Membership of the Leaders of Russia Club "Elbrus" surpasses 1,000
The Leaders of Russia Club "Elbrus", part of the "Russia — Land of Opportunity" presidential platform, has welcomed its thousandth member for the first time. The community has grown by 368 winners of the sixth season of the "Leaders of Russia. Team" competition and the second season of the "Leaders of Russia. Politics" competition, bringing total membership to 1,059. Their official integration into the club's ecosystem began at the National Centre RUSSIA during an introductory online meeting, which was also attended by winners of previous competition seasons.
"The Elbrus Club is a community where winning the competition is not the finish line but the starting point, bringing managers together as one large team of like-minded people. For the first time, club membership has surpassed one thousand. This is a team ready to contribute to the development of Russia's regions, industries and public institutions. The presidential platform creates an environment where their talents serve the country's interests. I am confident that the finalists of the sixth season of the "Leaders of Russia" project and the second season of "Leaders of Russia. Politics" will generate new ideas, including for the further development of the competition itself. After all, a true leader is not someone who has won once, but someone who continues to lead a team and take responsibility for the collective result," said Andrei Betin, Director General of the "Russia — Land of Opportunity" presidential platform and Rector of the Senezh Management Workshop.
The Elbrus Club was established in 2018, when winners of the inaugural "Leaders of Russia" competition made a symbolic ascent of Mount Elbrus, the country's highest peak, and founded a community dedicated to addressing socio-economic challenges. Over the past eight years, the club has developed a strong ecosystem for professional and civic engagement, fostering horizontal connections between managers from different regions and sectors, establishing a mentoring system, and supporting projects ranging from local municipal initiatives to systemic issues affecting regional authorities and federal ministries.
"From its very first days, the Elbrus Club has worked on the principle of teamwork. This is reflected in everything we do, from the activities of the executive committee and preparations for the Elbrus ascent to projects such as "Leadership Academy" and "Training Expeditions". So, in a sense, the winners of the sixth season of the "Leaders of Russia" competition, which was held in a team format, are immediately joining a familiar environment. Team-building, joint learning and shared projects for the country's development create lasting horizontal connections both between regions and across organisations and government bodies. I hope our new members, who are joining as entire teams, will actively contribute to the club's work, strengthening it with their expertise and fresh ideas. The mission of the Elbrus Club remains unchanged: to develop mechanisms for responsible leadership in Russia," said Tatyana Dyakonova, Chair of the Leaders of Russia Club "Elbrus" and State Duma deputy.
One of the meeting's key topics was the launch of the sixth season of the "Training Expeditions" project. This year, at the invitation of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, club members will develop solutions to optimise data management within the ministry. The work will be supervised by Irina Shvartsman, Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation and winner of the sixth season of the Leaders of Russia competition.
"Our goal is to build effective cooperation between everyone involved in generating, processing and using data within the education system. At present, the system is often overloaded with duplicate requests to schools, teachers and parents. It is also common for the same data to be entered repeatedly into different information systems. In addition, not all educational institutions have developed a culture of working with digital tools. All of this creates unnecessary administrative burdens and reduces the quality and speed of management decisions. Our key objective is to create an efficient user journey that is as seamless as possible, based on the principle of entering data only once and integrating different information systems regardless of departmental affiliation. It should cover every stage of the educational process, from admission to nursery school through to graduation. This is a large-scale task of strategic importance, with the ultimate goal of providing all stakeholders at every level with a single source of reliable information for analysis and informed decision-making," said Deputy Minister of Education Irina Shvartsman.
Participants also received a video address from Vitaly Khotsenko, Governor of the Omsk Region and mentor of the "Leaders of Russia" competition. He recalled that last year the club team helped develop proposals for unlocking the potential of the transboundary Irtysh River, and encouraged the new members to take an active role in the "Training Expeditions" project, which enables managers to enhance their professional skills while contributing to regional development.
During the meeting, the club also launched its "Ascent of Elbrus" project. The names of ten winners of the sixth season of the "Leaders of Russia" competition were announced. Having successfully completed a rigorous selection process, they will take part in an ascent of Mount Elbrus. The tradition, established in 2018, serves as a unique test of leadership qualities under the demanding conditions of high-altitude mountaineering.
In addition, Alyona Geidt, winner of the first season of the "Leaders of Russia" competition, Head of the Elbrus Club's Human Resources Committee and founder of HRGATE.ru, introduced participants to the club's professional development opportunities. Over the past eighteen months, the club's portfolio career accelerators have supported more than 800 members of the community.
