Portfolio Managers

John Davies is Director of Portfolio Management for Alfa Capital. He came to Alfa from Franklin Templeton Investments where he served as Managing Director of Templeton China from 2001. Mr. Davies' association with Franklin Templeton began in 1995, and during his time with that firm, he worked as both a portfolio manager and hedge fund manager, with postings in Florida, California, and China. In 1998, Mr. Davies left Templeton to take on the role of Director of Research for Harvard Capital Management in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Minaret Group B.V.I, working in the former Soviet Union and Iran. He subsequently worked as a Portfolio Manager at McKinley Capital, where he was responsible for international equity and emerging market fund management. Mr. Davies has a BA from Boston University and studied additionally at the Université de Grenoble, France.

Dmitri Ershov is Director of Portfolio Management for Alfa Capital. Mr. Ershov is widely recognised in Russia's capital markets as one of the most successful proprietary traders, a distinction conferred on him by peers and market analysts in various media since 1996. At Alfa Capital since 2002, Mr.  Ershov co-manages one of Russia's largest mutual funds and personally supervises portfolios for the firm's wealthy private investors. Before joining Alfa Bank in 1997 as its senior trader responsible for the bank's exposure to equities, Mr. Ershov worked as an equity trader for Capital Regent Securities and for Credit Suisse's market-leading Moscow office. Mr. Ershov, a native of Moscow, served in the Soviet and Russian armed forces, achieving the rank of Senior Lieutenant. Educated as a communications engineer, Mr. Ershov left the military in 1993, and while taking his first job in capital markets as a foreign exchange dealer, earned a degree in economics from the Moscow Institute of Telecommunications.

Alexander Krapivko is a Portfolio Manager for Alfa Capital, responsible for fixed income portfolios. Mr. Krapivko combines broad experience in Russian financial markets with significant practical exposure to American principles of asset management. Earning an MBA in 2002 from the University of Michigan, Mr. Krapivko came to Alfa Capital from the New York operation of Bank of America, where he worked as a trader in petroleum derivatives. He gained experience in fixed-income portfolio management while employed at NIKoil from 1997 to 2000, a period of great volatility in Russia. Mr. Krapivko began his career at OLMA Bank in Moscow and later managed government bonds for Moscow Credit Bank. He holds a diploma in physics and mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

Anatoly Polun is a Portfolio Manager responsible for the performance of Alfa Capital's flagship investment vehicle, the Alfa Capital Balanced Fund. Before joining the firm in 2000, Mr. Polun worked for six years as a senior trader and markets analyst for Moscow-based commercial and investment banks. Mr. Polun was educated in applied physics and mathematics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, graduating in 1993. While pursuing his career in finance, he received his professional qualification through the Moscow Interbank Finance School, and earned an MBA through California State University of Hayward's correspondent program.