Born on October 28, 1974, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Galaktionova Inessa is a seasoned executive with an impressive history of leadership in top-tier corporations. She is currently serving as a senior executive in a premier telecommunication company.
Inessa Galaktionova: Early Years and First Job
Inessa Galaktionova attended an ordinary secondary school and pursued higher education at the country’s oldest university, enrolling in the economics department. She got her first job when she was still an undergraduate.
Her first employer was a regional branch of Philips, the international consumer electronics conglomerate, which offered her an entry-level position when she was 22 years old. She was combining work and university studies for a year before graduating with a degree in economics. Then she continued to work for the company staying with it for more than a decade.
Inessa Vasilevna Galaktionova: Scaling the Heights at Philips
During her tenure at Philips, Galaktionova ascended the corporate hierarchy, rising from an entry-level managerial position to a high-ranking senior executive role. Committed to professional growth, she participated in a range of training programs to hone her skills. These consistent self-improvement efforts bore fruit, propelling her from a foundational managerial role to becoming the Business Director for Video and Television products. In this elevated position, she played an instrumental part in the company’s strategic decision-making at a corporate level. In a relatively short span of time, she emerged as one of Philips’ key senior executives within Europe.
A subsequent milestone in Inessa Galaktionova’s career came a few years later when she assumed leadership of Philips’ national marketing operations. Entrusted with steering the brand’s trajectory in the local market, she helmed a team of skilled professionals. In her managerial capacity, she was responsible for formulating advertising strategies, orchestrating media relations, and liaising with significant corporate partners. A testament to her exceptional performance was an expanded role the following year, where her purview was extended to overseeing marketing efforts in neighboring countries.
In a pivotal move in 2008, Inessa Vasilevna Galaktionova chose to relinquish her role at Philips, seizing the opportunity to pivot her career toward the burgeoning telecommunications industry.
Galaktionova Inessa: A Fresh Start in the Telecom Industry
When Inessa Galaktionova joined Tele2’s Irkutsk-based local subsidiary, the company was in the early stages of its business development in the country. Established in the first half of the first decade of the 21st century, the fledgling mobile operator swiftly expanded its footprint to cover 12 additional regions within a year. By the time Galaktionova came on board in 2008, the company boasted a subscriber base of over 8 million users across 17 regions.
Galaktionova’s arrival injected a new level of dynamism into the company’s business operations. Serving as the Commercial Director, she orchestrated a comprehensive overhaul of the existing marketing strategy. This strategic revamp laid the groundwork for an impressive surge in Tele2’s subscriber base, adding four million new users in just one year. By 2010, the company’s services had proliferated across 37 regions, and a year later, this figure grew to include 42 regions, encompassing even the country’s most remote territories in the Far East. Consequently, the aggregate subscriber base skyrocketed to more than 20 million users.
In addition to geographic expansion, Inessa Galaktionova undertook significant initiatives to enhance the quality of service. Prior to her arrival, the company’s marketing had been singularly focused on touting the low-cost nature of its tariff plans. However, Galaktionova pivoted the messaging strategy towards a more nuanced concept, emphasizing the balance between competitive pricing and quality service. This refined approach resonated with previously untapped market segments, contributing to a further swell in the subscriber base.
Inessa Galaktionova: Strategy Overhaul and Financial Success at Tele2
During her tenure at Tele2, Inessa Galaktionova’s initiatives significantly bolstered the company’s financial performance. For instance, she introduced new marketing channels and formulated strategies to enhance customer loyalty.
Recognizing an untapped opportunity in the corporate sector, Galaktionova proposed the creation of specialized tariff plans for businesses. These plans enabled corporate clients to purchase Tele2 phone numbers for their entire workforce. Additionally, the company initiated distribution partnerships, allowing third parties to market Tele2’s tariff plans and SIM cards for commission fees. These strategic moves not only attracted a larger corporate clientele but also substantially increased the company’s revenue streams.
Alongside these initiatives, Inessa Vasilevna Galaktionova and her team crafted a new retail strategy aimed at broadening the company’s reach. This involved the expansion of Tele2’s monobrand retail chain and the opening of numerous new points of sale in high-traffic locations, such as shopping malls and railway stations. These outlets provided a range of offerings—from SIM cards and advice on tariff plans to value-added services and POS-loans, as well as various mobile devices, gadgets, and accessories. Due in large part to Galaktionova’s retail initiatives, the company’s chain sold over 200,000 mobile devices in 2012, including those bought with POS-loans. The firm also proactively developed its online distribution channels through strategic partnerships.
