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Panagiotis Kalfountzos is a graduate of the Agricultural School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and chairman of the Board of Directors of the “Cooperative Farmers of Thessaly”- THESgi since 2013, the year of its foundation. At the same time, he runs the third generation family farm, where he continues to cultivate dynamic corps applying modern methods.
He has participated in seminars on agricultural entrepreneurship, agricultural marketing, management and development of agricultural cooperatives, as well as, at the Center of Agri-Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship of American School of Agriculture. As a speaker at many conferences, he has developed the way in which Creek agriculture can come out of the crisis through the development of synergies and various forms of collectivity.
Dr. Athanasios Loukas is, currently, Professor of Engineering Hydrology – Management and Development of Water Resources, Head of Transportation and Hydraulic Engineering Department, Director of the Laboratory of Hydraulic Works and Environmental Management, Director of Master Program “Water Resources” of the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2018-today). He was Professor, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering (2008-2012) and Dean of Engineering School, University of Thessaly (2015-2018). He was Director of the Laboratory of Hydrology and Aquatic Systems Analysis and Director of the common Greek-French Master Program “Management of Hydrometeorological Hazards-HYDROHASARDS” co-organized with the Joseph Fourier University-Grenoble I (2010-2018). He is Visiting Scientist/Researcher (Professor 1st class) at the Joseph Fourier University-Grenoble I, France and Visiting Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, U.S.A., position for which he was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship for the academic year 2013-2014. He is listed in the top world-wide 2% of the most influential scientists (according to his publications and the citations to his publications for his carrier period) of Stanford University (2023).
He has co-ordinated and participated in national, European research projects as well as a significant number of hydrological and hydraulic studies and water resources management projects. He is member of scientific and professional associations. He is, currently, Editor-in-Chief of European Water, Section Editor-in-Chief “Water Resources Management Policy and Governance” of Water and Editorial Board Member of Water Resources Management and Scientific Review Engineering and Environmental Sciences. He participates and participated as Guest Editor of scientific journals Special Issues. He is reviewer of national and European research proposals as well as evaluator and responsible of research projects certification.
Dr. A. Loukas is the author and co-author of more than 400 referred international journal publications, conference proceedings publications, publications in special issues, books and technical reports. His published work has received over 4900 citations, as indicated in the Google Scholar database search (h-index =37, i10-index =75).
Professor of Agronomy and Crop Ecology. Director of the Laboratory of Agronomy, Department of Agriculture Crop Production and Agricultural Environment, University of Thessaly (UTH) (2006-Today). Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences UTH (2019-2022). Vice Rector of UTH (2013-2014) and unanimously elected Chairman of the Department of Agriculture Crop Production and Rural environment UTH for two terms 2014-2016 and 2016-2018.
He graduated from the Agricultural University of Athens (1982), received MSc in Soil Science and Water Management (1983-1986) and PhD in Quantitative Assessment of Land Use Systems (1987-1993) at Wageningen University. He is author of over 190 scientific papers in international journals (50), international book chapters (20), international conferences (106), other conferences and scientific papers.
He holds a Greek and international patent for solid biofuel production. He is evaluator of EU research programs, while his work is cited in more than 1600 international papers.
Vasileios Gaitanaros has been working as a senior banking executive for over 30 years in Wholesale Commercial Banking.
He has acquired diverse knowledge and extensive in-depth experience in all aspects of Corporate and Commercial Financing through his work at multinational Banks (Société Générale, Arab Bank, Bank of Cyprus) in managerial positions of progressive responsibilities.
He successfully operated for 5 years as Head of Kyprou Factors, the development of factoring activities in Greece.
In 2013 joined Piraeus Bank Group and he is currently leading the Contractual Farming financing activities of the Bank.
He is currently focusing in bringing excellence to the Contractual Farming Program of Piraeus Bank by innovating constantly its specific Agri business model, spending efforts in benchmarking its quality and assuring that the framework implemented expands to all related agri-food areas.
Moschos Korasidis was born in Kea in 1962. He is an Agronomist graduate of the Athens University of Agriculture, a graduate of PATES-SELETE and holds a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Business Organization & Management (MBA)
He worked as an agronomist from 1986 at the Tobacco Organization and at the Payments Organization – OPEKEPE as Director from 2001 with participation in bilateral missions abroad, in particular at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels for rural development issues.
From March 2010 to July 2012 he took over as Vice President of OPEKEPE and from July 2012 to March 2015 he was Secretary General of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, where he mainly dealt with issues of rural development, utilization of community aid as well as reorganization of OPEKEPE and Ministry of Rural Development and Food. From 2016 to 2022, he worked as a scientific associate to members of the Greek parliament and dealt with issues of rural development, spatial planning and energy.
From September 2022, he works as the general manager of the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives of Greece – ETHEAS.
Menelaos Gardikiotis is an Agriculture Engineer, graduate of Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Agriculture Biotechnology.
He is working in the private sector and since 2011 he has been running his own business.
Today he participates in three business schemes regarding the concerned industry, providing services in the Agri-Food sector, and has established a network of associates of businesses from Evros to Crete, numbering over 15 business schemes.
He has been an advisor to the Minister of Rural Development and Food with responsibility the preparation of the 2014-2020 RDP, while he was also an associate of Deputy Direct of OGA.He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Organization of the Prefecture Piraeus.He has been Secretary General of GEOT.E.E. for two consecutive terms. He is married to Kyriaki Papadakis and has a daughter.
Andreas Lykourentzos was born in Tripolis, Arcadia, in 1957. He is a graduate of Panteion University, from the department of Political Studies, having followed the direction of Comparative Political Analysis. He was elected as Member of Parliament for the region of Arcadia in the National Elections in 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2012. During his eleven-year parliamentary term, he participated as a member in the Standing Parliamentary Committees on: Social Affairs, Finances, Educational Affairs, Public Administration and in the Special Committees on: the Environment, the Review of the Constitution and Districts. He served as a Deputy Minister of National Education and Religions during the Government administration of Kostas Karamanlis 2007- 2009. He served as a Minister of Health during the Government administration of Antonis Samaras in 2012- 2013.
From 1st November 2019 since, he has been appointed as the President of the Organisation of Greek Agricultural Insurances.
Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos is a Mandate Manager with the European Investment Fund (EIF) for the last 7 years where he has been involved with European Structural Funds for Greece and Cyprus, managing funding for projects that help to achieve EU aims. In addition, Alexandros has +20 years of experience on financial banking and planning analysis, annual strategic planning, and business decision support, including maintaining and developing comprehensive modelling tools to facilitate sales forecasting, consolidation & evaluation of domestic and export businesses.
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.