Oksana Oracheva is general director of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation. She keeps strategic programs, partnerships and operations on track, fosters innovative thinking, oversees programs and projects development and is responsible for the Foundation's international activities and global partnerships. Oksana was also chair of the governing council of the Russian Donors Forum. She is a political scientist and has over 20 years of work experience in the non-profit sector. Since 1989 she has been teaching different courses on political history and political science. She has written extensively on federalism, center-periphery relations and good governance. Prior to joining the Foundation in 2010, Oksana served as the Russia program director of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program in the Moscow office of the Institute of International Education. In 1999-2000 she was an editor of the bi-weekly Russian Regional Bulletin published by the East-West Institute Moscow Center. Oksana is a winner of Fulbright and Chevening Scholarship awards. Oksana holds a M.Soc.Sc. in political science from the University of Birmingham (UK) and a Ph.D. in political history from Perm State University (Russia) and did research as a visiting professor at Yale University.