Ostap Korkuna

Ostap Korkuna
Остап Коркуна
Born (1987-09-26) September 26, 1987
Lviv, Ukraine
Alma materLviv National University, Stanford University
Occupations
  • software company executive
  • nonprofit co-chair
Known forNova Ukraine
AwardsInternational Collegiate Programming Contest 2008 gold medal,

Order of Merit 3rd class[1]

Ostap Korkuna (Ukrainian:Остап Коркуна; born 26 September 1987 in Lviv) is a Ukrainian American software engineer, inventor,[2] entrepreneur, and humanitarian.[3][4] He is a gold medalist of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest,[5] as well as co-founder of the nonprofit organization Nova Ukraine that raised over a hundred million dollars for humanitarian aid to Ukraine.[6][7][8]

Education and career

Korkuna holds a master's degree in Informatics from Lviv National University in Ukraine.[4] While at university, he took part in competitive programming contests. He was a member of the team representing Lviv National University at the 2008 International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals.[9] The team placed fourth overall and was awarded gold medals along with the other top four teams.[5][10] As a solo competitor, he placed 13th in the 2009 Topcoder Open Algorithm Competition.[11]

Korkuna's strong performance in programming contests attracted the attention of recruiters at Facebook, and he moved to California as one of the company's first Ukrainian employees.[3] Until 2024, he worked as a director of engineering at People.ai.[4]

Korkuna completed his Master of Science in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, graduating on June 15, 2025.[12]

Ostap Korkuna is the co-founder and CTO of NeoLens, a startup developed through Stanford University’s Hacking for Defense program. The company focuses on building an offline AI-powered troubleshooting assistant for frontline military mechanics, with initial deployments supporting Ukrainian troops in diagnosing and repairing vehicles.[13][14][15]

Inventions

Ostap Korkuna, during his tenure at People.ai, was listed as an inventor on several patents focused on systems and methods for matching electronic activities to business record objects.[2] His contributions include:

  • Developing feedback-based matching models that access electronic activities and select the most relevant business record objects, allowing for improved accuracy through feedback-configured policies.[16]
  • Creating methods for extracting data from matched records and assigning corresponding labels to electronic activities, enhancing data categorization and automation.[16]
  • Innovating approaches for identifying participants in electronic activities and associating those activities with related record objects using entity relationship policies, thereby improving the linkage between activities and business data.[17][18]

These patents relate to the automation and intelligence of matching electronic communications (such as emails and calendar events) to CRM or business records, leveraging feedback and entity relationships to increase reliability and utility of business data.

Non-profit leadership and advocacy

Korkuna co-founded Nova Ukraine in 2014 and served as its volunteer co-chair until 2024.[4][19][3]

Street rallies and advocacy

In 2018 Korkuna led a rally in San Francisco to support Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia in the Kerch Strait incident.[20] In February and March 2022, in the first weeks of Russian invasion of Ukraine, he led street rallies in San Francisco to raise awareness about the situation in Ukraine.[21][22][23]

In Summer 2022, at a public discussion event at the Commonwealth Club of California, Korkuna outlined how Nova Ukraine helped Ukrainian refugees in Mexico and in the US with shelter, food, basic necessities, and communications, while advocating for additional aid.[24]

Non-profit leadership

During the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, Korkuna helped organize the Ukrainian community in the San Francisco Bay area as a local branch of Euromaydan to show solidarity with Ukraine through street rallies.[3] He co-founded Nova Ukraine in 2014, and has led the organization for over 8 years, contributing to fundraising, recruitment and media relations.[25][6] Under Korkuna's leadership, Nova Ukraine raised funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine and delivered over a hundred million dollars' worth of aid since 2022.[4][8][26]

