Advisory Board

Ara Abramyan

Ara Abramyan is a globally recognized economist and a leading global investor. He is a founder and the president of JSC “Soglasye”, which actively invests into electronic, chemical, diamond-mining enterprises, as well as capital construction, manufacture of holographic production and optical media, foodstuffs and tourist business. Mr. Abramyan is also a partner of major foreign corporations and has contributed to the development of Europe’s largest diamond deposit in the Arkhangelsk region. Mr. Abramyan is the ambassador of good will of UNESCO, the president of the public organization “The Union of Armenians of Russia”, and the president of the World Armenian Congress. He is also very well known for his global humanitarian efforts nightly recognized by Governments and International organizations.

Peter Morgan Kash

Peter Morgan Kash is a co-founder and the Chairman of Two River Group Holdings, LLC and the President of Riverbank Capital Securities, Inc. Mr. Kash is involved in broker-dealer activities and specializes in private placement financings for public and private development stage biotechnology companies. Mr. Kash has co-raised nearly $600 million in private equity financings for more than 20 biopharmaceutical companies. He has also served on the board of directors of several privately held and publicly traded biotechnology companies and currently serves as the Vice Chairman of Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tigris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Velcera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Kash is also a co-founder and former Vice Chairman of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.

Mr. Kash has worked on Wall Street for 25 years, including time at Shearson Lehman Hutton and Paramount BioCapital, Inc., where he served as Senior Managing Director from 1991-2004. From 1990-1992, he served as an Associate Professor of Marketing at Polytechnic University. Mr. Kash was a television host for FNN’s business program “International Spotlight,” and has served as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and International Venture Capital at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania from 1996-2000. Mr. Kash was Entrepreneur in Residence at Pace University in the spring of 2001 and at Ball State University in May 2002. He was also a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Sy Syms School of Business from 2003-2005. Currently, he serves as a Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Graduate School of Business at Nihon University in Tokyo.

Mr. Kash earned his B.S. in Management Science from SUNY Binghamton and his M.B.A. in Banking and International Finance from Pace University. He has completed post-graduate studies at Harvard Business School on how to increase the effectiveness of Not-For-Profit Boards of Directors. He serves on the Board of Keren-Or, a charity for blind and multi-handicapped children, as well as Kids Kicking Cancer, a charity for terminally ill children.

On November 16, 2001, Mr. Kash published his first book, “Make Your Own Luck”, now available in Hebrew, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean and Russian.

Mr. Kash has been a guest on CNN, Fox News, WB11, WOR Radio, WFAN, The Joey Reynolds Show, and The Bill Mazer Show.

Ambassador Mykhailo Reznik

Mykhailo Reznik has become the fifth official representative of Ukraine to the United States, when he presented the Letter of Credence to the President George W. Bush on December 4th, 2003.

Ambassador Reznik’s public service career began when he joined the Ukrainian Ministry of Trade in 1973. During the period between 1973-1994, he occupied various positions in the Ministry of Trade (now the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade) in Kiev, including President of the State Procurement Committee (1986-1988), Chairman of the State Foreign Trade Association “UkrTechMashplex” (1988-1992), Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations & Trade (1992-1993), and the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Economic Relations & Trade (1993-1994).

Between 1994 and 1997, Ambassador Reznik headed the Trade & Economic Mission under the Ukrainian Embassy in the USA. He also represented Ukraine in the EU Trade Committee, the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD), the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT) and the United Nations Commissions of International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). In January 1996 the Ukrainian President awarded Ambassador Reznik with a prestigious title of the “Honorary Economist of Ukraine”.

Ambassador Reznik served as the Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (1997-2001) and as the Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (2001-2003). In January 2000 he received an Order of the 3rd degree for his professional achievements and significant contribution to the state.

Ambassador Reznik graduated from the Kiev Trade and Economic University in 1972 and from the Academy of the National Economy of Ukraine in 1977. He also completed the Senior Executive program at Stanford Business School in the United States in 1992.

Jean-Luc Meier

Noted business strategist Jean-Luc Meier is a principal of IEC Consultants, an international business development company specializing in the design and implementation of international business growth and marketing strategies across myriad industries. Mr. Meier has more than 15 years experience in management and the implementation of strategic alliances and has worked with many of the world’s leading corporations with their alliance and acquisition endeavors.

Mr. Meier is on the board of several companies of financial and technology based industry in Switzerland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and in the United States. He was instrumental in the design and implementation of structured financial products for the Eastern European market (in conjunction with a major Swiss Bank); he has advised a global Telecom Company in their successful strategic alliances with multinational enterprises, among them IBM, Oracle, Sun Microsystems, and others. He has also served as the relationship manager of a leading software company and was the official representative of the State of California in the development of the Gold Strike Partnership between California, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, and Eastern Europe.

Dr. Prof. Vladimir Volozhanin

Vienna, Austria

Dr. Prof. Vladimir Volozhanin has broad experience and profound knowledge in the organization of international contracts in the sphere of investment, development, finance, and commerce. His active participation ranges from acting on a hot of the clients’ interests to be an independent actor.

The projects he leads are organized both in “turn-key” form (negotiations, general and tax incorporation, financial and general management, logistics, organization and supervision of business processes, etc) and in cooperation with the partners. The geographical regions of his activity include Russia, CIS, Near East, Central Europe and China.

The main company which represents his interests and signed the contract on strategic cooperation with TGSV is VB Consulting FZC. Being responsible for strategic development and international projects, Mr. Volozhanin has worked as a member of the boards of directors and supervisory councils of large financial and industrial corporations in different states.

Since 1988 when he entered the business, Mr. Volozhanin has gained valuable skills of management and consulting under the crisis conditions. His academic research is focused on methods of analysis and organizational development, state industrial policies and geopolitics. Dr. Prof. V. Volozhanin is an author of 70 scientific papers which includes 8 monographs that were translated into English, German and Farsi.

Richard Waryn

Richard Waryn has over 23 years of professional experience including 17 years in emerging markets private equity and has raised more than US$3 billion across 6 funds covering Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the CIS Region.
Previously, Richard was a Managing Director of Dubai Capital Group’s private equity activities in the CIS Region. Dubai Capital Group is part of the sovereign wealth structure of the Emirate of Dubai. Richard was also the co-founder of several successful emerging market fund managers including Troika Capital Partners (Moscow) targeting private equity investments in Russia and Centurion Capital (London) targeting private equity investments in Central Europe and Russia. At Emerging Markets Partnership (EMP), he helped launch the US$1.1 billion AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund in 1994, the world’s largest emerging market private equity fund at the time. At EMP he also worked on the US$1.6 billion AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund II and the €550 million Emerging Europe Fund. Earlier in his career Mr. Waryn was an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector part of the World Bank Group.
Mr. Waryn is the Chairman of the Uplift Equity Investment Committee and assists Uplift in sourcing, managing, and funding investment opportunities. He also serves as a Member of Supervisory Board at Escada AG and a Member of the International Advisory Board at Trafton International Group, LLC.
Mr. Waryn was also an adjunct professor of International Finance at Johns Hopkins University and at the Georgetown University School of Management, both in Washington, DC. He holds a Masters degree in Applied Finance and Economics from Harvard University and a BSc. with honors from the University of Toronto.