Mikhail Gorbachev
Gorbachev served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (the leadership post in the nation) from 1985 to 1991. Early in his tenure, he introduced perestroika, which was a program of restructuring that aimed to spark stronger economic activity in the USSR. Perestroika allowed some measure of freedom to business enterprises. There were also some political reforms included in the perestroika programs.
In 1988, Gorbachev introduced glasnost, or openness, which allowed greater amounts of freedom of expression within the Soviet Union.