New Horizons Project: 2002-2003 Fellows' Profiles

2002 - 2003 Fellows' Profiles

Ekaterina Konopleva

          Ekaterina Konopleva serves as Deputy Director of the College of Art in her home town of Syzran, and is a postgraduate student at the Moscow Academy of Music. As a New Horizons Fellow, she is conducting research in Art Management and Educational Management. Her objective is to learn more about the modern ways of organizing art projects, festivals, tours, concert promotions, museum exhibitions and creative curricula for educational art programs.

          At this time, she is interning as an Administrative Assistant at the BSAV Office of the Boston Symphony. She also has an internship at the Opera Institute and Boston University as a production assistant and stage manager. Additionally, she serves as a guest lecturer, piano instructor, and assistant accompanist at Middlesex Community College. She is also taking a graduate-level course in Non-Profit Management at Northeastern University, and a Toastmasters public speaking course at MIT. During the rest of her stay in Boston, she is hoping to academically collaborate with Harvard Business School (Nonprofit Management Department) and Berklee College of Music (Music Business Department).

Alexandra Konstantinova

          In 2001, Alexandra obtained her Master's degree in World Economics from Tyumen State Institute of World Economics, Management and Law. Her major interests are in the fields of accounting, financial management and everything related to small businesses. Before participating in the program, she worked as an accountant for one year.

          During Spring Semester 2003, Alexandra is taking courses in Financial Accounting and Financial Analysis at Bentley College. She finds the courses really challenging and interesting. In her view, communicating with professors and working on group projects with fellow students is incredibly helpful in one's studies, and adds to the experience tremendously. Alexandra's internships include collaborating with WasteCap of Massachusetts, a non-profit organization working with businesses to develop and implement recycling programs, and the Lowell Small Business Assistance Center. At WasteCap, she helps to prepare accounting reports and participates in the development of several new recycling projects. At the Lowell SBAC, she works with the Center's clients, helping them to write their business plans, in addition to some accounting projects. Besides her studies and professional activities, Alexandra enjoys museums and theatres of Boston, and makes use of the athletic facilities in the area.

Roman Loukine

          Roman is a graduate student at Astrakhan State Technical University, majoring in Human Resources and Management. He is also working in the real estate business and is interested in developing his future career in that area. In the summer of 2003, he will complete his graduate studies and work to establish his own real estate company, which he believes will have to be the best one in the Astrakhan region and subsequently in all of Russia, based on ethical principles and innovative technology. Currently, he is engaged in academic offerings at Suffolk University (a graduate class in Human Resources Management, as well as an Executive MBA Program course in Organizational Behavior). Additionally, he has an internship with the Boston Real Estate Group, where the company's Vice President is teaching him the practical aspects of real estate business in the United States. At some point in his life, Roman would also like to be engaged in fitness equipment production. "I believe in Russia and the opportunities it has for us in the future," says Roman.

Alexander Moskvin

          Alexander graduated from Vologda State Pedagogical University, Department of Foreign Languages, in 1999, and received a post-graduate degree from the Law School of the same university in 2001. He worked as an interpreter both in Russia and abroad and later taught law at his alma mater. In Boston, he is attending seminars, lectures and classes related to Management and Business Ethics. He is greatly interested in cars and automobile industry as a whole, and is seeking an opportunity to explore this field further. After returning to Russia, he is planning to have an internship at the AvtoVAZ-General Motors joint venture plant, which is producing a new SUV model, known as the Chevy Niva. This internship became possible for Alexander thanks to the support of Mr. David Herman, former GM Vice President, who serves on the New Horizons Project Board of Advisors.

Natalia Oumanskaya

          Natalia is from the city of Saratov, where she works for a travel agency. Her major goals for visiting the U.S. are to improve her professional skills, to build a network within the field of her professional interest, and to come up with an original, new idea and enriched acceptance of the reality, opening new opportunities for the field she represents. Natalia is currently taking a graduate course in Strategic Recruitment, Training, and Performance Management at Northeastern University, and attending another course, in Conference and Meeting Planning, at Middlesex Community College in Lowell. Natalia is planning to arrange an internship with the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau later this spring, as well as make use of the opportunity that is given to the Middlesex students who are enrolled in the class above to have a one-day internship in one of Boston hotels, being a "manager for a day". At present, Natalia is engaged in an internship with Sokol Tours, a travel Agency in Boston. She is doing her best to improve her ability to organize her time, gain a good skill in controlling and planning her life, and to put her values, goals, long-term tasks, and the whole mission of her life in order.

Andrei Romankov

          Andrei carries a Bachelor's degree (with honors) in Production Management from Astrakhan State Technical University. He is now a graduate student with some teaching experience in the field of Strategic Management, and is doing his research work in the area of Change Management. Andrei works as a consultant in his home city; he believes that up-to-date managerial skills are in great demand, while the lack of specialists with the necessary knowledge is slowing down the economic development of his region and Russia as a whole. In Boston, Andrei is taking business and management courses at the local institutions and participates in research projects to explore the best ways to align new types of operations, products, markets, and structures with human skills and behaviors.

Olesya Tarasova

          Olesya graduated from Bryansk State Technical University with degrees in Mechanical Engineering/Automation of Manufacturing Processes and Production Management. Back in Russia, she works for a small firm which distributes electrical equipment and operates three lighting design stores in the city of Bryansk. In the course of the New Horizons Fellowship, Olesya is studying Project Management and Venture Business, with a long-range goal to create a Management Innovation Center in her home city. Within the context of this goal, she has participated in a Morgan Stanley Semiconductor & Systems Conference, which took place in March of 2003 in Los Angeles, CA. Another area of Olesya's research involves modern methods of lighting design. She is continually developing her computer skills in this field. During the final three months of her stay in Boston, she intends to establish a contact with the Illumination Engineering Society (New York, NY), and participate in a series of sessions and seminars put together by this organization.

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The New Horizons Project: A Russian-American Entrepreneurial Initiative

URL: http://www.businessforum.com/NHPProfiles.html
Revised: April 15, 2003 TAF