Nataliya Bugayova is the Director of Strategic Insights at Vertical Knowledge, as well as a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), where she leads the Russia and Ukraine portfolio. Her work focuses on the Kremlin’s foreign policy decision-making and ongoing global campaigns. She was previously ISW’s Development Director from 2016-2019, and led ISW’s Russia and Ukraine research team from 2019–2020. She directed developmental and planning efforts for major events, including the ISW Security Conference.
Prior to ISW, she was the Chief Executive Officer of the Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s independent English-language publication. She also served as Chief of Staff to former Ukrainian Economy Minister Pavlo Sheremeta, appointed after the pro-democracy Euromaidan Revolution in February 2014. She also advised Minister Sheremeta on cooperation with international financial institutions, focusing primarily on the World Bank. She has worked on consulting projects with the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and with the Boston Consulting Group in Kyiv.
She obtained a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She was a student fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She earned her undergraduate degree in East Asian Studies at Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University.