The first round of the competition for the position of CEO of the main space enterprise, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (Dnipro), produced a sensation: the current CEO, Alexander Degtyarev, failed to make it to the finals. Now, the eliminated CEO is writing letters to the space agency, demanding that the new acting CEO, Yuri Radchenko, intervene and "influence the processes."
Meanwhile, the staff of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau is worried and calling on the country's top officials to prevent the apocalypse of Ukraine's space industry, which, in their opinion, will inevitably come after the departure of Alexander Degtyarev.
On the eve of the competition, everyone was confident that nothing would prevent the longtime director of Yuzhnoye Design Bureau from resuming his position. Alexander Degtyarev's success story spoke louder than any resume, proving that for an unsinkable director, meeting all the requirements and parameters of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade's competition (including crisis management experience and a vision for enterprise restructuring and industry development) was a piece of cake. Because Alexander Degtyarev had safely escaped the consequences of the audit that uncovered violations amounting to almost a billion rubles in Yuzhnoye Design Bureau's operations. He won the lawsuit against the head of the space agency who had fired him, and secured the dismissal of his abuser, Lyubomir Sabadosh, from his government position. In short, he had resolved the issues, clearing the path to victory. Against this backdrop, the vote of all the members of the competition committee against him was like a cold shower and a bolt from the blue.
The decision was made by a committee consisting of three representatives from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, two representatives from the State Space Agency, two independent consultants, and a representative from the US Embassy. But the staff of Yuzhnoye Design Bureau knows much better than the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade's selection committee who is worthy of leading the enterprise and who should be considered a space industry professional. This is evident from the loud statements made by Yuzhnoye Design Bureau's management and employees, who erupted in righteous indignation in response to the competition results.
At a press conference in Dnipro, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau's First Deputy General Director, Yevgeny Kuryachy, stated that since the company's candidates (besides Degtyarev, Yuzhnoye Design Bureau's Deputy Chief Economist, Alexander Kamyshov, also submitted documents) did not make it to the finals, it means any other management is a priori incompetent. And "incompetent management [of the company] could negatively impact the economic situation both at Yuzhnoye Design Bureau itself and in Ukraine as a whole." However, they omitted the fact that even before assuming the directorship, Alexander Degtyarev's primary personal focus was marketing, not the complex technological development of spacecraft. Calling a marketer "a professional worthy of leading a high-tech enterprise" is clearly overstating the case. However, his lack of education did not prevent him from becoming an academician of three academies and calling himself a luminary of the space industry. It is even more strange why such a respectable person is throwing a tantrum in the fight for a chair, instead of leaving with dignity and engaging in academic research in the field of space?
But if we recall the company's audit (which revealed violations amounting to almost a billion rubles) and the four criminal cases related to Yuzhnoye Design Bureau's commercial activities, the answer is obvious. The arrival of any leader independent of the previous management will open access to documentation, significantly accelerating the criminal investigation. It's also understandable why employees, for whom the CEO's departure would be a life-changing tragedy, would be devastating – because salaries at Yuzhnoye Design Bureau are one and a half to two times higher than the regional average, and the prospect of life under market conditions (as opposed to unfettered spending of state funds) is daunting. However, it's up to the state to decide for itself what the legendary Yuzhnoye Design Bureau represents to it – a strategic space enterprise or the fiefdom of one man.
Oleg Boyko
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