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She was born in Athens in 1960 and she has 4 daughters. She graduated from Arsakeio Psychikon high school and she holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Athens University of Economics. She continued with a masters degree (MBA), in USA, from Virginia Darden School of Business.
She has a long professional journey in the area of Business Administration with senior responsibility positions in multinational corporations. Her expertise, lies on management of companies that promote innovation, on all stages of agricultural economy. She is the Country Leader for CORTEVA AGRISCIENCE HELLAS, a leading company in the field of agriculture which came into life out of the mingle of expertise and know how of companies such as DuPont Crop Protection, Pioneer and Dow Chemicals. She is also Business Leader for Israel & Cyprus at CORTEVA AGRISCIENCE and President of the board and CEO of DuPont Hellas S.A.
Her prior management position was President of the board and CEO of PIONEER HI-BRED HELLAS S.A., a multinational seed production and commercial company. Christina Legaki is also shareholder in HELLAFARM S.A., GAIA WINEMAKING S.A., THODORIS PANAS – DANCING SCHOOL OF ATHENS.
She speaks fluently English and French.
Hubert Cottogni is the Head of the Mandate Management Department, as well as a Director for the EIF. He is responsible for originating and managing national/regional and centralised Mandates from EU Member States, the European Commission and European Investment Bank. Hubert also structures and manages Funds of Funds throughout Europe and beyond, aiming to leverage public funding with private resources. In parallel, Hubert serves on the Board of several regulated funds such as EFSE, GGF, ENEF and TII. Prior to this position, he was a Director of Telekom Austria in Vienna, where he spent over 6 years as Head of Strategy and Business Development and later as Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. He also spent more than 12 years working as a Senior Banker in institutions such as EIB and Creditanstalt AG. Hubert holds an MBA degree from the University of Innsbruck and an executive degree from INSEAD.
Nikos Papathanasis is a Mechanical Engineer and member of the Technical Chamber of Greece. He received his B.A.Sc. from the University of Toronto and he continued his education by receiving two post-graduate degrees, Master in Management and Aerospace Engineering.
He commenced work in 1984 at the De Havilland Aircraft Company (now Bombardier Aerospace) in Toronto. He served as a member of the board of the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) and as a member of the board and executive vice president of the Olympic Aviation. He worked for twenty four years as a senior and C level executive at private and public companies in Greece and abroad.
His work experience includes the management of State interest companies as in public transportation companies, namely, CEO of ISAP S.A. (Urban Rail) and President and CEO of Urban Rail Transport S.A. From 2008 to 2010 he was President – elect of the National section of the European Center of Employers and Enterprises (CEEP).
Throughout his thirty five years work experience, he has demonstrated his ability in developing business action reform plans, maturing investments, restructuring and streamlining of companies that led to a significant improvement of their balance sheets.
In July 2019 he was appointed by Prime Minister, K. Mitsotakis, as Deputy Minister of Development and Investments responsible for Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection. In August 2020 he was appointed as Alternate Minister of Development and Investments responsible for Private Investments and PPPs.
Professor Antonis Zampelas is President of the Management Board of the Hellenic Food Authority, Professor in Human Nutrition in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece and Honorary Professor in the Division of Medical Sciences, University College London Greece.
He obtained his BSc in Food Science and Technology from the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece, his MSc degree in Food Science from the University of Reading, UK and his PhD in Human Nutrition from the University of Surrey, UK.
He worked as Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, Senior Scientific Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, UK, Assistant Professor at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Harokopio University, Athens, and Professor at the Nutrition and Health Department, UAEU.
He has been involved in numerous trials and projects related to the effects of diet on parameters influencing the development of cardiovascular diseases. He is the Principal Investigator of the Hellenic Nutrition and Health Examination Survey and of the GRECO Study.
Professor Zampelas co-authored 20 text-book chapters and contributed to 170 peer reviewed publications in international scientific journals.
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).
Simos Kedikoglou was elected member of the Hellenic Parliament for the Prefecture of Evia with New Democracy Party in the elections of 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2019.
He served as Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and Government Spokesman from 2012 to 2014.
He was a member of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, of the Standing Committee on National Defense & Foreign Affairs, Special Standing Committee on European Affairs and of the Committee on Armaments Programs & Contracts.
In addition, he served as head of the Greek Delegation and Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation.
