He continued his postgraduate studies, in 2006, he defended his thesis on "The Strategy of Organizational Change as an Instrument of Effective Management (Methodological Aspect)"[2] and became a candidate of economic sciences.

[3] On 13 February 2017, Andrey Nikitin was appointed as the acting Governor of Novgorod Oblast by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[4] On 10 September 2017, having collected 67.99% of the vote, he was elected Governor of the Novgorod Region.

He was awarded the Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" II degree, has the Gratitude of the President.

He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to promote new projects.