Energizing Greece is an initiative within a wider ecosystem whose mission is to highlight dynamics, inspirational, and visionary development actions from a Greek perspective. The core of Energizing Greece is the mobilization of forces for targeted development, achieved through pioneering decisions, methodical planning, structured implementation and investments built upon progress, innovation, technological evolution, and the creation of a platform to help modernize the country. To this end, the strengthening of Greece’s energy transition in line with International standards, and the necessary actions to confront the climate change within the framework defined by the 4th industrial revolution, take precedence.
Konstantinos Skrekas comes from Megarhi, Trikala. He is married to Eirini Karagouni and has two daughters, Alexandra and Sophia. He holds a Degree in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Technology), and an M.Sc. in Construction Management from the University of Birmingham, UK. After completing his studies, he worked in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector in managerial positions. He is the co-founder of a company operating in the FMCG sector and held the position of CEO for 15 years. In the general election of 6 May 2012 he was elected Member of the Greek Parliament (MP) for the Constituency of Trikala with the New Democracy Party. He was re-elected on 17th June of the same year. On the 25th of January 2015 he was elected Member of the Greek Parliament (MP), receiving the largest number of electoral votes among candidates from all political parties, in the Constituency of Trikala. He was re-elected in the elections on 20th September of the same year. In the general elections on 7th July 2019 he was elected Member of the Greek Parliament for the Constituency of Trikala. During his terms of office in the Hellenic Parliament he has been a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, the Standing Committee on Production and Trade, the Special Permanent Committee on Research and Technology and the Special Permanent Committee on Environmental Protection. He was also Shadow Minister for the Environment and Energy Sector for the New Democracy Party from January 2016 – June 2019. He was appointed Minister of Development and Competitiveness from October 2014 until February 2015. On 9th July 2019 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, being specifically responsible for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). On 5th January 2021 he was appointed Minister of the Environment and Energy. He speaks English and French.
Giannis Plakiotakis was born in 1968 in Athens. He studied Biochemical Engineering at the University of Wales and holds two master degrees, from the University of London and City University Business School, specialising in Biochemical Engineering and Business Administration accordingly. He worked at the transnational European Agency for Eurocontrol which oversees air traffic and flight safety across Europe. Upon his return to Greece, he ran a family business. He speaks English and French. He is a member of the Alumni Association of Biochemical Engineering University of London and the City University Business School. He is married to Cypriot businesswoman Aphrodite Doritis. In the elections of 2004, he was for the first time elected in Lasithi electoral district as a Member of Parliament with the New Democracy Party. He was re-elected in the 2007, 2009, May and June 2012 elections, the January and September 2015 elections, as well as in the July 2019 elections. He was Deputy Minister of National Defense (2007-2009) and Deputy Minister of Labor, Social Security and Welfare (2014-2015). From the 23rd of November 2015 until the 10th of January 2016 he assumed the duties of President of the New Democracy Party. On 9 July 2019, he was appointed Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy.
Geoffrey R. Pyatt, a career member of the Foreign Service, class of Career Minister, was sworn in as the U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic in September 2016. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine from 2013-2016, receiving the State Department’s Robert Frasure Memorial Award in recognition of his commitment to peace and alleviation of human suffering in eastern Ukraine. Previously, Ambassador Pyatt was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs from 2010-2013. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna, Austria from 2007 to 2010. He also served at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India as Deputy Chief of Mission from 2006 to 2007 and as Political Counselor from 2002 to 2006. Ambassador Pyatt served as Economic Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2002 and as Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Lahore, Pakistan from 1997 to 1999. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1989, he has also served on the National Security Council staff, on the staff of Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott and at posts in Honduras and India. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked with The Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank that brings together leading citizens of the Americas. Ambassador Pyatt grew up in La Jolla, California and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from Yale and B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Irvine.
