Management team

O’KEY is a major Russian food retailer. The Company opened its first hypermarket in St Petersburg in 2002. The Group operates in two formats – O’KEY hypermarkets and DA! discounters. O’KEY is recognised as one of the strongest brands in St Petersburg and plans to win this title in other Russian regions.

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Chief Executive Officer of O`KEY Group

Armin Burger

Armin Burger was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer of O`KEY Group on 12 September 2018. Mr. Burger has extensive retail market expertise and international industry experience. He has been Member of the Management Board at O'KEY Group and CEO of the DA! discounter chain since 2013. Mr. Burger has 20-year experience of working at ALDI SÜD, one of the leading European supermarket chains. From 2008 to 2011, he was Member of the Supervisory Board of ALDI SÜD, which oversees the development of 4,500 stores in 10 countries. Earlier, from 1999 to 2008, he served as CEO at HOFER KG in Austria. Previously, Mr. Burger held various management positions at ALDI GmbH. Armin Burger has a degree in Economics from the University of Freiburg, Germany. He speaks English and German.

Elena Remennikova

E-Commerce Director

Today, on-line trading is becoming one of the key tools for retaining customers. On-line sales are increasingly popular with customers. Therefore, it is absolutely natural that we are developing e-commerce. We are well aware that our customers strive to optimise the shopping process, so we help them save time and effort by providing them with on-line sales service. I believe that e- commerce is the format of the future, and the best approach to e-commerce is the same as to traditional commerce.

Elena Remennikova joined the company in 2013. She is responsible for creating and developing online sales. Under her leadership, O`KEY created and launched its new online shopping website, initiated a pick-up service, and commenced regular home deliveries. Prior to joining O`KEY, Elena headed AMF, an international flowers and gifts delivery network. Previously, she worked as Commercial Director of Utkonos, where she was responsible for several areas simultaneously: procurement, marketing, advertising, and processing. She also worked as Procurement Director at both Pyaterochka and Karusel retail chains. Elena Remennikova holds a degree in Economics (Merchandising) from St. Petersburg University of Economics. She also received an MBA degree from the Stockholm School of Economics, which included her thesis on "The History of Creation of Private Labels".

Konstantin Arabidis

CFO

Konstantin joined the Group in January 2012 from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), where he was involved in auditing and consulting projects in various industries – from agriculture to heavy machine-building. Before he was appointed CFO, Konstantin had been in charge of a full array of finance functions such as international and management reporting, tax planning, budgeting, investment analysis, controlling, and investor relations. Konstantin graduated from the Department of Technical Cybernetics of the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and then the Department of Economics of the St. Petersburg State University. Konstantin is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).

Elena Polozova

Human Resources Director

Elena has headed the Human Resources Department at O`KEY Group since September 2015. She joined O`KEY in January 2013, and over the following two years served in various HR management positions in the Company's Sales Department. In her role, she is in charge of the centralised HR function, whose work is based on the human capital development strategy. One of the key objectives of the HR Department is to increase employee performance by introducing best HR practices. Elena is highly experienced with more than a decade of experience in HR. Before joining O`KEY, she was an HR Business Partner at Magnit federal retail network, overseeing HR processes in its business units. Elena received a degree in Psychology from the Department of Business and Management of the Lipetsk State Technical University, and an MBA degree in Human Resources from the Moscow International Higher School of Business (MIRBIS).

Ivan Dropuljic

Chief Commercial Officer

Ivan joined O`KEY in July 2017. In the position of CCO, Ivan Dropuljic heads the commercial function of the hypermarket segment, as well as the areas of marketing, retail space management and quality control. Ivan has a long track record in the food retail industry. Since 2012, he held the position of Purchasing and Marketing Director and Member of the Board at Kaufland Croatia — one of the leading hypermarket chains in Europe, part of Schwarz Group grocery retailer with more than US$100bn in revenues, where during the last two years of his work he was in charge of various international projects at the company. Previously, Ivan Dropuljic worked as Fresh Food Director at Kaufland Croatia, where he successfully implemented a procurement optimisation project, which enabled the company to double its sales. Until 2007, Ivan had held various positions at PIK Vrbovec and Jamnica. Ivan Dropuljic holds an MA degree in Economics from the University of Zagreb. He speaks Croatian, English, German, and Polish.

Anton Farlenkov

Head of Corporate Development

Anton Farlenkov joined O`KEY Group in May 2016. Previously, he worked at Goldman Sachs, a large investment bank, where he ran the EEMEA equity research team and for over 9 years worked as Senior Equity Research Analyst covering the consumer, retail and transportation logistics sectors. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Anton held commercial and IT related positions at Royal Dutch Shell (Netherlands) and InfoShare (USA).

In his current role, he has the lead responsibility for advising the Board of Directors on defining the strategic development vector of O`KEY Group and overseeing the implementation of its development plan across formats, as well as broadening the Group’s communications with the international business and investment community.