Archives

Mr. Athanasios Markinos

Markinos Athanasios was born in 10/10/1974 in Karditsa, where he permanently resides.

He is professionally engaged in primary production, especially in arable crops, with emphasis on applying intelligent farming methods.

He is President of the Local Organization of Irrigation – TOEV Tavropou in Karditsa (the organization is responsible for the irrigation of 12.000 hectares in the plain of Karditsa, with water derived from Plastiras Lake).

He is a physicist (Bsc) with a master’s degree in Electronics (Msc) and Information Systems (Msc). He is also a researcher in precision farming at the University of Thessaly. Ηe has worked at Ιntracom (2 years) and at TEI of Larisa – IT and Communications Department (10 years) as a temporary professor. He served as a Deputy Mayor of Rural Development, Entrepreneurship and Renewable Energy Sources (2010 to 2014). Furthermore he was a Municipal Councilor, and also served as the City Council Vice – President, in the Municipality of Karditsa (2014-2019).

Mr. Kostas Theocharidis

Kostas Theocharidis  was born in Thessaloniki in June 1966.  He is a graduate of the Faculty of the University of Catania Italy (1991) and oversees markets in raw materials of Barilla Hellas. He developed the program growing durum wheat contract in Greece and participated in the working group of YATT for the national strategy on cereals.

His work included activities such as: ” Markets forecasting procurement for ” Financial instruments markets for commodities ” Cost saving generation ” Negotiations ” Effective ” Risk Management ” Purchasing ” Vendor assurance HACCP management coordination in stored products and to the standard ISO 14001:2004. Finally, in the context of the development of the Barilla program for the sustainable wheat production, he is responsible for the coordination of research and the promotion of new sustainable cultivation methods in Greece.

He speaks Italian and English

Mr. Vassilis Giagiakos

Vasileios Giagiakos was born, raised and currently resides in Trikala. He has a Geology degree from the University of Bologna and excellent command of the Italian language.

Since 1986 he has been active in research and constructions in his field of expertise. Since 1990 he has been professionally involved with the construction company «GEOKAT G.P.» and the company «ILIACTIDA S.A. (car dealership, agricultural supplies and solar energy production). Since 1997 he has been an elected member of the Chamber of Trikala, holding the position of President from 2004 onwards. From 2007 onwards, he has been the President of the Development company of the Chamber of Trikala «ANAPTYXIS S.A.».

With the support of the Chambers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he took the initiative for the Networking of Chambers for Greek expatriate entrepreneurs. Since 2014 he has been a member of the board of the Hellenic – Chinese Chamber. Since 2015 he has been a member of the board of the Italian – Hellenic Chamber of Thessaloniki. He represents the Chambers of Thessaly at the Regional Development Fund of Thessaly. Since 2016 he has been the Greek representative in «The Mirabilia Network of European Chambers with UNESCO World Heritage Sites». Since 2017 he has been the President of the Destination Management Organization of the Regional Unit of Trikala. In 2001 he was elected Vice President of the Central Union of Greek Chambers. He also served as President of the Corporate and Technological Development Centre of Thessaly.

In 2005 he founded «Taste of Trikala S.A.» which formed the brand name “METEORISIMO” for the promotion local products and gastronomy. The variety of actions he has taken for the involvement of the business community in all sectors of the economy has greatly improved the possibilities of development for the Chamber member – companies. More specifically, during his presidency at the Chamber of Trikala, he has taken initiatives and actualized a set of actions to promote the relative benefits of the region in the fields of tourism, primary production and processing as well as in e-commerce.

He was pro-active in establishing the Agricultural Division of the Chamber of Trikala (which is the only one of its kind in Greece) based on his firm belief that the agrifood sector is essential for the economic development of Greece.

Vasileios Giagiakos is married to Maria Athanasiou, biopathologist – microbiologist, and they have three children

Dr. George Zalidis

George Zalidis graduated from the Agronomy Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with doctoral studies at the Department of Soil Science and postdoctoral studies in Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering Department at the State University of Michigan US.

Today, he is the  Director of the Laboratory of Remote Sensing, Spectroscopy and Geographical Information Systems, and member of the Laboratory of Applied Soil Sciences at the Department of Agriculture of the School of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is also the  Scientific Coordinator of Interbalkan Environment Center (i-BEC) since 2007.

His research focuses on issues of quality and restoration of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, the use of Earth observation data (space and terrestrial) in the  Societal Benefit Areas, the OECD indicators of sustainable development and the use of spectral data in the monitoring of agricultural ecosystems and natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

 

CURRENT POSITION

  • Professor of Pollution and Soil Degradation, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Land Reclamation Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, Laboratory of Applied Soil Science.
  • Director of the Laboratory of Remote Sensing, Spectroscopy and G.I.S., Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture.
  • Member of the Laboratory of Applied Soil Science. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture.
  • Scientific Director, Interbalkan Environment Center (I-BEC)
  • Member, Hellenic Quality Assurance & Accreditation Agency (HQA) Council
  • Representative of the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Rural Development and Food at the international Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM) of GEO.

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. 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. Costas Apostolopoulos

Mr Apostolopoulos is Head of the Evaluation and Institutional Support Unit at the Managing Authority for Rural Development Programme in Greece. Managing the design and set-up of financial instruments, as part of the Greek RDP 2014 – 2020, is one of his main responsibilities.

Mr Apostolopoulos has been working in the management of Rural Development Policies for more than 15 years. He holds an MSc in European Economic Studies from the Athens University of Economics and Business.