Asset Management Company, Evgeny focuses on early stage investments in biotechnology and medical device companies. He is a Board Member of a number of private life sciences companies. Evgeny is an active business community leader. He is a founder of the US-Russia Technology Symposium at Stanford University, and the annual Silicon Valley Open Doors technology investment conference. Evgeny is a Board member and past president of the American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR).

Founding Council

Sergei Burkov, Ph.D.
Head of Moscow R&D Office, Google

He is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded and led three startup companies. Dulance is the next generation shopping search engine. Bilbo Innovations, Inc. invented and brought to market STEP ON IT! computer pedals. Invincible Data Systems pioneered transparent disk and e-mail encryption. It was later acquired by VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI). Dr. Burkov is a former research physicist who held appointments at top American universities, including Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Burkov obtained Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics and M.S. in physics with Honors, from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Alexei Andreev, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President/Managing Director, Harris & Harris Group

Prior to joining Harris & Harris Group, Mr. Andreev was an associate with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a venture capital firm, from 2002 to March 9, 2005. In 2001, he was a summer associate with TLcom Capital Partners, a London-based venture capital fund backed by Morgan Stanley. Before joining DFJ, Alexei spent three years with Sputnik Funds, the largest private equity group in Eastern Europe. At Sputnik, he evaluated investment opportunities, financially restructured portfolio companies, and served on the board of the regional cellular provider, Techinfo Communications. After the Russian financial crisis of 1998, Alexei became the CFO of Renaissance Insurance, undertaking crisis management on behalf of Sputnik Funds. Before starting his business career, Alexei was a researcher at the Center of Nanotechnology (ISAN) of the Russian Academy of Sciences where he focused on the electronic and optical properties of quantum dots and multi-layered nanostructures. Alexei graduated from Moscow Steel and Alloys Institute with a B.S. and Ph.D. in Solid State Physics (cum laude), and has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was a recipient of the Scholarship for Outstanding young scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Oleg Koujikov
Director of Venture Fund, Troika Capital Partners

Before he was a Head of Corporate Development at the IBS Group Holding and servesed as director on the board of NewspaperDirect. Prior to that he was with Intel Capital investing in the early stage technology companies. His deal experience includes investments in Authentica, Musicmatch (YHOO), Nextpage, Relativity, Stratus, and Zone Labs (CKP). He served as a board observer at Zone Labs and Relativity. Before Intel Capital Oleg was with Merrill Lynch and spent few years in various operating roles with the early stage and middle market companies. He holds an MBA from the Wharton Business School is a member of the executive committee of the Wharton Private Equity Network.