Candidates for Georgia’s Pension Agency's Investment Council

The names of 5 members (candidates) of Georgia’s Pension Agency Investment Council are already known. The qualifying commission supported five candidates who need the approval from the Parliament to be finally selected.

The candidates are:

Davit Tsiklauri – He was the Chief Financial Officer of the Bank of Georgia until April 2019. He was the Deputy General Director of the Bank in the financial sector. Bank of Georgia disseminated information about Tsiklauri’s quitting from the bank's board of directors on April 2. Tsiklauri worked at TBC Bank for quite a long time. He studied at the Georgian Technical University and did his Master’s Degree in London Business School.

Timo Viherkenttä – He is the Executive Officer of the Finnish State Pension Fund. He worked in the Ministry of Finance of Finland on various positions such as the head of the International Tax Policy Department and headed the country's pension agency since 2015. As for education, he got has a doctor’s degree at Helsinki University.

Another candidate Michael Ridley is an adviser to Finance Minister of Iceland. Until 2015 he was deputy director of P. Morgan's London representation. He graduated from Oxford University.

Olivier Russo - He is the Director of Investment Fund of France's Pension Agency. He also worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) London Branch. In different years he worked in the French Treasury. Russo studied at the National School of Administration and got his Master’s degree in economics at the University of Marseille.

The fifth candidate Jean-Frederic Paulsen was an adviser to the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, Natia Turnava but after being elected as a candidate for the Council, he resigned. Polson is a member of the ISET Governing Board of the International Economic School of Tbilisi State University. He studied at the Paris European Business School and also at London School of Economics and Political Science.

According to the accumulative pension law, the Investment Council consists of five members and its members are approved by the Parliament for five years. Before that, the selection committee of the Investment Board is formed.

The commission discusses the accepted applications and interviews with the candidates. After the process is completed, the commission submits the selected five members to the Parliament for approval. The Investment Council should define the Investment Policy of the Pension Fund.

All five members of the Investment Council will get salaries from the pension agency budget. Besides, the Chairperson elected by the Investment Council members will be a member of the Supervisory Board, which is the controlling agency of the Pension Fund.