Yuliya
Kovaliv
Kovaliv
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada
Date
19 September 2024
The Role of Purpose and Meaning in Ukrainian Leadership 2024
We are approaching the 1,000-day mark of the full-scale invasion, yet in our minds, there is still one thing: purpose.
Why didn’t we surrender back then, and what motivates us today?
What is the meaning of opening restaurants when there’s no electricity? Why is our communication system working? How did we develop action algorithms during air raids and adapt to blackouts?
During this hour, we will trace the defining moments that changed leaders’ mindsets and the role universities played in this transformation.
What does purpose (the creation of meaning, goals) look like in the context of an individual and a community in the most challenging circumstances?
The panel discussion guests will share their perspectives on this and answer participants’ questions. The event will be held in English.
The following speakers will participate in the event:
Speakers
Bryan
Benjamin
Benjamin
Executive Director of the Ivey Academy, Western University
Andy
Hunder
Hunder
President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine
Gerard
Seijts
Seijts
Professor of Organizational Behaviour, holds the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Chair in Leadership.
Sophia
Opatska
Opatska
Founding Dean and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lviv Business School at the UCU
Andrew
Rozhdestvensky
Rozhdestvensky
CEO of Center for Leadership of UCU
Yuliya Kovaliv
Bryan Benjamin
Executive Director of the Ivey Academy, Western University
Andy Hunder
President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine
Gerard Seijts
- Professor of Organizational Behaviour, holds the Ian O. Ihnatowycz Chair in Leadership.
- Lecturer in several master leadership programs
- Teacher of EMBA, MBA, and undergraduate courses in leadership, leading change, organizational behavior, performance management, and staffing
- Recipient of awards for research, innovation in teaching, and outreach activities
- Author of books, cases, and articles
Sophia Opatska
Founding Dean and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Lviv Business School at the UCU, Vice Rector for implementation of UCU strategy at the Ukrainian Catholic University.
Her areas of expertise are Organizational Behavior and Learning Organizations, Organization Development, Entrepreneurship.
Background:
Sophia Opatska received her education from Ivan Franko University in Lviv, a degree in International Economic Relations, and defended her thesis work in Management and Human Capital Development, a member of the Board of Directors of European Federation of Catholic Universities (FUCE). She studied at Executive Education programs the University of Michigan Business School (USA), IEDC- Bled School of Management (Slovenia), China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and had on-the- job training at InnoSpace Company (Denmark) and at the Warsaw School of Economics (Poland). In 2017, she was on a semester fellowship at Nanovic Institute of European Studies, University of Notre Dame (USA). Sophia Opatska is a founder and supervisor of the Global Shapers project in Lviv and an Advisory Board member at the Emaus Center.
Work Experience:
From 2001 to 2004 she held the position of the MBA Program Director at the Lviv Institute of Management. From 2004 to 2007 Ms. Opatska worked as MBA Director at Kyiv Mohyla Business School (kmbs). In 2007 she worked on building the personnel development and training system for Concern Galnaftogaz OJSC. She is Founding Dean of Lviv Business School at the Ukrainian Catholic University, which she had been leading for 10 years. From 2016 Sophia is Vice Rector Academic Affairs at the Ukrainian Catholic University and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of LvBS.
Career history:
Her areas of expertise are Organizational Behavior and Learning Organizations, Organization Development, Entrepreneurship. Sophia is a contributor to a number of cases on above topics in the context of Central and Eastern Europe and specifically Ukraine which is still overcomming its post communist past. Her focus at work is – creation of Entrepreneurial University and ecosystem around it.
sopatska@lvbs.com.ua
Andrew Rozhdestvensky
Professor in Leadership, HR&OD, CEO of UCU Center for Leadership.
Andrew Rozhdestvensky served as a profiler and analyst in Israel’s security service, where he specialized in counter-terrorism matters, including special communications and negotiations. Later he became HR Business Partner-Retail at Oschadbank with subsequent promotion to Head of Personnel and Training in the bank (35,000 employees). Rozhdestvensky adjusted classical sales techniques to the bank’s needs and then started tailoring training programs to suit the needs of other areas of business (telecommunications, IT industry, agriculture etc.). As a result, he started his own business – a consulting company with emphasis on developing and tailoring personnel training systems for specific businesses.
Andrew provides assistance to organizations specializing in childhood cancer and alcohol and drug rehabilitation. He is a member of the movement “Change Ukraine – Start with Yourself” and organizer of the Everest 2025 project. Mr. Rozhdestvensky received a higher education degree in Psychology from the National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, did his post graduate studies at the G.S. Kostiuk Institute of Psychology in Kyiv and successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis. He also successfully completed Anna Vlasova’s HRM School.