Simos Kedikoglou is a journalist. He has been a political, parliamentary and diplomatic editor in newspapers “Kathimerini”, “Apogevmatini”, “Apofasi” and “Xora”. He also presented and participated in broadcasts of TV and radio stations (ERT, MEGA, FLASH etc.). For many years he was a contributor to CNN International’s World Report show, and on CNN’s “Q&A” show in Atlanta, USA.
He speaks English, Russian, and French.
He is married and proud father of two children
Petros Kokkalis has been actively involved in public service for the past 25 years, developing social innovation focused on human and sustainable development.
In 2019 he was elected MEP with the Progressive Alliance – Syriza ticket, representing Kosmos: an association seeking to put the SDGs in the heart of the European policymaking, and aiming at the empowerment and engagement of civil society and all stakeholders to take bottom-up action for implementing the European Green Deal and the SDGs.
He is a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and a substitute member of the Committee on Budgets (BUDG), the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI), and the Committee on Fisheries (PECH). In the Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development he is the co-chair of the SDGs Working Group.
He studied Modern History at the University of Hampshire, and earned his master’s degree in public administration at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
He was co-founder and secretary of the non-governmental environmental Organization Earth (2009 – 2021) whose work on environmental awareness and education for sustainable development has been awarded by the International Union for the Protection of the Environment (IUCN).
He was elected and served as the Vice-Mayor responsible for economic development and climate change in the municipality of Piraeus (2014 – 2019), where he promoted sustainable entrepreneurship and support of start-ups in the maritime economy.
The European Commission has acknowledged its work, awarding the Blue Growth Piraeus initiative at the European Entrepreneurship Promotion Competition 2018.
During his term of office he led the humanitarian support during the Refugee Crisis in the period 2015-2016 and served as the President of the Municipal Council for Refugees.
Dr. Konstantinos N. Baginetas was born in Lamia (Greece) in 1977. He studied Agronomy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He continued his studies at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London on issues of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (M.Sc.) and the University of Nottingham in matters of Interdisciplinary Development of Agro -environmental Sustainability Indicators (Ph.D.).
In June 2021, by decision of the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Rural Development and Food Mr. Spyridon – Panagiotis Livanos, he was appointed Secretary General of Agricultural Policy and International Affairs of the Ministry of Rural Development & Food.
In July 2019, by decision of the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Rural Development and Food Mr. Makis Voridis, he was appointed Secretary General of Agricultural Policy and Management of European Funds of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.
Since 2007 he works in the Directorate of Rural Affairs of Central Greece of the Decentralised Administration of Thessaly-Central Greece, where he is principally engaged with investment projects regarding the modernization of agricultural holdings, projects focusing on young farmers entering agriculture and matters of agrotouristic development investment projects. He has, also, served as an officer-administrator of tens of Technical Assistance projects in the Special Managing Authority of the Region of Central Greece.
He has been a consultant of the Deputy Minister of Development and Competitiveness and of the Alternate Minister of Finance Mr. Chr. Staikouras during 2013-2014.
In July 2016, the President of the political party of New Democracy (ND) Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appointed him as the Secretary of Rural Organisations of ND.
He participated as a member of the Thematic Group for the Strategic Planning on «Innovation-Research-Training» of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food regarding the preparation of the programming period 2014-2020 and in Working Groups of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece regarding the formulation of proposals within the Rural Development programming period 2014-2020.
He has participated in numerous research and vocational training sessions abroad and in Greece. He has attended many workshops, seminars, national and international conferences, where he has presented research papers. He was a leader and a member of several European research programs and best practice exchange programs. He is an External Expert-Evaluator of the European Commission for the program «Horizon 2020» on issues of «Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime Affairs and Bio-Economy».
He is a certified adult educator and has participated as an instructor in educational programs related to environmental education, environmental management, rural development and rural entrepreneurship.
He has been elected a Representative of the Agricultural Sector of the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece (GEOTEE) in the Regional Branch of Central Greece.
He has been elected President of the Agricultural Association of the Prefectures of Fthiotida-Evritania and a member of the Board of the Panhellenic Federation of Agricultural Associations (POSG).
He has authored the books entitled “Rural Development Program 2014-2020 & Rural Development Proposal for the Municipality of Lamia“, “Sustainable Leadership in School Units. Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Research” and “Two Years of Action – Kostas Baginetas – Secretary of Rural Organisations ND”.
He is married to Evangelia I. Bakogianni, a speech therapist, and has a son.
He speaks English and French.