Gulzhan Moldazhanova

Gulzhan Moldazhanova (born 11 June 1966, Almaty, Kazakhstan) is a Kazakh businesswoman who was CEO for Basic Element, and was named among the most powerful women of the mid- to late 2000s. In 2018, she and others resigned from the Russian company Rusal as it was facing sanctions from the US.

Early life Moldazhanova was born to a pharmacist mother and metallurgy student father, though she was raised by her single mother after they separated. With a head for math, she studied physics at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, then went on to graduate with a doctorate from Moscow State University. Her connections to Oleg Deripaska began, since he was also a physics graduate of Moscow State University.

Career Moldazhanova began as a personal assistant to Deripaska in 1995, before being targeted as a high potential employee and gaining training as an accountant from Russia's Finance Academy. In the early 2000s, she grew to director within sales, marketing and strategy within Rusal.

Personal life In 1999, Moldazhanova divorced her husband, with whom she has one daughter. According to Salzburger Nachrichten, Moldazhanova has an Austrian passport.