Ukrainians Celebrate 20 Years Since Arriving in Saint John with Genesys Canada
SAINT JOHN – When Vadim Borodovski got off a plane from Ukraine with his wife and two children 20 years ago, they were starting their new lives as Canadian citizens.
“We got a huge amount of support. They helped us to do everything, find an apartment, find a care, seeing what’s around,” Borodovski says. “We had small kids, so we were busy.”
Borodovski was one of a handful of newcomers from the Ukraine who came to Saint John in 1996 with their families to work for Genesys Canada, a company born out of a partnership between NB Tel and U.S.-based Genesys in 1994.
“The founders of Genesys in the U.S. were Ukrainian immigrants so they had come to the states some years earlier … they had come together to form this new company and consequently many of their first engineers and software developers were Ukrainian and Russian,” says Ian Cavanagh, who worked at NB Tel and then joined senior management when Genesys Canada was formed.
“So when we started the joint venture, we had the telecom expertise, but we had a gap on the software development expertise. So through the relationships that the guys in California had with friends in Eastern Europe, they linked us up with some existing [talent] who they knew.”
At first, four workers came to Saint John with their families: Borodovski, Igor Zotov, Taras Mytropan and Serge Piltiai. Not long after, several others made the trip.
“They basically joined our team here in Saint John and joined Genesys Canada and made incredible contributions,” Cavanagh says. “They were as responsible as anyone for our success building the organization in Saint John.”
In 1999, Genesys went public in the U.S. Due to the nature of the company’s agreement with NB Tel, Genesys Canada then became a wholly owned subsidiary of Genesys U.S., but has maintained and continued to grow their Canadian operation in Saint John over the past 20 years.
Though a few have moved away, many of the Ukrainians stayed in New Brunswick. Some continued to work for Genesys, some even brought more family members to Canada to join them. A few, including Borodovski, went on to create their own startups and join Q1 Labs, which was acquired by IBM in 2011.
Earlier this month, the former newcomers hosted a celebration commemorating 20 years since their arrival with many of their old Genesys Canada colleagues. For Borodovski, it was great to reconnect with the group that his family was so close to in the early years of settling into their new home.
“It was a really nice experience because at first for several years we even changed the oil in our cars together with our Canadian friends,” he says. “Just getting together with some beer and changing oil in our cars. It was nice and we still maintain in some contact.”
Having travelled quite a bit before moving to Canada, Borodovski says the help and support his family received was beyond what he ever expected.
“Before moving to Canada I quite often travelled to Western Germany, Switzerland, but that experience is totally different,” he says. “Western Europe, though obviously a nice place to visit, it’s not a nice place to live for foreigners. You always had the feeling that you were a black sheep. Here, of course you can find some exceptions, but this is a country of immigrants after all. It was easier to feel at home here quite soon.”
Immigration is one of big solutions proposed to boost the region’s economy. Though they may seem few and far between, there have been examples of people and businesses moving to the region recently. In fact, Silicon Valley company RevJet moved its Ukraine office to Saint John in May.
Cavanagh believes immigration is pivotal to growing the region’s economy, but that we need stronger approach.
“I think we have to have more [immigration], not less. But I think the manner of which we do it has to be smarter,” he says. “We have to wrap our arms around people and carry them for some period of time. You can’t just expect people to come from other parts of the world … and just assume on their own by themselves they are going to find their way. It’s not that easy here. “
Though he’s now working as a partner at Ernst and Young, Cavanagh says Genesys Canada’s role in helping settle their Ukrainian friends is one of his career’s biggest highlights.
“I’ve been pretty lucky in my career in terms of the opportunities I’ve had and the positions I’ve held,” he says. “But the opportunity to be involved in a very small way enabling them to come here, I would say by far is what I’d consider to be my most significant accomplishment in my career.”