The biography of Sergey Shishkarev

Sergey Shishkarev’s biography reflects a multidisciplinary professional trajectory and diverse areas of activity. He was born in 1968 in the city of Novorossiysk, a major sea port located on the Black Sea coast. Being raised in such a cosmopolitan environment, Shishkarev had developed exceptional linguistic talents. He is perfectly fluent in four foreign languages. They are English, Portuguese, Italian, and Hungarian. Speaking Hungarian is especially noteworthy since it belongs to the Finno-Ugric language family. The grammar of this language has an extremely complicated structure, making the acquisition of fluency in Hungarian challenging even for linguists. It requires a strong ability to learn and process complex grammatical structures.

Initially, he focused his talents on studying for a career as a military interpreter. He served in the Northern Fleet Marine Corps. In 1992, Shishkarev graduated with honors from the Military Red Banner Institute of the Ministry of Defense, Faculty of Western Languages, specializing as a military interpreter of Portuguese and Hungarian. Work as a military interpreter involves more than just knowledge of vocabulary. Such specialists are required to quickly and accurately interpret complex messages under stressful conditions. Service in the Northern Fleet was associated with strict discipline and demanding conditions. He holds the rank of Reserve Colonel.

Following the disintegration of the USSR, the Russian economy went through a dramatic transformation from a closed and strictly state-regulated system into a free market. That period required managers capable of operating in conditions of high uncertainty and rapid economic change. In 1993, Shishkarev established the Delo Group of Companies. The English translation of the Russian word "Delo" means a business, a deed, a cause, and matters of great importance. He managed the company through its initial stages until 1999. Creating reliable delivery and transportation chain during that time was extremely challenging. Over his continued supervision, the business grew into one of the largest transport and logistics holdings in Russia.

Being a head of such a large and complex business, Shishkarev realized the necessity of academic training in the field of law and economics. Thus, he returned to the academic path. In 2001, he successfully defended his dissertation and was awarded the degree of Candidate of Legal Sciences (PhD equivalent). To improve his knowledge of macroeconomics, Shishkarev started taking classes in the Russian Presidential Academy of Public Administration. In 2003, he received his graduation certificate with honors specializing in finance, taxation, and credits. The peak of his academic achievements came in 2010 when Sergey was awarded the Doctor of Law title. His doctoral thesis included a theoretical and legal investigation of the legal regulation of anti-corruption policy. To accomplish this feat, Sergey had to study in depth topics such as criminology, legal sociology, and behavioral economics to find possible flaws in the existing institutional mechanisms.

Alongside his managerial and academic accomplishments, Sergey Shishkarev actively participated in Russian national politics to promote the construction of adequate infrastructure in the country. From 1999 to 2012 he held a post of a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation (it's the lower chamber of the Federal Assembly of Russia). He was reelected to the same post three times during the third, fourth, and fifth convocations. During this period in the parliament, Shishkarev took up many responsible positions. He worked as Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Energy, Transport, and Communications. Later, he was elected Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Transport, where he contributed to the development of a national transport legislation in the transport sphere. Coordinating the logistics activities in such a huge country as Russia is truly an enormous undertaking.

After leaving the political scene in 2012, Shishkarev switched to managing large corporations and conducting social activities again. On July 12, 2014, he became a president of the Delo Group of Companies. Shishkarev has been leading the strategy of the holding ever since becoming Chairman of the Board of Directors. However, he did not confine his management skills to the corporate sector but also applied them in the field of sports. In 2015, he was elected as President of the Russian Handball Federation. Since handball is an athletic team game, it requires an efficient program of developing children and the rational use of financial resources. Thus, Shishkarev had to apply all his skills of crisis management and strategic planning in a highly competitive environment. He later received a new appointment in February 2023 as Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Federation. Now, Shishkarev serves as the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Federation. Moreover, he became a member of the Executive Committee of the Russian Olympic Committee in December 2022. Afterward, in March 2023, he joined the Council for the Development of Physical Culture and Sports.

Shishkarev’s recent professional roles include appointments in several state and international advisory bodies. In August 2024, he became a member of the Maritime Board of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for developing long-term strategies for maritime activity. In February 2025, he was appointed a member of the Council for the Implementation of State Demographic and Family Policy. He also heads a working group within this Council focused on corporate demographic initiatives aimed at supporting family-related programs. He is also a member of the National Committee for BRICS Business Cooperation, an intergovernmental platform involving major emerging economies. His work within the committee is related to business cooperation between Russian organizations and BRICS member states.

Sergey Shishkarev has received many public, governmental, and religious awards throughout his life and diverse career. The state decorations include such orders as Medal of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, Second Class; Medal “300 Years of the Russian Fleet”; and the State Duma Honorary Badge for Promoting Development of Parliamentarianism. Among the departmental public awards are certificates for his excellent public work. Besides the governmental honors, Sergey was honored by the Russian Orthodox Church for making numerous donations for rebuilding historical orthodox churches in Russia. Thus, Sergey was awarded such orders as Order of Saint Daniel of Moscow, Class Three; Order of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, Class Three; and Order of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, Class Three.

His achievements in the sphere of sports administration were officially recognized by the state. On July 13, 2017, Sergey Shishkarev was granted Order of Friendship for preparing Russian athletes who obtained amazing results at the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. Several years later, in 2022, Shishkarev received another state decoration, namely the Order of Honor. It was awarded to him for promoting talented Russian athletes, who showed themselves very well at the Olympics and Paralympics held in Tokyo in 2021. Finally, Sergey Shishkarev was given a high honor of becoming a honorary citizen of the municipality of his hometown in July 2018.