Wine & Wisdom: How to Make Putin’s Most Wanted List

You run Russia’s largest oil company and the 4th largest oil producing company in the world, but then you have Vladimir Putin make you his enemy. (it’s exactly as terrifying as it sounds)

This edition of Wine & Wisdom is an intimate evening where you can ask those burning questions: What’s it like doing business with oligarchs? How do you know when it’s time to flee the country? Did you really think Putin would let you walk away?

Bruce Misamore, former Chief Financial Officer of YUKOS Oil Company, went from managing the world’s 4th largest oil producer with 110,000 employees to becoming one of Putin’s most wanted. He watched the Kremlin systematically dismantle his company, arrest his colleagues, and turn Russia’s legal system into a weapon.

What we will uncover over wine:

• The Golden Years: Running Russia’s largest oil company when business was booming and possibilities seemed endless (hint: it was too good to be true)
• The Warning Signs: How to recognize when an authoritarian regime decides you’re a problem (by then it might be too late)
• Putin’s Playbook: The systematic takedown of YUKOS and how the Kremlin uses courts, taxes, and intimidation to destroy enemies
• Escape from Moscow: The terrifying reality of leaving everything behind when a nuclear power wants you arrested
• Russia’s Business Reality: Why doing business in Moscow is fundamentally different from anywhere else in the world
• Lessons for Today: What Houston energy executives need to know about international business in authoritarian states

Bruce Misamore brings credentials most executives only see in spy novels. He was CFO of the world’s 4th largest oil producer, represented YUKOS at the World Economic Forum, served on the US-Russia Business Council Board, and was named Russia’s top CFO for investor relations in 2004. Then Putin decided YUKOS was a threat, and Misamore’s life turned into a geopolitical chess game where losing meant Pr*son—or worse.

Limited spots available because some stories are best kept … intimate.

PS: This might be the wildest business story you’ll ever hear.

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Host or Publisher The World Affairs Council of Greater Houston