According to one of them, Gref entered the faculty of international economic relations at MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, but after the first year he was expelled from the university.

According to the other version, after school Gref and his first wife, Elena Velikanova, entered Omsk State University, but failed the exams.

[2][3] In August 1998, Gref was appointed First Deputy Minister of State Property of the Russian Federation, and was a member of its board until 2000.

Gref was first appointed as Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Economic Development and Trade on May 18, 2000 and was reappointed to the position in the succeeding Cabinet in 2004.

[11] In November 2007 Gref was elected as president of the state-owned savings bank Sberbank at an extraordinary general meeting.

[13][14] At various times since he left the civil service he has been a member of the board of directors of such state-owned companies as Gazprom, Aeroflot, Rosneft, Svyazinvest, etc.

In March of the following year, the sale of a 7.58 percent stake in Sberbank was approved by the National Banking Council, and in September 2012 the shares were sold on the stock exchange for $5.22 billion.

Gref is said to have warned of serious economic impacts, but if he was attempting to dissuade Putin from proceeding with further escalation, this failed after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began a month later.

[22] Sanctioned by Canada under the Special Economic Measures Act (S.C. 1992, c. 17) in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine for Grave Breach of International Peace and Security.

[26] He gave more than $50 million held in the trust to a 24-year old nephew who lived outside of Russia, but remained in control of the assets through the offshore companies.