Nurih Safin
Early Life
Born 2520 in Dhaka City, Earth, Nurih Safin was raised in a middle-class family. His father, Dr Dmitrios Safin, was a college lecturer and his mother, Miranda Safin nee Holzander, was a businesswoman. An incredibly gifted child, he was advanced quickly through high school, starting at age 12 and graduating from high school with all diplomas aged 16. He attended Dhaka Technical College, turning down the offer of studying at Cydonia College where he studied a BA in Computer Science. He graduated aged 19 with his BA and was the valedictorian for his year. As well as a keen interest in computers, technology and AI theory, Nurih Safin was interested in politics and history and studied ancient Earth history. Nurih Safin married Danicca Weiss in 2546. The two live in Athens on Earth but also have property on Mars, Titan in the Jovian Belt and on New Berlin.First Commercial Projects
Whilst a college student, Nurih created "Safin-Tech, a corporation that wrote and designed AI and software. Working with his longtime friend Marat Jellicoe, the two wrote more than twenty programs which were sold commercially. After just eighteen months, Safin-Tech was worth nearly six hundred million adjusted dollars and Safin turned down lots of offers to sell the company. In 2540, Safin-Tech was formally valued at one billion adjusted dollars and appeared on the Martian Stockmarket as "SFN-T". Nurih refused all offers of outside investment into Safin-Tech, recruiting corporate fixer and lobbyist Melanie Tarver to help him expand the company.Founding AEA
Nurih moved to Cydonia City in 2542 to attempt to expand his corporation and launch new projects. He resisted a buyout attempt by Allied-West in 2543 valued at four billion adjusted dollars. Nurih worked hard to bring in financial backers and in the end, he collaborated with Martian Hedge fund "Double-Ace". He used their investment, plus his own stake in Safin-Tech to set up the new corporation under the name of AEA. AEA was founded in Cydonia City and operated out of a small office in Salsbury Street. Marat Jelicoe was named COO of the company and Melanie Tarver was named CFO. AEA became famous for its incredibly young staff, its visionary, radical ideas and its hot streak. Its first products were all huge hits and very quickly, AEA had ushered in a tech-boom.Tech-Boom
AEA oversaw a number of top AI and robotics projects, quickly becoming the "must have" domestic robots and AIs sold to families, small business and high tech corporations, as well as schools and higher education. AEA enjoyed a meteoric rise, growing quickly in size and doubling in terms of revenue and profits over 10 years. New investors came onboard, leading to some disagreements over the way the company was being run. During this period, Nurih was forced to push Marat Jellicoe, a co-founder of the company, out during a board-room struggle. Despite incredibly lucrative offers, Nurih Safin rejected offers to sell his controlling share in AEA.Politics
Nurih had always been interested in politics, though more from a theoretical point of view. He read about ancient politics as well as consuming huge numbers of documentaries about Republican politics. He generally rejected normal political identification, calling that sort of tribalism "counter-productive". He supported socially liberal causes and believed that creating a large social welfare safety net "led to a more productive and less fractious society". He was also a keen supporter of AI and believed that AI colonies were "the Engine for Terran success". A secularist, he strongly opposed the overlap of religion and politics within the Republic. As his corporate wealth increased, Nurih became a donor to left-leaning party's, with donations recorded to Librarius and the Social Democratic Party. He also spoke at great length to leaders in most left leaning party's. Nurih finally joined the SDP in 2560 when he campaigned to be Governor of Earth on the SDP ticket.President Knottman
When Herrick Knottman was elected President of the Republic in 2560, Nurih was expecting to be named to the cabinet or to a senior staff position. In the end, he was named a Senior Counsel to the President, largely advising on business and tech and a key part of the president's team. However, his time in the Knottman administration saw him clash at times with some of the more liberal members of Knottman's inner circle like Bridie Wallender. There were also some members of the Knottman team that felt that Safin thought himself "more important than he was".Ambassador to the Gannid Commonwealth
