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Mr. Dimitris Papagianidis

Mr. Dimitris Papagiannidis was born in 1959, at Orini (in the highlands of) Nafpaktia. He studied Civil Engineering at the Democritus University of Thrace (D.U.Th.). He continued his postgraduate studies from 1985-86 in France on the subject of «Metal constructions and underground works», while he also earned a Postgraduate Specialization Diploma at the National Technical University of Athens in the INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES 2011-2012 “Environment and

Development” with a grade of Excellent.

In the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, he was honored in 2021 with the responsibility of the General Secretariat of Union Resources and Infrastructure, which was re-established at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food. Since 2017 he has been/holds the position of the General Manager at the MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT in GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF STRATEGIC

TRANSPORT PLANNING AND ROAD SAFETY. Under his responsibility were the EU programs of the Ministry; the approval and monitoring of the National Strategic Transport Plan 2019-2037 (ESSM); the ESS; (the program?) Road Safety 2021-2030; the sectors of “Intelligent Transport Systems-ITS” of Logistics; Air Transport (Waterways etc.); and the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.

For many years he was/serviced as Director and Executive in the Special Service for Public Works of Hydraulic Infrastructure Construction. He was mainly involved in the management of Large National Projects of National/nationwide Level Plumbing and Road Construction with a budget of over 2 billion €. Ιndicatively: the Acheloos Diversion Projects, Athens Water supply from the river Evinos, Water Supply Patras, Thessaloniki and Fyrlia Island of Paxron L, Straw Dam, Irrigation Networks of Amvrakia-Amfilochia, land improvement works in the area of Valtos, Aetoloakarnania, Anti-flooding works in the riparian zone of the Stream of Eschatia, Attica, and the construction of tunnels in Karpenisi, Agios Ilias Aitolo.

He was President of the Association of Civil Engineers of Greece in the period 2004-2009, and General Secretary in 1998-2004. He was President for 3 terms of DKM and is elected in the Central Delegation of Technical Chamber of Greece and in various sections of Engineers from 1990 until today. During the government of Costas Karamanlis, he was in charge of the Special Secretariat for Community Resources and Infrastructure at the Ministry of Rural Development and Food in the period 2004-2009.

He remapped the Special Services of the RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, while he also increased the staff with increased qualifications from the MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION UNIT OF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS. Furthermore, he expanded the Services and suggested to the political leadership the establishment and operation of 3 new Special Units, these of a) Coordination, b) Infrastructure and c) Implementation of Co-financed Actions of the 3rd EU-funded programs and in 2007 of the Operational Program for Fisheries and Sea 2007-2013.

Mr. Petros Kokkalis

Petros Kokkalis has been actively involved in public service for the past 25 years, developing social innovation focused on human and sustainable development.

In 2019 he was elected MEP with the Progressive Alliance – Syriza ticket, representing Kosmos: an association seeking to put the SDGs in the heart of the European policymaking, and aiming at the empowerment and engagement of civil society and all stakeholders to take bottom-up action for implementing the European Green Deal and the SDGs.

He is a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and a substitute member of the Committee on Budgets (BUDG), the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), and the Committee on Fisheries (PECH). In the Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development he is the co-chair of the SDGs Working Group.

He studied Modern History at the University of Hampshire, and earned his master’s degree in public administration at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

He was co-founder and secretary of the non-governmental environmental Organization Earth (2009 – 2021) whose work on environmental awareness and education for sustainable development has been awarded by the International Union for the Protection of the Environment (IUCN).

He was elected and served as the Vice-Mayor responsible for economic development and climate change in the municipality of Piraeus (2014 – 2019), where he promoted sustainable entrepreneurship and support of start-ups in the maritime economy.

The European Commission has acknowledged its work, awarding the Blue Growth Piraeus initiative at the European Entrepreneurship Promotion Competition 2018.

During his term of office he led the humanitarian support during the Refugee Crisis in the period 2015-2016 and served as the President of the Municipal Council for Refugees.

Mr. Tassos Haniotis

Tassos Haniotis is Director for “Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis” in the DG for Agriculture and Rural development of the European Commission. The mission of the Directorate is to contribute to the overall strategic orientation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) by (i) providing policy perspectives and analysis on topics related to the agriculture and rural economy in the European Union, including in the development of the EU’s annual outlook baseline, (ii) coordinating the DG’s impact assessment of major policy initiatives by providing evidence-based analysis to support legislative proposals, and to support the adaptation of the CAP through the evaluation of its effectiveness, efficiency and impact based on its common monitoring and evaluation framework.

