OUR LEADERS
Every day we see how the power of this community rebuilds someone's life.
Olga Piasecka-Nieć
Łucja Malec-Kornajew
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY TEAM
Amy Pollack-Kemp
Entrepreneur, Coach and Humanitarian, with a track record of delivering impactful outcomes. Amy worked in sports & entertainment marketing for more than thirty years, orchestrating large-scale programmes and logistics on all continents for global brands at the world’s largest events (Olympics, FIFA World Cups, etc). A native New Yorker living in London, Amy employed hundreds of people in Ukraine and Poland for the 2012 UEFA European Championships, many of whom contacted her for help from the first days of the Ukraine crisis in 2022. After helping personally during the first two weeks, she flew to Poland on 15th March 2022 to explore how to relieve the crisis in a more impactful, sustainable way. Through trusted mutual colleagues, we were connected in Krakow and, together, committed to creating our community center. Amy raised our start-up funds through a private US-based foundation, helped to crystalise our programme, and continues to work as an advisor, fundraiser and supporter. Amy is a mother of two adult children and holds a BA in Anthropology from Smith College, USA.
Cindy Henson
Retired executive, business consultant, author, and humanitarian. An experienced business consultant (MBA) and proven problem-solver who combines an engineer’s mind with a coach’s heart. Now retired, Cindy was an executive for 20 years within the United States defense industry after which she departed the corporate sector to obtain a Master’s Degree in International Peace and Conflict Studies from the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. Upon her return to the US, Cindy started a successful business consulting firm to serve non-profits, government agencies and triple-bottom line corporations; people, planet, profit, in that order. For the next 18 years she contributed her knowledge and experience in executive coaching, employee engagement, and culture change. Cindy has a proven track record at guiding executives to articulate their vision, aligning employees and providing practical tools for successful implementation. Cindy was moved to action by the Ukrainian crises and within the first 45 days was invited to join Matt McKissock and the Ukraine Relief Initiative leadership team in Krakow to support Kocham Dębniki Foundation in establishing the Świetlica Community Center. Cindy has visited Krakow five times and conducts grass-roots fundraising in the US for the URI/KDU mission to relieve the crises for hundreds of Ukrainian women and children that are now served monthly at the Community Center. Cindy lives in San Diego, California with her Life Partner of 24 years and they enjoy golf, international travel, and exploring the US in their travel trailer, “Athena”.
Matt McKissock
A serial entrepreneur, founder and mostly-retired former CEO of Colibri Group (a privately held professional licensing education company founded in 1990 and currently headquartered in St. Louis, serving more than 2 million licensed professionals annually throughout the US), cofounder of Majengo Children’s Home (an orphanage in Arusha, Tanzania, currently supporting over 200 severely at-risk live-in children and recently matriculated young adults), Matt traveled with colleagues to Poland in March of 2022 in search of a local grassroots partner organization and an opportunity to direct his deep entrepreneurial, philanthropic, organizational development and fundraising background, as well as his personal funds and restless energies, to relieve the Ukrainian refugee crisis, resulting in the creation of URI and the launch of the joint URI and Kocham Dębniki Foundation mission in Krakow in April 2024. Matt is husband to his former college sweetheart and wife of 28 years, father of two undergrads (one daughter and one son), best friend of two setters (one Irish and one English), and he is as famous the world over for his rugged good looks and keen fashion sense, as for his inspiring humility and his affinity for drafting his own autobiographical sketches in a setting with lax editorial oversight and limited critical review.
Ethan Evans
Retired executive, career coach, and teacher. After a successful 25 year career in technology, Ethan retired in 2020 from his role as Vice President at Amazon.com to focus on humanitarian work. Born in Ohio, Ethan has lived in Pittsburgh, Washington, DC, and Boston, Massachusetts. In 2003 he adopted his daughter, Tai Evans, from China. He now lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children. During his career, Ethan initiated several household name products for Amazon, most notably the Prime Video entertainment service. Ethan first visited Poland in March, 2022, ultimately take part in the founding of Kochm Dębniki Foundation in part by providing the first rent money to acquire space for the community center. Driven by their strong interest in rebuilding Ukraine, Ethan and his family also took part in a delivery of medical supplies to a hospital in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, in September, 2022. Ethan enjoys numerous outdoor activities as well as world travel, having visited more than 40 countries worldwide.
