Arkadiy Dobkin

CEO; Founder, EPAM Systems

Original name:

Dobkin Arkadz

Newtown, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Date of Birth

03.06.1960

Biography

Born in 1960 in Minsk. Studied at school № 50 with a mathematical bias. In 1983 graduated from the Belarusian National Technical University with a degree in electrical engineering[5]. In 1991 he emigrated to the USA.

Repeatedly included in the ratings compiled by leading world publications (CRN[en] and Consulting Magazine) as an IT-consultant and company manager.

He was among the top ten in the rating of the 200 most successful and influential businessmen in Belarus.

In 2020, Alexander Lukashenko directly accused Dobkin of “financing the protests” that swept Belarus after the results of the presidential election. Since then, EPAM employees have been relocated to other countries.

In 2022, Arkady Dobkin condemned Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, ordered the closure of all EPAM operations in Russia and established a fund to help Ukraine.

Career

In 1992-1993, he worked as a programmer at Prudential.

In 1993, together with Leonid Lozner, he founded EPAM Systems, an American company that is one of the largest custom software developers in the world and has major development centers in Central and Eastern Europe. HTP Resident #1.

From April 1993 to November 1996, he worked as a consultant and leading technical specialist at Colgate Palmolive (in 1995, with a group of Minsk programmers, who formed the basis of Epam Systems, he began working on the creation of a sales support system for Colgate, an analog of SAP). During this period Arkady Dobkin met Hasso Plattner, the founder of SAP AG, who entrusted his team to develop the first prototype of SAP product for sales support system, which was to be presented at the annual SAP conference in 1996.

In July 1999, he became Senior Vice President of Development at Firepond (a leading developer of Sales Force Automation), a position he held until March 2001.

Arkady Dobkin was a member of the board of directors of Russoft, an association of the most influential software companies in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Personal Life

Elena, Yulia and Sofia Dobkin (wife and daughters, beneficiaries of Arkadiy Dobkin GST Exempt Grantor Trust).

Awards

Awarded the Medal for Labor Merit, member of the Council for the Development of the Digital Economy.
In 2004 was recognized in a special edition of "The Top 25 Executives" of CRN weekly as one of the three most influential IT executives in the "Foreign Relations" category.
In 2006 Consulting Magazine recognized Arkady Dobkin as one of the 25 most influential consultants of the year.
EPAM has been named to Forbes' list of the "25 Fastest Growing Public Technology Companies" every year since 2013, and has been named to Fortune's "100 Fastest Growing Companies" in 2019 and 2020 as a leading IT services provider.

Hobbies

Skiing and playing tennis, soccer in the summer.

Education

1978-1983

Belarusian National Technical University

Engineer of electrical engineering