Elena Leontjeva
President, Chair of the Board
E-mail:
llri@llri.lt
Elena Leontjeva co-founded the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LMFI) in 1990 and acted as its President from 1993 until 2001. Currently she is the President of the LMFI again, and serves as the chairwomen of the Board of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute.
She has directed research and policy advocacy at the Institute, whilst playing a key role in her country’s transition. Ms. Leontjeva was named by magazine Veidas among the ten personalities who have changed Lithuania. She has contributed to the reforms in the Banking system, introduction of the Currency Board and the Litas Credibility Law, building the legal foundations for the Securities Market and the Stock Exchange, Deregulation, Tax and budget reform as well as the introduction of Private Pension Insurance. She has published widely in press.
Ms Leontjeva has served as a State Councillor on economic reform in six consecutive administrations, and in 1998-9 has been chief economic advisor to Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.
Leontjeva was serving on official bodies engaged in the transition, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Sunset Commission, etc.
Leontjeva holds degrees in economics, mathematics and programming, and having retired from the presidency of the LMFI in 2001, has dedicated herself to writing fiction. Since 2007 she studies the phenomena of lack, has pioneered and led multidisciplinary research on scarcity and lack, uniting philosophy, theology, anthropology, sociology, psychology and economics (
http://www.llri.lt/lack). A feature-sized documentary on this subject,
Sublime Thirst has been produced in 2019, based on Leontjeva’s idea and narrative.
