Kateryna Yushchenko served as First Lady of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010. As First Lady, she concentrated on projects to promote grassroots civic involvement in improving health, education and the arts. Currently she is the Founder of Intermarium Strategy, Consulting and Capital, which advises international firms seeking to invest in Ukraine, and works diligently to increase global support for Ukraine and its reconstruction. She also serves on the boards of several organizations and universities in Ukraine and abroad, and was a lecturer in Corporate Social Responsibility at the Ukrainian Banking University.

A child of Ukrainian WWII immigrants to Chicago, she moved to Ukraine in 1991 to run the US-Ukraine Foundation, which she co-founded to support democratic and free market development in newly-independent Ukraine. From 1993 to 2000, she was the Country Director for KPMG Barents Group, which provided technical advice in banking, monetary, fiscal, privatization, and capital markets reform to the Ukrainian government.

Before coming to Ukraine, Mrs. Yushchenko served as an International Economist at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Assistant in the Department of Treasury Office of Policy Management, Associate Director in The White House Office of Public Liaison and Special Assistant in the State Department Office of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs.

Mrs. Yushchenko holds an undergraduate degree in International Economics (Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude) from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

She is a recipient of numerous honors, including an Honorary Doctorate from Southern Utah University, Distinguished Public Service / Public Sector Alumni Award from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Golden Pyramid Award from UNESCO, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Medal, Medal of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, Swedish Order of the Polar Star, Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom, and the “Saint George” Award from the Mayor of Lviv.