Lev Polyakov Elected President of Moscow Diamond Bourse

The Board of Directors of Moscow Diamond Bourse elected Lev Polyakov as its new chairman and also appointed him as president of the bourse in a special session on Wednesday, June 21, 2006. Before that, the board accepted with immediate effect the resignation of Grigory Rabinovich from the two positions. Following his election, Dr. Polyakov resigned as general director of the Moscow Diamond Bourse. The board appointed Anatoly Sitnikov as the new general director. Alex Popov was elected as a new member of the Board of Directors, and was placed in charge of the international relations of the bourse.

Dr. Polyakov was born in South Russia into a family of spaceship constructors. He graduated from the History Department of Moscow State University in 1982 and in 1985 was awarded title of Dr.Sc. in History and Social Sciences. From 1987 to 1991 he headed and participated in an archeological excavation in the Bukhara area of Uzbekistan for the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1997 he was appointed as the commercial director of the French Radio Network "Nostalgie," and later was named director of the Russian Program of Wolfson Foundation. Since 1999, Dr. Polyakov has served as a director of various investment projects in Russia, and he was a founder and the first general director of the Moscow Diamond Bourse, which was created in 2005. Dr. Polyakov is active member of the Russian Jewish Congress and other public organizations. He serves as advisor to the chairman of the Upper House of the Russian Parliament. He is married to Yulia and they have a daughter.

Mr. Sitnikov was born in Ekaterinbourg in the Urals in 1962. He graduated from Ural Polytechnical University in 1985, and began his career in a research institute, followed by eight years of government service. In 1994 he joined the diamond business as the deputy-director of a polishing factory in Moscow. He has never left the industry, and in 2005 was invited to join the new Moscow Diamond Bourse. Mr. Sitnikov is married to Irina, and they have a son who is a lawyer in Moscow.