Lado Gurgenidze

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Prime Minister of Georgia
Vladimer Gurgenidze ვლადიმერ გურგენიძე

Incumbent
Assumed office 22 November 2007
President	Mikheil Saakashvili Nino Burjanadze (Acting) Mikheil Saakashvili
Preceded by	Zurab Noghaideli
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank of Georgia
In office 15 September 2004 – 22 November 2007
Succeeded by	Nicholas Enukidze

Born	17 December 1970 (1970-12-17) (age 37) Tbilisi, Georgia
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Tbilisi State University Middlebury College Emory University-Goizueta Business School
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Business executive
Religion	Church of Georgia
Website	[1]

Vladimer "Lado" Gurgenidze (Georgian: ვლადიმერ (ლადო) გურგენიძე) (born 17 December 1970) is a Georgian politician, the 17th Prime Minister of Georgia and Head of the Government of Georgia. He took office on 22 November 2007 after being invited by the President of Georgia to succeed Zurab Noghaideli,^[1] who resigned due to poor health conditions on 16 November. Prior to this Gurgenidze served as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank of Georgia.

1 Early Life and Career
2 Prime Minister
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early Life and Career

Lado Gurgenidze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. He holds dual citizenship of Georgia and of the United Kingdom. Gurgenidze graduated from the Tbilisi State University and Middlebury College as well as obtaining a MBA degree from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. From 1997 to 1998, he served as the Director of ABN AMRO Corporate Finance in Russia and CIS. In 1998, he moved to London and served in various senior capacities at ABN AMRO Corporate Finance, including as a Managing Director and Head of Technology Corporate Finance (2001-2002) and as a Director and Head of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Emerging European Markets (1998-2000). In July 2003, he joined, as a Managing Director and Regional Manager Europe, Putnam Lovell NBF, a leading global boutique investment banking firm focusing on the financial services sector, wholly-owned by the National Bank of Canada.^[2]

After the 2003 Rose Revolution in Georgia, he returned to Tbilisi and worked as a Chief Executive Officer for the Bank of Georgia (BOG) from 2004 to 2006. In May 2006, he was elected a Chairman of the BOG Supervisory Board. He helped the BOG make significant progress and become one of Georgia's leading banks. Gurgenidze received a great deal of publicity in 2006 when he hosted a reality television show The Candidate on Rustavi 2, a Georgian version of Donald Trump’s franchise The Apprentice.

Prime Minister is married to Larissa Gurgenidze and they have three children.

[edit] Prime Minister

Shortly after the 2007 Georgian demonstrations, Gurgenidze was nominated by President Saakashvili to the post of Prime Minister of Georgia on 16 November 2007, after Zurab Noghaideli resigned citing health problems. He was approved by and formally granted the trust of the Parliament of Georgia by a confidence vote on 22 November 2007.

Although this is his first entry into politics, Gurgenidze is reported to have always been on good terms with the authorities, particularly with President Saakashvili, and has even criticized the opposition during the crisis.^[3]