Lenna Koszarny
Ms. Koszarny is Executive Vice President and Ukraine Country Manager of UMAEF, after serving in executive roles at the Fund since 2002. She is also Founding Partner and Chief Executive Officer of Horizon Capital, the leading investment management firm in Ukraine and Moldova that was created and launched by UMAEF in 2006 to mobilize additional private capital to the Region, primarily from U.S. investors. Today, Horizon Capital is the largest private equity firm in Ukraine and the only U.S. domiciled and managed firm with over $1.6bn in assets under management, backed by 40+ institutional investors with a capital base exceeding $700bn. Funds managed by the firm are within top 5% ranked against their peers, with over 50% of capital provided by U.S. investors. Under her leadership, Horizon Capital has raised over $900m since the 2014 invasion, as well as catalyzed the largest investment in Ukraine in decades, a $1.5bn acquisition and capital expansion of Ukraine-based broadband cable-mobile-payTV telecom players Datagroup-Volia and Lifecell by global telecom and tech entrepreneur Xavier Niel, operating in 20 countries with over 100 million subscribers. Together UMAEF and Horizon Capital have catalyzed over $3 billion in capital to Ukraine and Moldova, transforming the tech, telecom, insurance, banking and other sectors in the process.
Ms. Koszarny is credited with the Forbes «2024 Deal of the Year» for her deal-making prowess in leading this $1.5bn telecom transaction, and recognized for raising the first, largest and only fund for Ukraine – $350m – since the full-fledged invasion. This fund is focused on asset-lite, export-oriented businesses, including tech, operating in the Region. The next funds raised by the firm focus on asset-heavy, domestic companies as well as strategic sectors including energy, infrastructure, critical minerals and others crucial for Ukraine’s reconstruction and of high interest to U.S. investors, enabling an over 10x capital mobilization effect.
Ms. Koszarny has served for the past 8 years as Chair of the Board of Directors, American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, whose members have invested over $50bn in Ukraine; a Member of the Board of the Ukrainian Startup Fund launched by the Government of Ukraine; a Member of the Supervisory Board of Ukrainian Leadership Academy; and, served as the first Vice-Chair of the Advisory Council of Kyiv-Mohyla Business School.
Ms. Koszarny’s leadership has been recognized nationally and internationally, including Ukrainska Pravda’s «Top 100 Leaders of Ukraine: Beyond What is Possible» rating in November 2024, its «Top 100 Power Women Leaders» in March 2024 and its «Top 100 Leaders of Ukraine During Wartime» in November 2023, and her inclusion in Forbes Ukraine’s « Top 50 Women Leaders Leading Ukraine to Victory» in May 2023. Under her leadership, HCGF IV is the first 2X Flagship Fund in Central and Eastern Europe. She is an elected Member of the Mid-Market Platform Council of Invest Europe; a Member of the Private Equity Women Investor Network (PEWIN); a Founding Member of the Ukraine House Davos Organizing Committee, and in July 2022, was recognized in Private Equity International’s 2022 Women of Influence in Private Markets list. In February 2022, Horizon Capital was honored as 2021 Firm of the Year for Central and Eastern Europe by Private Equity International.
On August 24, 2020, the 29th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Ms. Koszarny with an Order of Merit for Service to Ukraine, third level, for her contribution to the country’s economy and investment climate. She is also a recipient of a Commemorative Medal issued on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of Independence by the President of Ukraine. In May 2024, she was awarded the 2024 Tryzub Leadership Award by The Myhal Family Foundation, in partnership with The Shevchenko Foundation.
Ms. Koszarny is a CPA and a 1991 HBA graduate of Ivey Business School. She has been residing and working in Kyiv, Ukraine since 1993, for over 30 years.
