The board and staff of the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation (UCEF) on July 9, 2019 at the Annual General Meeting bid farewell to the foundation’s Chair Halyna Rudavska, its long-time treasurer Ihor Mulkewytch, and three UCEF directors – Anna Jacyniak, Marichka Melnyk and Renata Roman.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff, we would like to thank them for their hard work, dedication, leadership and wish them all the very best in their future endeavors. We look forward to ongoing involvement in UCEF charitable work.
The Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation is also pleased to announce new appointments to its Board of Directors: Eugene Roman, Walter Kuplowsky, and Walter Drozdowsky.
Walter Kuplowsky has been a partner of the Mitchell, Bardyn&Zalucky LLP law firm since 1985 with a practice that focuses on Corporate and Commercial Business matters, Commercial Real Estate and Estate Planning.
Walter graduated from McGill University where he received his Bachelor of Arts (History Honours) in 1972 and subsequently his LL.B. in 1975. He was called and admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1977. In his practice of law, Walter is result-oriented and acts as legal counsel to many diverse, family run, mid-size businesses, and assists in providing legal counsel to them both with respect to their day to day operations as well as in the transition of such operations from one generation to the next.
In addition to his practice of law, Walter has participated in various community matters, including being a member of the Board of Directors of St. Vladimir Institute, a founding director of the World Congress of Ukrainian Jurists, a legal advisor to the Sts. Peter and Paul Senior Citizens’ Residence, a director of the Canada-Ukraine Business Council and an executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Students Union
Walter Drozdowsky, CPA, CMA – experienced Financial Executive, who has played a significant role as a member of the senior management team in growth-oriented companies and has coordinated and executed a number of financings. Walter has extensive experience in a manufacturing environment in a global setting.
Mr. Drozdowsky graduated from University of Toronto where he received Bachelor of Commerece& Finance.
Walter is participative team player who has directed financial and administration functions that support ongoing business development, profitability and effective director and shareholder communications. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Ukrainian Credit Union and played and coached competitive volleyball at St. Michael’s High School.
Eugene Roman was elected as the new Chairman of the Board of the Foundation.
Eugene recently retired from the position of Executive Vice‐President, Digital Excellence and Technology Advisor, for Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC).
Eugene started his career in telecommunications and has worked for Nortel Networks Corporation, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., and Open Text Corporation. In progressively senior technology and business roles in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K, Eugene was responsible for integrating critical technology and business processes to better deliver innovative programs.
He holds a Master’s Degree in Administration, Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, is a Certified Public Accountant, and is a recent graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors program.
He is a frequent speaker on “The Future of Digital Content”. In 2015, Eugene was named CIO of the Year by RIS News and Canada’s CIO of the Year (Private Sector) by Information Technology Association of Canada.
He is an executive in residence for AI at the Schulich Business School, York University. He is also principle advisor at Design.ai Ltd – an AI advisory company.
The Directors and staff of UCEF sincerely welcome new directors and new Chair of the Foundation.
The current Board of Directors is composed of: Rev. Peter Babej, Walter Drozdowsky, Andrij Ilnycky, Anna Kisil, Ihor Komarnicky (acting treasurer),Walter Kuplowsky, Oksana Miroutenko, John Moskalyk, Volodymyr Olenych (secretary), Eugene Roman (Chair).
Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation (UCEF) in Canada was founded in 2000 to support the growth and development of the Ukrainian Catholic University in it’s mission to develop next generation leaders for Ukraine and Canada. Friends of UCU committees operate in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver to support this charitable work.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, UCEF has become a significant source of funding for educational and capital development projects at UCU. For the last 10 years UCEF distributed over $6,000,000 CAD for student scholarship and leadership development.