Holding Doctoral degree in economics, Mr. Vavilov was one of the Institute founders. Fresh from the Moscow Institute of Management, he entered its graduate school in 1983 and defended his PhD in economics dissertation. In 1985-1992, Mr. Vavilov was engaged in research work at the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute and Institute for Market Problems.

Since 1992 Mr. Vavilov has been highly involved in Russia's economic policy. As the first Deputy Finance Minister from November 1992 to 1997, his responsibilities included working out and implementation of efficient macroeconomic policy, federal budgeting and liaising with international finance institutions such as International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In 1995-1997, Vavilov represented the Government at the Council of Federation of Russia.

A. Vavilov was also one of the founders of Russia's public debt market, first domestic (GKO), then foreign (Eurobonds). As the first Deputy Finance Minister, he was in charge of issue of Russia's first eurobonds in 1996-1997 and the Finance Ministry bonds. This market thrown open, public debt management became one of Mr. Vavilov's top priorities as the first Deputy Finance Minister. In 1997, he was the President of the International Financial Company bank (MFK Bank), presently a member of Rosbank, which is part of the Societe Generale group. In 1998-1999, Vavilov worked a financial advisor at the Gazprom Board. Afterwards, Vavilov headed the Board of Directors at the Severnaya Neft company. Since 2002 till March 2010, he was representing the Penza region Legislative Assembly at the Council of Federation. In 2010 Dr. Vavilov became the Chairman of board of directors of the company SuperOx, an innovative research and production company, operating since 2006. SuperOx is one of the leading world centers of gathering intellectual capital in nanotechnologies research in general,  and high temperature superconductivity in particular. Since 2010 he is a member of the Commission for Modernisation and Technological Development of Russia`s Economy.

After leaving his post as the Deputy Minister in 1997, Mr. Vavilov headed the Institute for Financial Studies; presently he is the IFS Academic Director.

Vavilov's research interests encompass public finance and public debt management. The results of his research have been presented in more than 40 publications including the book Public Debt: Lessons from the Crisis and Principles of Management that explores what trends could have been changed to avoid the August 1998 crisis.

Extensive research expertise and public service experience enable A. Vavilov and the Institute team to timely spot the problems and work out efficient counter-measures and recommendations.