On the morning of May 13, the first full day of the 40th Regular Convention of the Ukrainian National Association (UNA), outgoing UNA President and Chief Executive Officer Stefan Kaczaraj addressed delegates of the convention. Mr. Kaczaraj served as an executive officer of the UNA for 25 years. He joined the UNA Executive Committee as acting treasurer of the UNA in 1997. In 1998, he was elected to the same position at the 34th Regular Convention. At the 35th Regular Convention in Chicago in 2002, Mr. Kaczaraj was elected to the position of UNA president.
The following is the full text of Mr. Kaczaraj’s speech at the 40th Regular Convention. A portion of his remarks were delivered in Ukrainian, which have been translated here from the original into English by Andrew Nynka.
[Translated from the original Ukrainian]
Dear delegates and branch representatives, dear guests, good day. And welcome to you all. It is my pleasure to convene the 40th Regular Convention of the Ukrainian National Association.
May the merciful Lord grant us the opportunity to work together productively.
I am deeply thankful that we can all gather together. These past two years of COVID-19 restrictions have been difficult years for all of us, for the UNA and for the entire world.
The minutes from previous conventions show that each of my predecessors as UNA presidents began their welcoming speech with a look back at our history. They did so perhaps because the conventions during the 20th Century came during important, even turbulent, times. Several of our conventions took place during world wars, as does this one.
We read about news from the July 30, 1914, issue of Svoboda that seems as if it was written today:
“The current war can have a huge impact on the Russian people. When the tsar decides to kill half a million people, their blood will flood the royal chambers. And it is possible that, fortunately for Russia, this tsarism, which has already reached its highest level of depravity, will fall to ashes and perish forever.”
Unfortunately, the “evil empire” did not fall apart at that time, and the “highest level of depravity” was still far away.
More than 75 years have passed since Ukraine regained its independence, and we all said “Thank God, finally.” We saw this as the final victory of our people, and we expected a quick and successful national revival. We all did our best to help that cause. At the beginning of 1990, the UNA created a fund for the revival of Ukraine, it actively worked together with public and government officials in Ukraine, supported Rukh, the National Movement of Ukraine, opened a press bureau in Kyiv and facilitated the creation of the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington.
We did not foresee that in Ukraine Russification did not disappear, and that in Moscow the longing for empire remained. A new test emerged: the Revolution of Dignity. And Russia’s response was to wage war – eight years in the Donbass and Crimea. At the beginning of the ninth year, on February 24, two-and-a-half months ago, it launched a full-scale war. The world waited. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, America, Europe – everyone expected Ukraine to surrender. Continuing its history of hating Ukraine and Ukrainians, Russia attacked Ukraine with savage brutality.
Putin was wrong; Europe and America were wrong. The world forgot that Ukraine has unbeatable weapons, such as an immortal national spirit, an unbreakable will for live and freedom, and that Ukraine is a nation of heroes.
We believe not only in the victory of the Ukrainian people – we believe that this victory will at last be the final victory and that this time the “evil empire” will forever disappear and Ukraine will flourish.
And the next common goal for our community will be to rebuild Ukraine. The UNA has always provided strength and perspective to the development of principled service in our American community, but also service to the Ukrainian cause. I believe this will continue to be the case in the future.
[End of translated text]
Now I will continue in a different vein, more specifically about UNA activities since the previous convention. Our guest speaker, Mr. Sam Destito, unfortunately will not be able to attend today, so I am taking the liberty of speaking a bit longer. While I began my presentation with the recent history of Ukraine and the UNA’s relationship with that history, it must be noted that in 2019 we celebrated UNA history – our year-long 125th anniversary – with great success. We began the year with a trip to our town of origin, Shamokin, Pa., in February, where our delegation was greeted by members of the city council and given a key to the city. The delegation was given a tour of the beautifully restored Transfiguration Ukrainian Catholic Church, the second oldest Ukrainian Catholic parish in America, established in 1885. In the evening, a dinner was held in our honor. Throughout the year, the UNA held numerous events through our branches, at Ukrainian festivals, at community events and conferences. We ended the celebration year with a magnificent concert and I thank Advisor Bohdana Puzyk for her leadership and organization of the memorable event.
