The board of Samruk-Kazyna has appointed Yelzhas Otynshiyev as chairman of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ). He is the third head of the national company in two years, reports Orda.kz.
Otynshiyev holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in General and Applied Physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He began his career in 2007 at Ernst & Young’s Moscow office, focusing on business valuation and transaction support.
From 2009 to 2019, he worked at Samruk-Kazyna and its subsidiaries. He then spent two years managing the investment portfolio at the Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund (KIDF).
Since April 2023, he served as Managing Director for Strategy and Asset Management at Samruk-Kazyna, overseeing portfolio companies in oil and gas, railways, mining, and other sectors. He also served on the boards of KazMunayGas, QazaqGaz, Kazatomprom, and Kazakhtelecom. Since February 2024, he has been on the board of KTZ.
In 2023, Otynshiyev was awarded the state medal 'Eren eңbegі үшін' (For Labor Merit).
His predecessor, Talgat Aldybergenov, left the post of KTZ head after just one year. He took over on July 3, 2025, replacing Nurlan Sauranbayev. Before that, Aldybergenov was deputy chairman of KTZ, and earlier, from 2008 to 2019, he led Kedentransservice.