Sergey Pavlovsky combines a top management position at Renova with teaching at the Moscow State University Faculty of Economics, coupling his academic knowledge with the realities of the investment industry. What does an investment director do? How to start a career in finance? How do graduates contribute to HSE’s future? Sergey Pavlovsky answers these questions from the portal’s news service.
How did you first become interested in economics?
When I was a lyceum student, I saw an announcement for HSE University preparatory courses. I attended an Open House at which Professors Yasin, Shokhin and Kuzminov spoke. I decided to attend HSE and travelled to the university three times a week during my final year of high school. Back then, the Higher School of Economics was not considered a leading Russian university. It was more of a ‘university-type start-up’ and
I was game for the experiment. Maybe that’s why I liked economics right from the start: I saw it as one of the practical applications of mathematics and everything about it was understandable and interesting. tips for more leads on facebook When I was able to take courses on such subjects as insurance, banking and stock markets as a fourth-year student, I began to get a clear understanding of which direction my career would take.
Why didn’t you pursue a career in academics after earning your master’s degree?
After defending my master’s thesis, I had to choose whether to eventually become a professor or go into business. By that time, I already had experience in consulting and in some of the largest business groups in Russia. I chose a business career. Also, I have always been interested in teaching and am happy to teach at Moscow State University – although I do not have time for research, unfortunately.
Have you always liked the teaching profession?
I have a lot of experience, and this gives me something to share with builds credibility in the industry students – and this seems to come naturally. There was a time when I lectured at HSE also, and the students were be numbers really in need of more case studies and applied skills. Of course, the Higher School of Economics provides an extremely important foundation: Irina Ivashkovskaya gave us profound knowledge of corporate
finance and how to evaluate companies, and Nikolai Berzon explained stock markets to us. But once you get out and start working in the industry, you have to ‘grub about’ for yourself, and so I wanted to acquaint students with those realities while they were still at the university. Along the way, I became interested in recruiting students, although many HSE graduates already work in the investment field. And in financial departments, you often meet MSU Faculty of Economics graduates.
