Goga Ashkenazi

2016-05-27T22:35:11Z

Edwardx: /* Career */ WP:OVERLINK

{{Infobox person
| name = Goga Ashkenazi<br>Гога Ашкенази
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Gaukhar Yerkinovna Berkalieva<ref name="forbes">{{cite news|title=Ограбление не портит Гоге настроение|url=http://forbes.kz/woman/ograblenie_ne_portit_goge_nastroenie|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[Forbes|Forbes Kazakhstan]]|date=15 January 2013|language=ru}}</ref>
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1980|2|1|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Taraz]], [[Jambyl Region|Zhambyl Oblast]], [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]], [[Soviet Union|USSR]]
| citizenship = Kazakh and Russian<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kerbaj|first1=Richard|title=Kazakh millionaire fights Home Office visa ban|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/article1231093.ece|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[The Sunday Times]]|date=17 March 2013}}</ref>
| occupation = Entrepreneur, businesswoman
| education = [[Somerville College, Oxford]]
| spouse = {{married|Stefan Ashkenazy|2003|2007}}<ref name="standard2010">{{cite news|last1=Slater|first1=Lydia|title=High flyer - Goga Ashkenazi takes over the world|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/high-flyer-goga-ashkenazi-takes-over-the-world-6476649.html|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[London Evening Standard]]|date=3 June 2010}}</ref>
| children = 2
| relatives = [[Severyn Ashkenazy]] (former father-in-law)
}}

'''Goga Ashkenazi''' (born '''Gaukhar Yerkinovna Berkalieva'''; {{lang-ru|Гауха́р Ерки́новна Беркали́ева}}, {{lang-kz|Гауһар Еркінқызы Берқалиева}}; 1 February 1980) is a [[Kazakhs|Kazakh]]-[[Russia]]n businesswoman and socialite. She is the founder and CEO of MunaiGaz Engineering Group, a Kazakh oil and gas conglomerate. Since 2012, she has been head of the fashion label [[Vionnet (company)|Vionnet]], based in [[Milan]].<ref name="nymag">{{cite news|last1=Konigsberg|first1=Eric|title=Goga Ashkenazi: Fashion’s First Female Oligarch|url=http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/02/goga-ashkenazi-vionnet.html|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[New York Magazine]]|date=11 February 2015}}</ref><ref name="wmag2014">{{cite news|last1=Bagley|first1=Christopher|title=Gaga for Goga|url=http://www.wmagazine.com/fashion/2011/09/gaga-for-goga/|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[W (magazine)|W Magazine]]|date=28 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="dm2010">{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Angella|title='I want to conquer the world' says Goga Ashkenazi, close friend of Prince Andrew, millionaire businesswoman and society girl|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1284352/I-want-conquer-world-says-Goga-Ashkenazi-close-friend-Prince-Andrew-millionaire-businesswoman-society-girl.html|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[The Daily Mail]]|date=5 June 2010}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Ashkenazi was born in the [[Jambyl Region|Zhambyl Oblast]], [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]]. She grew up in [[Moscow]], where her father, engineer Yerkin Berkaliev, was a member of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Central Committee of the Communist Party]] under [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]. Her mother, Saule, has degrees in both engineering and medicine. She has a sister, Meruert, who is 10 years older.<ref name="times2013">{{cite news|last1=Slater|first1=Lydia|title=Goga Ashkenazi: not your average oligarch|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/magazine/article3728850.ece|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[The Times]]|date=6 April 2013}}</ref>

After the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union|fall of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, her family moved back to Kazakhstan. Eager for their daughter to get a competitive education, her parents sent the 12-year-old Goga to boarding school in England.<ref name="nymag"/> She first attended [[Buckswood School|Buckswood Grange School]] in East Sussex followed by [[Stowe School]], but was [[Rustication (academia)|rusticated]] after being caught kissing a boy.<ref name="standard2010"/><ref name="times2013"/> She then attended [[Rugby School]], earning five A levels. She studied modern history and economics at [[Somerville College, Oxford]].<ref name="times2013"/>

==Career==
After leaving Oxford, Ashkenazi worked at investment banking firms, including [[Merrill Lynch]] and [[Morgan Stanley]] in London and [[ABN AMRO]] in Hong Kong.<ref name="times2013"/>

In 2003, Ashkenazi founded the MunaiGaz Engineering Group with her sister, Meruert.<ref name="standard2010"/> The company constructs compressor stations for gas pipelines and tunneling operations for utility networks, gas turbine and diesel plants.

Ashkenazi took over [[Vionnet (company)|Vionnet]] in 2012. She says she spent a year in Italy studying art, design, fashion and the Italian language.<ref name="harpers">{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=J.J.|title=Vionnet's Lady Goga|url=http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/interiors-entertaining/advice/a1101/fashionable-life-goga-ashkenazi-vionnet-1113/|work=[[Harper's Bazaar]]|date=13 October 2013}}</ref>

Ashkenazi is also on the board of Ivanhoe Mining Group.<ref name="standard2010"/>

==Personal life==
At age 23, she met and married American Stefan Ashkenazy, whose father [[Severyn Ashkenazy]] founded the [[L'Ermitage Beverly Hills|L'Ermitage Hotel Group]].<ref name="times2013"/> The couple separated in 2004 and divorced in 2007, but she retained his last name, albeit with a different spelling due to a typo on her Russian passport. Her parents are both sworn atheists as members of the Communist Party, but her father is of [[Muslim]] background and Goga is [[Jewish]] through her maternal grandmother. [[Halakha|Halachically Jewish]], Goga notes she did not need to convert to marry Ashkenazy in a Jewish ceremony. She also says that in her purse she carries a page from a 1,200-year-old [[Torah]].<ref name="nymag"/>

Ashkenazi had an extramarital affair with billionaire [[Timur Kulibayev]], the son-in-law of the [[Nursultan Nazarbayev|president of Kazakhstan]].<ref name="standard2010"/><ref name="ft2013">{{cite news|last1=Kuper|first1=Simon|title=Lunch with the FT: Goga Ashkenazi|url=http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/b011a812-d8da-11e2-84fa-00144feab7de.html|accessdate=3 October 2015|work=[[Financial Times]]|date=21 June 2013}}</ref> She and Kulibayev have two sons: Adam, born in 2007 and Alan, born in 2012. She divides her time between Milan, where she works on Vionnet, and London, where her children live.<ref name="nymag"/><ref name="times2013"/>

She is close friends with [[Prince Andrew, Duke of York]].<ref name="standard2010"/><ref name="times2013"/><ref name="dm2010"/>

Her first name, Gaukhar, means [[diamond]] in [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], while her sister Meruert's name means [[pearl]].<ref name="standard2010"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.vionnet.com/goga-ashkenazi Profile at Vionnet.com]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashkenazi, Goga}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:Russian people of Kazakhstani descent]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani Jews]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani businesspeople]]
[[Category:Russian Jews]]
[[Category:Russian chief executives]]
[[Category:Russian women in business]]
[[Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Ethnic Kazakh people]]
[[Category:People educated at Rugby School]]

Kazakhstan Encyclopedia - User contributions [en]

Goga Ashkenazi