Aleksei Novikov received his advanced degree in Geography from Moscow State University and is with the National Technical University of Ukraine "Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" and is the General Director of Standard & Poor’s EA-Ratings. From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Novikov was a council member at the Institute for Urban Economics and the director of IUE’s Municipal Finance and Inter-budgetary Relations Department. From 1993 to 1996, he was employed as a consultant to the Analytical Center of the President of the Russian Federation.