Nadia McConnell is the co-founder and president of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF). Born in Austria to two Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Red Army, Nadia immigrated to the United States with her parents in 1950. She has previously served as Director of Congressional Relations at the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and then as Deputy Assistant Administrator of NASA for Congressional Affairs in the Reagan Administration. In 1991, Nadia shifted her focus to working for the development of democratic institutions, a free market economy, and human rights in Ukraine as well as the U.S.-Ukraine strategic relationship with the founding of USUF, a D.C.-based "do-tank" that has maintained a permanent presence in Ukraine since its inception. Over the past three decades, she has designed and managed approximately $60 million in programs for democracy development across all regions of Ukraine. Since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Nadia has created a "Coalition for Humanitarian Assistance" that to date includes the American Hospital Association, March of Dimes, Am Well, TAPS. She has also established "Operation Ukraine AirLIFT" in concert with partners Afya Foundation and Messt. They completed their first humanitarian aid airlift just six days after the Russian invasion began.