Ruben Vardanyan was born on May 25, 1968 in Yerevan. In 1992, he graduated from the Economics Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University. He is married to Veronica Zonabend and together they have four children.
Business
In 1991, Vardanyan began working at Troika Dialog. A few years later, he became their CEO and chairman on the Board of Directors.
From 2012 to 2015, he served as managing director at Sberbank CIB CJSC as well as adviser to the president, chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank of Russia PJSC.
In 2015, he founded Phoenix Advisors.
Over the years, he was on the board of directors, as well as expert and advisory boards of Ameriabank CJSC, KAMAZ PJSC, Global Blue Russia Holdings B.V., Sibur Holding PJSC, AvtoVAZ PJSC, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft JSC, Novatek PJSC, Avtovaz PJSC, and others.
Educational projects
In 2005, Vardanyan opened the Skolkovo School of Management. In 2013, the school launched the Wealth Management and Philanthropy Center, and Vardanyan became chairman of its expert council.
In 2021, he founded the Matena International School of Leadership and Professional Development in Yerevan.
In 2014, he opened the international boarding school UWC Dilijan for gifted teenagers aged 16-18. Currently, 220 students from around 70 countries study at the college. The vast majority of student tuitions are paid through grants.
Humanitarian projects
Since the mid-1990s, Vardanyan has been engaged in charity work. Several times he served on the board of trustees of the Russian National Orchestra under the direction of Mikhail Pletnev and the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra. He acted as an advisor to the founder of the Valery Gergiev Foundation, which supports young performers and creative projects of the Mariinsky Theater.
In 2004, he co-founded PHILIN (currently known as Philin Philgood Group). Since 2014, the company has helped more than 100 charitable foundations and NGOs to improve the work of accounting, legal, HR, IT and other back office departments.
From 2006 to 2022, he was a member on the Board of the Supporting Fund for Creative and Innovative Projects Chereshnevy Les.
In 2006-2012 he acted as a member on the Board of the Foundation of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.
In 2008, he co-founded the AFGA Foundation (Armenia). Projects implemented by this charitable foundation include the restoration of Yerevan’s monument to David, and hosting music festivals and concerts.
In 2014, he established the foundation To Armenia with Arts. The program’s key project is the 100 Canvases exhibition of Armenian and Russian Soviet-era artists at the National Gallery of Armenia.
In 2015, he created the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. It provided support to over 400 projects in 56 countries and territories. Aurora programs have both directly and indirectly aided more than 2.7 million people around the world.
Since 2018, Vardanyan has been a member on the Board of the Rasshireniye Prostranstva foundation. Among other things, the foundation took part in reconstructing the historic former building of the HPP-2 in Moscow.
He financed the construction of the Armenian Cathedral of Moscow and restored the Cathedral of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Surb Gevorg Church in Georgia, the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, as well as the monastic cell of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica.
Moving to Artsakh
In the autumn of 2022, he announced his move to Artsakh. There, he created the Artsakh Security and Development Front. On November 4, he took position as state minister, explaining that his main goal was to assist ordinary residents through their challenging life and situation.
In the autumn of 2022, he announced his move to Artsakh. There, he created the Artsakh Security and Development Front. On November 4, he took position as state minister, explaining that his main goal was to assist ordinary residents through their challenging life and situation.
At the end of 2022, he established the territorial development agency ‘We are Our Mountains’ in Artsakh, which implements humanitarian projects aimed at protecting interests and expanding opportunities of the local population. On Vardanyan’s initiative, mobile teams of general practitioners and nurses were created in Artsakh.
The Aurora for Artsakh program supported around 93 regional projects aimed at solving urgent humanitarian problems. More than 150 thousand residents of Artsakh received aid.
The Dilijan international school (UWC Dilijan) and Tatev Revival are among the projects implemented by Vardanyan’s IdeA (Initiatives for Development of Armenia) charitable foundation.
The Holy Mother of God Cathedral in the village of Mushkapat in Artsakh was restored with the funds of Vardanyan’s charitable foundations, as well as and the Mosque of Gevhar Agha in Shusha.
Detention
On September 27, Vardanyan was detained by the Azerbaijani authorities while trying to enter Armenia from Artsakh. He is charged with three crimes and faces up to 14 years in prison.