Valentin Malafeyev, director of "Contactor" electrical equipment plant, was named the first post-Soviet leader of Ulyanovsk Oblast.

[1] He failed to gain any support from local elites, and as a result, the former communist party functionary Yury Goryachev was appointed instead.

In December 1996 Goryachev won the first gubernatorial election in the region, distancing both from Kremlin and from communists.

[4] Four years later Goryachev was defeated by lieutenant general Vladimir Shamanov, then-commander of the 58th Army.

In March 2006 the title of office was formally changed from Head of Administration to Governor of Ulyanovsk Oblast.