He has also held posts as Acting Director for Direct Payments, as Head of Unit in the Units for Agricultural Policy Analysis and Perspectives, and for Agricultural Trade Policy Analysis in DG AGRI, as Deputy Head of Cabinet of former European Commissioner for Agriculture Franz Fischler, and as Agricultural Counsellor in the European Commission’s Delegation in the US.

Tassos holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia in the U.S., and a B.A. in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business in his native Greece, and was a visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Agricultural Studies, Wye College, University of London, focusing on EU-US agricultural trade relations in the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations before joining the European Commission.

A member of the Executive of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium during 2012-14, Tassos currently represents the European Commission in the G20’s Rapid Response Forum and GEOGLAM Advisory Committee.

Dr. Konstantinos Baginetas

Dr. Konstantinos N. Baginetas was born in Lamia (Greece) in 1977. He studied Agronomy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He continued his studies at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London on issues of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (M.Sc.) and the University of Nottingham in matters of Interdisciplinary Development of Agro -environmental Sustainability Indicators (Ph.D.).

In June 2021, by decision of the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Rural Development and Food Mr. Spyridon – Panagiotis Livanos, he was appointed Secretary General of Agricultural Policy and International Affairs of the Ministry of Rural Development & Food.

In July 2019, by decision of the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Rural Development and Food Mr. Makis Voridis, he was appointed Secretary General of Agricultural Policy and Management of European Funds of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.

Since 2007 he works in the Directorate of Rural Affairs of Central Greece of the Decentralised Administration of Thessaly-Central Greece, where he is principally engaged with investment projects regarding the modernization of agricultural holdings, projects focusing on young farmers entering agriculture and matters of agrotouristic development investment projects. He has, also, served as an officer-administrator of tens of Technical Assistance projects in the Special Managing Authority of the Region of Central Greece.

He has been a consultant of the Deputy Minister of Development and Competitiveness and of the Alternate Minister of Finance Mr. Chr. Staikouras during 2013-2014.

In July 2016, the President of the political party of New Democracy (ND) Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appointed him as the Secretary of Rural Organisations of ND.

He participated as a member of the Thematic Group for the Strategic Planning on «Innovation-Research-Training» of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food regarding the preparation of the programming period 2014-2020 and in Working Groups of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece regarding the formulation of proposals within the Rural Development programming period 2014-2020.

He has participated in numerous research and vocational training sessions abroad and in Greece. He has attended many workshops, seminars, national and international conferences, where he has presented research papers. He was a leader and a member of several European research programs and best practice exchange programs. He is an External Expert-Evaluator of the European Commission for the program «Horizon 2020» on issues of «Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime Affairs and Bio-Economy».

He is a certified adult educator and has participated as an instructor in educational programs related to environmental education, environmental management, rural development and rural entrepreneurship.

He has been elected a Representative of the Agricultural Sector of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece (GEOTEE) in the Regional Branch of Central Greece.

He has been elected President of the Agricultural Association of the Prefectures of Fthiotida-Evritania and a member of the Board of the Panhellenic Federation of Agricultural Associations (POSG).

He has authored the books entitled “Rural Development Program 2014-2020 & Rural Development Proposal for the Municipality of Lamia“, “Sustainable Leadership in School Units. Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Research” and “Two Years of Action – Kostas Baginetas – Secretary of Rural Organisations ND”.

He is married to Evangelia I. Bakogianni, a speech therapist, and has a son.

He speaks English and French.

Dr. Demetrios Kouretas

Dr. Kouretas has a BSc in Pharmacy from University of Patras (Greece) 1985, PhD in Biochemistry from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 1989 (Greece) and Post-doc at Harvard Medical School from 1990-1992. Dr. Kouretas has been staff member in the University of Thessaly since 1996 and from 2007 is Professor of ‘Animal Physiology – Toxicology’ at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of the University of Thessaly (Greece).  He has co-authored 220 articles in peer-reviewed journals and about 100 invited lectures in national and international conferences. According to Google scholar Dr. Kouretas’ publications have been cited 10000 times and their ‘h-index’ is 55. In 2017 has been elected member of the European Commission Committee (Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging risks, SCHEER) and the same year (2017) President of the Hellenic Society of Toxicology and Director of the National Master Program in Toxicology.

He has founded the spin-off company FoodOxys aimed at developing bio functional nutrition. He is Associate Editor in the ‘Food & Chemical Toxicology’ (from 2015), ‘Toxicology Reports’ (from 2017) journals of Elsevier and Academic Editor in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity (from 2017) and Antioxidants (from 2018).

