Vasyl Khmelnytsky

Early life

Khmelnytsky was born on September 10, 1966 in Bayanaul (now territory of Kazakhstan) to the family of a house painter and tractor driver. In 1987-1991 he worked as gas-arc welder and foreman at the construction department in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). In 1991-1998 Khmelnytsky served as head of the information department in Orimi Wood Soviet-American Joint Venture (Leningrad), director of Danapris JSC (Kyiv), and head of information and analytics department at Real Group JSC.
In 2003 he received a Law Degree at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Career

Khmelnytsky was a Member of Parliament of Ukraine five times. He was elected in 1998 as a member of Green Party of Ukraine. Throughout his term as MP, he was a member of various parliamentary groups and factions. He left the parliament in 2014 as a member of Sovereign European Ukraine. He worked in the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (ULIE), as Vice-President in 2014. In 2015 he became first Vice President of ULIE.

″We go to Europe, where business is separate from politics. For many years the only way to do business in Ukraine was to be involved in politics. However, this model should be changed and it is natural to start with myself,″ – V. Khmelnytsky, Interfax Ukraine.

Business

Khmelnytsky and partners founded/invested in dozens of businesses in Ukraine. Khmelnytsky prefers to do business with partners and currently cooperates with more than 20 of them.

“We have always preferred to do business with partners. It reduces risks and increases profits. Most of our projects are 25%-60% shared with partners,” – V. Khmelnytsky, Kommersant Ukraine.

Khmelnytsky focuses on real estate development business. He is a majority shareholder of UDP development company. UDP implements large-scale infrastructure projects, such as Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany), Bila Tserkva industrial park, Ocean Plaza shopping center (Kyiv), residential complexes Novopecherski Lypki, Boulevard of Fountains, River Stone and Parkove Misto.

Khmelnytsky owns a share in Star Media company (production and distribution of movie and TV shows), Biofarma (pharmaceuticals), RTM (national operator of outdoor advertising).

He finances educational projects such as Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF), the modern model of regional development “Bila Tserkva 2025”, the Technology Companies’ Development Center TCDC, modern comprehensive school Novopecherska School in Kyiv; the first in Ukraine inter-corporate IT university BIONIC University; Master Program in Public Administration at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; online iLearn platform for orphans and low-income families and Khmelnytsky’s Library; innovation IT-school UNIT Factory; Lean Institute Ukraine (LIU) - focused on promoting the knowledge of lean approach as one of the cutting edge methodologies that improve enterprises’ performance and optimize resources consumption; information resource - K.Fund Media; innovation park UNIT.City.

In 2015, Vasyl Khmelnytsky united his public activities into K.Fund. The fund’s goal is to help talented young people achieve success in Ukraine and give young professionals new horizons.

Ratings

In 2015 Forbes Ukraine ranked Khmelnytsky 35th among 100 Wealthiest People in Ukraine with a fortune of $148 million. According to Focus magazine, Khmelnytsky ranked 83rd among the most influential people in Ukraine.

Family

Vasyl Khmelnytsky married Zoya Lytvyn – a chair of Osvitoria NGO. She runs social projects mainly in educational sphere.
Khmelnytsky has two sons – Oleksandr and Ivan.