Mikhail Prokhorov became principal owner of the Nets on May 12. His interest in the Nets and Barclays Center is held by Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holdings USA, a US subsidiary of Onexim, his $25 billion investment vehicle.

Along with Prokhorov, his top two executives in Moscow, Dmitry Razumov and Christophe Charlier, are members of the Nets' five-man Chairman's Council. Also on the board, former principal owner Bruce Ratner and Arthur J. Rabin, a member of Ratner's ownership group. Ratner and his group retain 20% of the team.  Charlier is officially chairman of the board of the Nets.

Razumov and Charlier, both in their 30's, are the billionaire's two top business aides. Razumov is Russian, Charlier is French. They're the Onexim executives who watched the Nets in a preseason game and toured the Prudential Center--along with lawyer Todd D. Schafer--last fall.  The two also met with Rod Thorn and Brett Yormark in Dallas at the All-Star Break, signing off on the Newark deal and then flying Thorn to Vancouver on Prokhorov's Gulfstream V to meet with the new owner  that same weekend. They are described as enthusiastic about the Nets.

Another Russian close to Prokhorov who's part of the mix is Sergey Kushchenko, Prokhorov's top sports executive.  He was director general (aka general manager) of CSKA Moscow for six years.  In each of those six years, CSKA made it to the Final Four.  It was Kushchenko who built CSKA using Prokhorov's money. 

Finally, there's the two women who serve Prokhorov in critical roles: Irina Pavlova, a Russian who is president of Onexim Sports and Entertainment USA, and Ellen Pinchuk, an American who handles Prokhorov's press when he's in the US.

Here are short bio's of them and others identified as players in the Nets' acquisition and operation of the franchise, people in their 30's and 40's who Nets fans will see a lot of in the coming years.

Mikhail Prokhorov, Principal Owner

Mikhail Prokhorov was born in Moscow, Russia in 1965. His mother, Tamara, was a chemical engineer and his father, Dmitry, was head of the international department for the Soviet Sport Committee, which greatly influenced his love of sports from an early age. While still a student, Mikhail earned his first money unloading railway cars, and he then established his first business venture stone-washing blue jeans. He graduated with honors from the Moscow Finance Institute and began his career in the banking sector with the International Bank for Economic Cooperation and the International Finance Company.

In 1995, his Uneximbank acquired control of the Norilsk Nickel mining company. Mikhail became Chief Executive Officer of Norilsk Nickel in 2001, where he remained until 2007, when he sold his stake. In that year, Mikhail created Onexim Group, a holding company for his assets, which now include metals companies (Polyus Gold, UC Rusal) banks (Renaissance Capital, MFK Bank), media outlets (Snob, Russian Pioneer magazines, FIT television channel, F5 web portal/newspaper), insurance (Soglassye), real estate (OPIN Investment and Development Group), electricity production (Quadra) and nanotechnology (Optogan). His latest projects include a plan to produce Russia’s first hybrid car and the planned purchase of Russia’s foremost business news company, RosBusinessConsulting (RBC) 

One of the world's richest men with a fortune estimated at as much as $17.8 billion, he also has a foundation that supports a wide range of causes, from sports to cultural development. The Prokhorov Foundation is run by his  sister, Irina. Prokhorov is 45.

Dmitry Razumov, CEO of Onexim, and Director of Nets Basketball.

Before shifting his focus to financial ventures, early into his career, Dmitry Razumov practiced business and corporate law at Clifford Chance, a London law firm. He gained investment banking experience with Renaissance Capital, then the leading Russian investment bank. In 1998, he left Renaissance Capital to co-found the LV Finance, an independent venture capital firm that still stands behind the success of MegaFon, the third largest mobile phone operator in Russia. He sold his interest in 2003.

Starting in 2001, Razumov served as Deputy CEO for Strategy and M&A of Prokhorov's Norilsk Nickel, Russia's largest mining company, leading its transformation into a world class company through groundbreaking deals with international mining concerns, like Stillwater Mining Company, Gold Fields and Polyus Gold, and by pioneering corporate governance standards for  Russian blue-chip companies.

