OREANDA-NEWS. The award ceremony of "ARISTOS-2007", one of the most prestigious business prizes in Russia, was held. The prize was instituted by the Managers’ Association of Russia and “Kommersant” Publishing House. MIRAX GROUP sponsored the prize award ceremony.

“ARISTOS” (“the best” in Greek) is an annual prize which is awarded to the most outstanding representatives of the Russian business community, to managers whose work meets the highest international standards, who apply modern business organization concepts in their business activities and are widely recognized as leaders in their area of business. Past winners of the prize include Marina Oleshek, Senior Vice President and Head of VTB Personnel Department; Alexander Gafin from Alpha-Bank; Alexander Izosimov, General Director of “VympelCom”; Olga Dergunova of “Microsoft Russia”; Anatoliy Chubais of RAO “UES of Russia”, and others.

The nominees for "ARISTOS-2007" are executives who meet the highest standards of professional efficiency, occupy leading positions in various sections of “Top 1000 Russian Managers” rating.

The winners of "ARISTOS-2007" were determined by voting of the specially created Prize Academy comprised of the leading representatives of the Russian business community, the pillars of the Russian economy. Full members of the Academy also include heads of the leading Russian companies, which are corporate members of the Managers’ Association. Thus, the long-standing principle of determining "ARISTOS" winners is preserved – “the best choose the best”.

Among those who climbed the stage of Novinskiy Mall to announce the winners and hand them the "ARISTOS-2007" prize were Sergey Litovchenko, Executive Director of AMP; Yevgeniy Chichvarkin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Evroset”; Andrey Vasiliev, Chief Editor of “Kommersant” Publishing House; Dmitriy Zimin, Honorary President of OAO “VympelCom”, and other universally recognized business leaders.

Mikhail Dvorkovich, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MIRAX GROUP, handed the prize to the Best Public and Corporate Relations Director, Sergey Mikhailov of RZhD. In his welcoming speech Mr. Dvorkovich pointed out that a PR manager is the face of any company, the person who is always at the front edge of all events, and the image and reputation of the organization largely depend on his or her actions and words.

The winners of "ARISTOS-2007" prize were:

- Best Financial Director – Sergey Dubinin, RAO UES of Russia
- Best Commercial/Marketing Director – Kent McNeley, VympelCom
- Best Personnel Director – Olga Golodets, Norilskiy Nickel
- Best IT Director – Andrey Glazkov, RBK Information Systems
- Best Public and Corporate Relations Director – Sergey Mikhailov, RZhD
- Best Top Manager – Mikhail Zadornov, VTB 24
- Top Manager Most Frequently Quoted in the Press – Semyon Vainshtock, Transneft
- Prize for special contribution to the development of the Russian business community – Sergey Vorobyov, Word Howell
- Prize for special contribution to the development of the Russian business community – Alexander Potyomkin, MMVB