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Ms. Valentina Disoska

Valentina Disoska is an entrepreneur, owner and manager of MM Disoski since 2000. It is a company that works in the fields of consulting and software development, multimedia, marketing, online sales and access to finance.

An architect by profession, further educated and certified to work in many other fields, such as business development and startups, youth learning and work, mentoring, project management, corporate social management, green economy, marketing from brand identity to entering foreign markets and many other topics that are compatible and make her an expert in her work. Certificated from various institutions, such as the European Training Foundation, the International Labor Organization, the German Academy for Green Business and many others. According to her, vocational and lifelong education is the most important for career development.

Valentina Disoska is active in society as a fighter for gender equality, specially dedicated to the development of women entrepreneurship. President and founder of the Association of Business Women since 2010, president and founder of the National Platform for Women’s Entrepreneurship, founder of the Balkan Coalition of Business Women, President of Council for women entrepreneurship in city of Skopje, member of several non-governmental organizations, chambers and movements for the improvement of human rights in North Macedonia and the region.

Other achievements of Valentina are Ambassador for Macedonia for the World Organization of Business Women WED; One of the main speakers at the UN Beijing 20 jubilee conference held in Geneva, an expert on entrepreneurial learning at the European Training Foundation – Turin, Expert for development of  National Strategy for Women Entrepreneurship in the Republic of North Macedonia, and many other achievements.

Awards received:

– Flower of friendship for the development of regional cooperation in the field of female entrepreneurship – Association of Business Women Serbia

– Promotion of entrepreneurship in SEE, creators of the century – Perspectives (SE)

– Award for support and promotion of entrepreneurship – Montenegro

Mr. Christos Yiannakakis

  • STUDIES: PANTEIOS UNIVERSITY  OF POLITICAL SCIENCES
  •  MEMBER OF BOARD  OF  “ELGA” GREEK  AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE ORGANIZATION
  • VICE PRESIDENT  OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION  OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES (ETHEAS)
  • PRESIDENT  OF THE  NATIONAL INTERPROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION OF STONEFRUITS
  • VICE PRESIDENT  OF THE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIAL COOPERATIVE OF VERIA ‘VENUS GROWERS’

Dr. Charalambos Kasimis

Charalambos Kasimis is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development of the Agricultural University of Athens. In March 2015, he was appointed as Secretary General of Agricultural Policy and Management of European Funds of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, in charge of CAP, Rural Development and Fisheries Development Programmes of Greece as well as International Relations. He completed his term in office in July 2019.

He has served as the Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (2013-2014) and as the Director of the Postgraduate Studies MSc. Programme “Integrated Rural Development and Management of Rural Space” (2010-2014). Between September 2014 and March 2015, he was appointed as Deputy Rector of the Agricultural University of Athens. In the period 1986-2003 he served as a member of staff at the Department of Economics of the University of Patras and between 1995 and 2000 as the Director of the Institute of Urban and Rural Sociology at the National Centre for Social Research. For a number of years, he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the European Society for Rural Sociology and between 2013 and 2015 as President.

His academic interests focus on issues of rural transformation and development in Greece, the Balkans and the Mediterranean region and more particularly on family farming, employment and rural community change. Migration and, more precisely, the implications of international migration on rural regions have become one of his main research topics in the past years. In the crisis years he dealt with the study of the implications of the economic crisis upon the rural areas and the ‘return to the land’ movement in Greece.

Since 2016 Charalampos Kasimis is Vice President and member of the Governing Board of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM).

Between 2018 -2019 he served as Executive Board member of the Organisation “Enterprise Greece”.

Mr. Geert Wilms

Geert Wilms studied Horticulture at Wageningen University and Business Administration at Open University. For more than 20 years Geert has been director of Agricultural Innovation Brabant (LIB), and he is consultant at Royal Haskoning DHV.

LIB is a partnership of Province North-Brabant and farmers organization ZLTO. Each year more than 30 innovative projects are initiated and supported, with the participation of hundreds of (agricultural) businesses. Several workshops are organized and guided. Geert is directly accountable to the President of ZLTO and regional Minister of agriculture in North-Brabant. One project he started and is very proud of: “Smart irrigation in agriculture; 3.000 farmers participating with 60.000 hectares, and 25% gain of efficiency in water use”.

 Geert Wilms also is a speaker, discussion leader and initiator of cooperation in different regions in Europe. He is/was involved in more than 15 European funded projects, for example Water management, Water conservation, Agrispin, Eurodairy, EU-PIG and STRING.