After Onexim's acquisition of a 14 percent stake in UC RUSAL, the world's largest aluminum company, Razumov joined the UC RUSAL Board of Directors. Since December 2008, he has been a Board member of the OPIN Investment and Development Group, a Moscow real estate company owned in part by Prokhorov. In June, Razumov joined the board of the Russian nickel giant Norilsk Nickel. He was also elected a Board member of MMC Intergeo and Chairman of the Board of MFK Bank -- Prohkorov attempts to consolidate his mining and banking operations.  Razumov also helped engineer Prokhorov's acquisition of a 50% stake in his old company, Renaissance Capital.

He graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (International Law Faculty), a favored talent pool for Prokhorov. 

Razumov is essentially the Nets deputy owner.  He arranged the Prudential Center lease, accompanied Prokhorov to the NBA Draft Lottery, sat in on interviews of candidates for the GM and head coaching jobs and made presentations to free agents LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, as part of Prokhorov's pitches to the free agents. He was also on hand in June when Prokhorov had his first tour of "The Rock". Billy King has said that  whenever the Nets front office wants to make big money decisions, either Razumov or Prokhorov must sign off.

Christophe Charlier, Deputy CEO of Onexim and Chairman of the Board, Nets Basketball

Christophe Charlier joined Onexim Group as Deputy CEO in September 2008. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Renaissance Capital, Rusal Global Management, and Quadra, companies  involved in finance, mining and consumer energy production owned in large measure by Prokhorov. He's also Chairman of the Board of Nets Basketball as well as Optogan, which manufactures high brightness LED displays. All are financed by investments from Onexim.

Prior to joining Onexim, Charlier was Director of Strategic Development and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&M) at Norilsk Nickel from 2002 to 2004. From 1998 to 2002, Charlier was Vice President of LV Finance, a corporate finance and venture capital boutique in Moscow. Prior to that, Charlier worked in the Investment Banking Group of Renaissance Capital in Moscow and in the M&A Group of JP Morgan in New York.

Charlier graduated cum laude with a BSE with a concentration in Finance from the Wharton School and a BA in International Relations from the College of Arts & Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania. Like Razumov, worked on the Prudential Center lease. Charlier is 38.

Irina Pavlova, President, Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holdings USA

Pavlova's main focus is serving as a liaison between the Russian and US sides of the business and facilitating the construction of Barclays Center, 45% owned by Onexim.  She has no role in basketball operations.  Pavlova, who has lived in the US for more than a decade,  attended Nets games the last two months of the season, familiarizing herself with the team's operations before touring the team's facilities in East Rutherford in April.

After being named president in June, Pavlova did an extensive interview with Ben Couch of the Nets staff, the headline of which was that she has no intention of "meddling" in the basketball side. She will operate out of a 2,500 square foot office in the Seagram Building in midtown Manhattan.

She is the daughter of a Soviet diplomat who grew up in Moscow and Washington. Most recently, she was a partner at Jackson Consulting Group, a San Francisco-based investment banker.  Previously, Ms. Pavlova was the Head of Google Strategic Partnerships in Russia and prior to Google, she served as a Managing Director at Shoreline Pacific Institutional Finance and as a Portfolio Manager at Wentworth, Hauser and Violich where she focused on middle market equities.

Ms. Pavlova has an M.B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. and B.A. from Moscow University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).  She is fluent in Russian, English and Spanish.  "She will work closely with the management structure of the Nets to create all conditions necessary for successful development of the team," Prokhorov said in a press release.  She is Prokhorov's first management appointment.  Several of Onexim Group's top officers are women, including its chief financial officer. Pavlova is 40.

Sergey Kushchenko, Russian, Executive Director, Russian Biathlon Union

Kushchenko is Prokhorov's most trusted sports executive.  From 2002 to 2008, he ran CSKA Moscow, building the basketball team while pioneering the business of basketball in Russia. A former deejay, he started in the industrial city of Perm, where he built a team from scratch to winning back-to-back Russian league championships. Alexander Gomelskiy, CSKA's Hall of Fame president, brought him to Moscow to run CSKA.  In a 2008 profile, Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated called Kuschenko "open and sincere...in every way the opposite of the stern, cold authoritarian whom one would expect to be presiding over the Red Army club". Independently wealthy, he also cashed in on the privatization boom of the 1990s, becoming a manufacturer of electronic cables.

