OUR TEAM

Stuart McKenzie

CEO – Reakiro

It was Stuart’s vision that began Reakiro from a seed which grew into the successful international company it is today.

With nearly 30 years of experience in business across Europe and the US, in 2016 Stuart set out on the mission to bring hemp products to as many people’s lives as possible — and this is how Reakiro was born.

Stuart’s career highlights include:

Working with multinationals including Nestle, P&G, GSK, Volvo among many others
Lifetime Achievement Award for Business and Charitable Excellence
Founder / Managing Director of Pulse — Ukraine’s leading marketing agency

Mark Wright

Head of Operations and Co-Founder – Reakiro

Originally from New Zealand and with a long and impressive career history of experience across Europe and Asia, Mark brings a global perspective to Reakiro’s ever-evolving business.

Mark heads the Reakiro European business unit and oversees the running and logistics of all operations.

Mark’s career highlights include:

Regional Director at Coca Cola Philippines
Partner at Pulse, a leading outsourcing business, responsible for 1600 personnel
Fostering partnerships in international import and export across the globe

Elena McKenzie

Managing Director – Hemp HQ

Elena heads Reakiro as Managing Director and has 20 years of experience in the marketing sector, specializing in customer and market due diligence, customer analysis, benchmarking, strategy development, and execution.

Elena’s career highlights include:

Co-Founder of HempHQ
15 years of experience in business management and trade marketing
Executive director within the art and fashion industries

Axel Hluchy

Managing Partner and Co-Founder – Reakiro

For the past two decades, Axel has been growing large and successful businesses in the retail sector around the world, from Germany to Thailand. He brings to Reakiro a broad operational experience in start-up, growth and turnaround situations in emerging and mature markets.

With a degree in Business Administration and a Diploma in European Business from Nottingham Business School Axel acts as Managing Partner of Reakiro.

Axel’s career highlights include:

19 years with Metro Group of which over 14 years as CEO of Metro Cash & Carry in five countries
Launching 25 new Metro Cash & Carry stores in Ukraine in six years
Member of the Executive Board of the German Wholesale Association (BGA)

Konstantin Polozov

Deputy CEO – Reakiro

Konstantin’s international business experience has seen him work in some of the largest MNCs (multinational companies) in the US, he’s now back in Europe as Deputy CEO for Reakiro.

With an MBA and joint honours education in International Relations and International business, Konstantin’s knowledge, skills, and passion for business and management have helped Reakiro grow into what it is today.

Konstantin’s career highlights include:

Working with Schenker AG and Polaris
Founding his own consultancy
Facilitating end-to-end global business launches

Boris Rashman

CFO — Reakiro

With over 25 years of experience in financial and accounting management, Boris heads all financial decisions made across Reakiro.

Bolstering his professional experience Boris (Dr. Rashman, we should say) holds a PhD in Economics.

Boris’s career highlights include:

Obtained an MBA
Longstanding CFO at Pulse for 20 years

Sergiy Kovalenkov

CEO – Hempire

Sergiy’s love for the environment and a passion to find sustainable solutions has driven his career. He has worked in the construction industry across three different continents, which led to his development of sustainable building materials made from hemp.

These hemp-based alternative construction materials have won numerous awards for their innovation, and now Sergiy has become a key professional speaker on hemp and sustainability.

Sergiy’s career highlights include:

Founder of the US Hemp Building Association
Head of the Ukrainian Cannabis Business Association
Fostering partnerships in international import and export across the globe

Sam Kearley

Sales Director – Reakiro

From the beginning, Sam has been with Reakiro leading sales and bringing the best customer experience to all clients.

With more than ten years in sales, and three years in journalism, Sam is one of the best people for building strong and lasting relationships with clients, and making sure all their needs are met.

Sam’s career highlights include:

Consistently increasing Reakiro’s revenue year on year
Launching Ukraine’s first English-language international news channel
Receiving multiple awards for sales performance and success

Karina Gostieva

Head of Legal — Reakiro

Karina holds a Master’s degree in Law along with 10 years of experience in corporate and commercial law. She provides expert legal advice, including copyright and GDPR, and oversees any deals made in the company.

Karina’s career highlights include:

Closed a $1million investment deal
Specialised in IT law
Experienced in international contracts and corporate structuring

Hilary Leam

Director Global Business Development – Reakiro

For over 25 years Hilary has developed brands across the health, wellness, and beauty sectors. Hilary has now chosen to channel her innovative direction and creation into the CBD industry, which is not only a new venture but an intersection of all her prior experiences.

Hilary’s career highlights include:

Global trading director for Walgreens Boots Alliance (Boots)
Relaunching No7 — a leading UK beauty brand
Group trading director for health food giant Holland & Barrett

Ruslan Hilchenko

Chief Operating Officer – Reakiro Poland

Ruslan has helped bring Reakiro from a startup to a leader in the EU hemp industry, with production facilities and branches in six countries, in just three years.

With a Masters in International Business Relations and experience across agricultural and communication industries, Ruslan has profound experience to bring hemp to people around the world.

Ruslan’s career highlights include:

Launching Reakiro
10 years experience in international imports and exports
Director of ProDive

Roman Kos

Chief Science Officer — Reakiro

In 2016 Roman completed his Ph.D. in Physical and Colloid Chemistry and prior to that he holds a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in physical chemistry. Roman joined Reakiro in 2018 as Chief Science Officer to lead the way in scientific developments and possibilities in CBD.

Roman’s career highlights include:

Lecturer at Lviv Medical College for 5 years
7 papers published in academic journals and extensive conference contributions
Commercial specialist experience at Nestle

Nataliya Pyrozhenko

Marketing Director – Reakiro

Nataliya’s creativity, combined with 22 years of experience working with local and international companies, has made her an exceptional Marketing Director.

