FinTech Magazine - September 2022 | Page 18

As a teenager , NIKOLAY STORONSKY was a champion swimmer and brilliant student . Now he kitesurfs in his spare time while running the UK ’ s most valuable fintech
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As a teenager , NIKOLAY STORONSKY was a champion swimmer and brilliant student . Now he kitesurfs in his spare time while running the UK ’ s most valuable fintech

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s the brilliance and drive behind one of the world ’ s most successful fintechs , Nikolay Storonsky has a story almost as colourful as his meteoric rise within the financial industry . Born in Dolgoprudny – a town located about 20 kilometres north of Moscow ’ s city centre – in 1984 , Nikolay Storonsky grew up in a Russia that was newly divorced from the Cold War and Communism and embracing Western style democracy and a free market economy .
His father , Nikolay Mironovich Storonsky , was a senior manager for Gazprom , the Russian majority stateowned multinational energy corporation that is headquartered in the Lakhta
Center in Saint Petersburg . Still working , he is currently the Deputy General Director of Science for Natural Gas Research Institute since 2017 , as well as the First Deputy General Director for Science Gazprom Promgaz OAO .
Coming from such a science oriented background , it ' s hardly surprising that young Nikolay excelled academically , studying for a Master ’ s degree in physics at Moscow University , and also taking a second Masters in economics at the New Economic School in Moscow .
But , as well as being a brilliant student , Storonsky was a keen athlete . During his teenage years , he became a state champion swimmer , and also took boxing lessons .
18 September 2022