Julia K. Skupchenko

Head of SDG Partnerships and a Board Member

Read more about Julia on Wikipedia

Julia is the Co-founder of the Think Tank AlterContacts. She is an Award-Winning Entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in Sustainability. She designs and leads audacious social impact initiatives and SDG Acceleration Actions recognized by the United Nations and the European Parliament.

Julia is an EU-registered Expert on Sustainable Entrepreneurship and an Expert on Rural Development for the Youth Department of the European Commission. She regularly shares her knowledge as an author of 50+ articles on sustainable entrepreneurship and social innovation; and as a guest speaker and facilitator at 100+ conferences, including TEDx and the United Nations MSMEs Day 2021. She was also a guest lecturer at Epoka University (Albania) and the MBA program of the Anahuac Mayab University (Mexico).

Before co-founding the Think Tank, Julia was a strategic advisor on Digital Innovation at the executive level for a Fortune 500 company. Previous to that, she was responsible for communications, stakeholder engagement, and third-party advocacy at a FTSE 50 company.

Originally, Julia comes from the Arctic region. She wrote and taught two university courses on Northern Development. She is one of the authors of the Barents Encyclopedia.

Talks & Interviews

AWARDS

In October 2022, Julia and Think Tank AlterContacts received Gold Award as Hero of the Year: Helping Others during COVID and as Team Hero of the Year; as well as Bronze for the best non-profit response to COVID in the 14th Annual 2022 Golden Bridge Business and Innovation Awards.

In September 2021, the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business honored Julia as Gold Stevie Award Winner in four categories: Woman of the Year; Female Thought Leader of the Year; Female Executive of the Year; and Mentor of the Year.

Additionally, Julia was named the winner of a Silver Stevie® Award in two categories Female Innovator of the Year and Most Innovative Woman of the Year. She was also awarded the Bronze as the Social Change Maker of the Year.

In 2020, the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business named Julia the winner of a Silver Stevie® Award in two categories Female Innovator of the Year and Mentor of the Year 2020. She was also awarded the Bronze as the Most Innovative Woman of the Year and the Woman of the Year 2020.