Awards and distinctions

  • In 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recognized Korkuna's contributions as the co-founder and co-chair of Nova Ukraine with the Order of Merit 3rd class.[1]
  • In August 2025, the Focus magazine included Nova Ukraine among 100 "most impactful Ukrainians" as the #5 volunteer organization.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "Decree of the President of Ukraine №556/2023 on Recognition with State Awards of Ukraine". President of Ukraine, Official Internet Site (in Ukrainian). 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  2. ^ a b "Ostap Korkuna Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2025-06-04.
  3. ^ a b c d "How a 22 year old from Lviv got a job at Facebook" (in Ukrainian). 24 Kanal. April 19, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Ostap Korkuna at Nova Ukraine". Nova Ukraine. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "ACM ICPC 2008 World Finals". Competitive Programming Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Poznyak-Khomenko, Nataliya (2020). Volontery: syla nebaiduzhykh [Volunteers: the Power of the Concerned] (in Ukrainian). Ternopil: Dzhura. p. 310. Archived from the original on 2021-11-05. Starting on page 310, the book describes the formation of the organization Nova Ukraine and names Ostap Korkuna among its co-founders.
  7. ^ Burdina, Eleonora. "«Остап Коркуна: Через кілька годин після початку війни ми почали готувати мітинг». IT-менеджер та активіст Остап Коркуна — про те, як у США підтримують Україну та гуманітарну допомогу Nova Ukraine" (in Ukrainian). DOU. Retrieved 2025-10-03.
  8. ^ a b c Сухраков, Андрій (2025-08-24). "Рейтинг найвпливовіших українців 2025: ТОП 100 (100 Most impactful Ukrainians)". Focus.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-08-29. Mentions Ostap Korkuna as a founder of Nova Ukraine which raised 130M
  9. ^ "ICPC 2008 World Finals Results". Baylor University. 2009-04-01. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
  10. ^ "Ukrainians won Gold at the world programming championship". Korrespondent.net (in Russian). 2008-04-15.
  11. ^ "Ostap Korkuna profile". Competitive Programming Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 7, 2023.
  12. ^ "Stanford University Commencement Bulletin 2025" (PDF). Stanford University. June 15, 2025. Retrieved August 14, 2025.
  13. ^ "NeoLens Launches First Offline AI for Military Repair in Ukraine". Entrepreneurloop. 2025-11-14. Retrieved 2025-11-18.
  14. ^ "Offline AI tool from Stanford startup helps Ukrainian troops repair frontline vehicles". NV. 2025-11-13.
  15. ^ "Ukrainian-American Startup Launches World's First AI Assistant for Repairing Armored Vehicles". The Gaze. 2025-11-13.
  16. ^ a b US10678796B2, Rogynskyy, Oleg; Nykytiuk, Volodymyr & Hermanek, Stefan et al., "Systems and methods for matching electronic activities to record objects using feedback based match policies", issued 2020-06-09 
  17. ^ US11470171B2, Rogynskyy, Oleg; Hermanek, Stefan & Halladay, Dylan et al., "Systems and methods for matching electronic activities with record objects based on entity relationships", issued 2022-10-11 
  18. ^ US10509786B1, Rogynskyy, Oleg; Hermanek, Stefan & Halladay, Dylan et al., "Systems and methods for matching electronic activities with record objects based on entity relationships", issued 2019-12-17 
  19. ^ Nova Ukraine (2022-09-17). Nova Ukraine Featured on Voice of America News. Retrieved 2025-05-23 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ ""Путин, руки прочь от Украины". В США устроили антироссийскую акцию с требованием освободить моряков". ТСН.ua (in Russian). 2018-12-02. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  21. ^ Katsuyama, Jana (February 17, 2022). "Bay Area nonprofit worry Russia might be targeting humanitarian aid workers". Fox KTVU.
  22. ^ Narayanan, Shwanika (March 9, 2022). "'Get out of Ukraine right now.' Bay Area Ukrainians angry, frightened for families as Russia invades". San Francisco Chronicle.
  23. ^ Zhou, Shihui (February 27, 2022). "Ukrainians in America: Ukrainians can't lose in the fight for democracy" (in Chinese). Central News Agency (Taiwan).
  24. ^ "Crisis at the Border: Helping Ukrainian Refugees". Commonwealth Club of California. June 21, 2022.
  25. ^ Khrystyna Shevchenko (September 10, 2022). ""Історія масштабного благодійного фонду NOVA Ukraine з Каліфорнії"" (in Ukrainian). Voice of America. Retrieved 2023-07-02 – via YouTube.
  26. ^ "Nova Ukraine has raised $30M to help with relief in #Ukraine since #Russia's invasion (video)". First Move CNN. May 11, 2022 – via Twitter.
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