Roman Matys is an economist from Lviv, Ukraine, and President of the International Investment Office. He has worked in investment for more than twenty-five years: first as a consultant to Ukrainian and international companies, then in charge of investment policy for the Lviv region.
Investment
From 2016 to 2021 Roman Matys headed the Investment Policy Department of the Lviv Regional State Administration. Together with a team he built from scratch, he implemented “Lviv Region — Factory of Europe”, a strategy he authored. In five years the region attracted almost $1 billion in foreign direct investment, and about 75,000 new jobs were created. Alongside it, the city of Lviv ran a programme called “100,000 New Jobs” to grow its business process outsourcing and shared services sector.
At the International Investment Office Roman Matys continues this work independently. The office helps Ukrainian communities attract investors and helps companies set up and grow in Ukraine.
International Economic Forum
Since 2016 Roman Matys has hosted the International Economic Forum in Lviv every June. Business owners, diplomats, government officials and academics come to discuss how Ukraine can rebuild and grow, during the war and after it. Each evening of the forum ends with a concert of the Lviv Summer Jazz Fest.
Roman Matys sees Poland as Ukraine’s closest neighbour and partner, and believes the two countries need to talk to each other openly. He speaks regularly at the Economic Forum in Karpacz and at other international conferences around the world.
Civic work
Much of what Roman Matys knows about getting things done he learned in civic life. In 2012 he founded the civic initiative «И так поймут!» (roughly, “They’ll understand anyway”), which campaigned for Ukrainian speakers’ right to information in their own language. That public demand became law: Roman Matys initiated and co-authored Ukraine’s law on the state language, adopted in 2019, and worked for years to build support for it in society and in parliament. During the Revolution of Dignity in 2013–2014 he organised trips for people from Lviv to the Maidan in Kyiv, spoke at the Euromaidan in Lviv and later coordinated the Lviv Maidan Committee. Mobilising large numbers of people, building public support for an idea and seeing a change in legislation through to the end are skills he now brings to investment work.
In 2019 the weekly NV included Roman Matys in its ranking of the 30 most influential people in Lviv. In 2020 he ran for mayor of Lviv.
Education
Roman Matys graduated in economics from Lviv University of Trade and Economics in 2000 and in international relations from the University of Business and Law in 2020.