Julia Kiryanova is a business leader with over 25 years of experience in finance, investment, operations, and corporate management.
Today, she works with business owners on company transformation and growth projects, building effective management systems and strong professional teams. Her work focuses on creating a foundation for sustainable growth and increasing business value, with the goal of attracting investment and successfully executing investment deals.
She is a member of CEO Club Ukraine and co-architect of Action Tank Ukraine, an independent platform for systemic change that she is developing together with the Club’s team to design and implement solutions through cooperation between business, government, and society.
She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Gen.Ukrainian, where she contributes to the organization’s strategic development and growth. Gen.Ukrainian delivers evidence-based psychological rehabilitation programs for children affected by the trauma of war.
Julia has 19 years of senior management experience in major Ukrainian industrial and investment groups and has worked across more than 10 industries — from financial management to serving as CEO of a diversified group.
From 2021 to 2024, she served as CEO of Smart-Holding. Prior to that, she was First Deputy CEO and CFO of the group. Earlier in her career, she served as CFO of Development Construction Holding and headed Treasury at System Capital Management.
Her areas of expertise include business transformation and restructuring, operational efficiency, corporate governance, finance, and crisis management.
Julia began her career at ING Bank Ukraine, where she spent eight years working in corporate banking, treasury, and risk management, gaining international experience.
In the first half of 2026, Ukraine set an ambitious target: to increase manufacturing's share of GDP from 8.8% to 20%.
Since the summer, however, the conditions for doing so have become more challenging: strikes on production facilities and energy and logistics infrastructure are increasing risks. At the same time, protectionism and trade restrictions around the world are making access to foreign markets more difficult.
How can Ukraine preserve its industrial base and build new production capacity at home under these conditions? We will discuss this at KIEF 2026 during the panel discussion "Ukraine's Industrial Backbone".