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Effie has been appointed as Managing Director of the “New Agriculture for a New Generation” program in June 2018. This is an innovative multi-year project that aims to create career and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth in the Agrifood sector in Greece.
Rutgers University is leading this innovative multiyear program, in partnership with the Agricultural University of Athens and the American Farm School. The program is implemented through an exclusive grant from the Stavros Niarchos foundation.
Effie is a brand and marketing strategy expert, specializing in the Agrofood, Culture and Tourism sectors, with a proven track record of successfully delivering complex international initiatives. Among others, she led landmark projects of national importance, such as Destination Greece’s brand and marketing strategy, the largest communication consultancy project ever initiated in the country, and Greece’s Wine Sector’s first ever international branding & strategic marketing plan. She also directed numerous challenging projects for multinationals, cooperatives, and SMEs in South Eastern Europe.
Effie has a diverse academic background in Chemical Engineering, Music, Cultural Management and Marketing. She is also a certified business coach and trainer, an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Marketing London and an Associate Certified Coach by the International Coach Federation. In 2017 she was selected as mentor at the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s Mentoring Women in Business Program.
Dr. Evdokia Krystallidou received her PhD in Animal Nutrition and an MSc in Dairy Animal Science from the University of Reading after being awarded a scholarship from IKY (Greek state scholarship institute). She holds Diplomas in Animal Production from the Technological Educational Institution (TEI) of Thessaloniki and ASPAITE (certified educator).
She worked as a part time lecturer at the Technological Educational Institution (TEI) of Thessaloniki and Larisa and as an advisor at Hellenic Feed Industries (ΕΛΒΙΖ).
She acted as program Leader for the Pearson BTEC Higher Nationals in Animal Management program. He teaches at Perrotis College and the Adult Education Program of the American Farm School. She is the Senior Project Manager of the SPMO Strategic Programs Management Office where she is responsible for many research projects.
Her research interests include animal nutrition and its impact on animal products and human health, monitoring feed formulations to meet quality performance and animal health standards, and evaluating chemical and nutritional value of feeds.
Dr. Eleni Maloupa (BSc Agronomy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, MSc & PhD in Plant Biology and Physiology, “Pierre et Marie Curie” University of Paris) is Director of the Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources, Head of the Laboratory for the Conservation and Evaluation of Native and Floricultural Species (LabCENFS) and Curator of the Balkan Botanic Garden Kroussia.
Her research fields focuses on protection, conservation, propagation and utilization of native Greek plant species (mainly aromatic-medicinal). She has teaching experience in graduate and postgraduate level (Universities, MAICH). She participated in the MSc program “The biodiversity and sustainable exploitation of native plants” (School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) and supervise MSc and PhD thesis in school of Pharmacy and Athens Agronomy University. Her research work has been published in more than 60 international and Greek journals. She has also participated in the publication of 3 book chapters.
She has implemented major research programs in collaboration with internationally renowned researchers. She has organized and materialized educational programs and seminars addressed to farmers, enterprises and interested civilians on the above-mentioned subjects. She has educational certification for adult training from the National Organization for the Certification of Qualifications & Vocational Guidance (EOPPEP).
Abstract (EN/GR): here
Having involved in the export trade of fruit, he has been successfully operating in the livestock sector since 2004.
A founding member of the SEK, laid the foundations for PASEGES in 2011 where he was elected on its board
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.
He has studied Agriculturist at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
He also holds an MSc in Agriculture Economics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and MBA (TQM) at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki.
He has worked for eleven years in the private sector as a Product and Marketing Manager in multinational companies of Agricultural Supplies.
For the last 13 years, he has been working in the public sector, at the Regional Unit of Serres (former Prefecture of Serres), and more specifically, from 2005 until 2010 at the Office of Agricultural Applications and from 2011 until today, at the Department of Phytosanitary and Quality Control, as Auditor.
For two years (2012-2014), he was seconded as Special Advisor to the Minister of Macedonia-Thrace in Thessaloniki for development and business co-operation issues.
He speaks English and a few Italian.
Dr. Ilias Kalfas is an Agronomist with a specialty in Plant Protection, having a degree from the Faculty of Agriculture of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He holds PhD from the University of London, Diploma of Imperial College and MSc in Production Organization and Quality Management in the Food Industry.
He has worked at the National Agricultural Research Foundation, ELGA, Certification Organizations, assuming positions of responsibility in the Region of Central Macedonia, National and European funded projects (both pure and applied research) and the American Agricultural School. He is a member of the European Commission’s ENV Panel (Research Executive Agency) and a reviewer in scientific journals.
He also is the Project Leader regarding plant production projects of Strategic Programs Management Office of the American Farm School. He participates in many research projects and his research interests include the implementation of high technology to Greek agriculture, the circular economy, the sustainability of the Greek farmers and the environmental impact of agriculture.
Ms. Georgia Chantzi is senior researcher at the International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS), based in Athens, Greece. As ICBSS’s project manager, she is responsible for the scientific and financial implementation of research projects in the fields of science, technology and innovation, sustainable growth & human development, and culture, focusing in the wider Black Sea region.
Prior to joining the ICBSS, she has worked in the private sector and as junior researcher at the Centre of Russia, Eurasia and SE Europe, in Athens.
She holds an MA in Terrorism, International Crime and Global Security from Coventry University and a BA in International and European Studies from Panteion University.
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”.