We bid a fond farewell to Odesa and our LP colleagues. Odesa is a BEAUTIFUL city, and (other than the constant air raid alarms) life goes on there pretty normally. It's hard to imagine, but I think that's true most of the time in a situation like this. My Dad was a US...

We had a lovely evening with the Odesa team. Shared some good stories, had some good laughs, and learned a bit about everyone's personal history. Next, we're heading back to Kyiv (and ready for more Road Dogs 🤪) Onward! Visit...

It really has been go-go-go (a good thing), but it really has been non-stop. So, with an evening free, Zoryana, Andrii, Derek, and I did what people have done for centuries in Odesa. We went to the beach! While we were there, the air raid sirens went off again. It's a...

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...