CCL - Europe, Middle East, Africa - News

CCL, VimpelCom Launch Joint Venture in Moscow

Moscow and Greensboro (September 23, 2008) - VimpelCom, a leading provider of telecommunications services in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL^®), a leading global provider of executive education, today announced a joint venture in Russia under the name of LLC Center for Creative Leadership. The Center for Creative Leadership will be the main shareholder and founder, with a VimpelCom subsidiary as the minority co-founder.

The joint venture is being established in order to provide a wide range of leadership and managerial skills development services including training, coaching, seminars, and assessment based on CCL's cutting-edge solutions and programs, such as the Leadership Development Program (LDP)^® and Foundations of Leadership (FOL).

"CCL programs offer leaders the opportunity to assess their style and impact and to develop the leadership skills that get results," said Don Prince, Director General of CCL LLC in Moscow.

"CCL's unparalleled expertise derived from almost 40 years' experience as well as the demonstrated effectiveness of CCL's approach and techniques are the main rationales for our decision to start cooperation," said VimpelCom Chief Executive Officer Alexander Izosimov. "The option to get world-class business education in Russia -- and in Russian -- will definitely be in demand in the Russian business-community due to the dire shortage of top professional managerial staff in Russia."

VimpelCom's Vice-President, Human Resources and Organizational Development Marina Novikova, commented: "With CCL entering the Russian market the best practices in talent management and leadership development will become available for clients in Russia. We are happy that VimpelCom's managers and employees will be the first to use CCL's programs and to capitalize on the benefits of being trained by CCL".

CCL President John Ryan said: "It's a privilege to partner with VimpelCom as we enter the dynamic and flourishing Russian market. We look forward to learning from our talented Russian colleagues and to helping businesses, government agencies and non-governmental organizations here solve their most pressing leadership challenges."

The joint venture CCL LLC is expected to begin operations in October 2008 in English and then in Russian in the first quarter of 2009.

About the companies:

VimpelCom

The VimpelCom Group consists of telecommunications operators providing voice and data services through a range of wireless, fixed and broadband technologies. The Group includes companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia, in territories with a total population of about 250 million. The Group companies provide services under the "Beeline" brand. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE"). VimpelCom's ADSs are listed on the NYSE under the symbol "VIP".

Center for Creative Leadership

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL^®) is a top-ranked, global provider of executive education that develops better leaders through its exclusive focus on leadership education and research. Founded in 1970 as a nonprofit, educational institution, CCL helps clients worldwide cultivate creative leadership - the capacity to achieve more than imagined by thinking and acting beyond boundaries - through an array of programs, products and other services. Ranked No. 8 worldwide in the 2008 Financial Times executive education survey, CCL is headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., with campuses in Colorado Springs, Colo.; San Diego, Calif.; Brussels, Belgium; and Singapore. Its work is supported by more than 500 faculty members and staff.

For more information, please contact:

At VimpelCom
Elena Prokhorova, Ekaterina Osadchaya
PR Department
+ 7 495 725 07 08, media@beeline.ru

At the Center for Creative Leadership
Sandy McLean, mcleans@ccl.org; +44 7 786 601 771
Stephen Martin, martins@ccl.org; +1 336 286 4038