Ioannis Smyrlis, the Secretary General for International Economic Affairs, is a political scientist, graduate of the Department of Political Sciences and Public Administration with a Postgraduate Diploma in International and European Relations from the University of Athens (EKPA). He represented the Ministry of Interior during the rotating Greek Presidency of the EU in 2013-2014. He was appointed Press and Public Relations Consultant of ODIE SA. in 2009-2010, Adviser to the General Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping in 2007-2009, as well as Adviser to the General Secretary of S.E.P.E. in 2005-2007. He was elected as the first Greek president of the Youth Organization of the European People’s Party (YEPP) in 2007-2009, i.e. the largest political Youth Organization in Europe. He served as Secretary of International and EU Relations of Nea Demokratia Party and has been a Member of the Political Bureau of the European People’s Party (EPP) in 2013-2019. He was a European fellow of the German Marshall Foundation in USA, as well as a member of the EU Youth Assembly for the European Constitution in 2003.
Gregory D. Dimitriadis is the Chief Executive Officer of HCAP since February 2021. He studied in the UK and the USA, holding a bachelor with honours in engineering (Manchester Metropolitan University) and two masters; one in the field of telecommunications (University College London) and another in international business relations and international negotiations (The Fletcher School, Tufts University). He is an executive with national and international experience in leading management positions in both the private and public sector. He served as Chairman of Enterprise Greece and Secretary General for International Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dealing with numerous strategic investments in Greece and led the development of the National Strategy for Trade & Investment Promotion. Prior to that, he was Executive VP at HVA International in Amsterdam, Managing Director of Iskra Zaščite (Raycap Group) in Ljubljana, Chairman & CEO of the Athens Urban Transport Organization, and project leader for Greece’s National Strategy for exports at the Ministry of Development.
Athina Chatzipetrou is the CEO and President of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Development Bank SA, which promotes fair, sustainable, and holistic economic development at regional and national level by facilitating SMEs’ access to finance. Since March 2020 and during her leadership, the Hellenic Development Bank has handled in excess of 8 billion euros in loans, while starting with only 280 million euros. Moreover, more than 35,000 new loans have been granted during the same period, contributing to the creation of more than 15,600 new jobs. With almost 30 years’ experience in the corporate sector of leading positions and successes in diverse assignments and sectors, she carries a long and deep experience in financial management, including highest-level interactions with counterparties internationally. Among her previous roles, she has served as Regional Finance Manager at Coca-Cola Hellas, Finance Director at Beiersdorf Hellas, and Group CFO of Toyota Group in Greece. Ms Chatzipetrou has also served as Finance Advisor at the Ministry of Development and Competitiveness, Resident Advisor both at the Netherlands enterprise agency (RVO) as well as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and as President of the BoD and CEO of the Archaeological Resources Fund. Ms Chatzipetrou holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the Athens University of Economics and Business, a Master of Science degree in Operational Research from the University of Athens and a Master’s degree in Heritage Management from the University of Kent. Ms Chatzipetrou, a Greek national, speaks English, French and German.
George currently serves as a partner in KPMG in Greece heading the Public Sector Unit. He is a member of the board of directions at KPMG group in Greece and a member of the remuneration committee. He has 37 years of professional experience out of which 31 years in the advisory business. He was responsible for a great number of engagements in all industries, specializing in the banking and finance area. He is Chairman of the BoD of the Association of Management Consulting firms of Greece. His experience includes compliance, internal audit, sustainability, enterprise risk management, operational restructuring, business modeling, reforms, investment funding, etc.
Alex is the President and CEO of STIRIXIS Group, the globally awarded design consultancy firm and the founder of the think-tank Mettallaxis.org. He holds a Masters in Civil Engineering from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki Greece and an MBA with distinction from Adam Smith Business School of Glasgow University in Great Britain. He has been certified in Project Management from both IPMA and PRINCE2, as well as in Strategy and Innovation from the International Customer Service Association and is an International Keynote Speaker on Systems Thinking and Investment Design Consultant. Alex is currently Member of the Board and Vice President of CEO Clubs Greece, Secretary General of the Greek Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Technology, and President of the Hellenic Alumni Association of University of Glasgow. He has successfully completed projects in more than 25 countries and was recognized as the Best European CEO in Retail Development from European CEO Awards in 2015, as the Best European CEO in 2018 from AI Global Excellence Awards and as International Game-changer from the ACQ5 Awards in 2019.
