SigmaBleyzer Leadership
SigmaBleyzer's leadership team boasts decades of experience investing in and managing businesses in Ukraine, making them well-equipped to navigate the country's unique economic and political landscape.
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President and Chief Executive Officer
Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Michael Bleyzer was raised and educated in the Soviet Union, graduating from the Kharkiv Institute of Radioelectronics with a Master of Science in digital electronics and quantum physics. His career took him to Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, before he came to the U.S. in 1978 where he became an American citizen. Mr. Bleyzer then embarked on a career in finance and management, which over 15 years at Exxon and Ernst & Young included a variety of operational, management and executive positions in Texas, Louisiana and Europe.
Mr. Bleyzer co-founded SigmaBleyzer Investment Group, LLC in 1994. Since its founding, SigmaBleyzer has invested primarily in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. SigmaBleyzer’s approach to private equity investments is operational level value creation, combined with advocacy of the economic reforms in emerging markets provided by The Bleyzer Foundation. With offices in Houston, Kiev and Kharkiv, SigmaBleyzer has raised and invested approximately one billion dollars in over 100 companies in a variety of industry sectors and have realized over 90 exits. SigmaBleyzer’s back-office has been located in Houston, Texas since inception in 1994 and provides institutional quality Investor Relations, accounting, tax and reporting services to over 100 investors in the United States, Europe, Middle East and South America.
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Chief Operating Officer
Lev Bleyzer is a founding Partner of SigmaBleyzer and is responsible for everyday operations at the company.
Mr. Bleyzer was born in the former Soviet Union and attended Kharkiv Engineering Economics Institute. He immigrated to the United States in 1981 and graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in management in 1987. During college, he worked for a wine wholesale company, where he became one of the top salesmen in Houston. After graduation, Mr. Bleyzer was accepted into the management program of a national retail company where he worked for four years as sales manager until he joined Sigma Ventures Inc. in 1994 as Vice President.
Mr. Bleyzer has played a key role in developing the Ukrainian, Romanian and Kazakhstan operational infrastructure for SigmaBleyzer. He led the restructuring of Voila Cable to become the largest Cable TV operator in Ukraine. He also helped lead the expansion of Poltava Confectionary in a complete reorganization of the company to become one of the top five confectionary businesses in the country. Mr. Bleyzer currently serves on the Board of a dairy processing company in Romania and is involved in turning around the business and purchasing bolt-on acquisitions.
Mr. Bleyzer is a member of the Board of Directors of numerous companies located throughout Eastern Europe. In his capacity as Board Member, he is responsible for the financial and operational aspects of each business. Leading the efforts to restructure a number of companies, he has been instrumental in bringing Western standards in accounting, and helping portfolio companies successfully pass audits from “Big Four” firms.
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Head of New Business Development
Valeriy Dema founded SIGMA Financial Industrial Group in 1989 and served as its General Director. SIGMA Financial Industrial Group was acquired by Sigma Ventures, Inc. in 1994. He is currently responsible for New Business Development at SigmaBleyzer.
Mr. Dema has actively participated in the due diligence, acquisition, and management of several significant portfolio companies, including Agrogeneration, Volia Cable, and Sevastopol Shipyard. He has been instrumental in identifying partners, customers, and suppliers for these companies and has helped find opportunities for exits and sales of assets. Additionally, Mr. Dema has played a vital role in the charitable efforts undertaken by SigmaBleyzer in Ukraine.
Mr. Dema graduated from the Kharkiv Aviation Institute in 1985. His post-graduate studies include three years of economics at the Kharkiv Engineering Economics Institute, one year of management at Cologne University in Germany and three years of law at the Kharkiv Institute of Jurisprudence.
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Neal Sigda is a Partner at SigmaBleyzer, serving as a member of the Investment Committee and the Chairman of the Internal Portfolio Review Board. He joined SigmaBleyzer in 1999 as a financial analyst. In his work with portfolio companies, he has performed due diligence on target acquisitions, analyzed and valued companies, developed business plans, and assisted in growing and restructuring portfolio companies.
