Our World ORT Mensch of the Month is Mila Finkelstein, Chief Executive Officer of ORT Ukraine who, for over more than two decades with ORT, and especially through the darkest days of the full-scale war in Ukraine, has combined steady leadership, personal resilience, and an unwavering devotion to the ORT mission and to Jewish peoplehood.
After being active in the Hillel movement and working for the JDC in Ukraine, Mila joined ORT Ukraine in 2003, where she now serves as CEO. She lives in Kyiv with her husband and their eighteen-year-old daughter, a proud alumna of Kyiv ORT Lyceum — a family story inseparable from ORT’s own.
Mila has led ORT Ukraine through its most difficult chapter without losing sight of its founding purpose: Educating for Life and sustaining Jewish young people. In her own words: “It is difficult to find here in Ukraine any person/kid/family/school who is not impacted by the war. …Kids are spending hours in shelters under raid attacks, … they’ve lost their parents and relatives. We are trying to use any possible occasion to make the childhood of our “kids of war” as peaceful and joyful as possible.”
Mila’s steadiness under fire, her willingness to carry her country and community’s story to supporters and colleagues, and her lifelong dedication to Jewish peoplehood make her an outstanding member of the global ORT family of dedicated professionals.