Ago Vilu named Country Managing Partner of PwC in Ukraine

Ago Vilu has succeeded Richard Pollard as Country Managing Partner of PwC Ukraine. Vilu has been with the Big Four accounting and consulting firm for over two decades.

For the last ten years, Vilu served as Managing Partner for PwC Estonia and also as the Lead Partner for PwC Baltics and Belarus. Aside from his internal leadership role, Vilu, who was appointed a partner in 2006, has led the audits of several high profile clients in Estonia and the Baltics.

Vilu is an expert in the field of audit: he is a member of the PwC’s Global Accounting Consulting Services (“IFRS Technical”) network and a co-author of PwC global IFRS handbook, Manual of Accounting. He was also in the past the Chairman of the Estonian Accounting Standards Board and is a member of the Accounting Regulatory Committee (ARC) of the European Union, which is the body responsible for endorsement of IFRS standards in the EU.

In his new capacity, Vilu leads PwC’s operation in the Ukrainian market, which it first entered in 1993. Today, the professional services firm has three offices in the country: in Kiev, Dnipro and Lviv. He will also take final responsibility for the setup of PwC’s new Shared Delivery Centre in Lviv, for which the firm has launched a recruitment drive to hire 350 new professionals. “I am happy to start the new chapter in my career and believe that despite the period of economic challenge and uncertainty PwC Ukraine will continue bringing value to its customers and building trust in society,” said Vilu. 

He has succeeded the Englishman Richard Pollard effective July 1, 2018, who has retired this June after a 30-year career with PwC. Pollard, who specialises in providing audit services to major listed global companies, has been a partner since 1995. Prior to heading the Ukrainian organisation, Pollard held various leadership roles in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). One of his last large achievements was successfully integrating PwC Ukraine with the CEE Northern Cluster territories of Poland, the Baltics and Belarus.

Meanwhile, PwC Ukraine has added two new senior professionals to its team. Rafal Turczyn, an experienced expert in fraud investigations, anti-bribery services, anti-money laundering and forensic technology, joined the forensic team in the country. His appointment comes at a time when fraud is at a high – according to PwC research, almost half of Ukrainian companies were victims of fraud in the last two years. Yang Shuai joined the firm’s China Business Group team to strengthen its two-way activities with Chinese businesses. 

PwC Central and Eastern Europe is led by the Hungarian Nick Kós, who took over at the helm from Olga Grygier-Siddons earlier this summer.