Eugene Desyatnik

“I happen to be an immigrant. I’m a naturalized citizen at this point, but I was not born here and English is my second language. Regardless of your status, even if you may not be able to vote in U.S. elections, you can get involved and run and become an officer in our neighborhood organization. You can have influence, make a difference, and give back.”

Eugene Desyatnik is, in a most quiet, unassuming way, a mover, shaker, a listener, a leader, and a fixer. He has always been engaged in the community, but especially since having kids. A fully participating parent of three youngsters, he is at times the one holding down the fort while his wife, a front line worker, sees patients, delivers babies or teaches obstetrics and gynecology at Penn. To ensure the well-being and enrichment of his own children but also on behalf of all the diverse families of the Bella Vista community, Eugene is committed to public safety, accessible streets, sustainability, preservation, beautification efforts, and new discoveries about his neighborhood and the city overall. He rarely says no, and so he has assumed leadership roles at one volunteer organization after another. He is president of the Bella Vista Neighbors Association (BVNA), serves on Meredith’s school advisory council, and is active with Friends of Palumbo Park.  He has co-founded and helped run mutual aid efforts to protect essential workers and vulnerable individuals during the first few months of the pandemic.  He has also long served on the board of directors for the historic congregation B'Nai Abraham, where he fortifies community tradition and spirit with events like Latke and Vodka at Hanukkah, while helping maintain and preserve the historic building originally constructed by Russian immigrants. Hailing from the former Soviet Union, Yevgeny-- known to all as Eugene--recognizes the many challenges faced by various immigrants new to Philly, or simply those new to the neighborhood, and strives to link people to the services they need. Professionally, he is a data architect in e-commerce and financial services. In real life and in the virtual world, personally and professionally, Eugene is an ingenious, inventive problem-solver.

what does leadership mean to you?

“Empowering individuals with sufficient autonomy to advance in and contribute in their delegated area or "lane", ensuring the lane is appropriate for them, recognizing the need to offer help and also when to step back, removing their obstacles by coordinating with others, providing them with sufficient resources when available, recognizing their achievements, engaging on their comfort level, and having the vision of how all the pieces will fit together.”

Biography:

Eugene Desyatnik lives on the 700 block of S 8th Street with his wife and three children. Eugene serves as President of the Bella Vista Neighbors Association, is a member of Friends of Palumbo Park and Cianfrani Park, Friends of the South St Police Mini Station, Meredith School Advisory Council, and has been an officer of Historic Congregation B'Nai Abraham and past president of the Philly area data management professional society. Most recently, he is the co-founder of Sew Face Masks Philadelphia.
His interests range from public safety, accessible streets, sustainability, preservation, and always learning something new about his neighborhood and the city overall.
Professionally, Eugene is a data architect, having focused in the e-commerce and financial services vertical, and currently works at Radial helping design microservices that handle cart and checkout, order management, payment processing, and fraud detection systems.