We got to Odesa after our beautiful 4-hour drive (Zoryana kicks ass!) Odesa is such a historic city. Worth checking it out on Google if you get the chance. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, The Bristol. Not only is it very nice, but it has a bomb shelter in the...

We took off bright and early from the hotel, picked up Andriy (cool), and were on our way. Our driver, former Formula 1 International champ Zoryana (well, I made up the F1 International Champ part, but she is one hell of a good driver), took great care of us and made...

The first morning in Kyiv, we met up with Andrii Krutyi*, our operational team leader. *Little fun fact: Krutyi means something like "Cool" in English, so obviously, Derek and I now just call him "Cool." (Which he definitely is 😉) We got to meet the gang in our...

Getting to Ukraine is not easy anymore. Even though Kyiv would be a short flight to/from many major European cities, there is no flying into Ukraine because of the war.  Simply not safe. So, Derek and I met up in Rzeszow, Poland (probably one of the safest airports in...

Leaving today. Heading back to the USA. Derek is off to Ukraine again for a port security conference in Odesa.  Enjoyable and successful trip (the BEST combination). Now to the work to bring actual fruit from the seeds planted here. As we know, everyone is busy. These...

The Business Advisory Council meeting went well. All the CEOs from the various countries gave their frank ideas about what needs to be done to enable Western businesses to invest in Ukraine. Surprisingly, many companies have stayed in Ukraine (McDonald's, for...

Well, I was going to try and do this in "time delay", but figured I'd cover the Berlin conference as it happens, and then go back to our visit to Ukraine afterwards. I was one of three CEOs nominated by U.S. Secretary United States Special Representative for Ukraine’s...

Saturday, June 1st took off from JFK to Munich for the transfer to the flight to Rzeszow, Poland. Long flight, but got about 5 hours sleep, so not all that tired when I got there. At the Munich airport lounge, I discovered the long-missing Tony Soprano enjoying his...

I was honored and fortunate to spend a wonderful week in Ukraine last week. My son, Derek, our SVP of Global Government Solutions, and I got to visit Kyiv and Odesa to see our teams there (except for our biggest office in Ivano Frankivsk—sorry, next time!) and to...

I was gonna make this a Thought for The Day, but: It is way too long (as you know, I try to keep the daily quotes short and sweet)It is pretty “obtuse,” is, I guess, the word. I think many people won’t get it or see the point, but I love it and have for over 50...