As Partner, Mr. Sigda has helped build or manage various areas of the business. This includes serving or having served on several Boards of Directors, heading up the SigmaBleyzer Equities Research Group, overseeing investor relations, and acting as the Deal Team Leader for cable. Since joining SigmaBleyzer over ten years ago, Mr. Sigda has worked in a wide variety of industries, including confectioneries, dairy, beverage, pharmaceutical retail, telecommunications, software development, and agriculture.
From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Sigda spent most of his time in Kaliningrad, Russia as well as in St. Petersburg, where he was the Director of Finance for a joint venture. Prior to that, he spent several years in the publishing industry. Mr. Sigda holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Master of International Management from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management (with a specialization in finance).
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Rina Bleyzer O’Malley immigrated to the United States in 1978 as a Soviet refugee at the age of 4. She attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas where she earned a dual degree in Economics and Business (Finance). She has been with SigmaBleyzer since its launch in 1993, participating in both the development of the firm’s Houston headquarters and its Ukrainian presence.
Rina first returned to her family’s home town of Kharkiv, Ukraine in 1994 as the country was undergoing post-Soviet privatization. She managed SigmaBleyzer’s back office, including its investor relations and accounting functions, during the launch of SigmaBleyzer’s first three UGF funds. In 1999, Rina helped create Volia Media Group, a conglomerate of media properties under the umbrella of Volia Cable, a SigmaBleyzer portfolio company that would become the largest cable operator in Ukraine. Rina has served as Editor at the Bleyzer Foundation, a non‐profit, non‐government organization created to support the transition of emerging economies into market economies. Since 2002, she’s worked with SigmaBleyzer’s philanthropic arm Daar Foundation in various capacities, and currently serves as a Director and member of the Executive Board at Daar.
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Ryan O’Malley joined SigmaBleyzer in the fall of 2009 as a consultant on retail technologies for portfolio companies. Currently he runs the Houston office, leads SigmaBleyzer’s investor relations team, and is Chief Financial Officer for the SigmaBleyzer’s MagnaSci Family of Funds.
Mr. O’Malley also serves as a Director and Executive Board Member for The Daar Foundation, Sigmableyzer’s philanthropic arm, working to deliver humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Prior to joining SigmaBleyzer, Mr. O’Malley spent 15 years with Nordstrom in Seattle, Washington working with their inventory, point of sale and e-commerce systems, managing multiple CAPEX projects. He did his undergraduate work at Washington State University and received an MBA from Tulane University in 2011.
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Jessica Bleyzer is a Partner at SigmaBleyzer, where she is responsible for strategic initiatives, including new business development and thought leadership, as well as supporting efficient US back-office operations. Jessica joined SigmaBleyzer for a second time in 2019, as an executive, though she previously worked as an Associate from 2006 to 2010.
In between her two stretches at SigmaBleyzer, Jessica worked in management consulting at Germany-based Roland Berger, where shed led strategic projects for Fortune 500 companies. She holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Economics from Northwestern University.
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Director, Government Affairs, Ukraine
Vadim Bodaev graduated from Kharkiv Aviation Institute. His post-graduate studies include a certificate from University of Vienna, specializing in business organization in Eastern Europe. He also received a certificate from Ukrainian Academy at the Ministry of Industrial Policy, specializing in management and marketing in industry.
From 1989-1992, he worked as a subject matter expert for the USSR cabinet council and the cabinet council of Kazakhstan in the area of liberalization of foreign-economic activity and creation of joint ventures. Mr. Bodaev was among the founders of the first private joint ventures in Moscow, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. He followed this as the head of the representative office for Food Trade with Austria for the CIS in Moscow. Beginning in 1995, he worked as an advisor in different committees of the Verchovna Rada on questions of investments and industrial policy.
In 2000, Mr. Bodaev joined SigmaBleyzer to manage the Ukraine office. Since 2005, he has been a Director of the company focusing on Government Relations.
