With a net worth in excess of US$4.4 billion, Andrei Kozitsyn more than qualifies as one of the super-rich Russian oligarchs. Kozitsyn made his fortune in the mining and mineral industry. He serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Urals Mining Metallurgical Company JSC and has been its General Director since 2002. In 2017, he was listed at number 402 on the list of World Billionaires by Forbes.
Early Life and Education
Andrei Anatolievich Kozitysyn was born in the early 1960s in Verkhnaya Pyshma in the Urals in Russia. Kozitzyn grew up there and when he left secondary education, he started studying at the Ural Polytechnic Institute. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in metallurgy from the Sverdlovsk Mining and Metallurgical College, Metallurgy Faculty of the university. Kozitzyn also received approval for his doctorate in Economic Sciences.
Career and Associations
After he graduated Kozitzyn started working as a mechanic at Uralelectromed, which has since become the main factory of Urals Mining Metallurgical Company (UMMC). He worked his way up in the company and eventually served as General Director between 1995 and 2002. In 2002 Kozitzyn was appointed as General Director of a holding company of UMMC. UMMC is a large mining and metals company in the Urals known as a top copper producer, and that also has vested interests in construction, telecommunications and agriculture. Kozitzyn is a close business partner and confidante of fellow Russian oligarch Iskander Makhmudov. The two billionaires have collaborated to build various holdings in the Urals region.
Presidencies, Honours and Chairs
Andrei Kozitzyn is not only a shrewd businessman but is also known as a powerful man in many fields, a philanthropist and for his love of sport. He is the President of the charity ‘Children of Russia’ and of the UMMC basketball club, he is an honorary freeman of the town of Verkhnyaya Pyshma and the VP of Sambo, the All Russian Federation of Unarmed self-defence. In 1999 the President of the Russian Federation decreed that Kozitzyn be awarded with a Friendship Order in honour of his personal contribution to developing the metallurgical and mining industry of Russia. He was also awarded with the following orders:
- The Order of Sergius of Radonezh of the 3rd degree
- The Order of St. and most Orthodox Prince Daniel Alexandrovich of the 3rd degree
- The Order of Grand Prince St. Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apls, of the 3rd degree for his effective activity in charity and for his generous contributions towards building churches.
In Spring 2016 Kozitzyn was appointed as President of Automobilist, a KHL (hockey) club. Soon after the announcement, he made it public that he would be building an ice arena in Ekaterinburg that would offer 15,000 spectator seats. Kozitzyn is also a member of the Presidium of Metallurgists Association, has a chair on the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation’s Committee of Metallurgy and he holds the position of President of the Union of Metallurgical Companies around the Sverdlovsk region.
Family Life
Andrei Kozitsyn is married and has one child. He resides with his wife in Verkhnaya Pyshma.