Mr. Yiannis Kantoros

Mr. Kantoros is the CEO of INTERAMERICAN Hellenic Insurance Company.

He holds the positions of president in the Hellenic Dutch Association, president in Health Insurance Committee and member of Board of Directors and Executive Committee, in the Hellenic Association of Insurance Companies.

His significant career path within INTERAMERICAN includes key leadership positions, whereas he has cooperated with other multinational companies.

He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Cardiff Business School and Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).

Ms. Ismini Papakirillou

Ismini Papakirillou is the Chief Executive Officer of Hellenic Development Bank, a position she holds since February 2024. Previously she worked for the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group, covering European Commission mandates across a range of different thematics. From 2010 to 2019 she worked for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investing arm of the World Bank, handling direct investments across a range of financial instruments, sectors and geographies. Prior to IFC she worked for three years as a portfolio manager for Global Tactical Asset Allocation strategies at APG Investments, one of the largest institutional investors in Europe. She has also worked in Paris and Athens covering investments in industry and private equity.

She has degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the London School of Economics (LSE).

Dr. Spyridon Flogaitis

He is Professor of Administrative Law at the Law School of the University of Athens, Attorney at Law at the High Court and the Council of State of Greece, former President of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal and former Caretaker Alternate Minister for Foreign Affairs (2015) and Former Caretaker Minister of Interior, Greece (in 2007and 2009). He is also an Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College of the University of Cambridge and Doctor Honoris Causa at the NSPSPA in Bucharest, Romania, the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in Portugal, at the Titu Majorescu Univeristy in Bucharest, Romania, the State University of Mariupol in Ukraine, and the USPEE in Chisinau, Moldavia. He is Vice-President at the Appeals Board of the European Space Agency, Member of the Appeals Board of  EUMETSAT, Member of the Appeals Board of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. He is Judge at the Administrative Tribunal of EBRD and holds the Chair of the Joint of the Appeals Board at IFAD in the UN. He is former Vice-President of the Organization of Intellectual Property, former Judge at the Supreme Court of Greece, former Arthur Goodhart Professor at the Faculty of Law, Cambridge University, former Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of Law in Cambridge University.

He was born in Lefkas (Greece) and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Athens with a degree in Law. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas and a PhD in History from the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and a degree (Diplôme) of the École Pratique des Hautes Etudes-IVème Section, Histoire et Philologie.

He speaks fluently English, French, German, Italian and Greek and is the author of many publications in the area of public law.

He was awarded with the distinction of Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur of the French Republic, the distinction of Cavaliere dell’Ordine di Merito of the Italian Republic, the La Croix d’Officier de l’Ordre du Merite de Hongrie and  was honored as Grande-Oficial da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique from the Portuguese Republic

Ms. Alia El-Yassir

Ms. Alia El-Yassir (Canada) has been working with UN Women since 1997. Prior to assuming her role as Regional Director a.i for the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, she was the Deputy Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Regional Office and UN Women Special Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), managing a complex portfolio of programmes and projects, as well as supporting the UNCT and HCT on establishing coordination mechanisms for tackling gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. She is part of the UNDG roster of gender experts and has supported other UNCTs in this capacity.

Before joining UN Women, she briefly worked with UNDP and was engaged in the education field. In addition to volunteering with a number of women’s and human rights NGOs, she has worked on educational media for children.

Alia El-Yassir graduated from McGill University in Montreal and pursued post-graduate studies in Education and Anthropology, with a specialization on Gender Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Ambassador (a.h.) Michael B. Christides

Ambassador Michael B. Christides has been  the Secretary General of the Permanent International Secretariat (PERMIS) of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey.

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1949, Ambassador Christides joined the Hellenic MFA in 1976 as first in his Class and served with distinction until his retirement in August 2014. Among other assignments he served as Ambassador of Greece to Bulgaria, to Turkey and to Argentina and held senior posts in the Hellenic MFA as Political Director for South East Europe, as Director General for International Organizations, International Security & Cooperation and as Director General for International Economic Relations.