From strategy and implementation to branding and media expertise, Nataliya touches all bases to get Reakiro’s message out internationally.

Nataliya’s career highlights include:

Heading the business management team for Givenchy Ukraine
Marketing lead for Avon in Ukraine and Georgia
Working with international businesses across Europe and Asia

Irina Jahn MD

Wellness and Healthcare – Reakiro

Born in Colombia, Doctor Irina Jahn has a medical degree from the I.M Sechenov First Moscow Medical Academy, an authorisation as medical doctor in Denmark and a postgraduate degree from the LSHTM in Public Health.

With over 20 years experience in primary medical care, she worked as doctor of confidence for several diplomatic missions while living in Ukraine including the embassies of Germany, United Kingdom, Denmark, The Netherlands, Canada, Argentina, The European Commission and the United Nations.

Dr. Jahn believes in practicing holistic medicine and follows with interest the research into the Endocannabinoid System and the medicinal benefits of CBD.

Randy Rubin

CEO / President – Reakiro USA

Randy started his career in research in Los Angeles 25 years ago. After serving in the laboratory setting doing research and clinical work with patients, he joined GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) in an entry level Sales role. Eventually his career spanned over 17 years in Pharmaceuticals consisting of promotions from Sales, Management, Training and Development, Marketing, and eventually at the Executive level. He nurtured his business development and strategic skills within GSK in leading business unit roles internationally and in Europe countries. As a corporate person for most of his career, Mr. Rubin prides his success with his start in research then easily into sales all the way through responsibility for managing C-level executives and managing mulit-million dollar P&L’s of several business units within GSK.

Will McCauley

VP Operations, Business Development – Reakiro USA

Will has marketing background and over 15 years experience developing businesses in the US and Europe.

Born in California with many years in New York and Europe he is an ambitious entrepreneur and has been involved in start ups and driving sales in several industries including real estate, alcohol, fashion, hospitality and entertainment. Having involvement in the hemp/cannabis industry in CA since 2002, Will began working with Reakiro from its outset and now based in Los Angeles and driving sales and business development for Reakiro’s USA projects.

Chris Taylor

COO — Hempire

Chris has been leading sales teams enthusiastically and successfully across the tech and entertainment industries for the past 15 years, and in 2020 it was an incredible opportunity for Reakiro to welcome him to the team.

Chris’s career highlights include:

Sales Product Owner for Ciklum — an international software development company
Introduced new sales processes for JatApp
Redesigned payment systems, minimising financial loss to 1%

Jay van den Berg

Business Development – Reakiro BeNeLux

Jay has held senior corporate management positions including Managing Director of Unilever Ukraine and VP Business Development in Swisscom AG. He has also played a key role in a number of successful start-up companies acquired by multinationals such as Swisscom AG, Worlonline/Tiscali and MTG AB. Jay brings extensive international FMCG Consumer Marketing expertise to Reakiro. MBA.

Vaskar Sidhanta

Director International Business & Strategic Partnerships
Managing Partner Reakiro India

Vaskar is responsible for International Business Development at Reakiro. He has a global business footprint with expertise in strategic and operational leadership, global strategic alliances, M&A/I and his position comes from years of multi-faceted experience working in international trade, consultancy and technology.

Vaskar holds a Masters’ degree in Industrial Engineering from Moscow State University as well as an MBA from the University of Vienna.

Vaskar’s career highlights include:

Senior leadership & board member positions in corporates such as TATA Global, Elcafé CA, MTS, Vizion Group Inc, and Food Empire Singapore
Global work in the sectors of FMCG — Coffee, Alcohol & Beverages, Commodities — Agri & Coffee, Telecom & Technology
Developing solid business relationships with governments and Chambers of Commerce across countries in Europe, Asia, S. America & Africa

Dr. Sunil B. Roy

Managing Director – Reakiro India

With a Ph.D. in Pharmaceuticals, Masters’ in Pharmacy and MBA in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dr. S B Roy has an experience of 40 years in India and the global Pharma industry with over 50+ patents in his name. He has served and held top leadership positions at major Pharma companies in India such as AstraZeneca, Warner, Ranbaxy, Sandoz, Zydus Cadila and Alkem. He has spearheaded development of several dosage forms for regulatory submission in various countries across the globe. Presently he owns and operates Intelliscend Research Centre in India with 30 specialised scientists in the pharma sphere. He now joins Reakiro India as the Managing Director & Partner.

Dr. Roy’s career highlight:

Headed the R&D at Ranbaxy (India’s biggest Pharmaceutical company now known as Sun Pharma) as Director of Formulation Development for 16 years
Headed Zydus Cadila as President
Headed Alkem Laboratories as President R&D
Headed R&D at Sandoz
Holds more than 50 national and international patents. Has launched more than 600 products and novel dosage forms like transdermal patches, suppository, parenterals, ointments, pulmonary and first to file products

Shashank Roy

Chief Operating Officer – Reakiro India

With a Masters’ in Aerospace Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology, USA, Shashank decided to go back to India and since then has successfully set up a Research & Consultancy firm and a CRO, which now caters to international clients. He is consistently invested in Business Development in the pharmaceutical industry and brings in his expertise of operational set-up, regulatory management in the ever-changing and growing market. He now joins Reakiro India as the COO & Partner.

Shashank’s career highlights:

Set-up of a Research & Development firm with 30 scientists in payroll
Working with international businesses across Asia, Europe and the US and business growth of > 40% Y-o-Y