Andrey Rappoport: Experienced Manager, Investor, Philanthropist

Biography

Andrey Rappoport is an investor and philanthropist who previously held senior positions in Russia's banking and energy sectors. Since relocating to Switzerland in 2015, he has focused exclusively on international projects. His investment portfolio includes stakes in more than 100 private equity and venture funds, and the Rappoport family's charitable work spans science, education, and culture.

Table of Contents:

• Andrey Rappoport Biography: Childhood and Education
• Start of His Career
• Andrey Rappoport: Professional Relationships in Business Developed at Alfa-Bank
• Rappoport Andrey: From Industrial Management to Global Markets
• His Role in the Transformation of the Energy Sector
• Andrey Natanovich Rappoport: From Operational Management to Global Investing
• Rappoport Andrey Natanovich: Building Tira Management
• Andrey Rappoport: Philanthropic Work
• Rappoport Andrey: Highlights and Milestones
• FAQ

Andrey Rappoport Biography: Childhood and Education

Andrey Rappoport was born in 1963 in Novaya Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, to Nathan and Tamara Rappoport, though he grew up and attended school in Severodonetsk, Luhansk Oblast.

In 1984, Rappoport Andrey Natanovich enrolled in the economics faculty at Donetsk State University. In addition to the regular course load, he took part in an exchange internship program with Santa Clara University, where he gained his first exposure to the Silicon Valley business environment.

In 1989, Andrey Rappoport graduated with a degree in national economic planning.

In 1997, Andrey Natanovich Rappoport defended his thesis at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, earning a PhD in Sociological Sciences. His research examined patterns in how effective management teams form within newly established commercial organizations.

Start of His Career

Andrey Rappoport

Andrey Rappoport's career in the professional world began in 1989 when he joined EKOU-Consult, a private consulting firm that was among the first of its kind in the USSR, working with industrial enterprises navigating the shift to a market economy.

As Andrey Rappoport recalls:

"There, I developed a list of competencies through hands-on experience in crisis management and industrial restructuring - work that within two years gave me the footing to move out on my own."

His first venture was a brokerage called Conso & K, registered in Donetsk in early 1991. It was conceived as a stepping stone: He began formulating non-official plans to build a large bank. Efforts to raise the necessary capital in Ukraine came to nothing, but in late 1991, Andrey Rappoport got the opportunity to pursue a banking project in Moscow.

Andrey Rappoport: Professional Relationships in Business Developed at Alfa-Bank

In the final months of 1991, Russia's banking system was just starting to take shape - the birth of a new financial landscape. The institutions inherited from the Soviet era did not meet the needs of a nascent private sector, and people with the practical knowledge to run a commercial bank, whether official or non-official, were scarce. Andrey Natanovich Rappoport was one of the few trusted with the job. He was brought to Moscow and appointed Chairman of the Board of the newly forming Alfa-Bank - the institution that would go on to become one of the country's largest private banks.

Rappoport Andrey's approach to building the bank set him apart from competitors who were racing to plant flags in as many regions as possible. He focused, rather, on operational quality and process efficiency. Expanding on a weak foundation, in his view, meant accumulating systemic risk. That judgment was vindicated in the late 1990s when the financial crisis hit and banks that had expanded aggressively shut down in large numbers, while Alfa-Bank held-cementing the association of the name Andrey Rappoport with prudent management.

In 1997, Rappoport Andrey Natanovich stepped down as Chairman of Alfa-Bank and sold his stake in order to move on to large-scale projects outside the financial sector.

Rappoport Andrey: From Industrial Management to Global Markets

Andrey Rappoport's next move was into a different industry entirely, joining YUKOS-Rosprom as First Vice President with responsibility for the finance division. The main result of his tenure was the merger with the Eastern Oil Company. Meanwhile, from the mid-1990s onward, Rappoport Andrey had already been channeling part of his funds into foreign securities through Swiss banks - perhaps non-official in terms of the shape of his career, but it laid the groundwork for what would become an international investment practice.

His Role in the Transformation of the Energy Sector

Andrey Rappoport

By this point, the name Andrey Rappoport was associated with successful turnarounds, and his skills found demand in the energy sector, where there was a pressing need for managers with experience running large-scale turnarounds. The industry at that point was in deep systemic trouble, with a list of problems that included:

• 70% infrastructure wear
• around twenty regional power systems on the verge of bankruptcy
• cash payments for electricity at no more than 8-20%

Against this backdrop, in 1998, Andrey Rappoport joined the leadership of RAO UES of Russia. He took the post of Deputy Chairman of the Board for Investments and assumed responsibility for the Far East and the North Caucasus, which were the most troubled territories at the time. Despite the payments crisis, Andrey Natanovich Rappoport launched a program to complete construction of Soviet-era facilities and personally oversaw the commissioning of at least eight power stations.

