There were several attempts by Harvard alumni living in Moscow, Russia to organize a social club in the 1990s, but none of them was a success. The first lasting attempt to organize the club was made in 2004 by graduates of the Harvard Kennedy School Simon Saradzhyan and David Rekhviashvili.

Simon Saradzhyan became the first President of the Club, and was followed in 2006 by Alexander Lupachev, a graduate of the Harvard Business School. In 2009 an HBS&HKS graduate Murad Sofizade was elected the club's President. Two years later, HKS graduate Sergei Arkhipov was elected. Alexey Ivanov served as Harvard Club of Russia President in 2013-15, Breffney Morgan in 2018-20, Alexander Nadmitov in 2016-2018 and 2021-2022, and Gleb Biserov in 2023-24.

Since 2024 Mikhail Dmitriev, HBS MBA'2008, is the current President of the Harvard Club of Russia.