Oleksandr Danyliuk

President, Destinus, Minister of Finance of Ukraine

Oleksandr (Sascha) Danyliuk is President of Destinus, one of Europe’s largest aerospace R&D startups focused on unmanned and autonomous systems. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Destinus operates across Ukraine, the Netherlands, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, and Spain. He joined the company’s leadership in 2023, bringing extensive experience in finance, government leadership, and national security.

In 2022, Danyliuk served as an officer in the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Previously, he served as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in 2019, where he led the development of Ukraine’s National Security Strategy and coordinated cooperation with key international partners in the areas of defense and security. In this role, he oversaw cross-government coordination across sectors including defense, energy, finance, and environmental policy, chaired the National Intelligence Coordination Council, and regularly advised the President of Ukraine on national security matters.

From 2016 to 2018, Danyliuk served as Minister of Finance of Ukraine. During his tenure, he oversaw the nationalization of PrivatBank, the country’s largest bank, introduced medium-term budgeting, and led the financial design and implementation of healthcare and pension reforms. He also developed Ukraine’s debt management strategy and coordinated cooperation programs with international financial institutions including the IMF, World Bank Group, EBRD, EU, and EIB. Under his leadership, Ukraine successfully returned to international capital markets with a USD 3 billion Eurobond issuance recognized as the Best CEEMEA Transaction of 2017 by GlobalCapital.

Earlier, Danyliuk served as Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine (2014–2016), where he was responsible for economic policy, public finance, reforms, and anti-corruption initiatives. He also served as the President’s Permanent Representative to the Cabinet of Ministers, representing the President in government deliberations and leading trilateral negotiations on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between Ukraine, the European Union, and the Russian Federation. During this period, he also headed Ukraine’s delegation to GRECO (the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption), contributing to the establishment of Ukraine’s modern anti-corruption infrastructure.

Earlier in his career, Danyliuk served as Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine and worked in international consulting and finance, including as a Senior Associate at McKinsey & Company in London and Moscow, Vice President at AVentures, and with HSBC Securities in New York.
He holds an MBA in Finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University as an Edmund S. Muskie Fellow. He also earned a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Ukraine in Kyiv and a Master’s degree in Investment Management from the Institute of Investment Management in Kyiv.

Oleksandr Danyliuk is fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, and has basic knowledge of Spanish and French.