Biography

Alex Lissitsa was born in a small village in the north of the Chernihiv region under the name Oleksiy and the surname Lysytsia. This village is located in the middle of forests and can be described as “the land of fearless birds”. After all, in this village, apart from agriculture in the form of growing potatoes and livestock, there was practically nothing, although there were many mushrooms and wildlife. Therefore, the little boy spent almost all his childhood exclusively engaged in agriculture, having a lot of livestock at home, since he was born in a simple family with many children. Accordingly, he had a lot of work on the farm, because the family had cows, pigs, turkeys, ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, as well as a lot of potatoes, which actually accompanied him all his life. When the question arose about studying and where exactly to study, the first thought was not to go to an agricultural institute or an agricultural university, because there was no desire to do it. But as fate would have it, Oleksiy, who wanted to study political science or political economy, eventually entered the Ukrainian Agricultural Academy at the Faculty of Economics and began studying agrarian affairs. So, in fact, he devoted his entire life to the agricultural sector.

After the agrarian university in Kyiv, which is now called the National University of Bioresources and Nature Management, Oleksiy stayed in Berlin, at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he successfully graduated, writing a dissertation on the efficiency and productivity of large agricultural enterprises in Ukraine during the period of transformation. This thesis was defended in 2001, and after that Oleksii, who had already become Alex, wanted to go to America and continue his work there. However, fate turned out differently, and instead of America, he ended up in a wonderful city, once again in the “land of fearless birds”, now in Germany, in the city of Halle an der Saale, which is located near Leipzig.

Having spent four years at the scientific institute IAMO, which is engaged in research on the transformation of agriculture in Eastern European countries, Alex lived there for four years. At some stage, after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, he decided that his future was connected with Ukraine. Accordingly, leaving scientific activities in Germany, he returned to Ukraine, where his first stop was the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, which he headed. Having worked there for a year, Oleksiy decided that it was necessary to move on, create new projects and change the ecosystem, because a house built on an old foundation is very difficult to rebuild.

In order to think about the project and what kind of ecosystem to create, Alex went on the Camino de Santiago, a famous pilgrimage route that runs from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Having walked 800 kilometers in 28 days, he realized that it was necessary to create a Ukrainian agrarian business club, which would become a platform for the future of agriculture in Ukraine and a career springboard for gifted youth.

After returning from Spain, Oleksiy invited 12 people, like 12 apostles, to a meeting held in a beautiful suburb of Kyiv, Puscha-Vodytsia, with the aim of starting the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business. And so on September 11, 2007, on a historic date, UKAB was created, which was the beginning of a new life that not only changed Alex’s life, but also the entire Ukrainian agricultural community. After all, many new projects were created on the basis of UCAB and a large number of gifted people were given a start. In 2012, Alex decided to join the great team of the Industrial Dairy Company as a member of the Board of Directors, and in 2013 he became the CEO. He worked for this company for almost 12 years. You can talk and write about this period of life for a long time, but in short, it was like a happy family life with a lot of emotions and successful moments.

In July 2024, Alex decided to give the young team the opportunity to work on the IMC project and became the chairman of the Board of Directors, handing over operational activities to his successor, Oleksandr Verzhihovsky, who became the general director. And in fact, a new stage of his life began, which he began to devote to a new project, but this is another topic.