Ukrzaliznytsya, the state-run railway monopoly with more than 350,000 employees, has announced three potential candidates as chief executive officer. All pledge to slim down the staff size and end passenger ticket subidies as part of a drive to restore the service to profitability.
The interim head, former investment banker Maksym Blank, said he is not
interested in the job because he is not
liked by the industry.
The short list
includes Dina
Nemyrovych,
CEO of Farmak pharmaceutical company; Evgen Romashchyn, who leads Corum which
makes coal mining equipment; and Daniel Valk, head of pipe producer
Interpipe’s North American branch.
Roman Bondar, a headhunter who assisted in the search, said Ukrzaliznytsya
needs a Steve Jobs-type CEO who would lead the company out of the crisis. Jobs
was known for being a perfectionist and making radical decisions while managing Apple, a technology giant.
Nemyrovych of Farmak says she believes people should work in their
native countries and building Europe in Ukraine is one of her motivations. She
sees her main accomplishments in strategic planning and having 13 years of
experience in audit.
Corum’s Romashchyn refers to his 15 years of experience as a top
manager. When asked by the Kyiv Post whether he is ready to raise the ticket
prices for Ukrzaliznytsya amid growing tariffs in cash-short Ukraine, he said:
“I’m ready to do anything for the benefit of the company.” A Russian
citizen, Romashchyn applied for a Ukrainian passport in December.
Valk of Interpipe wrote in a paper for the hiring commission he has been
working with Ukrainian companies for the past 10 years and that he managed to
increase the profits of Dniprospezstal, a steelmaker that he headed.
Blank, Ukrzaliznytsya’s interim head, said the company will
remain state-owned, while others are calling for
full or partial privatization. Freight deliveries make most of Ukrzaliznytsya’s
revenue and are used to subsidize passenger travel.
The company had Hr 284 million, or $14.9 million, in net losses last
year amid Russia’s war in the Donbas region. The govenrment’s forecast was way
off the mark. It expected Hr 634.6 million, or $33.4 milllion, in net profit.
In 2013, Ukrzaliznytsya enjoyed net earnings of Hr 545.3 million, which
was $66.5 million at that point.
On Jan. 26, former deputy CEO Mykola Sergienko committed suicide by a
gunshot wound to the head. He was fired in April by Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk, who was unhappy with the way that Ukrzaliznytsya was managed.
Kyiv Post associate business editor Ivan Verstyuk can be reached at [email protected].
