Naumova ascended to the top of Magnit in rapid fashion. She was appointed executive director of the Russian food retailer in May, having previously served as general director of Pyaterochka stores, a chain owned by Magnit rival X5. Then when CEO Khachatur Pombukhchan resigned in June, after only several months on the job, the Magnit board named Naumova as his successor. She took over Magnit and its 16,000 stores just as the retailer ceded the title of Russia’s largest retailer to X5 and following the February decision by Magnit founder Sergei Galitsky, who also served as CEO, to sell nearly his entire stake to VTB, a Russian state-run bank.