He was born on 19/11/1955 in Isaakio, Didymoteicho, Evros. Εducational Training: Graduate of the Officers’ School of the Greek Gendarmerie. He studied in Postgraduate Schools of the Greek Police and the Greek Army as well as in Police Schools of Europe & the USA. Work Experience: On 28/02/2006, by Decision of KYSEA, he was appointed to the position of Chief of the Hellenic Police until 26/02/2008. POLITICAL ACTIVITY: In the Elections of July 7, 2019, he was re-elected, first in votes, Member of Parliament for Evros. He is Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs of the Parliament, a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, a member of the Standing Committee on Educational Affairs and a member of the Special Standing Committee on Regions.
Dr Economou has been the President at the Center of Renewable Energy Sources and Savings (CRES) since September 2019. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Sciences from Catholic University of Leuven (BE) and an Engineering Diploma from National Technical University of Athens (GR), Mining and Metallurgical Eng. Department. He has more than 30-years work experience in Industry, in Research Centres or as Business Consultant, in Greece, Canada, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Economou has published more than 40 articles in the fields of Energy, Environmental Technologies and Materials Science and Engineering.
Dr. Athanasios Dagoumas is an Associate Professor in Energy and Resource Economics and Director of the Energy and Environmental Policy laboratory at the University of Piraeus. He holds a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, where he elaborated his PhD in Energy Economics. He is Member of the Board of the Cambridge Trust for New Thinking in Economics. He has more than 15 years of work and research experience in energy related issues, including working as a Senior Researcher at the University of Cambridge and as a Senior Energy Analyst at the Transmission System Operator and at the Electricity Market Operator in Greece. Moreover he was enrolled as a Special Advisor to the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change in Greece. His extensive experience builds his capacity for an in-depth understanding of multidisciplinary aspects of the energy sector: economic, engineering, environmental and policy. He is keen on developing models for the energy system, the economic-energy-environment (E3) systems and the real energy markets. He has been President to the Regulatory Authority for Energy since July 2020.
Professor George Ioannou is the CEO and BoD member of EnExGroup. He is the Leader of the implementation of the target model, Professor of Operations Management at the Department of Management Science and Technology of the Athens University of Economics (AUEB) and Business and Director of its Management Science Laboratory. He holds a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, a M.Sc./DIC in Robotics and Automation from Imperial College and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. He served as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering of Virginia Tech, directing the Manufacturing Systems Integration Lab, as well as a GRA at the Institute for Systems Research. He has received the Microsoft Excellence in Education Award and many Teaching Excellence Awards as Director and Academic Coordinator of the Energy Club of AUEB’s MBA International. He was an Executive BoD member of Hellenic Railroads SA as well as a member of the Innovation Council at the Ministry of Development, of AUEB’s Senate and of AmCham’s Innovation Committee and he has served as Head of the Evaluation Committee of ΣΥΖΕΥΞΙΣ ΙΙ (Information Society SA).
Yiannis Yiarentis is the Chairman of BoD and CEO at DAPEEP from August 2019 until today. He holds a significant Greek and International experience in top management positions. He was the President and CEO of ADMIE/IPTO from 2013 to 2015 when he paved the way for major electrical Interconnections with Greek islands (Cyclades) and all major infrastructure projects, such as the Megalopolis HVC, the interconnection of Polypotamos and many more. He has been a member of National and International Councils and Committees (Entso-e, MED-TSO). He holds a degree in Petroleum Engineering and Production Engineering and Management and a postgraduate degree (MSc) in Sustainable Development.
