- Source: Ostap Korkuna
Ostap Korkuna (Ukrainian:Остап Коркуна; born 26 September 1987 in Lviv) is a Ukrainian American software engineer, executive, and humanitarian. He is a gold medalist of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, as well as co-founder and co-chair of the nonprofit organization Nova Ukraine that raised over a hundred millions of dollars for humanitarian aid to Ukraine. In 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded him the Order of Merit 3rd degree for his contributions.
Education and career
Korkuna holds a master's degree in Informatics from Lviv National University in Ukraine. While at university, he took part in competitive programming contests. He was a member of the team representing Lviv National University at the 2008 International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals. The team placed fourth overall and was awarded gold medals along with the other top four teams. As a solo competitor, he placed 13th in the 2009 Topcoder Open Algorithm Competition.
Korkuna's strong performance in programming contests attracted the attention of recruiters at Facebook, and he moved to California as one of the company's first Ukrainian employees. Until 2024, he worked as a director of engineering at People.ai.
Non-profit leadership and advocacy
Korkuna co-founded Nova Ukraine in 2014 and remains its volunteer co-chair.
= 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. In February and March 2022, in the first weeks of Russian invasion of Ukraine, he led street rallies in San Francisco to raise awareness about the situation in Ukraine.
In Summer 2022, at a public discussion event at the Commonwealth Club of California, Korkuna outlined how Nova Ukraine helped Ukrainian refugees in Mexico and in the US with shelter, food, basic necessities, and communications, while advocating for additional aid.
= Non-profit leadership
=During the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, Korkuna helped organize the Ukrainian community in the San Francisco Bay area as a local branch of Euromaydan to show solidarity with Ukraine through street rallies. He co-founded Nova Ukraine in 2014, and has led the organization for over 8 years, contributing to fundraising, recruitment and media relations. 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. In 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recognized Korkuna's contributions as the co-founder and co-chair of Nova Ukraine with the Order of Merit 3rd degree.
