A Mexican, a native of Russia, a translator, and a Kharkiv resident want to become director of the Elektrotiazhmash plant

A Mexican, a native of Russia, a translator, and a Kharkiv resident want to become director of the Elektrotiazhmash plant

Five people are running for the position of director of the Elektrotiazhmash plant. This is reported by KyivPravda.

Recently anti-corruption activists, experts, and "new wave" officials led by former Economy Minister Abromavicius have blamed the leadership of state companies for the country’s problems. They say people advantageous to oligarchs are appointed to lead them, in order to preserve the corruption schemes of the ousted president Yanukovych. At the end of February the Ministry of Economic Development announced a competition for the leadership positions of several of the most important state companies, including the director of the Kharkiv plant Elektrotiazhmash. Let’s look at who might lead one of the country’s largest enterprises.

We note that the previous plant director was dismissed amid scandal. For several months the former head of the enterprise, Volodymyr Hlushakov, whom Minister Abromavicius dismissed (the ex-director was suspected of raiding), tried to be reinstated through the courts. But the Kyiv Court of Appeal ruled that Hlushakov’s dismissal was lawful. 38 candidates applied to the selection commission, from which five people were chosen. The committee for appointing heads of enterprises especially important to the economy will make the final decision. The names of the five candidates are not listed in the official announcement on the Ministry of Economy’s website.

However, according to a reliable source, the committee was presented with: Jean-André Barbosa, Ihor Chumachenko, Andriy Zakharchuk, Nazar Vanyushyn, and Dmytro Kostiuk.

Elektrotiazhmash is a strategic enterprise that contributes hundreds of millions of hryvnias to the budget each year. The selection commission assessed candidates according to three main criteria — experience, competence, potential. Given the plant’s importance to the country’s economy, we decided to comb through the candidates’ biographies.

The Mexican

Jean-André Barbosa is Mexican. By education he is an engineer who studied in France. From 2001 to 2008 he worked at the European Commission, negotiating WTO rules and handling energy issues. Barbosa has been in Ukraine since 2008, when he became managing director of Saint-Gobain Building Products Ukraine, a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of glass, construction, and high-tech materials, the international concern Saint-Gobain. From March 2014 to the present he has been vice-president and director of Areva in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. One would think a specialist with such experience should be fought for. But whether he can work in Ukrainian realities, in a border region close to the front, is unclear. And for the Elektrotiazhmash workforce, a successful, profitable enterprise, appointing a foreigner would mean a long transitional period. Can an expat set tasks for a workforce of many thousands without a language barrier? Won’t differences in mentality become an obstacle? Is the country ready for such experiments in these difficult economic times?

The coal miner

Ihor Ivanovych Chumachenko (pictured in his own Lexus) is a native of Donetsk region. In the years 2004–2006 he was director of the Kalininska Central Processing Plant, a company engaged in coal mining. Later he headed Donetskstal, Donetsk Metallurgical Plant, and EcoAir (hazardous waste collection). Interestingly, from 2006 to 2007 he led the religious community of the Vvedenska parish of the Donetsk Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Coal extraction and the production of turbo generators, hydro generators, and direct-current machines are, as they say in Odesa, two very different things. The Elektrotiazhmash plant deserves a director who understands the intricacies of the enterprise’s products.

A native of Russia

Andriy Leonidovych Zakharchuk is a native of the Russian Federation. It is known that Andriy Zakharchuk was director of the Crimean company Zaliv Shipping (transport activities), the Zaliv Shipbuilding Plant in Crimea, and the representative office of the production-commercial company Luhansk Machine-Building Plant. Andriy Leonidovych is undoubtedly a high-level specialist. But during the war in the east of the country it would be more logical to appoint a patriot as director of a strategic enterprise, however pompous that may sound. The border region already has enough people with pro-Russian leanings.

The translator

Nazar Yevheniyovych Vanyushyn is from Kharkiv. His first degree is as a translator of English and German. He graduated from V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University with a degree in international economics. From 2008 to the present he has served as commercial director and board member of the Kharkiv Tile Plant. He is a member of the Samopomich party. In October last year he was elected a deputy of the Kharkiv Regional Council and serves as secretary of the budget committee. Vanyushyn is also chairman of the board of PJSC Mykytivskyi Alabaster Plant in Horlivka, Donetsk region. A logical question arises — does Nazar Yevheniyovych, given his commitments, have enough time for such a large enterprise as Elektrotiazhmash? Will he begin political campaigning at the workplace?

Acting director

Rounding out the five candidates is the acting director of the Elektrotiazhmash plant, Dmytro Vasylovych Kostiuk. He graduated from Zaporizhzhia State Engineering Academy with a degree in economic cybernetics and from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with a degree in economic theory. He worked in large energy companies, both Ukrainian and international. Among them are noted top trainers of managers — Maersk, DTEK, and A.E.Z. Since January 2012 he began working at Elektrotiazhmash — first as deputy director for strategy and marketing, and a year later became first deputy director of the plant. From 27 August 2015 he has served as the plant’s acting director. Kostiuk is the youngest of the candidates. With the general trend of workforce rejuvenation, it is hard to predict whether he can cope with the strategic management of an industrial giant. Obviously, this candidate must understand the subtleties of running a large enterprise.

At the same time running the plant will require considerable effort. After all, the previous director left a “wonderful” legacy that will take a long time to sort out: outflows of deposits and foreign-currency loans. In addition, the countrywide financial and economic crisis and the industry’s problems only worsen the situation and can affect Elektrotiazhmash’s competitiveness on domestic and foreign markets. Survival in such conditions requires extremely measured decisions, and they must be made by a competent leader. Meanwhile the state enterprise has long needed to consider fulfilling orders for Russia.

While the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade calls for reorienting to the European market, the main customer remains the aggressor country: for many years Kharkiv has supplied equipment to Russian railways and power plants. Overall, the initiative to hold an open and transparent competition for the head of a strategic enterprise should be welcomed. Of the 38 candidates who applied, five made the final round; each of them probably meets the government’s high requirements to some degree. Some more, some less, since the experience and qualifications of the contenders vary significantly. In addition, the final decision of the high authorities may not coincide with the opinion of the large workforce. One can only hope that the views of ordinary people who work here will also be taken into account. The documents regulating the competition say nothing about that.www.ednist.info