Ostap Korkuna

Ostap Korkuna (Ukrainian:Остап Коркуна; born 26 September 1987 in Lviv) is a Ukrainian American software engineer[2] and executive, gold medalist of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest,[3][4] co-founder and co-chair of the humanitarian nonprofit organization Nova Ukraine in the San Francisco Bay Area[5][6][7][8][9] that raised tens of millions of dollars for humanitarian aid to Ukraine.[10] Recipient of the Order of Merit 3rd degree awarded by President Volodymyr Zelensky.[1][11]

Ostap Korkuna
Остап Коркуна
Born (1987-09-26) September 26, 1987
Lviv, Ukraine
Nationality Ukraine
Occupations
  • software company executive
  • nonprofit co-chair
Known forNova Ukraine
AwardsInternational Collegiate Programming Contest 2008 gold medal,

Order of Merit 3rd degree[1]

Life and career

Korkuna holds a master's degree in Informatics from Lviv National University in Ukraine. According to a 2016 profile of Korkuna aired on Ukrainian TV (24 Kanal), he was one of the first Ukrainain employees at Facebook.[2] In 2019, he joined People.ai and later became a director of engineering there.[5][12]

Academic accomplishments

While in college, Korkuna took part in competitive programming contests that emphasize algorithmic problem-solving, including Topcoder Open and the annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.[2][13] In 2008, his Ukrainian university team (three students total) advanced through the ICPC regional rounds in Europe and participated in World Finals at the University of Alberta. There were 100 teams in the World Finals, out of 6700 total academic teams competing in the regional rounds worldwide.[14] Korkuna's team won Gold, along with three other teams.[3] This accomplishment, first for a Ukrainain team, was covered in Ukrainian media.[4]

Non-profit leadership and advocacy

Korkuna co-founded Nova Ukraine in 2014 and remains its volunteer co-chair.[5][2][9]

Street rallies and advocacy

In 2018 Korkuna led a rally in San Francisco to support Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia in the Kerch Strait incident.[15] In February and March 2022, in the first weeks of Russian invasion of Ukraine, he led street rallies in San Francisco, CA to raise awareness about the situation in Ukraine.[6][7] Central News Agency (Taiwan) covered these street rallies and interviewed Korkuna.[8] In June 2022, Korkuna was an invited panelist at the public discussion event "Crisis at the Border: Helping Ukrainain Refugees" at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco.[16]

Non-profit leadership

Voice of America Ukraine produced and aired a TV program that covered the history of Nova Ukraine and prominently featured its co-chairs, Bilogorskiy and Korkuna.[17][9] Under Korkuna's leadership, Nova Ukraine raised funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine and delivered tens of millions of dollars worth of aid in 2022.[5][10] In 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky recognized Korkuna's contributions as the co-founder and co-chair of Nova Ukraine with the Order of Merit 3rd degree.[1][11]

References
  1. "Decree of the President of Ukraine №556/2023 on Recognition with State Awards of Ukraine". President of Ukraine, Official Internet Site (in Ukrainian). 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  2. "How a 22 year old from Lviv got a job at Facebook" (in Ukrainian). 24 Kanal. April 19, 2016.
  3. "AMC ICPC 2008 World Finals". Competitive Programming Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  4. "Ukrainians won Gold at the world programming championship". Korrespondent.net (in Russian). 2008-04-15.
  5. "Nova Ukraine Board of Directors". Nova Ukraine. 18 April 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  6. Katsuyama, Jana (February 17, 2022). "Bay Area nonprofit worry Russia might be targeting humanitarian aid workers". Fox KTVU.
  7. Narayanan, Shwanika (March 9, 2022). "'Get out of Ukraine right now.' Bay Area Ukrainians angry, frightened for families as Russia invades". San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. Zhou, Shihui (February 27, 2022). "Ukrainians in America: Ukrainians can't lose in the fight for democracy" (in Chinese). Central News Agency (Taiwan).
  9. Khrystyna Shevchenko. "Nova Ukraine Featured on Voice of America News" (in Ukrainian and English). Retrieved 2023-07-02 – via YouTube.
  10. "Nova Ukraine has raised $30M to help with relief in #Ukraine since #Russia's invasion (video)". First Move CNN. May 11, 2022 – via Twitter.
  11. "President of Ukraine Recognized Two Californians with the Order of Merit" (in Russian). Slavic Sacramento. Sep 25, 2023.
  12. "Facebook Representatives Held the Meeting with KhPI Students". Kharkiv Polytechnical Institute. August 11, 2017.
  13. "Ostap Korkuna profile". Competitive Programming Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  14. "ICPC 2008 World Finals Results". Baylor University. 2009-04-01. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  15. ""Путин, руки прочь от Украины". В США устроили антироссийскую акцию с требованием освободить моряков". ТСН.ua (in Russian). 2018-12-02. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  16. "Crisis at the Border: Helping Ukrainain Refugees". Commonwealth Club of California. June 21, 2022.
  17. Khrystyna Shevchenko (September 10, 2022). ""Історія масштабного благодійного фонду NOVA Ukraine з Каліфорнії"" (in Ukrainian). Voice of America. Retrieved 2023-07-02 – via YouTube.
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