Dr. Charalambos Billinis

Dr. Billinis was qualified as a Veterinarian from the School of Veterinary Medicine of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 1993. In 1998 he was awarded a PhD thesis in “Microbiology & Infectious Diseases” at the same University. European Veterinary Specialisation in Zoological Medicine – Wildlife Population Health (ECZM).

He is Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Microbiology and Parasitology of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Dean of the Department of Public and One Health and Vice Rector of Finance, Planning and Development of the University of Thessaly.

Grant holder in 21 research projects and member of the coordinating team of the EU funded project “WildTech” (€ 6,000,000) for the development of molecular and serological tests for the detection of pathogens that are transmitted from wildlife to domestic animals and humans.

He has published 9 chapters, 140 articles in international journals and 151 abstracts in conference proceedings. Member of the European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIHs) in the field of Digital Health entitled “Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Industry Transformation through Artificial Intelligence Digital Services (Health-Hub)”.

Mr. Michalis Sarantis

Michalis St. Sarantis was born in Trikala and he graduated from the 1st High School of Trikala in 1979.

He joined the small family business of his father Stelios, along with his brother Dimitris. There, after learning the process of cheese making, he was actively involved in the production, sales and distribution of the manufactured products.

In 1985, Dimitris and Michalis started their own dairy facilities with their father being their valuable consultant. The following years, the two brothers jointly managed to transform the local dairy facility into an admirable group of companies, which has a leading position in the dairy industry.

Michalis St. Sarantis is currently the Chief Executive Officer of “HELLENIC DAIRIES SA”, which has today products with brand name OLYMPUS, TYRAS, RODOPI, KLIAFA, DOUMPIA and also seven factories.

Finally, it is noted that Mr. Michalis Sarantis is an elected member of the Board of the Inter-professional Feta Organization.

He is married and has three children, who are also actively involved in the company.

Mr. Simos Kedikoglou

Simos Kedikoglou was elected member of the Hellenic Parliament for the Prefecture of Evia with New Democracy Party in the elections of 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2019.

He served as Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and Government Spokesman from 2012 to 2014.

He was a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, of the Standing Committee on National Defense & Foreign Affairs, Special Standing Committee on European Affairs and of the Committee on Armaments Programs & Contracts.

In addition, he served as head of the Greek Delegation and Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation.

Simos Kedikoglou is a journalist. He has been a political, parliamentary and diplomatic editor in newspapers “Kathimerini”, “Apogevmatini”, “Apofasi” and “Xora”. He also presented and participated in broadcasts of TV and radio stations (ERT, MEGA, FLASH etc.). For many years he was a contributor to CNN International’s World Report show, and on CNN’s “Q&A” show in Atlanta, USA.

He speaks English, Russian, and French.

He is married and proud father of two children

Dr. George Stylios

The Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, Mr. George Stylios, holds a PhD in Informatics from the Department of Computer Engineering & Informatics of the Polytechnic School of the University of Patras, he holds an MSc degree in Information Systems from the City University of London, and he graduated from the department of Physics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

He is a faculty member at the Ionian University. He worked as a researcher at the University of Patras as well as in Greek and European development programs. He was the Head of the Department of Applications and Informatics in Administration and Economics at the TEI of the Ionian Islands.

He has been a Member of Parliament for Arta with New Democracy, since May 2012, as well as head of the Greek Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

He served as Deputy Minister of Education and Religions and Deputy Minister of Digital Governance. He has also been the Chairman of the Nutrition Committee for Educational Affairs of the Parliament, a member of the Finance Committee of the Parliament, the Government and Trade and the Special Monastery Committee of Bulgaria, as well as a Representative of the Parliament in the Parliamentary Assembly of Parliamentary Assembly of the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process.

Ms. Christiana Kalogirou

Christiana Kalogirou was born in Athens. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business (former HIEBS) and a Master of Science degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Disaster and Crisis Management Strategies in Administrative and Development sectors.

She has worked in the private sector for 20 years. She has carried out studies and scientific work in the fields of economic and regional development. At the same time, she was actively involved in initiatives relating to sustainable development, maritime economy, entrepreneurship, culture, environmental protection, as well as women’s issues.

In 2004, she was elected Member of Parliament with the New Democracy party representing Lesvos Prefecture. In 2012, she assumed the position of Secretary General of the Decentralized Aegean Administration of the Ministry of Interior. In 2014, she was elected Regional Governor of Northern Aegean. From August 2019 to April 2021 she served as Secretary General of the Aegean and Island Policy of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs  and Insular Policy. In April 2021 she took over the position of Secretary General of Rural Development and Food.