Anastasia Kuzmina

Anastasia Kuzmina

Degree: 2002, MPA

Job Title: HR Consultant, Interim CHRO, Executive Coach; APCOA Group, Interim

Russian native Anastasia Kuzmina (MPA '02), who studied at the University of Delaware on an Edmund Muskie Graduate Fellowship and received her MPA in May 2002, has gone far indeed.

Anastasia currently advises a Private Equity company as Interim Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) on the critical people choices in the Board room and the Executive Committee and is involved in leadership team development and assessment. She has worked in HR for over 20 years, with her most recent experience in different divisions of General Electric and Baker Hughes company in the areas of HR business partnership, succession planning, talent mapping, and management assessment and leadership development. In her last role as vice president for the Oilfield Equipment business, she led HR strategy for a $2.8B business with 7,000 employees worldwide, 15 manufacturing plants, and 18 service shops globally.

Anastasia lived and worked in several European countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Spain, and the United States, in the security, plastics, power controls, and energy technologies industries. She currently resides in London, UK. In addition to her Master’s Degree from the University of Delaware in the USA, she is a Chartered MCIPD, a Certified Executive Coach, and a Hogan practitioner. Outside of work, she enjoys playing tennis, traveling, sailing, and skiing.

After graduating from the University of Delaware, Kuzmina returned to Russia, where she worked for two years for the International Republican Institute (IRI), an American nonprofit organization. At IRI, she was a program officer in charge of the youth program, political party building, and other training programs. There, Kuzmina started to develop a passion for human resources management.

Much of Kuzmina’s early success is credited to her experience as an international student at the University of Delaware, specifically as an IPA research assistant. While at IPA, she worked with the Women’s Leadership Development Program and Conflict Resolution Program. 

“The two-year MPA program at the University of Delaware was a great learning and maturing experience for me. There were courses relevant to my current role—Management Decision Making, an HR class, Finance and Economics,” Kuzmina says.

“Working in IPA was a great learning experience as well. It gave me an opportunity to work and participate in activities in the Women’s Leadership Development Program, during which I learned about leadership concepts and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Having worked with the Conflict Resolution Program doing mediation, facilitation, and networking helps me tremendously in my everyday work. I enjoyed working with a very international team, and I made lots of friends with whom I continue to stay in touch. I also truly believe that the master’s program at UD was my first big step to an international career. It was my first experience living in the United States, and I’m still enjoying my international working/living lifestyle that started at UD.”