Ms. Gaukhar Nurgalieva is a Head of Eurasian Studies at the Skolkovo Institute of Emerging Markets Studies (IEMS), an international business think tank network supported by EY in Russia, China and India. Skolkovo IEMS is part of the Skolkovo-Moscow School of Management, a leading private business school in Russia. Her research is focused on Russia and Eurasia, development economics and infrastructure, negotiations, Islamic economy, and migration. Prior to her involvement in academia, Ms. Nurgalieva served as an Adviser to the Commissioner on Transport and Infrastructure at the Eurasian Economic Commission in Moscow, where she dealt with transportation projects and integration policies of the Customs Union members. Before relocating to Moscow in 2012, she worked in Astana as a Managing Director of Corporate Development at the National Mining Company and as a Regional Director for Asia and the Americas at the National Agency for Export and Investment Promotion, Kaznex Invest. From 2006 to 2010, she was the Founder and General Director of Bookmark Bookstores, the first western-style bookstore in Kazakhstan. Ms. Nurgalieva holds an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Boston (2014), an MBA from Moscow State University, Russia (2010) and a BBA from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. (2001).