EPAM listed its address as a small office in Newtown, Pennsylvania, but its engineers worked in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Poland. The company sold software development to Western clients: design, building, testing and moving products between platforms. Its pitch was the deep pool of trained engineers across Central and Eastern Europe. When it went public in February 2012, most buyers thought of India for outsourced code. EPAM offered a different map.

Engineers Across the Old Bloc

EPAM's predecessor was founded in 1993. Arkadiy Dobkin ran the company as chief executive, president and chairman. The current company was incorporated in Delaware in December 2002. EPAM's delivery centers sat in cities known for engineering schools. The bet was that clients would pay for strong engineers close to Europe's time zones, and that EPAM could manage them as one team from the United States.

Leaving Russia Behind

EPAM sold 6 million shares at $12 in February 2012, 2 million of them new, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange as EPAM. For years its largest delivery locations were Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. After Russia invaded Ukraine, EPAM announced a phased exit from Russia on April 7, 2022, and agreed that September to sell almost all of its remaining Russian holdings. EPAM is still public on the NYSE.

Cover: Landscape with Birch Trees, Alphonse Legros. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for birch trees (Eastern European roots).