Gref was a major advocate of Russia’s joining the World Trade Organization. He is also responsible for creation of the Stabilisation Fund.

In February 2019, Gref called upon Russians “to prepare for the very worst of situations” after the U.S. adopted new sanctions against Russia.

In a November 2016 interview with Russian News Agency TASS, Gref admitted to speculating with Bitcoin.

In November 2007 Gref was elected as president of the state-owned savings bank Sberbank at an extraordinary general meeting. Under Gref’s leadership, the bank has undergone a number of radical changes aimed at improving its efficiency and corporate culture.

Gref married the designer Yana on May 1, 2004 in the throne room of Peterhof Palace. His wife has a teenage son from a prior relationship, just as Gref has a son, Oleg, from his marriage with Yelena, who refused to move to Moscow when Gref was called into the government in 1998. Since 2006 the couple has a daughter. Oleg studied jurisprudence in St. Petersburg until 2004 and moved to Germany for further education. Gref speaks German and is an admirer of Goethe and German Expressionism.

Gref was first appointed as Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Economic Development and Trade on May 18, 2000 and was reappointed to the position in the succeeding Cabinet in 2004.

Gref was considered as one of the liberal reformers in Vladimir Putin’s administration of the early and mid-2000s, besides Alexei Kudrin.

In August 1998, Gref was appointed First Deputy Minister of State Property of the Russian Federation, and was a member of its board until 2000. He was also appointed to the board of the Federal Commission for the Securities Market of the Russian Federation and the board of state-owned Svyazinvest and Gazprom in 1999.

He then moved to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and taught law at Leningrad University until completing his post-graduate degree in 1993. In 1992 – 1998 Gref worked on several positions at the Saint Petersburg City Administration.

Hermann Gräf (Russian: Герман Оскарович Греф , romanized: Germann Oskarovič Gref, born February 8, 1964), better known as Herman Gref, is a Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia from May 2000 to September 2007. He is the CEO and chairman of the executive board of Sberbank, the largest Russian bank.

Herman Gref was born in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan) into a family of German deportees who were exiled there in 1941. After fulfilling two years of military service, he studied law at Omsk State University in Siberia from 1985 to 1990.