Olga Golodets

Early life and education

Golodets was born in Moscow on 1 June 1962. She holds a bachelor's degree in economics, which she received from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1984.

Career

Golodets began her career as a researcher at the R&D institute of labour and the employment problems institute of the Russian science academy. She worked there from 1984 to 1997. Then she became the director at the Reformugol Foundation (1997 – 1999). She served as the director at social policy and human resources department and then deputy director general for human resources and social policy at Norilsk Nickel company (1999 – 2001 and 2002 – 2008). In 2001, she was appointed deputy governor for social issues in Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Area. From July 2008 to December 2010 she served as the president of the all-Russian inter-industry association of employers and also board chair at the Soglasiye Insurance Company. Then she served as the deputy mayor of Moscow for education and healthcare from 3 December 2010 to 21 May 2012. She was also a member of the Moscow city government during the same period.

She was appointed one of seven deputy ministers to the cabinet led by prime minister Dmitry Medvedev on 21 March 2012. She is in charge with social affairs and policies in the cabinet. The deputy premiership for social affairs was firstly established in May 2012. Golodets supports market reform in Russia. Marc Bennetts, writing for the Russian daily Ria Novosti, stated that Golodets is believed to be close to Medvedev and that she has commercial connections with businessman-turned politician Mikhail Prokhorov. In fact, it was Prokhorov, who recommended Golodets for the post of deputy prime minister. Their business ties are resulted from Golodets' tenure at Norilsk Nickel where they worked together. On the other hand, since Golodets lacks prior experience of being a federal bureaucrat she was regarded as one of the "dark horses" in the cabinet.