Giorgi Maisashvili

Who is Giorgi Maisashvili?

George Maisashvili is a Georgian economist and politician who was a presidential candidate in the Georgian presidential election of 2008.

Born in Tbilisi, Maisashvili graduated from the Tbilisi State University in 1985. He was involved in students' pro-independence protests against the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and on the forefront in the struggle for Georgian independence and democracy, which was achieved in 1991.

In 1991-92, Gia Maisashvili became instrumental in transitioning Georgia into the free-market economic system by founding the country's first ever commodity exchanges - Tbilisi Universal Exchange and Georgian Tea and Wine Exchange.

After the Georgian Civil War and the overthrowing of the democratically elected government by Eduard Shevardnadze in 1992, Maisashvili was forced to flee the country and was granted a political asylum by the United States.

While living in the US, he graduated from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1997. The same year, he joined the Houston, Texas-based energy company Enron and served as the head of a risk analysis unit until quitting the company in 2001.