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 President of the Hellenic Crop Protection Association (ESYF). He was 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).

Mr. Vassos Efthymiadis

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1972, Mr. Vassos Efthymiadis graduated from Anatolia College of Thessaloniki (1990) and has a B.Sc. in Industrial Economics from the London School of Economics (1993) and an M.Sc. In Shipping, Trade and Finance from City University (1994).

Mr. Efthymiadis is Managing Director of K&N Efthymiadis S.A., one of the leading Greek companies in the field of agricultural supplies, established in 1935 and having a significant export activity in various countries of Southeastern Europe. Moreover, he is Vice President of the Redestos Agrotechnology Group, the largest and most diverse agribusiness group in Greece, dealing with agricultural supplies, R&D in plant propagation material, analytical laboratory services concerning food quality and hygiene, environmental services and food trading through contract farming.

Alongside his main business interests, Mr. Efthymiadis is actively involved in a number of associations and educational institutions for the promotion of economic growth and development. In this capacity, he is currently serving as

  • Vice President of the Hellenic Crop Protection Association
  • Board Member of the Hellenic Association of Chemical Industries
  • Advisory Board Member of the International Hellenic University

He is married to Calliope Gkantzou and has 2 children

Mr. Manolis Panagiotopoulos

Manolis Panagiotopoulos is an agronomist. He began working in Bayer in 2004 as a Sales Representative in Western Greece. In 2009, he continued in Marketing taking the responsibility of various positions including Product/Crop Management and development of collaborations in the framework of Bayer’s Food Chain Partnership. During this period, he acquired experience in the agri-food sector, having the opportunity to collaborate with growers, food processors, packing houses and other stakeholders in food value chain, contributing mainly in aspects of produce quality and sustainability. In 2014, he took over the position of Marketing Manager, supporting strategies to provide modern integrated crop solutions for the Greek grower. Since June 2019, he became Country Commercial Lead for Greece and Cyprus, in the Crop Science Division of Bayer Hellas.

Manolis Panagiotopoulos is a graduate from the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology at the Agricultural University of Athens and holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Hellenic Open University. He is also member of the Managing Board of the Hellenic Crop Protection Association (HCPA) and vice-president of the Managing Board of the Crop Protection Packaging Recycling Company (CYCLOS SA)

Mr. Kostas Papasotiriou

Konstantinos Papasotiriou was born in Athens. He is agronomist, graduated from the Agricultural University of Athens and holds a master’s degree in Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry.

He has been director in large multinational companies of crop protection and nutrition products such as ICI-Zeneca, Syngenta, BASF, ELFE and Arysta LifeScience with regions of responsibility in Greece and Southern Europe.

Today he is CEO of UPL Hellas – formerly Arysta LifeScience Hellas – for Greece, Cyprus and business  head of  Adriatic region.

At the same time, he leads the NPP (Natural Plant Protection) strategic platform of UPL OpenAG aimed at redesigning the Sustainable Development of Modern Agriculture.

He is Vice-President of the Hellenic Plant Protection Association (Hellenic Crop Life) and a member of the Board of Directors of the Fertilizer Producers Association SPEL.

He is married to Dr. Papastylianou Panagiota, professor at the Agricultural University of Athens and is the proud father of Dimitra Graphic Designer and Marilia Pediatrician doctor at the University Clinic of Bochum.

Mr. Dionysios Stamenitis

Dionysis Stamenitis was born in Giannitsa in 1968. He studied civil engineering in the Polytechnic School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with postgraduate studies in “Environmental Policy, Education and Communication” in the Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources of Democritus University of Thrace, specializing in the Energy Policy and Development.

Since 1995 he is a regular member of the Technical Chamber of Greece and since 1999 a civil engineer as a freelancer, specializing in Administration building Works and in Structural and Functional Rehabilitation of listed buildings. He was also a scientific committee member of the Engineering Seismology and Earthquake Engineering and a member of the permanent committee of private works and building activity of the Technical Chamber of Greece.

On the 6th of May in 2012 he was elected for the first-time member of Parliament in the constituency of Pella in the general elections on behalf of Nea Demokratia and he was reelected in the elections on the 17th of June in 2012, on July 7th 2019, on May 21st 2023 and June 25th 2023. On the 27th of June in 2023 he assumed duties as Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Rural Development and Food upon the decision of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.