Michael Bleyzer is the founder of SigmaBleyzer, a private equity buyout group with one billion dollars in assets under management and extensive experience in investing in emerging markets.

Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Mr. Bleyzer was raised and educated in the Soviet Union, graduating from Kharkov Institute of Radioelectronics with a Master of Science in digital electronics and quantum physics. His career took him to Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, until he came to the US in 1978 where he became an American citizen. After joining Exxon Corporation in 1978, Mr. Bleyzer spent the next fifteen years at Exxon and later Ernst & Young in a variety of operational, management and executive positions in Texas, Louisiana and Europe.

Mr. Bleyzer founded SigmaBleyzer Investment Group, LLC in 1994 to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the breakdown of the Soviet Union and a new class of investments focused on the emerging markets. Over the last fifteen years, SigmaBleyzer has invested primarily in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. In 2008, SigmaBleyzer began investing in buyout opportunities in Texas. SigmaBleyzer’s approach to private equity investments in emerging markets is operational level value creation combined with advocacy of the economic reforms supported by The Bleyzer Foundation. This hybrid investment style, developed by Mr. Bleyzer and focused on simultaneous value creation at the enterprise level and macro level economic development, is responsible for Sigmableyzer’s very successful track record. SigmaBleyzer has offices in Houston, Kiev, Kharkiv, Sofia, Bucharest, Washington, Amsterdam and Almaty, and over the last fifteen years has made over one hundred investments in a variety of industry sectors, and has realized over ninety exits.

Mr. Bleyzer has appeared on CNBC as an expert on emerging markets investment and frequently speaks at investment conferences around the world. Mr. Bleyzer has served on the Board of Directors of the Houston Holocaust Museum for seven years, and currently serves on the Texas Emerging Technology Fund Advisory Committee, the Thunderbird Private Equity Center Executive Advisory Board, the Thunderbird Global Council, and the Advisory Board of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA).In 2001, the Bleyzer family established The Bleyzer Foundation to help the countries of the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in their transition to market economy. Since 2001, the Foundation has funded the benchmarking and statistical analysis of the government policies of 128 developing countries and transition economies, which led to the development of the economic policy framework for transition economies. Over the last several years The Bleyzer Foundation has evolved into a broader economic development think tank analyzing the relationship between private capital investments and wealth creation. Mr. Bleyzer has appeared on CNBC as an expert on emerging markets investment and frequently speaks at investment conferences around the world. Mr. Bleyzer has served on the Board of Directors of the Houston Holocaust Museum for seven years, and currently serves on the Thunderbird Private Equity Center Executive Advisory Board, the Thunderbird Global Council, and the Advisory Board of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA).