Yuri Gurman

Biography

Born in Chelyabinsk on 19 July 1972. Graduated with honours from the Urals Civil Service Academy with a degree of federal and municipal manager.

In December 1996, he was elected Deputy of the Khomutinino Village Council (Urals District, Chelyabinsk Region). In February 1997, was appointed Head of the Khomutinino Municipal Entity, a position he held over the next five years.

In 1998, he was a co-founder of the Association of Village Municipal Entities in the Chelyabinsk Region, which took part in the Russian Congress of Municipal Entities. Since 1999, was the Association’s Executive Director. In 2003, he initiated the creation of the Association of Village Communities of the Russian Federation and was elected its Vice President.

In 2002, he was elected Member of the Board of the Congress of Municipal Entities of the Russian Federation. In 2003, he joined the expert panel on municipal law of the Congress of Municipal Entities of the Russian Federation. Since October 2003, Member of the Club of Municipal Officials of the Russian Federation. In February 2005, the State Duma Local Government Committee appointed him Member of the committee’s Expert Panel. Since 2007, a member of the European Club of Local Government Experts.

In 2003, took part in the Development of Municipal Associations project (USA) at the invitation of the US Ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow. Is an Honorary Citizen of Elizabethtown (Kentucky, USA).

In May 2004, was elected for another term as Deputy of the Khomutinino Municipal Council. Until October 2009, was Chairman of the Standing Committee of Deputies on Legal Matters, Local Government, Budget, Taxes and Property.

In 2005, took part as an expert in the implementation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development project «Local Government and Civil Participation in Rural Russia».

Over the past years he has committed his professional skills to the development of non-governmental entities in the Chelyabinsk Region and at the national level. He was a Member of the regional Organising Committee of the National Civic Forum in 2002–2006.

Married, with three children.