Max Pyziur Presents and Moderates at Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Conference
Established to provide a strong intellectual foundation for Ukraine’s economy, the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) was founded in Kyiv Ukraine in 1996 under the auspices of the Economics Education and Research Consortium and the Eurasia Foundation. Over the years, several hundred students have matriculated and graduated from the school, and it has established a joint degree affiliation with the University of Houston. The school’s current president is Tymofiy Mylovanov, a PhD graduate of the University of Wisconsin, as well as an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.
On Saturday, September 17, 2022, KSE held its first conference and banquet fundraiser in the United States. The event took place at the Harvard Club in New York City and was attended by 250 people. Professor Mylovanov hosted the banquet’s activities; he alternated between calling on invited speakers for brief remarks, as well as coordinating an auction of donated Ukrainian art and memorabilia. Speakers included Economics Nobel Laureates Paul Krugman and Richard Myerson; Harvard History Professor Serhii Plokhii; NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and attending Ukrainian ministerial and consular representatives.
Preceding the fundraiser there was a conference of two sessions each having three break-out panels. Panel topics were all related to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and included global security, the future of Ukraine’s economy, the energy crisis in Europe, as well as food security and other agricultural issues.
EPRINC’s Max Pyziur presented as well as moderated the energy panel titled “European Energy Crisis or Not.” His presentation focused on Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas imports, the availability of alternative sources, especially from the U.S., closing with remarks on energy security and its relationship to national and economic security.
The Panel’s speakers and commentators included NaftoGaz COO Mavriky Kalugin, World Bank Director Charles Cormier, Jamestown Fellow Margarita Assenova, and David Martinon, CEO of Expert Petroleum, an E&P company focused on the remediation of depleted oil fields in Western Ukraine.
