Olena Boytsun
Founder, Tech & Society Communication Group

Olena Boytsun has over 18 years of investment and management experience, having worked and studied in Europe, Asia and the US. For almost 7 years, Olena led investment activities in Central and Eastern Europe for Luminate / Omidyar Network, a global philanthropic investment firm that is part of the Omidyar Group, established by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. Olena leads Diversity of Capital and Impact Investing initiative with the aim to transform the financial funding system in the CEE region toward more flexible and effective capital.

In 2020 Olena founded the communication group Tech & Society that unites a diverse group of experts for researching questions of the impact of technology on the society.

Olena chairs the Advisory Board of the NGO "Tech for Public Good" and serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Kyiv International Economic Forum. She was a member of the Steering Committee for Civitates fund, a philanthropic initiative for Solidarity and Democracy in Europe (2016-2022) as well as a member of the Supervising Board of the Aspen Institute Kyiv (2019-2021) and a jury member at the start-up Seedstars competitions for CEE countries. At the Institute of World Economy and the International Relations of Academy of Science of Ukraine, Olena researched and authored publications on multiple factors influencing economic growth, especially in transitioning economies.

Olena holds the title of Women International Master in chess and in 2012 has founded "Chess for Children", a non-profit in Ukraine that helps children to uncover their potential through the game of chess. For many years Olena was also involved in chess management processes, including representing Ukraine at congresses of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and serving at FIDE Development and Events Commissions. In 2013 Olena played the first female advanced chess match against the Women World Champion Anna Usenina, which ended in a draw. Olena was awarded the State Order of the Princess Olga for her achievements promoting Ukraine internationally.

Olena Boytsun is an author of children's books about Babish Gilzi and his friends and the fiction novel "In Oxford".

Olena graduated summa cum laude with a Master in International Economics from Dnipropetrovsk National University in Ukraine. She was a Chevening Scholar at Oxford University and a recipient of ERP DAAD scholarship for economics at Passau University in Germany. She also took advanced training courses in economics, social sciences, and social econometrics at the University of Amsterdam, University of Leuven, University of Koblenz-Landau, the China Foreign Affairs University, and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
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