Andrii Borysovych Yermak (; born 21 November 1971) is a Ukrainian film producer, lawyer and the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed him on 11 February 2020. He is also a member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, as well as the Chairman of the Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian and Social Affairs.
Biography
Andrii Yermak was born on 21 November 1971 in Kyiv, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union). Yermak's Russian-born mother Maria met his Kyiv native father Borys on a school trip of a Leningrad school to Kyiv. Yermak's father is Jewish. They met through mutual acquaintances. The couple married in 1971 and she moved to Kyiv. Yermak has a brother Denys, who is 8 years younger.
In 1990, he started and in 1995 Yermak graduated from Kyiv's Taras Shevchenko National University's Institute of International Relations with a master's degree in international private law. The same year he received his license for law practice. In his second year of university, at the request of one of his teachers, he started working for the law company Proxen.
In 1997, Yermak founded the International Law Firm and was engaged in the field of intellectual property and commercial law. Between 2006 and 2014 he, in his profession as lawyer, aided Party of Regions MP Elbrus Tedeyev.
In the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election, Yermak was a proxy of candidate Arseniy Yatsenyuk in Kyiv's 216th constituency.
Yermak founded the Garnet International Media Group in 2012 and is the producer of such films as and The Line.
Yermak became acquainted with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2011, when Zelenskyy was the general producer of the TV channel Inter. The two became friends. Yermak worked in Zelenskyy's election campaign team in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election.
On 21 May 2019, newly elected President Zelenskyy appointed Yermak as Presidential Aide for Foreign Policy Issues. In this role he negotiated major prison exchanges with Russia during the war in Donbas. Yermak was the point of contact for Kurt Volker and Rudy Giuliani on behalf of Zelenskyy during the buildup of the Trump–Ukraine scandal.
President Zelenskyy appointed Yermak as Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine on 11 February 2020. Yermak became a member of the National Security and Defense Council the following day.As the Head of the President's Office, his duties are to provide administrative, legal, consultative, advisory, media, analytical and other assistance and support to the President.
Yermak was appointed chairman of the Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian and Social Affairs on March 2, 2022.
Personal life
Yermak has lived in Kyiv his whole life. He is single and has no children.
References
External links
Feb 12, 2020 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
1971 births
Living people
Politicians from Kyiv
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Institute of International Relations alumni Independent politicians in Ukraine Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Jewish Ukrainian politicians Ukrainian film producers 21st-century Ukrainian lawyers 21st-century Ukrainian politicians National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
