Our Team

Jeroen Ketting

Mr. Ketting is the director and founder of Lighthouse Russia B.V. He has been living in Russia for over 17 years giving him fluency in the Russian language and a thorough understanding of the Russian business environment and culture. Since 1999, Lighthouse has successfully assisted hundreds of Western companies from a wide range of sectors with their business development in Russia. Mr Ketting sits on the boards of a number of Western-Russian Joint Ventures, is an advisor to the Board of the Prosperity Fund of the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Russia and is a member of the Honorary Council of the Association of European Businesses in Russia.

Mr. Ketting is also the founder of OOO (LLC) Lighthouse Energy Investments. Lighthouse Energy Investments initiates, funds and manages medium-sized energy efficiency investment projects in Russia.
Mr. Ketting is an expert in managing Energy Efficiency Projects for financial institutions such as the EBRD, IFC and UNDP. He is also the Chairman of the Energy Efficiency Committee of the Association of European Businesses in Russia and is a member of the Council for Energy Auditors of The Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation.

Mr. Ketting is an often invited speaker about Doing Business in Russia and about Energy Efficiency in Russia at various conferences and on TV. He frequently writes articles about the Russian business environment and about Energy Efficiency for Russian and international publications. Overview of presentations and articles.

Elena Kabko

Elena Kabko is the Financial Director of Lighthouse and is responsible for all financial and administrative matters within Lighthouse. Elena has over 12 years of professional experience and has been working at Lighthouse for the last 7 years. Elena has a degree in English Linguistics from the Moscow Pedagogical University and a degree in Financial Management from the Finance Academy of the Government of the Russian Federation. She is an expert in administrative, legal and fiscal issues. Elena was involved in a large number of projects concerning the establishment of Representative Offices and legal entities for foreign companies in Russia. Furthermore, she is an expert in drawing up commercial contracts and employment contracts, working out commercial schemes and arranging work licenses and work permits for non-Russian employees.

Birgit von Oehsen

Birgit von Oehsen is a Partner at Lighthouse with 17 years of professional experience in Russia. Birgit's degree in Russian & French Linguistics from the University in Heidelberg, Germany, was followed by a degree as Master of Business Administration from the Open University, England. Before joining Lighthouse, Birgit worked as Deputy Representative in the Russian office of the German company Preussag AG (now TUI AG) and focused on exploration of natural resources and construction of industrial plants. Birgit has extensive experience in providing companies with assistance in market entry or enlargement of activities on Russian-speaking markets.

Anastasia Nazarenko

Anastasia Nazarenko holds a Master's degree in Economics (hons.) from the Moscow State University and is currently completing her Postgraduate degree in Entrepreneurship. Anastasia also teaches Economics of Innovation at the Economic Department of the Moscow State University. During her time at Lighthouse, Anastasia has assisted clients active in a wide range of sectors ranging from consumer goods to industrial production with establishing or expanding their presence on the Russian market.

Nynke Nijkamp

Nynke Nijkamp holds a MSc. degree in Business Administration (Marketing & Management) from Groningen University, the Netherlands. She started her professional career as product manager on life insurances with AXA Insurances. After that Nynke worked as Trade Marketing Manager Benelux at Kodak. Before joining Lighthouse, Nynke worked at Zwitserleven, as Marketing Manager for the SME Segment. And afterwards she was a Manager within the Customer Services department. At Lighthouse, Nynke focuses on marketing, CRM and organization development.

Anna Smirnova

Anna Smirnova is the office-manager of Lighthouse. Anna is responsible for transportation issues, organizing visas and registration. She is the first to greets visitors at the Lighthouse office. Anna graduated from the Faculty of Linguistics and Foreign Languages from the Chuvash State University and parallel to her work she is getting a degree in Management in the Transport and Logistics Systems at the Moscow Institute of Transport. She also completed courses in International Business and Marketing at California State University.

Alexander Matveychuk

Alexander Matveychuk graduated from the Moscow Academy of Oil and Gas Industry (named after "Gubkin") in 1974 and has more than 30 years of work experience in the Russian oil and gas sector. Presently, Alexander represents a number of key suppliers to the oil and gas industry. He worked on the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan during its exploration stage and as Deputy General Director in the Russian-Canadian Joint Venture Yuganskfracmaster in the city of Nefteyugansk, Western Siberia. He has worked in the General Technical Department in the Ministry of Oil Industry of the USSR and as Technical Director representing the Russian oil company YUKOS in Houston.

Daria Galkova

Daria Galkova holds a Master's degree in Economic Geography from Lomonosov State University in Moscow and is currently completing her Postgraduate degree. Prior to joining Lighthouse, Daria worked as an analyst of Russian regional development and as an analyst of public finances and reform of budgetary relations. Daria is involved in a number of projects in the Russian agribusiness sector.

Geert Groenewegen

Geert Groenewegen has been living and working in Russia for over 10 years. He worked as a sales and marketing manager with a large trading company and Philips establishing and expanding their business in Russia. Geert has extensive experience in providing companies with marketing and sales support during market entry and expansion of activities on Russian-speaking markets.     

Samantha Ölz

Samantha Ölz is an energy analyst and economist with over 9 years of experience in sustainable energy markets, financing and policies in all world regions. She has worked as an analyst at the International Energy Agency, focusing on renewable energy potentials, markets, financing, and policy effectiveness and efficiency for electricity, heating and transport across the world (OECD countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia, and Latin America). She has also worked on international energy policy projects in the private sector in the United Kingdom.

She has wide experience of the Brazilian market and speaks fluent Portuguese, having worked there on the development and financial analysis of wind projects.