Archives

Dr. Sotiris Bantas

Sotiris Bantas is passionately leading Centaur’s journey for supply-chain sustainability, waste reduction, and traceable quality with the Internet-of-Crops®. An Electrical Engineer and Ph.D. from NTUA, Sotiris is experienced in bringing disruptive technologies to market, as he did for his previous company, Helic, a semiconductor design software company powering the smartphone boom which was acquired by ANSYS. A prolific inventor, Sotiris holds several patents in areas ranging sensors, machine learning and computational techniques and has several more pending.

Ms. Tatiana Giemelou

Tatiana Giemelou is the head of Business Development at the National Bank of Greece.

Her career is dated back to 2002 at Citibank, holding positions in Credit-cards Management and Alternative Sales Networks.

She then joined Alpha Bank being assigned as Head of International Marketing for Albania, Cyprus, Serbia & Romania, and afterwards as Head of Merchandising.

She holds an MBA from Sunderland University.

Mr. Konstantinos Skrekas

Konstantinos Skrekas hails from Megarhi, Trikala. He is married to Eirini Karagouni and father of two daughters, Alexandra and Sophia. He holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of  Technology),  and  an  MSc  in  Construction Management from the University of Birmingham, UK.

After completing his studies, he worked in the FMCG sector (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) in managerial positions. Co-founder of a company operating in the FMCG sector and CEO for 15 years.

In the parliamentary elections 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 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. 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 first in votes Member of the Greek Parliament for the Constituency of Trikala.

During his incumbency in the Hellenic Parliament he has been 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 the responsible MP for the Environment and Energy Sector for the New Democracy Party.

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, responsible for the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). In 2021 he has been appointed Minister of Energy & Environment.

He speaks English and French.

Mr. Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos

Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos is a Mandate Manager with the European Investment Fund (EIF) for the last 5 years where he has been involved with European Structural Funds in Greece and Cyprus, provides funding for projects that help to achieve EU aims. In addition, Alexandros has 20 years of experience on financial planning, analysis, annual strategic planning and business decision support, including maintaining and developing comprehensive modelling tools to facilitate sales forecasting, consolidation and evaluation for domestic and exports business.

Past employers include ABN Amro Bank in Luxembourg, where he currently resides, Alpha Bank, Hellenic Bank, and Michaniki Group of Companies in Athens, and Schroder Wertheim & Co. in New York City. Alexandros holds a Master’s degree of Business Administration in Finance from the Kogod School of Business, American University of Washington D.C. and a Bachelor degree in Economics from Clark University, Boston area.

Mr. George Pontikas

George Pontikas is President and CEO at Syngenta Hellas Single Member SACI.

He began his career in 1990 at Ciba Geigy Hellas (Legacy company of Syngenta), as Seed  Development  Manager. In 1997 he became Director of the Seed Division and in 2011 Head of Sales of the company’s consolidated business and Managing Director since 2015.

In January 2020 along with the position of Head of Sales for Crop  Protection Products he assumes     the    duties  of President  and  Managing Director at Syngenta Hellas Single Member SACI as well as the position of Business Area Manager for the countries Greece, Israel/Palestine, Cyprus, Albania and Kosovo (BA Mediterranean).

He is Vice President of the Hellenic Crop Protection Association (ESYF). He was also President of the Greek Seed Trade Association (SEPY) from 2010 to 2016 and member of the Board of the International Seed Federation (ISF) from 2010 to 2013.

George Pontikas is agronomist with a master degree in rural economy, marketing  &  sociology, and a  master  degree  in  Business  Administration (MBA).

Dr. Konstantinos Tsimpoukas

Tsimpoukas Konstantinos is Professor of the Laboratory of Agribusiness Management, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in the Agricultural University of Athens. He is a graduate from the Agricultural University of Athens and has a M.Sc. from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier , D.E.A. and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics  of Montpellier III University, France.

He teaches Rural Economy & Policy, Introduction in Agricultural Economics, Farm Management and Economics of Animal Production at undergraduate level and Economics of Animal Production and Farm Management at postgraduate level. His research interests focus in techno-economic analysis of agricultural production systems and in decisions making at farm level. He participates in research projects (national and EU funded) as a coordinator and researcher in areas concerning economic analysis of agricultural production systems and economic viability at farm level.

Mr. Christoforos Chatzopoulos

Christoforos Chatzopoulos is head of Retail Loans for consumers and small businesses in the National Bank of Greece. He has been the head of the Mortgage Lending of the National Bank, the head of Consumer Credit of the National Bank, he is the Vice President of the Board of Directors of TIRESIA SA, a member of the Board of Directors of National Leasing and a member of the Board of Directors of National Insurance Brokers SA and was a member of the Board of Directors of EAEDO (Ethnokarta). He has also been the Credit and Recovery Manager at Eurobank, a member of the Boards of Directors of Euroline (Bulgaria), ERS Euroline (Romania) and Euroline (Cyprus) and a member of the Board of Visa (Greece). He was the manager of Statistical Decisions for Greece and the Gulf area. He holds an MSc in Management & Operational Research from Warwick Business School and a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Patras.

Dr. Nicholas Dercas

Professor Dercas is an Agricultural Engineer (AUA), Hydraulic Engineer (S.Sp. Institute National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France), and Civil Engineer (National Technical University of Athens). He holds a Master of Science/DEA (University of Montpellier II) and a PhD in Hydraulic Engineering (University of Montpellier II / France).

His research interests cover the area of applied agricultural hydraulics, irrigation systems and management, water resources management, crop water requirements, biomass and energy crops. He has participated in several international and national research projects.

His research work is published in peer review journals and international conferences. He is a reviewer of international scientific journals and research proposals.

Dr. Spyros J. Kiartzis

Dr. Spyros Kiartzis is the New Technologies and Alternative Energy Sources Manager, for the Hellenic Petroleum Group. He received his Diploma and his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the School of Engineering; and his degree in Economics from the School of Law and Economics; all from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and finally his MBA from the Hellenic Open University. Following a period in the construction sector supervising restoration projects in Mount Athos, he served as a part-time instructor in the University of Western Macedonia and in the International Hellenic University. He joins the Hellenic Petroleum Group in 2001 where he held a range of posts in maintenance and project construction sections (including the Project Management Team for the construction of a 390 MW CCPP), before becoming Manager of New Technologies and Alternative Energy Sources. He is Managing Director of ElpeFuture an e-mobility service provider (Subsidiary of Hellenic Petroleum Group), and also Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Energiaki Pylou-Methonis SA a wind park owner. He is also member of the Board of Directors of “ELPEDISON S.A.” and “Hellenic Petroleum Renewable Energy Sources S.A.” (Subsidiary of Hellenic Petroleum Group) and has served as member of the Board of Directors of “EKO Bulgaria S.A.” (Subsidiary of Hellenic Petroleum Group).

Dr. Theofanis Gemtos

Dr. Gemtos is Emeritus Professor of the University of Thessaly. He is a graduate of the Department of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and holds PhD in Farm Mechanization from the University of Reading UK.

He is member at Geotechnical Chamber of Greece, the Hellenic Society of Agricultural Engineers, the European Society of Agricultural Engineers, the American  Society of Agricultural Engineers, the  Canadian Society of Agricultural Engineers, and the Greek and European Conservation Agriculture societies.

His teaching experience focuses on farm mechanization, energy in Agriculture and precision agriculture.

He has participated in more than 27 researches, has supervised 8 PhD theses, has published more than 60 papers in peer reviewed journals and 200 papers in national and international conferences. He has additionally organized 2 international and several national conferences.