Azerbaijan and CIS Regional Leaders

Nuran Kerimov

Managing partner, Deloitte in Azerbaijan

Nuran joined Deloitte in 2003, establishing the firm’s Tax practice in Azerbaijan. He has significant experience in advising Azerbaijani and international companies, mainly in the FSI and Oil & Gas sectors, on tax and associated issues. He holds a Bachelor’s in Law from Voronezh State University and a LL.M. from the University of Georgia (USA). Nuran is a Board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan. He is married with three children.

Mark Smith

Managing Partner, Caspian Region

Mark spent his early career in Scotland before leaving for Almaty to head Deloitte’s regional Financial Services audit group in 2007. Since 2012, Mark has been Managing Partner for the Caspian Region. He works with clients in the banking, insurance and manufacturing sectors and has provided audit services under IFRS, US GAAP and UK GAAP. Mark holds a Degree in Accounting and Marketing and is a Chartered Accountant (Scotland). Mark likes to travel and is a keen snowboarder and tennis player.

Stuart Leighton

Managing Partner, Deloitte in Georgia

Stuart joined the Russian firm following successful periods as Managing Partner of both the Ukrainian and Central Asian Practices. He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and also holds an IFRS Diploma (ICAEW).
Stuart leads the firm’s Energy and Resources Audit Group and has worked with the boards and audit committees of some of the region’s largest players in the sector. In his spare time he enjoys playing golf and tennis, and watching rugby.

Sergiy Kulyk

Managing Partner, Deloitte in Ukraine

Sergiy Kulyk was appointed Managing Partner of Deloitte Ukraine in November 2019. Concurrently with this important role he leads the Audit & Assurance practice.

Sergiy Kulyk has about 20 years of experience both in auditing international, large public and private companies in various industries, and in providing consulting services on the implementation of internal controls and financial reporting systems. Under his leadership, the Deloitte Audit & Assurance practice has been recognized twice as the best in Ukraine (2017, 2018) by Corporate INTL Global Awards. Since joining Deloitte Ukraine in 2000, he has gone from an auditor assistant to his current appointment as Managing Partner.

Sergiy is a member of the Methodological Council for Accounting at the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine and a Fellow of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA).

Erkin Ayupov

Managing Director, Deloitte in Uzbekistan

Erkin is a US certified public accountant (US CPA) and is a qualified auditor of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan. He has over seven years of experience auditing financial institutions and major international corporations in the CIS and the UK. Having worked in the Deloitte London Banking & Capital Markets Group for over two years, where he served a range of leading banks and the UK and U.S. listed companies, Erkin recently re-joined the Deloitte Caspian region team.

Gulanor Atobek

General Director, Deloitte in Tajikistan

Gulanor has over 11 years of audit experience in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan and currently leads the Deloitte practice in Tajikistan. She is a CPA, АССА, CIPA, has qualification certificate for general audit from the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan and qualification certificate from the National bank of Tajikistan for audit of banks and other financial institutions, and certificate of completion of Risk Certification Program of Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). She has worked on audit engagements in accordance with IFRS and US GAAP and has extensive experience with companies in different sectors such as financial, insurance, power, telecommunications, transportation, textile and hospitality.