Tuesday, June 16, 2026
HBS Association of Boston
Shared event from the HBS Association of Boston
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the largest military conflict in Europe since the end of World War II. Ukraine’s independence from Russia, Europe’s freedom from Russian dominance, America’s support of NATO and European defense, and the normalization of military aggression are issues at stake in the war and how the war is ended.
Hear from experts why this war is important to America and Europe. Learn what is happening in Ukraine that is not visible here. Join the conversation about the war and the future of Ukraine and Europe.
Prof. Serhii Plokhii will brief us on the history behind the Russian invasion of Ukraine and share his insights on the likely future of the conflict and the prospects for peace. Prof. Plokhii is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of History at Harvard and the former Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.
Rick Williams is a Boston area corporate leader and author of the leadership guidebook Create the Future. He is a former President of the Harvard Business School Association of Boston. Mr. Williams participated in a supply mission driving non-military supplies to Ukraine. He will share what he saw and experienced in Ukraine, as well as his takeaways from talking with leaders there.
The discussion will be moderated by the Ukraine and Russia expert Prof. Olena Lennon. Dr. Lennon is a Practitioner in Residence at the University of New Haven, where she teaches U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy, International Relations, and the Russia-Ukraine War.
We are honored that these organizations are joining HBSAB to Co-Host this important event.
Foley Hoag
Harvard Ukraine Institute
Harvard Kennedy School Woman’s Alumni Network
Wharton Club of Boston
Ukraine Global Scholars
Pricing Information
General Public - $50
Wharton Club of Boston members - Save $20 off General Admission with code WHARTON
Rick Williams
Managing Director | Williams Advisory Partners
Rick Williams is a keynote speaker and author sharing his insights and experience as a company founder, CEO, scientist, management consultant, and board member. Mr. Williams speaks about “Making Difficult Decisions,” drawing on his acclaimed leadership guidebook, Create the Future. He hosts the Create the Future with Rick Williams Podcast, a community forum for leaders to share their stories about making tough choices for their organizations. Rick started his career as a physicist, followed by Harvard Business School and management consulting with Arthur D. Little, Inc.
Mr. Williams is an experienced member of the board of directors of technology companies and a board chair. He currently serves on the boards of Amorphex Therapeutics, Career Town, and Navigation Sciences. He served on the national board of directors of the Private Directors Association (PDA), the professional association of directors of private companies. His publications include “How to make your board into a value accelerator for the company.”
Professor Serhii Plokhii
Professor of Ukrainian History | Harvard University
Professor Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University. A leading authority on Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe, he served as the Director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute from 2013 to 2025. He studies Ukrainian, Slovic, and Russian history. His book, The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union, won the 2015 Lionel Gelber Prize for the world's best non-fiction book in English on global issues. In 2024, he was awarded the Arenberg Prize for History for his book The Russo-Ukrainian War.
Prof. Plokhii won the Taras Shevchenko National Prize (Ukraine) for his book The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine (2015). He also won the Ballie Gifford Prize and Pushkin House Book Prize, UK, for Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy, (2018), and the Duke d’Arenberg Prize in European History for The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History (2023).
His latest book, The Nuclear Age: An Epic Race for Arms, Power, and Survival, was released by W.W. Norton in the US and by Penguin in the UK.
Olena Lennon, Ph.D. | Event Moderator
Practitioner in Residence | University of New Haven
Olena Lennon, Ph.D., is a Practitioner in Residence of National Security at the University of New Haven, where she teaches U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy, International Relations, and the Russia-Ukraine War. Her research focuses on domestic and international politics of Ukraine, as well as Eurasian geopolitics and security writ large.
Dr. Lennon was a Fulbright scholar and most recently a Research Scholar at Woodrow Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C. She serves on Freedom House’s team of Ukraine experts that produces a yearly “Freedom in the World” report focused on assessing Ukraine’s domestic political environment. She has also conducted Ukraine country studies training for U.S. advisors to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense under the auspices of the United States European Command (EUCOM) Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC).
An Eastern Ukraine native, she also serves as an election observer with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Her writing appears in leading journals including Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, Eurasian Geography and Economics.
