After graduating from the Institute of World Languages in Ashgabat in 2001, Nazar Atajanov received technical training in Germany and joined Lufthansa as an operations manager at the Ashgabat International Airport. He then earned an MBA and a postgraduate degree in enterprise creation from the UK’s Abertay University. Upon returning to Ashgabat in 2011, he worked for Deloitte Consulting LLP as a consultant on private sector development and later joined Gaffney Cline. In 2015, Nazar Atajanov founded the Dalchyn Education Centre, followed by the establishment of the Turkmen Forum in 2019.

Jim Gillett has over 40 years’ experience of operations and business development in the international E&P sector. He joined Baker Hughes direct from university and worked mainly in Europe, Africa and the Middle East for 18 years. Since 1992 he has led Business Development for Gaffney, Cline & Associates (GCA) in the UK, concentrating on EAME and the CIS.