Our Team

Sergey Zverev is one of the pioneers of the Russian communications market.

In 1990, he was a member of the group of the leading economists that designed the “500 Days” national development program. He is one of the founders of NTV, the leading TV Company in Russia, Segodnya newspaper, and Itogi magazine. In 1998-99, Sergey Zverev was Vice Chairman for external and internal communications of RAO “Gazprom” Management Board, and supervised the creation of Gazprom Media Holding. In 1999, he worked as the Deputy Head of the Presidential Executive Office for Internal Policy.

Sergey Zverev is a member of a number of Russian and international associations, as well as advisory councils under government bodies, including the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation, Expert Council under the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Public Council of the Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation.

He is also a member of the senior expert council under the Russian Public Relations Association (RASO), the supervisory board of the “Silver Archer” National Award for Public Relations, the Russian Academy of Public Relations (RAPR), the World Communication Forum Association (WCFA), and the international association of independent PR agencies PRGN. In 2016-2020, Sergey Zverev was the chairman of the Association of Consultancies in the Field of Public Relations (AKOS).

Since 2010, Sergey Zverev has been the head of the School of Integrated Communications at the Higher School of Economics — National Research University.

Sergey Zverev holds numerous industry awards, including the Best Media Manager of Russia in the nomination for the contribution to the industry’s development; the “Silver Archer” National Award for Public Relations in the nomination “Master”; the Communication for Future Davos Award (C4F) in the nomination “Titan of the Future” for outstanding professional performance; the Order of Friendship for professional achievements, long-term dedicated work and public activities; the Кotler Awards in the nomination “Public Relations and Affairs”; the PRO.PR Awards; as well as other decorations, diplomas and letters of acknowledgement for implementation of large-scale national projects.

Ekaterina has been working in communications for over 17 years. She joined CROS in 2010 as a project manager.

As Vice President and Deputy CEO, she was in charge of comprehensive communication projects, new accounts and practices development, and was in charge of the implementation of the company’s strategy.

In the CEO role, Ekaterina carries out operational management of the agency and manages business development and development of CROS competences.

Since 2020, she is a member of the expert panel of the “Silver Archer”, the most prestigious Russian PR award.

She is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Economics, Management and Law, the European School of Brussels, EMBA program at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, and completed 10 different training courses.

Ekaterina holds a RASO certificate.

Leonid has been working in public relations since 1994. At CROS, he is charge of the clients from the public sector.

He started his professional career in the information and analytical, and PR and media relations departments of Most Group and Media-Most. Since 2000, he has been actively involved in the information campaign for the 2002 All-Russia Population Census, the first large project of CROS.

In 2003, he became the first deputy of the editor-in-chief at the international news agency RIA Novosti in charge of projects with the government agencies and public organizations. He was involved in a number of large-scale national and international events, including the G8 and the G20 Summits (2006, 2013) in Saint Petersburg, the APEC Summit in Vladivostok (2012), the Year of Russia in China (2006), the International Arctic Forum, the Valdai Discussion Club, the 60th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the “St. George Ribbon” Campaign, the Forum of European and Asian Media (FEAM), Sochi 2014 media center for non-accredited journalists, the Year of Russia in China (2000). Leonid Burmistrov was behind the establishment of the Russian Agency of Legal and Judicial Information (RAPSI), The Moscow News daily, RIA Novosti Innovative Media Laboratory, “Russia in the World” monitoring and analysis system, RIA Novosti information system and the agency’s Middle Eastern news hub in Dubai.

He was involved in design, launch and management of the official websites of the Russian Government, the Prime Minister, and the Mayor of Moscow. Leonid Burmistrov also developed the media support programs for the judicial reform in Russia, as well as the special campaign aimed at increasing Russia’s investment attractiveness.

Leonid Burmistrov holds a RASO certificate.

Maxim Kvasha has long-term experience in analytics, journalism, consulting and management. He joined the CROS team in 2017.

His career includes positions in The Working Center for Economic Reforms under the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as dozens of research, consulting, media and communications projects for the government bodies, Russian and international companies, research institutions and private companies.

Maxim Kvasha has long been working for Kommersant Publishing House and was an economics editor of the Money magazine. His columns were published in The Moscow Times, Vedomosti, Kommersant, online media Slon.ru, Forbes.ru, Gzt.ru and other. He was heavily involved in the financial literacy projects, including Finprosto.ru and Вашифинансы.рф.

Maxim Kvasha is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He also attended the Harvard University and the Joint Vienna Institute.

Alexey Kalenov has 15-year experience in communications for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. At CROS, he provides comprehensive project management for Russian and international pharmaceutical companies from the firm’s client portfolio. Alexey is also in charge of strategic and media consulting for the healthcare sector.

Before joining CROS, he worked as the Head of Healthcare Practice at SPN Communications and Edelman Imageland where he was managing projects for GE Healthcare, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Abbott, Takeda, Merz, Pfizer, AIPM, and UNICEF. Prior to Edelman, Alexey Kalenov worked in the Russian agency PRESSTO, focusing on the pharmaceutical market. He has implemented a series of corporate communications projects, CSR projects, publicity and public affairs campaigns for Eli Lilly, Nycomed, Roche, Aventis, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson.

Alexey is a graduate of the State University of Management.

He also holds The Russian Public Relations Association (RASO) certificate.