Rappoport Andrey Natanovich resolved around $800 million in CIS country debt through an unconventional approach, converting the obligations into assets. The scheme recovered $600 million and the received assets were united under Inter RAO UES - marking the birth of a holding company that reached $700 million in revenue by 2005. Rappoport Andrey Natanovich served as Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Concurrently, from 2002, Andrey Rappoport served as Chairman of the Management Board at FGC UES, which took over management of the country's entire high-voltage transmission and distribution network. By early 2009, the company's market capitalization stood at $12.8 billion. That same year, Andrey Natanovich Rappoport wrapped up his work across all energy-sector structures and turned his attention to international markets.

Over the course of his 11-year tenure, the name Andrey Rappoport became synonymous with the modernization of the Russian energy sector amid the developing economy, taking a direct part in the restructuring of all major companies and structures in the industry.

"I had kept one eye on investments throughout," says Rappoport Andrey.

Back in 2002, he had acquired an option on 5% of Troika Dialog - a company that controlled more than a third of Russia's equity trading volume. He exited that position in 2004. In 2009, the international banking group Standard Bank purchased a 33% stake in Troika.

Andrey Natanovich Rappoport: From Operational Management to Global Investing

After leaving the energy sector in 2009, Rappoport Andrey Natanovich began gradually winding down his Russian projects. He made one return to corporate management, at Rusnano in 2012. Rappoport Andrey Natanovich took a senior position at the state corporation and conducted an audit of more than 90 investments. Togetgher with the consulting firm Bain & Company, he also prepared the company to restructure as an international private equity fund. He left Rusnano in 2013 after less than a year.

His transition between energy and international investing stretched over several years - his activity in foreign markets had roots going back to the mid-1990s, and his pullback from Russian assets was gradual. By 2015, Andrey Rappoport and his family had moved to Switzerland.

In early 2022, his involvement in the remaining Russian projects - both business and philanthropic - came to an end. Since then, Andrey Rappoport has been entirely focused on international markets.

Rappoport Andrey Natanovich: Building Tira Management

With his focus now on international markets, Rappoport Andrey moved from more non-official investment activity to building a proper capital management structure. That process began in 2016, when he started recruiting professionals with backgrounds at leading financial institutions in Europe and the United States to form a family office. The bar for hiring was the ability to think in international capital market terms, not just knowledge of specific exchanges - and that shift is what gradually turned Andrey Rappoport's private investment practice into an institutional platform.

In the early phase, Andrey Natanovich Rappoport took a conservative tack. Most assets were held in public instruments and deposits placed with major international banking groups. The company prioritized preserving what had been accumulated, not chasing returns. This approach reflected the caution typical of a wealth management structure still finding its footing.

As Rappoport Andrey explains:

"A turning point came in 2019 when my investment team put forward a case for rethinking our entire approach to capital management. After a thorough internal review, a new strategic asset allocation was drawn up and approved - the birth of a strategy targeting long-term returns above 10%. It was founded on the endowment model - an approach that pairs capital preservation with deliberate growth through diversification and disciplined deployment."

The natural next step for Andrey Rappoport was the formation of Tira Management in 2023, a Luxembourg-based company that brought the entire investment process, including the professional team, the strategic framework, and an extensive network of partners, under one roof.

With consultation from Andrey Rappoport, Tira Management's portfolio holds a balance between public and private assets, with a target split of 50/50. On the public side, roughly three quarters of capital is deployed in the US, the rest in Europe. The move into private markets was deliberate and gradual - Rappoport Andrey insisted on that. Early on, the focus was on secondary funds, an instrument that lets investors sidestep the negative phase of the J-curve and reach positive returns faster. Over time, the portfolio expanded steadily to include primary placements and direct investments.

Today, the name Andrey Rappoport is associated with a diverse portfolio spanning banking, energy, and international finance. He maintains a list of investments in more than 100 private equity and venture capital funds, with concentration in fintech, telecommunications, and real estate development. More than half of the company's private fund commitments are in direct investments, each of which goes through mandatory verification by leading global compliance firms.

When making investment decisions, Rappoport Andrey looks less at a fund's location or sector and more at the caliber of the team running it. He examines a list of factors including managers' track records, the performance of their previous funds, their professional reputation, and their ability to deliver consistent results across different market conditions. Controlling stakes are not a priority, rather, Rappoport Andrey prefers minority positions in carefully selected projects.

