Mr. Ruslan Kozhakhmetov is a Vice-Rector for Corporate Development at Almaty Management University, a private business university, where he is responsible for finance, operations, campus development and digitalization. Mr. Kozhakhmetov joined Almaty Management University from the private sector where he was the Owner and CEO of FINN FLARE, a chain of fashion retail stores. Previously, Mr. Kozhakhmetov also served as a Business Development Director and then the CEO at Granite Realty Investment Company. Mr. Kozhakhmetov holds a Global Executive MBA, a joint degree from Columbia Business School, London Business School and the University of Hong Kong Business School (2016), a DBA from the International Academy of Business in Almaty and the Academy of National Economy under the President of the Russian Federation (2012), an MBA from the International Academy of Business in Almaty and Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands, and an MA (2003) and a BA (2001) in Economics from the Al-Farabi Kazakh State National University. He also holds a Certificate of Excellence in Innovative Business Education from the Center for Executive Education at the University of California, Berkeley.