Kushchenko tried to put together a deal with the NBA in 2006 which for still unexplained reasons fell apart at the last minute.  As Thomsen described it in a profile of Kushchenko: "CSKA would put up close to $10 million to serve as host of NBA events in Moscow, including the charitable youth event Basketball Without Borders and preseason exhibitions involving NBA teams. NBA and CSKA officials would work side by side in Moscow, enabling the Americans to grow their league in Russia while providing CSKA with expertise in transforming basketball into a market-based business. CSKA games would be broadcast in the U.S. on NBA TV."  In many ways, Prokhorov's purchase of the Nets is the final culmination of that aborted deal.

When Prokhorov sold off his interest in Norilsk Nickel, his control of CSKA passed to RusAl, the aluminum giant.  As a result, Kushchenko left CSKA in 2009 and became executive director of the Russian Biathlon Union, which Prokhorov heads.  He also works with Prokhorov on various other matters, like the Association of Student Basketball, the Russian version of the NCAA, and the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation. 

Kushchenko got to know Avery Johnson in August when the new Nets head coach visited Moscow on a family vacation.  Kushchenko organized a basketball scrimmage for Johnson at the CSKA training facility.  He's 48.

Todd D. Schafer, American, Partner, Hogan & Hartson.

Schafer’s practice at Hogan & Hartson focuses on public and private cross-border mergers and acquisitions (negotiated and hostile); multinational business operations; public and private financings; complex bank and corporate restructurings; and the negotiation and implementation of joint ventures. In short, he is Prokhorov's US counsel.

Over the last 15 years, Schafer has served as lead counsel on many of the largest and most important transactions handled by Hogan & Hartson’s international practice, including a significant number of deals in London which relate to Russia. According to one website that tracks international lawyers, Schafer is known for his "smooth handling of deals and excellent working relationships".

Before shepherding the Nets deal, Schafer previously advised Prokhorov on his decision to sell Onexim's minority stake in Norilsk Nickel for $4.5 billion in April 2008--a deal that turned out to be a windfall for Prokhorov when the economy collapsed and Norilsk lost value.

He also advised Prokhorov on his moves during the heat of the economic collapse last September to buy the 50% stake in the Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital.

Immediately prior to joining Hogan & Hartson, Schafer practiced with Covington & Burling. Before that, he clerked at the U.S. Department of Justice, worked as a legislative assistant on international trade issues in the U.S. Senate and served on the presidential campaign of a U.S. Senator. Schafer has lectured at leading universities, such as Oxford, and sat on several boards, including Stillwater Mining (June 2003 - January 2009), in which Prokhorov owned a stake.

Schafer, 48, received a J.D. from Harvard University Law School in 1989, a M. Phil from Oxford University in 1986 and a B.A. in 1984 from Vassar College.

Ellen Pinchuk, American, Press Representative, Mikhailov Partners.

Pinchuk is a former Moscow correspondent for Canadian TV (CTV) and Bloomberg Television. She is generally credited with  the public relations effort that produced the "60 Minutes" and Bloomberg Television profiles of Prokhorov as well as his successful two-day introductory visit to New York in mid-May. Pinchuk, a fluent Russian speaker, accompanied Prokhorov to the NBA Draft Lottery, ran his press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel, accompanied him to the NBA Finals in Boston and on the tour of the Prudential Center in June.

Nets insiders call her one of Prokhorov's most trusted aides, particularly on issues related to the US media and the Nets.  One insider described her this way: "They listen to what she says. Very sharp. There's no BS and a good sense of humor."

A native of Los Angeles and a graduate of Harvard University, Pinchuk was a top Moscow television correspondent before joining Mikhailov.  She worked as a correspondent in many of the world's war zones, including Chechnya, Iraq, Afghanistan and Gaza.  She has also interviewed Russian President Vladimir Putin twice, once for CTV, once for Bloomberg, and covered the Russian economy, including Prokhorov's Norilsk Nickel. Prior to her career as a television correspondent, she served as a production coordinator for several television series and films shot in Russia.