About Hromada

Hromada — Ukrainian for "community" — is a U.S. nonprofit supporting Ukrainian municipalities rebuilding civilian infrastructure with distributed renewable energy. We run a charitable funding pipeline that connects American donors directly with Ukrainian communities, platform Ukrainian voices in Washington through Congressional briefings and policy events, and facilitate technical exchange and capacity-building between U.S. partners and Ukrainian local governments.

Who We Are

Thomas Protzman

Founder, Executive Director

Thomas built Hromada to support Ukraine's renewable energy transition at the municipal level. He is a Working Group Member of the German Marshall Fund's Ukraine Cities Partnership and a contributor to the American-German Institute, where he writes about transatlantic affairs and politics. A Fulbright Austria alum, he holds a Master's in International Affairs from the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany.

Sloan Austermann

Co-Founder, Director of Technology & Operations

Sloan is an AI Engineer at Accenture Federal Services, where he designs, builds, and deploys cloud-native systems supporting critical federal operations. He is also the founder of OmniSciences LLC, where he builds geometry-aware infrastructure for quantitative finance, computational chemistry, and neuroscience. He holds multiple professional AWS certifications and dual degrees in International Economics and Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame.

Kostiantyn Krynytskyi

Founding Partner, Ukraine

Kostiantyn heads the Energy Department at NGO Ecoaction in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he focuses on green reconstruction, energy security, and decentralized renewable generation across Ukraine. A lawyer by training, he previously coordinated Ecoaction's campaign for a just transition of coal regions and has served as an analyst for Ukraine's Public Integrity Council.

Our Board

Patrice Courtney Strong

Pat Courtney Strong is a marketing communications professional whose firm, Courtney Strong Inc., supports the clean energy transition. Clients have included U.S. Department of Energy and New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA). Pat is the President of the Rotary Club of Babcock Ranch, Florida, and has led a two-year effort with more than a dozen partners to install solar and battery backup on hospitals in Chernihiv, Ukraine.

Max Gruenig

Max is a climate and energy economist, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service, and Administrator of POCACITO Network. He has previously served as President of Ecologic Institute US and as a Senior Policy Advisor at E3G in Washington, DC.

Michael J. Shank

Michael is Director of Programs at the Albert Einstein Institution. He is an Adjunct Professor at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, a Visiting Scholar at George Mason University's Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, and a consultant to the Urban Sustainability Directors Network.

Executive Director Thomas Protzman also serves on the Board.