Prodan Oleg

Oleg Prodan

Director of the Onezhskoye Pomorye National Park

Member of the Russian Geographical Society (2000), Honorary Polar Explorer of Russia (2009), General Director of the Living Nature Club in the Arkhangelsk Region (2002-2013), Director of the Onezhskoye Pomorye National Park (since 2013), skydiver (1,500 jumps) and amateur pilot of a Robinson R-44 helicopter.

In 1982, he graduated from the Rybinsk Institute of Aviation Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering.

In 2008, he graduated from the Moscow Academy of State and Municipal Administration Management with a degree in state and municipal administration.

After graduating from the Rybinsk Aviation Technology Institute, he worked as a designer and engineer at the design bureau of the Rybinsk Instrument Engineering Plant and eventually became the head of the bureau. Additionally, he also worked as a parachute instructor at the plant’s sports and technical club, and established and headed the Sputnik bureau of international youth tourism in Rybinsk.

In 1994, he organized and took part in the Looking North Russian-Belgian expedition to study the environmental state of the Gydan tundra.

In 1998, he organized and took part in an international parachute expedition at the North Pole. The expedition kicked off the First World Youth Games and was held under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee.

In 1999, he took part in an inspection mission to the Vostok station during the 44th Russian Antarctic expedition. That same year, he organized and took part in a comprehensive international expedition to the North Pole marking the 70th anniversary of polar aviation and the 50th anniversary of the first parachute jump to the North Pole. As an expert, he sailed to the Franz Josef Land archipelago aboard the Murmansk coast guard ship of the Arctic regional division of the Russian Federal Border Service.

Since 2000, he has organized the socio-environmental project Visiting Newborn Seals.

In 2001, he helped organize and took part in an expedition to the North Pole aboard the nuclear icebreaker Yamal.

In 2002, he helped organize and took part in an expedition to the North Pole.

In 2002, he organized and took part in it an expedition to Wrangel Island aboard a Mil Mi-26 helicopter.

From 2002-2013, he was General Director of the Living Nature Club.

In 2004, he organized and took part in an international ornithological expedition to Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

In 2006, he organized and took part in the White Gull international ornithological expedition to Arkhangelsk, Severnaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and Victoria Island.

In 2007, he organized an international ethnographic expedition to visit the Nenets nomads on the coasts of the White Sea and the Barents Sea.

In 2007, 2008, and 2009, he helped organize international ornithological expeditions to the Arctic as follow-ups to the White Gull 2006 expedition.

In 2008-2009, he took part in expeditions to the North Pole.

In 2010-2013, he organized and took part in a comprehensive expedition called Following the Two Captains to Franz Josef Land. The expedition members aimed to find traces of the expedition of Georgy Brusilov (1912-1914). The artifacts found during the expedition were then delivered to the Arkhangelsk Regional History Museum and have formed part of the exhibition entitled The History of Three Missing Expeditions.

In 2012, he took part in an expedition by the Russian Arctic National Park and the World Wide Fund for Nature to Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land.

In 2013, he organized and took part in the television project “The Russian Arctic in 30 Days with Ville Haapasalo” in the Arkhangelsk Region.

He is married and has a son and two grandchildren.