Konstantin Panarin has been working in communications for over 12 years. He joined CROS in 2012 and has been working on corporate and brand communications projects.

His major accounts include Unilever, Yota, KIA Motors Rus, Lifan Motors, Lexus, AVILON, Favorit Motors, BEKO, MARS Petcare, RusHydro, Roselectronika, Rusenergosbyt, RDI group, Nagatino I-land and others. At CROS, he has implemented a number of comprehensive and integrated projects.

Before joining CROS, he worked for two years at AVILON Automotive Group, where he was in charge of the company’s public relations. For several years, he has also worked in the marketing department of Inchcape international auto dealership, covering Volvo and Land Rover brands.

Konstantin Panarin graduated from the Department of Economics, Tsiolkovsky Russian State Technological University with a degree in Marketing Manager.

Peter has been working in journalism and communications for some 20 years. He joined CROS in 2016 and is now in charge of managing public interest projects, Public Affairs and GR.

Before CROS, he was the editor-in-chief of The RBC Daily business newspaper. Earlier, he was a correspondent, a political editor, and the first deputy editor-in-chief of The RBC Daily, a correspondent of the international department of the Expert Magazine and worked in various projects of the News Media publishing house. He has also founded his own business.

Peter is a graduate of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the People's Friendship University of Russia and holds a PhD degree in political science.

Olga Bezgodova has been working in communications for over 15 years. She joined CROS in 2015 and is now working on corporate and public communications.

Prior to joining CROS, she worked in the leading communications agencies and headed public relations departments in companies from the real estate development, financial and IT industries. She was designing and implementing PR strategies for the leading Russian and international companies, including Autodesk, GE, Russian Copper Company, TechnoNICOL, the National Payment Card System, UralSib Insurance Group, Bank Saint-Petersburg, INSIGMA Group, and others. Olga has also chaired the working group on development and implementation of the Russian Finance Ministry’s information campaign on the promotion of financial literacy and financial education in the Russian Federation.

She has an extensive expertise in strategic corporate and public communications, including crisis communications and media support of M&A deals.

Olga Bezgodova graduated from the Volgograd State University and completed postgraduate studies at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Political Science. She is a PhD in Political Science.

Konstantin Shimbirev has been working in the communications industry for over 15 years.

He specializes in strategy development for major projects and internal communications. His key skills were refined in communication projects in the science and education industries.

His major accounts include The Ministry of Science and Education, Tomsk State University, Far Eastern Federal University, The National University of Science and Technology "MISiS", The Ministry of Sports, The Ministry of Emergency Situations, The Ministry of North Caucasus Affairs, The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, Moscow Government, The Ministry of Culture, The Federal Agency for Tourism, Rostelecom, RusHydro, InterRAO, Sberbank, Rusnano, Russian Railways, Aeroflot, Rossiya Airlines, Aurora Airlines.

In 2010, he was a member of the expert council on the establishment of the Far Eastern Federal University. In 2013, he was in the award panel of the “Silver Archer” Award in the Far Eastern Federal District. In 2018, he was an expert of the Far Eastern Media Summit, member of the expert group working on the Pilot Population Census. Since 2020, he is an independent advisor for educational projects at the Content Foundation.

He is a graduate of the History Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Ramil joined the CROS team in 2015. He is in charge of a wide range of activities, starting with research and strategy development and finishing with crisis communications, ORM, SERM, and SMM.

His portfolio includes over 60 projects for different clients: PPF Group, Gazprombank, Home Credit Bank, Proxima Capital Group, AIG, UMMC, GTLK, Rosagromarket federal wholesale logistics chain, European Properties Holding, Barkli, UNK-project, Samolet Group, Committee for Urban Development, RVC, QIWI, Bayer, and others.

Ramil holds a PhD and MA degrees in political science from Sciences Po Bordeaux.

He is lecturing philosophy at the People's Friendship University of Russia.

Ramil is fluent in French and English, has good command of Italian and basic knowledge of Czech.

Olga Sivkova is the head of the CrosDigital agency, specializing in managing communications and promoting products and services to customers in the online environment.

Prior to joining CrosDigital, she headed the Special Projects team at Argumenty i Fakty publishing house and in three years implemented over 50 national and regional projects in almost every market and business segment. While working at AiF, Olga Sivkova was also engaged in training specialists from regional divisions.

For five years, she supervised implementation of marketing and advertising projects for Contact-Expert consulting company. She was the head of the education unit of the “Leader of the Year. Small and Medium Enterprise” project that allowed owners and managers of regional companies to have special trainings in marketing, finance and HR management.

Olga Sivkova is a teaching professor, holding seminars in advanced training programs at the Institute of Business and Business Administration, as well as occupational guidance for prospective and first-year students, and special seminars for Bachelor students at the Higher School of Economics — National Research University.

Natalia Zhivaya has over 10 years of experience in the communications industry. She joined CROS in 2011. As the CEO of CROS.Marketing, she is in charge of marketing communications, design and implementation of creative concepts, and integrated campaigns for B2C and B2B industries.

The portfolio of her clients includes Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Rosneft, M.Video and many others. Her projects were acknowledged by more than 20 prestigious Russian and international awards, including the Silver Archer, Effie Awards Russia 2015, the Silver Mercury, PRGN Best Practice Award, Gold Quill Awards, SABRE Awards, IPRA Golden World Awards.