Aleksandr Misharin

Alexander Sergeevich Misharin (born January 21, 1959, Sverdlovsk, USSR) is the former governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast, a region in Russia. He was appointed in 2009 after resignation of the previous governor, Eduard Rossel and resigned on May 14, 2012. Prior to his governorship, he made a career in the railway industry, rising to Russia's Deputy Railway Minister. He was appointed first vice-president of Russian Railways and head of Skorostniye Magistrali, the Russian high-speed rail developer and operator on November 28, 2012.

Alexander Misharin was born in Sverdlovsk in the family of railway employees. He went to school in the town of Artyomovsky, Sverdlovsk Oblast and graduated from the Ural State University of Railway Transport in 1981. He obtained his second university degree in economics from the same university in 1997 and defended a PhD thesis in railway computerization efficiency in 1999 for a degree in economics. Misharin defended a Doctoral thesis in engineering in 2005.

Misharin started his career at Sverdlovsk Railway Company in 1981 (until 1989) and was involved in construction of the metropolitan subway train system in Sverdlovsk from 1989 to 1991 as a senior engineer for electrical systems. After the launch of the subway in April 1991, Misharin went back to work for the Sverdlovsk Railway as head of electricity supply and was promoted to Chief Engineer in 1996.

He was appointed Russian Deputy Railway Minister in 1998, a position he held through June 2004, subsequently becoming Russia's Deputy Transport Minister until March 2009. Misharin sat on the Board of Directors of Russian Railways, the government-controlled railway, between 2005 and 2008. In 2008, he was serving as the Chairman of the Board of KrasAir. In March 2009, he was moved to head the Industry and Infrastructure Department of the Russian government.

In May 2012, Misharin resigned as a provincial governor. In January 2013, he was appointed Senior VP of Russian Railways and CEO of High Speed Railways, the railway monopoly's subsidiary.

Misharin became a member of the United Russia political party, rising to membership in the party's General Council. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev nominated Misharin as candidate for Governor of Sverdlovsk Region position, and the regional Duma (legislature) confirmed his nomination, making him regional governor on November 17, 2009.

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