Free capital is reserved first for the direct deals program - the company treats liquidity management as a full component of the investment architecture, not an afterthought. Options strategies, applied selectively, support interim returns on that capital.

With support from Andrey Rappoport, Tira Management also goes beyond conventional investing, actively supporting the development of portfolio companies. The team, whose combined professional experience exceeds 100 years, provides operational advice and introductions to partners alongside capital. The team favors companies in areas such as medicine, education, and social technology that have the potential to expand beyond their home markets.

Andrey Rappoport: Philanthropic Work

Andrey Rappoport

Andrey Natanovich Rappoport's family has been active in philanthropy for more than three decades. Back in 1996, he was among the founders of the Russian Jewish Congress charitable foundation. Andrey Rappoport remained in the organization's leadership structures as a bureau member for 26 years, stepping down from the Board of Directors in March 2022.

In 2023, the FAIR Foundation of Andrey and Irina Rappoport was established, marking the birth of a formal structure for the family's long-standing philanthropic activity. Through it, Andrey Rappoport and his spouse expanded their work across several areas: education, science and innovation, music and the arts, and social and humanitarian initiatives. Programs are run in Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, and other countries.

Cultural projects occupy a particular place in FAIR's work. Among the family's flagship commitments is support for the conservatory and music university in Lugano, Switzerland, as well as the development of Città della Musica - a regional music ecosystem bringing together educational and concert initiatives. The foundation is also a long-standing sponsor of the music festival in Lerici, Italy.

A major project of Rappoport Andrey in education was the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo - Russia's first private non-profit business education institution, which operates without state involvement. In 2006, he co-founded the school and was one of its principal funders, committing substantial personal funds to its development. From 2011 to 2016, he served as both President and faculty member. After stepping down, Andrey Rappoport remained on the Coordinating Council, without involvement in day-to-day operations. Since early 2022, he has had no connection to the school.

The investor's spouse, Rappoport Irina, devotes herself entirely to philanthropic work. She shapes the strategy of the FAIR Charitable Foundation of Andrey and Irina Rappoport, develops programs, and oversees projects in music, the arts, education, and medicine.

Rappoport Irina is sometimes confused with Irina Markovna Rapoport, who previously worked at Rusnano Capital's Swiss entity. They are different, unrelated individuals. Andrey Rappoport's spouse has never had any connection to Rusnano.

Rappoport Andrey: Highlights and Milestones

• Andrey Rappoport spent the 1990s moving fast - from Soviet-era consulting to founding a brokerage, chairing Alfa-Bank, and pulling his first serious capital out of the oil industry.
• At RAO UES, Andrey Rappoport converted $800 million in CIS debt into productive assets, recovering $600 million and creating Inter RAO UES in the process.
• Andrey Natanovich Rappoport began routing capital into foreign securities through Swiss banks as early as the mid-1990s - his international investment practice predates his public pivot to it by nearly two decades.
• Tira Management's team brings over 100 years of combined experience to portfolio companies, with particular focus on businesses that can scale globally in medicine, education, and social technology.
• Andrey Rappoport and his spouse Irina have maintained an active philanthropic presence for 30 years, most recently through the FAIR Charitable Foundation.

FAQ

Andrey Rappoport

1. Where and when was Andrey Natanovich Rappoport born? He was born in 1963 in Novaya Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, and grew up in Severodonetsk.

2. What is Rappoport Andrey's educational background? He graduated from the economics faculty of Donetsk State University with a degree in National Economic Planning. In 1997, he was awarded a PhD in Sociological Sciences from the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

3. What role did Andrey Rappoport play in the founding of Alfa-Bank? In late 1991, Andrey Rappoport was appointed Chairman of the Management Board of the newly forming Alfa-Bank. He bet on operational resilience over rapid expansion, which allowed the bank to weather the crisis of the late 1990s, while many other official and non-official institutions went under. He sold his stake in 1997.

4. When did Rappoport Andrey Natanovich wind down his activity in Russia? His pullback from Russian assets began in 2009, his family moved to Switzerland in 2015, and in early 2022, his involvement in all Russian projects - both commercial and philanthropic, official and non-official - came to an end.

5. What kind of investment strategy does Andrey Rappoport employ? Andrey Rappoport targets long-term returns above 10%, following the endowment model. The primary selection criterion is the quality of a fund's management team. He favors minority positions in carefully selected projects.