George Nounesis is the Director & Chairman of the Board of the National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos” for a four-year term (2017-2021). Dr. Nounesis studied Physics at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He obtained his PhD at the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Minnesota. He completed a three-year Postdoctoral training at the Chemistry Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Executive Education Program on “Innovation for Economic Development” at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is currently the Director of the Biomolecular Physics Laboratory at Demokritos. Prior to returning to Greece he held Research Staff appointments at the Center for Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory. He has spent sabbatical leaves at the Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal at CNRS and the Chemistry Department of the University of Bordeaux I as an Invited Professor. His research is mainly focused on structural and thermodynamic studies of nano-structured soft materials as well as biomolecules, primarily proteins. For his work he has received awards and distinctions from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, the Empirikion Foundation, the United States Department of the Navy and the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota. He serves as an Expert Reviewer of several National and International Research Funding Organizations in the European Commission, the USA (NSF), Poland, Turkey, Belgium and Greece.
Konstantinos Mavros has significant and diversified experience in the broader energy sector and the fields of corporate finance and technology. He has worked in the past in the Renewable Energy Sector, and has been leading companies in the technological field. He has also co-founded a Venture Capital fund supported by the European Investment Fund. He is an active member and holds key positions in several international professional and academic associations and has been a visiting lecturer at the Athens University International MBA program. Mr Mavros holds a Masters’ degree in Finance from Imperial College London and has completed high level executive education programs at Harvard Business School.
Mr. Konstantinos Natsis has significant and diversified experience in the broader energy sector. He received the diploma of Electrical and Computing Engineering (National Technical University of Athens – 2007), having submitted a thesis about the legal and the financial framework of solar power plants in Greece and developed skills on various fields (programming, energy production etc.), while in 2008 he received a MEng diploma on Renewable Energy Sources (the University of Manchester). Mr. Natsis has worked as a RES engineer of various private and state (as an engineer of “PPC Renewables S.A.”, since 2011) projects, of low, medium and high power and of various technologies, including the innovative hybrid power plant of Ikaria. The positions and the duties assigned to Mr. Natsis are Director, project manager and site manager of large scale PV plants, wind farms, hybrid power plants and small scale PV plants (responsible for the Management and supervision of project construction, the assessment of electrical and mechanical studies and the Preparation of Tendering documents and technical specifications), while he has been serving as BoD member of SPV’s of “PPC Renewables S.A.”. He speaks Greek (as the native language) and English.
Ioannis Karampelas is an economist with a degree in Management and Marketing from the Middlesex University in London and a master’s degree in International Economics and Management from the University of SDA BOCCONI in Milan. From 1998 to 2000 he was a Portfolio Asset Manager at the Enallaktiki Financial Services, while from 2000 to 2005 he was the General Manager of DAKAR SA. From 2012 to 2015 he was elected Member of Parliament for Viotia, while from 2015 until today he is a member of the Board of Directors of a Commercial and Technical Societe Anonyme. He speaks fluent English and Italian and has knowledge of German language.
Georgios Filiopoulos is the CEO of Enterprise Greece, Greece’s national investment and trade promotion agency. Before serving in the public sector, Mr. Filiopoulos worked as a business executive for various companies and organizations in the U.S. and Greece. He received his MBA from HEC Paris, holds an MA in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, an MA in Journalism from the University of Memphis, and a BA in Advertising from Kansas State University.
Christodoulos Topsidis was born in 1973 in Nea Vissa, Orestiada. He studied Economics and Administration (Delta School) in Thessaloniki and holds an MBA in Business Administration (E.E.D.E.). Since 2011 he is President of the Evros Chamber of Commerce and in 2018 he was elected President of the Regional Chamber Council of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. Today he is active in various sectors of trade, services in the wider region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (catering, retail, services). He is actively involved in the local government of the second degree, as head of the faction “Periferiaki Sinthesi”, which is the major opposition of the Regional Council of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. He is married and the father of two children.
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