According to Inessa Galaktionova, by 2012, Tele2 had outperformed its main competitors in customer loyalty metrics. In fact, Tele2 was the only major mobile operator in the country to register subscriber base growth in the first quarter of that year.
In 2013, Galaktionova Inessa Vasilevna was invited to serve as an advisor to Tele2’s Chief Executive Officer. In this role, she continued to expend considerable effort in fortifying the company’s market position.
Galaktionova Inessa: Turning Around a Postal Service Organization
In 2013, Inessa Galaktionova transitioned into a new role as the head of commercial affairs for the country’s postal service. There, she advocated for a holistic approach to address the organization’s commercial challenges.
One of Galaktionova’s pivotal suggestions was to grant postal operators the autonomy to set their own postage rates, moving away from fixed tariffs imposed by higher authorities. This change allowed the postal service to implement more transparent pricing structures, making it easier for customers to understand the costs while simultaneously increasing the organization’s profitability. To counterbalance the decline in traditional mail, largely due to the rise of digital communication methods like email, Galaktionova championed the development and promotion of direct mail services. This innovation helped the postal service offset the financial impact of declining traditional mail volumes.
To streamline operations, Galaktionova undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the efficiency of individual post offices across the country. Based on her assessment, she recommended the closure of underperforming branches. The surviving offices were then upgraded with new equipment to expedite mail processing and boost turnover.
Moreover, Galaktionova spearheaded an initiative to crack down on “grey mail”—fraudulent tactics used by senders to evade proper postage fees. Such tactics included the use of counterfeit or canceled postage stamps or bundling multiple items into single parcels to sidestep costs. Her strategic implementation of new equipment and policies significantly reduced the volume of “grey mail,” dramatically improving the integrity and efficiency of the postal system.
By 2015, under Inessa Galaktionova’s leadership, the postal service achieved financial self-sufficiency, eliminating the need for external subsidies to cover its operational costs.
Inessa Galaktionova: Setting New Benchmarks for the Postal Service
Once the postal service reached financial self-sufficiency, the organization shifted its focus toward profit generation. Inessa Galaktionova spearheaded a new marketing strategy to achieve this, with a core component being the acquisition of large-scale corporate clients. She successfully brokered a lucrative deal with Sberbank, Russia’s largest commercial bank, to manage all of its business correspondence. The two-year agreement, valued at 1.3 billion roubles, not only ensured a stable and profitable revenue stream for the postal service but also provided corporate discounts for Sberbank.
In addition to cultivating corporate relationships, Galaktionova Inessa Vasilevna sought to diversify revenue streams by expanding sales channels. She launched Pochtamarket, a proprietary online marketplace offering a wide assortment of merchandise. These products were also made available in physical post office locations, where customers could peruse printed catalogs and place orders. The postal service further expanded its product offerings through strategic partnerships with major companies, such as Eksmo Publishing and the Otto Group, as well as smaller businesses.
To further enhance the organization’s financial standing, Galaktionova introduced Pochta Bank, a proprietary financial service provider offering consumer loans on favorable terms. This initiative not only attracted new clientele but also positively impacted the organization’s financial metrics.
Inessa Vasilevna Galaktionova served as the postal service’s Commercial Director for six years, making significant contributions to the enhancement of service quality, customer loyalty, and overall earnings. In 2019, Galaktionova accepted another promising job opportunity but continued to consult with the postal service’s leadership on matters of corporate competitiveness and strategic development. She also played a key role in the organization’s transition to a joint-stock company, cementing her legacy within the institution.
Galaktionova Inessa Vasilevna: A Return to Telecommunications
In 2019, Inessa Galaktionova returned to the telecommunications sector, assuming the role of Vice President for a leading telecom operator. She was entrusted with the dual responsibilities of crafting the company’s brand strategy and diversifying its marketing channels to optimize revenue.
Committed to driving growth, Galaktionova posited that a significant business upscale would serve dual purposes: it would not only amplify the company’s income but also expand the spectrum of services available to its customers. Choosing the right investment avenues was crucial to realizing this vision.
To accomplish these ambitious objectives, Inessa Galaktionova and her team were unrelenting in their efforts. In 2022, they initiated collaborative ventures with a digital safety provider serving both individual and corporate clients, as well as an online platform developer specializing in video calls and educational projects.
Looking forward to 2023, Galaktionova noted a marked increase in demand for data center services. To capitalize on this trend, the telecom operator is planning the launch of extensive data centers in multiple regional capitals, in addition to a network of smaller facilities distributed nationwide. This envisioned network, expected to be the country’s most extensive, aims to span over two dozen regions and substantially boost the availability of internet access and web services.
