Ms. Shakhnovskaya was born in 1979 and graduated from Faculty of Law, Moscow State University in 2001. She has worked in Russian and international law firms, then held numerous leadership positions at RAO UES, the former electric power monopoly of Russia. At the time, the company underwent a period of extraordinary reorganization as the liberalisation of utility market was happening in Russia. In 2008-2009 as Director of the Iris Art Support and Development Foundation she managed the creation and construction of the Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture and organization of large-scale projects, including exhibitions of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov and François Pinault Foundation collection. The Garage Center has become the leading modern art exhibition centre in Russia. Since 2009 she held leading positions at the Polytechnic Museum, national science and technology museum first as the CEO of the Polytechnic Museum Development Foundation leading an unprecedented $500m fundraising campaign for the Museum's new building and the renovation of its historical building. Since 2013, she is the CEO of the Polytechnic Museum itself leading its transformation from an old-style Soviet institution to a modern science museum.