Kirill Budanov's wife graduated from the School of Strategic Architecture
Marianna Budanova, the wife of Kirill Budanov, received a diploma from the School of Strategic Architecture at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School. She graduated from the program’s tenth, anniversary cohort, which brings together representatives from government, business, and other sectors important to society. Kirill Budanov himself, as well as Martin Oberg, the Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine, attended the graduation ceremony.
Kirill Budanov’s wife, Marianna, received her diploma as a graduate of the tenth cohort of the School of Strategic Architecture at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School (KMBS). The graduation ceremony was attended by Kirill Budanov, Head of the Office of the President, and Martin Oberg, the Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine.
During the event, Helena Savruk, managing partner of the Mohyla Strategic Agency and associate dean of kmbs, addressed the graduates. She emphasized that strategic thinking is not only about creating effective systems, but also about what life will be like for people within those systems. “An architect doesn’t just create a system that works. He creates a world in which people will want to live,” Savruk said.
She also urged the graduates not to be afraid of bold ideas and to seek solutions that may seem unusual at first glance. “We need the wrong solutions. Bold, unexpected, and at first glance illogical. Not because they lack logic, but because they change the very conditions: who teams up with whom, what becomes possible, and who sets the rules,” noted Helena Savruk.
Who Else Completed the Program
Along with Marianna Budanova, other participants also successfully completed the program. Among them were Member of Parliament Solomiya Bobrovska, diplomat Oleksandr Karasevych, Oleksiy Moroz, and Nataliia Dmytrenko. Serhiy Kvit, president of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, also addressed the graduates. He encouraged them to apply the knowledge they gained to develop their own projects, organizations, and the country as a whole. “I hope you will be the strategic architects of your ideas, your projects, and your organizations; that you will be, without exaggeration, the architects of Ukraine’s future and also the architects of the world,” Kvit said.
He specifically highlighted the role of culture and humanities education. According to him, they help foster a better understanding of society and raise awareness of how management decisions impact people’s lives.
What Is Taught at the School of Strategic Architects
The School of Strategic Architecture at Kyiv-Mohyla Business School brings together people who work in public administration, business, and other fields important to society. The program focuses on finding new approaches to Ukraine’s development and shaping a strategic vision for the future. It is supported by the governments of the United Kingdom and Canada, as well as the embassies of Japan, Germany, Sweden, and France.
Marianna Budanova serves as the head of the Department of Legal Psychology at the National Academy of Internal Affairs. She holds the rank of police captain and a Ph.D. in psychology. Interestingly, her husband, Kirill Budanov, also previously completed this program. In 2024, while serving as head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, he also completed the “Strategic Architecture” course. This was reported on the kmbs Instagram page.
Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, made a private visit to Bulgaria, where he met with Prime Minister Rumen Radev. The trip was kept confidential for security reasons, but after news of it broke, some Bulgarian politicians demanded an explanation of the purpose of the visit.