After the resignation of President Knottman, Harmony Meagher was elevated to the Presidency. She had never really warmed to Nurih and there was some talk of her shuffling him off to another role. In the end, he was named as the ambssador to the Gannid Commonwealth, a post that Nurih felt was actually much more interesting than his previous role in the president's staff. Nurih arrived in Gannid space in 2565 and worked hard on developing a relationship with the Gannid leadership. He was a vocal figure in calling for intervention after the Zzenddi invaded Gannid space in 2568. Safin was recalled to Earth in 2569 due to security concerns in Gannid space. He spoke of his time in occupied Gannid space as "truly terrifying. But there was a lot to learn from the experience."Governor of Earth
In 2560, on his return to Terran space, Nurih Safin confirmed his intention to seek the office of Governor of Earth. He did not initially state that he would do this as a member of the SDP but later confirmed that he would do so on the SDP ticket. He campaigned aggressively to win the SDP nomination, making deals with major party leaders and, most crucially, securing the endorsment of Senator Darlene Kaufman, seen as the leader of the party's "Centrist" wing. He secured the SDP nomination at the 2570 convention from Dhaka on the first ballot, winning 59% of the vote. After the SDP convention, he was generally seen as the favorite, going up against unpopular incumbent Governor Doral Penright (VAL). Safin was able to secure Beckett Solarin (IND)'s endorsement which proved to be a key path to victory in 2570. Nurih Safin won the governorship in a landslide election and was sworn in as Governor in 2570. He appointed corporate lawyer and campaign adviser Yannick Kirkbride as his Chief of Staff but generally had a smaller top team than previous Governors. On being named Governor, he clashed repeatedly with the Diet, as Valiant attempted to block every major move made by the Governor. They initially refused to confirm his nominees for the Earth Court of Appeals until he launched a successful media campaign to push them back. Things came to a head during his ambitious plans in 2575 to create an automated version of the Earth civil service. His stated reasons was for it to "serve as a backup and to take the strain off our biological staff" but he also said that there were many long term cost savings, quality of life improvements and that it would serve as a test bed to a planned full automation of other services. He also managed to cut the Government budget with some careful use of privisations and public/private partnerships. Eventually, he was able to narrowly pass a bill to roll out partial UBI on Earth to try and cushion the impact of later job losses to AIs. During his time as Governor, he also oversaw a major enviromental clean up and was able to reform some of the planetary laws on enviromental regulations, with some cross party support in some cases. During the Zzenddi assault on Earth, Governor Safin was evacuated to safety and spent the war at a remote base on Luna where he was able to communicate with the ground. Towards the end of his term, Governor Safin faced challenges from the Diet over the legality of his AI civil service program.2580 SDP Nomination
Ahead of the 2580 SDP convention, Governor Safin's name was mentioned as a possible contender for the nomination and he began to pull together a top team and recruit a campaign staff. In 2578 he formed an Exploratory Commitee to look at his support in the party and he was able to secure the backing of Senator Darlene Kaufman and much of the party's Centrist wing. However, he clashed with Rep Jiri Klaessen, the darling of the progressive wing and an outspoken rebel. Rep Klaessen's credibiltiy was, however, utterly wiped out when she lost a unanimous vote in the GA for corporate regulatory reform. Going into the 2580 convention, it appeared that Governor Safin had done enough to secure the party's nomination. He faced token opposition from progressive GA Rep Baxter Green.The 2580 Convention
The 2580 convention was a shocking one as, on the day of the convention, Rep Green withdrew his name and it was replaced by left-wing Governor Alana Largo of the Jovian Belt. Initially it was felt that Safin would still be too strong for her but Governor Largo eventually recieved the backing of Admiral Ostor Malouff, Senator Johnston Coady and others which proved to be enough to cost him the nomination. Governor Safin gave his full endorsement to Governor Largo and ruled out being on the ticket for the SDP in 2580 for President or "anywhere else". There were ongoing rumors coming out of the convention that he may seek to run as an Indepednent.Post Politics -Return to AEA
After his term as Governor expired, Nurih Safin returned to AEA as CEO of the company. He oversaw a raft of new projects and put his back into the launch of the new Curator-Tech which made a lot of money for AEA.
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