The Supervisory Board of one of the largest technological associations in the country, Lviv IT Cluster, has decided to remove Executive Director Stepan Veselovsky. Veselovsky and the team announced that they are leaving the cluster.
The Supervisory Board of one of the largest technological associations in the country, Lviv IT Cluster, has decided to remove Executive Director Stepan Veselovsky. Veselovsky and the team announced that they are leaving the cluster.
This was reported to AIN by the chairman of the board, Svyatoslav Kavetsky. The official reason for such a tough step was suspicions of «possible abuse of authority» by the top manager. For the duration of the investigation, the chairman of the Supervisory Board, Svyatoslav Kavetsky, temporarily took over the duties of the manager.
In the near future, the cluster will begin a large-scale audit of the activities of the executive director and his management team to verify the facts of violations. The final point in the issue of Veselovsky’s dismissal should be put by the General Meeting of the association’s participants.
UPD: After the Supervisory Board notified the suspension of Executive Director Stepan Veselovsky due to suspicion of abuse, the Cluster team issued a statement in defense of its leader.
In the appeal, the management team regarded the actions of the Supervisory Board as a planned attack and hinted at a collective exit from the organization.
The Cluster team said they are used to discussions, but the current actions of the Supervisory Board contradict their values. They called the public announcement of the suspension and the mass mailing of letters to community members pressure.
«The sudden exposure of the subjective point of view of one of the parties to the media space… has all the signs of a planned campaign aimed at discrediting and attempts to achieve goals through pressure,» the statement said.
The appeal contains a clear hint that after Veselovsky, his team will also leave the organization.
«We came as a team, worked as a team, and are moving forward as a team… We are moving forward, preserving our reputation and vision,» the authors of the appeal emphasized, promising to announce new plans soon.
The team assured that it leaves to the Association all current projects and trademarks that legally belong to the «Lviv IT and Business Services Cluster».
However, the team’s position regarding the flagship IT Arena conference is radically different. They emphasize that the history of the project began with Veselovsky, and the success belongs to the team.
«IT Arena will take place on specific dates in both Lviv and Warsaw,» the statement says, which actually confirms the team’s intention to hold the event independently, separately from the old Cluster structure.
UPD 2: In a comment to DOU, Stepan Veselovsky noted that the Supervisory Board’s decision came as a surprise to him. He does not plan to return to his managerial duties.
«We were supposed to have a meeting this week for further dialogue, but for some unknown reason we got this. Regarding all TMs, the issue was resolved a few months ago. And the supervisory board was aware of this. They belong to the Association,» Veselovsky said.
In a comment to dev.ua, Veselovsky confirmed that the current situation will not affect the holding of IT Arena in Warsaw and Lviv, since this is his project.
«IT Arena is a project I founded 13 years ago and it will be held on specific dates in Lviv and Warsaw. It will be conducted by our team,» Veselovsky replied to a request from dev.ua.
History of the conflict The decision to remove him was preceded by a protracted conflict between the CEO and the Supervisory Board, which has been going on since last year. The parties disagreed on the vision of the development strategy and operational processes.
The situation became critical after manipulations with the organization’s intellectual property were exposed. Veselovsky, without the consent of the council, transferred the rights to a number of key trademarks to his deputy Yuriy Ogonovsky. In addition, the tandem of managers began registering new legal entities and brands that duplicate the names of the cluster’s assets.