Ambassador Christides has spent more than 20 years dealing with S.E. European and Balkan issues. He acquired a broad knowledge of the political and economic realities there and established a wide network of high-level political, business, academic and media contacts. He speaks fluent English, German, French, Italian and moderately good Spanish.

Mr. Alexandros Daniilidis

Alexandros Daniilidis is Managing Director of Athenian Brewery, since January 2018.

He started his career at Athenian Brewery in 1992 from Sales Division.  In 2002 he joined the Management Team as Sales Manager Wholesale-Horeca. In 2008 he became Sales Director Greece and in 2010 Commercial Director.

In the period 2012 – 2017 became Managing Director Heineken Serbia, leading the company to the top of the market, tripling both turnover and sales volume and achieving high profitability growth.

He studied Economics at the University of Piraeus.

Dr. Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou

Dr. Dionysia-Theodora Avgerinopoulou, M.P., is a leading future in Environmental Law and Policy. She currently serves as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament and the Chair of the Special Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Protection and its Subcommittee of the Watercourses of the Hellenic Parliament.

She has served as the Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership Organization in Stockholm, Sweden, and the Head of Water of the Commission on Environment and Energy of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, France. Dr. Avgerinopoulou has also served as the Chairperson of the Standing Committee for the UN Affairs of the Inter- Parliamentary Union, in Geneva, Switzerland, Chairperson of the Circle of the Mediterranean Parliamentarians on Sustainable Development, and the Vice-Chair for the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable Development, in Athens, Greece.

Dionysia received a first degree in Law from the Faculty of Law of the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens, Greece and an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. She also holds a Doctorate in International Environmental Law (J.S.D.) from Columbia University School of Law in New York, NY. Dionysia is the author of several articles and a book on environmental and international issues and has presented her work at several international conferences. She teaches Public International Law, International Environmental Law, European Environmental Law, Law of Sustainable Development, Global Environmental Governance and Climate Change Law.

Dionysia is an attorney-at-law by profession. She has previously worked, among others, at the Legal Service of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, the Permanent Mission of the European Union at the United Nations in New York, U.S.A., the Center on Environmental and Land Use Law of the New York University School of Law in New York, the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Yale Law School in New Haven, C.T., U.S.A. and the International and Foreign Law Institute in Athens, Greece.

She has been elected four times as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament and three times as the Chairperson of the Special Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Protection and its Subcommittee of the Watercourses. She has served as President of the Parliamentary Committee of Friendship between Greece and Botswana, Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Committee of Friendship between Greece and Norway, Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee of Friendship between Greece and the Netherlands, and a Member of the Parliamentary Committees of Friendship between Greece and Albania, Canada, Japan, Israel,  Kenya, Singapore, U.S.A., and Russia. She has served as the Deputy Secretary of Volunteerism and NGOs and the Deputy Head of the Environmental Policy Sector of the New Democracy Party. Dr. Avgerinopoulou was a member of the Committee regarding the Genetically Modified Organisms of the Greek Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Change, and the parliamentary representative of her Party for the Law on Biodiversity that implemented the 2011-2020 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and introduced the National Biodiversity Strategy for Greece.

In 2011, Dr. Avgerinopoulou was elected as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum for her global leadership in environmental protection issues. In the same year, she received the “Green Star” Award by UNEP/OCHA/Green Cross International for her efforts in preventing and responding to environmental emergencies and natural disasters. She was also selected among the “40Under40” of the EU. In 2010, she also received a Special Congressional Recognition for her “outstanding efforts and invaluable contributions on behalf of Hellenic Students and the environment” and the Global Citizenship Award for Leadership in Assisting Humanity by Orphans International Worldwide in 2010. In 2009, she received the international Goddess Artemis Award by the Euro-American Women’s Council for her contribution to transatlantic cooperation between the U.S. and the EU on environmental and climate change issues.

She speaks Greek, English, French, German and Spanish. She is the mother of one young boy.