Irina Tambovskaya was born in Leningrad. In 1992 she graduated from the A.I. Herzen Russian State University of Pedagogy. On graduating from the University she worked as the personnel training and recruitment manager at joint Soviet-Irish enterprise Intouriana. From 1995, analyst at the personnel department of LLC Gillette International. In 1998-2001, personnel manager at the St. Petersburg branch of CJSC Motorola. From 2001 she worked at LLC Kelly Services CIS where in a year she was promoted to the position of the regional director responsible for the activity of the company in all of North-West Russia. From 2004 till joining OJSC North-West Telecom she held the position of Deputy Director of the Organizational and Special Activity Department of the RF Information Technologies and Communications Ministry.

At NWT which currently employs a staff of about 34 thousand, Irina Tambovskaya will be in charge of personnel management, development and motivation, organization of working conditions and in-house corporate social programs.