From 2002-2005, Mr. Bodaev was an Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine and in 2010 was elected Vice-President of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
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Director, Internal Controls
Yuriy Davydov graduated from Kharkiv Aviation Institute. He is certified in Ukraine as a stockbroker, investment analyst and financial broker for privatization. He joined SIGMA Fund in 1993 and became its President in 1994 as well as Director of the SIGMA Ventures, Inc. office in Ukraine.
Mr. Davydov is a member of the Audit Committee of the Ukrainian Association of Investment Funds, and led the effort to establish SIGMA Fund as a founding member of the Kiev International Stock Exchange, the Crimean Stock Exchange, and the East Ukrainian Stock Exchange
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CEO of AgroGeneration
Sergey Bulavin is currently the Chief Executive Officer of AgroGeneration, SigmaBleyzer’s largest portfolio holding. In 1994, Mr. Bulavin joined SIGMA Fund and in 1995 he became the company’s Vice President. He has represented SigmaBleyzer in MACEE since 2005 and in IMAP since 2006.
Mr. Bulavin graduated from the Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics in Ukraine. His post-graduate studies include certificates of completion from various programs, such as: “Activity of Securities Traders”, 1994; “Management of Investment Funds”, 1995; “Keeping the Register of Registered Security Owners / Registrar Activity”, 2000; “Project Management”, 2000; and “Preparation Program for Individuals Aspiring to Be a Board Member of Non-Government Pension Funds”, 2004.
Mr. Bulavin was a member of the PFTS Council, a member of the arbitrage and disciplinary committee of the PFTS, and the PFTS arbitration tribunal.
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Executive Director, The Bleyzer Foundation
Oleg Ustenko is the Executive Director at The Bleyzer Foundation. His economic and financial research is focused on transitional and developing economies. The CIS region and Ukraine are his particular areas of interest.
Mr. Ustenko joined The Bleyzer Foundation in 2004 and since then has been actively involved in all major projects, including assessments in macroeconomics, investment and the overall business climate in the regions of analysis. He also acts as a consultant to the Ukrainian government and other CIS countries. He is an active participant at major economic and business conferences in the region and is one of the most published and quoted economists in Ukraine and is currently Economic Advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Prior to joining The Bleyzer Foundation, Mr. Ustenko was involved in different economic policy-oriented projects of The World Bank, OECD, governments of CIS countries and leading universities including Harvard University and MIT.
Mr. Ustenko has a Master’s Degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Kiev State Economics University. He also attended the Ph.D. program in economics at Brandeis University.
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Tamara Kirik joined SigmaBleyzer in 1997 as Head of Asset Management/Analytical Department. In her work, Tamara performed analysis and assessment of the investment attractiveness of Ukrainian companies, business valuation, business restructuring, and business planning.
Since 2015, Tamara has occupied the position of Chairman of the Supervisory Board of LLC "Dominik K" (formerly Poltava Confectionery, one of SigmaBleyzer’s portfolio companies). In addition, Tamara continues to be a specialist in the analysis and evaluation of the attractiveness of investment projects in Ukraine.
Tamara graduated from East Siberian Technological Institute. Her post-graduate studies include a degree of candidate of economic sciences from Leningrad Institute of Finance and Economics. She also received a certificate of appraiser from International Business Institute.
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Olga Shantyr has almost 20 years of analytical work experience in Private Equity via engagement in a number of investment projects led by SigmaBleyzer, including experience in FMCG and agriculture. In her work, she has analyzed and valued portfolio companies, participated in due diligence and audits, managed board meetings and assisted in meetings with investors, reported to the managers, board members and shareholders on portfolio companies’ performance.
Olga joined SigmaBleyzer in 2004 as a financial analyst. Currently, Olga is a Senior Corporate Governance Specialist at AgroGeneration. Previously, Olga occupied the position of Senior Analyst and was responsible for Investor Relations at AgroGeneration. Before 2010, she was part of the team that launched an investment vehicle led by SigmaBleyzer in Kazakhstan.
Olga holds an MBA from Steinbeis University in Berlin and a Master of Economy of Enterprise from Kharkiv University of Humanities “People’s Ukrainian Academy”.
If you’re interested in joining the SigmaBleyzer team, email your CV to info@sigmableyzer.com.