Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation

Valerii Kravets is a Bucharest-based program coordinator for GMF Black Sea Trust. He focuses on Ukraine-related programming and supports initiatives aimed at strengthening electoral integrity across the Eastern Partnership countries. He also works to strengthen local governance, advance European integration processes, and foster international cooperation. He has contributed to projects funded by USAID, the EU (ProElect, Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership - ERICS), and the Porticus Foundation.

Prior to joining GMF, Kravets gained over a decade of senior-level experience in the private sector, most recently as deputy director for development at ATB Corporation, one of Ukraine’s largest companies. In this role, he was responsible for national development strategy; public-private partnership projects; cooperation with ministries, state-owned enterprises, and local governments; supporting M&A transactions; and driving digital transformation initiatives.

Kravets holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and enterprise management from Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, a bachelor’s degree in law from Dnipro Humanitarian University, and a master’s degree in administrative management from Dnipro Polytechnic. He also studied at the University of Economics and Management in Prague.

He is a native speaker of Ukrainian and Russian and is fluent in English and Romanian.

Miruna Gheorghe is a Bucharest-based senior program coordinator. She supports the implementation of EU-funded initiatives, including the Enhancing the Resilience of Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership (ERICS) project, which advances civil society resilience in the Eastern Partnership region. She leads strategic communications and EU visibility efforts for GMF’s Bucharest office, contributes to grantmaking processes, and coordinates convenings, partnerships, and stakeholder engagement activities in the wider Black Sea region.

Prior to joining GMF, Gheorghe worked with NaTakallam, the UN Youth Delegation of Romania, and other international organizations. She contributed to initiatives focused on human rights, civic engagement, and cross-cultural cooperation.

Gheorghe holds a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in security and defense. Her academic and professional interests center on security dynamics in the wider Black Sea region and the Middle East, with a focus on regional security, defense, geopolitics, and international affairs. She speaks Romanian, French, and German.