Unfortunately, that high note was dampened only a few months later when the UNA, along with the rest of the world, went into COVID-19 lockdown. Numerous plans were derailed. However, no crisis can derail the overarching responsibility of the executive officers, in particular, all presidents past and future. This responsibility always has been, is and always will be guaranteeing organizational stability and financial health.
I am very pleased to report that the UNA has achieved financial stability. However, a return to stability has taken many years. During the 20 years that I have been privileged to serve as president, there was not one quadrennial period that did not present strong financial challenges. While some of the problems lay within the UNA – requiring updates to methods of sales, accounting, response to changes in insurance law, much of the difficulties were also the result of outside forces – [there were also]upheavals in the economy, such as the great economic recession of 2007-2009 that was followed by dramatic revisions to insurance regulations regarding reserves, [the]nature of investments, taxation of assets and numerous other challenges.
As we move into the future, our desire to sustain our Ukrainian identity, serve our community and help Ukraine can only be achieved if we fully understand that we are first and foremost a heavily regulated financial services operation – a life insurance company, one in which our family members, our neighbors, our friends entrust their money for periods of up to 25, 30 years. Although a fraternal, we are still subject to the same requirements as major companies. Therefore, I am proud of our financial achievements and am both relieved and grateful that I am finishing my service at the UNA with our organization on solid ground.
Today the UNA is a $178 million dollar asset company – that is a growth of more than 100 million in 20 years – with a consecutive 10 years of annual net profits. Our capital surplus, which is a key benchmark of stability, stands at $11.6 million, $1 million more than four years ago. We achieved this despite an environment that included two-years of economic disruption due to COVID-19. The UNA’s investment portfolio is strong, with 99 percent of the portfolio in the top two risk classes identified by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. We have chosen to maintain a conservative approach to our investments, yet still maintained a portfolio yield at a stable 5.05 percent, well above the industry average of 4.6 percent.
Allow me to quote from a recent Miller Newberg actuarial firm report: “[The] UNA’s financial condition has improved steadily over the past several years … in large part due to improved controls on expenses and better asset-liability management. … The annual asset adequacy testing continually produces very positive results.” This is good news. I do want to emphasize one element of that quote – “improved control on expenses.” While stable revenues are important, a much harder aspect of financial health is managing expenses. This effort required many years of making hard decisions. Nobody likes to cut spending. Again, our first and foremost responsibility is to our members, to those who give us their money in return for the guarantee that they will receive it when they need it. Each expense needs to be reviewed as prudent and necessary against this high bar of responsibility. I am proud to say that we have been doing this successfully. Near the end of 2021, the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, the tough guys in Trenton to whom we must report regularly and who still view small fraternals skeptically, also gave the UNA a positive assessment. We are one of only about six dozen fraternals – large and small – left in the United States. Traditional life insurance companies number close to 900.
I am deeply grateful to the staff of the UNA with whom I have worked during my tenure, both, as we say in the Home Office, on the insurance side, as well as on the publications side. All of you have enriched my life tremendously. I am grateful to the dedicated UNA officers present and past, as well as to the two executive officers with whom I have worked closely for the past several years, National Secretary and COO Yuriy Symczyk and National Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Roma Lisovich. Roma, Yuriy, you made us a great team, one of which I was proud to be a member. Thank you both.
I also want to take a moment to give not only a thank you, but a fond and even sad farewell to the UNA advisors, all the volunteers past and present, who were members of the UNA General Assembly. This convention will be the final one at which we will use the term General Assembly. The UNA General Assembly has been our bond with our membership for more than 100 years. Geographically diverse, the Home Office could always reach out to these dedicated individuals to help with all aspects of our fraternal life. Current insurance regulations demand a more streamlined approach to management, therefore, in keeping with changes to our bylaws adopted at an online special midterm session of the previous convention, we will go forward with a smaller Corporate Board of Directors that will have an expanded range of responsibilities. In advance, I would like to wish them all great success. As for our long-standing governance tradition, the UNA General Assembly, [The following text has been translated from the original Ukrainian] thank you and my deepest gratitude to all of the advisors who have so faithfully served the UNA.
Finally, I thank you deeply for the honor and opportunity to have served as your head of the UNA. I wholeheartedly call on all of you here to continue to work actively in the UNA.
Thank you for your attention.
[Editor’s note: Additional coverage of the UNA’s 40th Regular Convention will appear in the following issue of The Ukrainian Weekly]