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Board of Directors

  • President: Paul Teterenko
  • Vice President: Nestor Makuch
  • Vice President: Khrystyna Kohut
  • Treasurer: Elena Scharabun
  • Secretary: Barry Newton

Directors:

  • Nick Fedchyshyn
  • Bohdan Horich
  • Orest Ilkiw
  • Orest Kuszka
  • Myron Lahola
  • Dr. Alexander Makar
  • William (Bill) Tracy

Paul Teterenko (President) has been with St. Michael’s Health Group since 1991, holding various progressive management positions. Presently as Director of General Services he is responsible for the day to day operations of Food Services, Housekeeping/Laundry Services, Maintenance Services, Food Production/ Catering Services and Building Security at St Michael’s Long Term Care Centre. He is the Fire Marshal for St. Michaels Long Term Care Centre. Paul has over 15 years of retail and food service management. Prior to working at St. Michael’s, Paul was a Grocery Manager and retail Grocery Store Manager for 9 years in Toronto. While there he also owned and operated a frozen yogurt franchise and a food production company supplying wholesale food to stores and restaurants in the greater Toronto area. Paul is an active member of the Ukrainian Male Chorus of Edmonton. He has been a board member of the Ukrainian Canadian Archives & Museum of Alberta since 2006.

Nestor Makuch (Vice President) holds a B.Sc. from the University of Victoria (1974) and a B.A. from the University of Alberta (1979). He graduated with an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1983 and practices law with Wheatley Sadownik, Barristers and Solicitors. Makuch served on the executive of the Ukrainian Professional and Business Association of Edmonton, 1984-1989, as well as president in 1989, as well as vice-president of the (Western) Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Federation in 1990. He has been treasurer for the Alberta Foundation for Ukrainian Education Society and a member of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton Finance Council. He has also served as vice-chair of the Friends of the Chair of Ukrainian Culture, University of Alberta, and on the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village Advisory Board. Nestor Makuch has been a director on the board of UCAMA since 1996.

Khrystyna Kohut (Vice President) graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in Slavic Languages. Her community involvement has included educational work with the Red Cross in Thunder Bay where she also sat on the second languages committee of the Thunder Bay School Board and was instrumental in establishing Ukrainian language courses in high school. Khrystyna is one of the original Shumka dancers and has taught dance and been a choir leader with the Youth Unity Association. In Edmonton Khrystyna has been involved with the Ukrainian English bilingual programme, both as a teacher’s aid and with the parent association. Khrystyna is a past president of the Ukrainian Professional and Business Association of Edmonton. For over 28 years Khrystyna was office administrator and financial officer with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Alberta. She is treasurer with the Canada Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and sits on the audit committee of the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts. Khrystyna has sat on the UCAMA board since 1992. She is the daughter of UCAMA founders Hryhory and Stefania Yopyk.

Elena Scharabun (Treasurer) is a graduate of the Business Management Program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. She was active with CYMK – Ukrainian Orthodox Youth and its choir and with the Ukrainian Women’s Association of Canada, serving on their executives. Scharabun is owner of the Ukrainian Book Store, a family business started in 1914 as Edmonton’s first bookstore. Her position allows her to actively promote and support the community and its activities. She joined the board in 2004.

Barry Newton (Secretary) holds a B.A. in honours Anthropology (1972) from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a M.A. in Archaeology (1974) from the University of Toronto. Barry has directed archaeological investigations in Ontario for the Ontario Provincial Government, in Alberta both for the Provincial Government and as an archaeological consultant, as well as conducting archaeological investigations as a consultant in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. Barry currently works for Alberta Culture and Community Services as a resource management planner. Barry joined the board in 2005.

Nick Fedchyshyn (Director)

Bohdan Horich (Director)

Orest Ilkiw (Director)

Orest Kuszka (Director)

Myron P. Lahola (Director) has recently joined the UCAMA Board of Directors and carries the torch passed to him from his father John Lahola who served with the organization’s founding group of members. Myron was born and raised in Alberta as a first generation Ukrainian of displaced immigrant parents from western Ukraine who came to Canada after WWII. Myron was raised in an atmosphere of Ukrainian culture and language. He is a member of numerous Ukrainian business and cultural associations, attended Ukrainian parochial school and “Ukraiino Znavstvo”. Myron brings a broad experience grounded in Alberta’s Ukrainian community and network of Ukrainians across Canada and the world. Of particular benefit to the work of the Board of Directors is Myron’s connection to his Ukrainian heritage acquired from his parent’s generation combined with an intimate experience with modern political, economic and cultural development in post soviet Ukraine, having lived and worked in Ukraine from 1993 to 2004. Myron Lahola is a microbiologist and self employed consultant with “Myron Lahola Consulting Ltd.” specializing in project management for international water and wastewater treatment projects.

Dr. Alexander Makar (Director) did his undergraduate studies in History and Education at the University of Chernivtsi and his graduate studies in History at the Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyviv, Ukraine, and at the University of Alberta. In 1889-90, he worked as a historian at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Since 1990, he has worked as a researcher and archivist at the University of Alberta. From 1992 to 1997 he was also the special projects director at UCAMA. Dr.Makar was the executive director of UCAMA from 1997-2007. He has co-edited two books and is the author of over twenty articles and other publications on culture and history of Ukrainians in Canada. He has also presented on various Ukrainian-Canadian topics at more than thirty conferences in Canada and internationally. He has served as secretary of the Canadian Association for Ukrainian Ethnology and is on the board of the Ukrainian Pioneers Association of Alberta. Dr. Makar joined the board of UCAMA as a director in 2003.

William (Bill) Tracy (Director) holds a B.A. in history from Colby College and an M.A. and A.B.D. in anthropology from Brown University. He brings to the board 30 years of experience in preserving and developing heritage sites in Alberta including virtually all of the sites in the provincial network where he acted as planning officer in their developmental phase. Bill next turned his expertise to the assistance of privately owned heritage resources. His accomplishments in this area include the co-operative creation of the world’s largest ecomuseum. Most recently he has lead a team of experts in the seven-year creation of In Time and Place: Master Plan 2005 for the Protection and Preservation of Alberta’s Past. Bill has presented papers at international conferences in anthropology, industrial archaeology and museology, and authored numerous articles as well as co-authoring the best selling hiking book Hiking the Historic Crowsnest Pass. He is also internationally recognized as an authority on Native art. In 2009 Bill retired from Alberta Community Development where he was the senior planning advisor for heritage resource management. Bill joined the board in 2005.