Archives
Kostis Moussouroulis is an economist and senior officer of the European Commission, currently Chairman of the Steering Committee of the Just Transition Development Plan. He has been seconded from Brussels to Athens, upon request of the Greek government, and appointed by the Inter-ministerial Committee on delignitisation, on March 2020.
He comes from the island of Chios.
He is former Minister of Shipping and the Aegean (2012-2013) and former Deputy Minister of Environment and Energy in the caretaker Government (2015).
He served as Secretary General of Investments and Development (2004-2007) and as Secretary General at the Ministry of Development (2007-2009) responsible for Energy.
In the parliamentary election of 2009 he was elected for the first time as a New Democracy MP for the constituency of Chios. He was re-elected in the parliamentary elections of 2012.
He has received a number of honorary distinctions, major being the Golden Cross of the Order of Excellence for Shipping (French Republic).
He has occupied Chairman’s positions in committees and councils and has been Member of the Board of the European Investment Bank (2007-2009), of the Hellenic Public Gas Company (2007-2009) and of the National Energy Strategy Council (2009), this not being an extensive list though.
He is author of two books and of a number of articles. He is also lecturer in University postgraduate courses.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree from Athens University of Economics and Business. He holds a MSc in European Economics and a MA in International Relations from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Kostis Moussouroulis is married to Mary Panoussi and is father of three children.
Professor Konstantinos Aravossis is Secretary General of Natural Environment & Water at the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy. He is a Mechanical Engineer (Technical University of Aachen-Germany) with an M.Sc. in Management Science from Imperial College- University of London. He has further been awarded a PhD by the National Technical University of Athens, focusing on Operations Research.
He is Professor of “Planning, Management and Assessment of Technological and Environmental Investments at the NTUA (National Technical University of Athens), Professor at the ATHENS MBA (NTUA-Athens University of Economics) since 1997. He is the Coordinator of the “Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development Research Group” of the Sector of Industrial Management and Operations Research of the Mechanical Engineering School. He was the Environmental Advisor to the President of the Greek New Democracy political party and current Prime Minister.
He was President of the Greek Branch of the Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council coordinated by Columbia University and associate researcher of the Earth Engineering Center -Columbia University as well as visiting Professor at Imperial College-London. He was President of the Coordinating Committee of the Institute of Production and Operations Management / Hellenic Management Association.
He has been an advisor of the deputy Minister of Culture for the Olympic Games Constructions and their Post-Olympic utilization, President of the Greek Association of Environmental Protection Companies, President of the Hellenic Solid Waste Management Association (HSWMA) (now Hon. President) ,President of the Ordinary Environmental Committee of the Technical Chamber of Greece and member of Evaluation Committees for Investment and Energy Projects of the Ministry of Development. Furthermore, he has been member of the Board of the Organization of Labor Residencies (OEK).and General Manager of Environmental Companies. He has organized 11 Int. Conferences and has over 100 Publications / 30 research projects.
Christoforos Chatzopoulos is head of Retail Loans for consumers and small businesses in the National Bank of Greece. He has been the head of the Mortgage Lending of the National Bank, the head of Consumer Credit of the National Bank, he is the Vice President of the Board of Directors of TIRESIA SA, a member of the Board of Directors of National Leasing and a member of the Board of Directors of National Insurance Brokers SA and was a member of the Board of Directors of EAEDO (Ethnokarta). He has also been the Credit and Recovery Manager at Eurobank, a member of the Boards of Directors of Euroline (Bulgaria), ERS Euroline (Romania) and Euroline (Cyprus) and a member of the Board of Visa (Greece). He was the manager of Statistical Decisions for Greece and the Gulf area. He holds an MSc in Management & Operational Research from Warwick Business School and a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Patras.
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.
Akın, the founder of TABIT Agricultural information and Communication Technologies Inc., was brought into action Turkey’s first communication, e-learning and e-trade media in agriculture field, established in 2004. By modeling the credit cards of farmers together with banks, she ensured the farmers to be able to access finance sources without having any loss. She visited around 12.000 villages in order to express these.
She founded Vodafone Farmers’ Club with Vodafone and started early warning informing in agriculture to give information and services for 1,4 million farmers and their families with special farmer applications. As of 2015, Vodafone Farmers’ Club business model was started to be implemented in India, Ghana, Kenya, New Zealand and Tanzania.
With the support of Intel, she ensured Farmer Computer software to be produced which allows each literate person to use and ask questions to experts regarding information, communication, marketing etc.
Currently, Akın is working in a village of Aydin in order to bring rural life to the future, by establishing an implementation area of intelligent agriculture Technologies which is Vodafone Smart Village where the farmers can see either farming or technology at the same place.
She studied at Akdeniz University (2003 – 2005) Department of Agricultural Marketing, Anadolu University (2006 – 2008) Faculty of Business Administration, Bogaziçi University (2012 – 2013) also Micro MBA.
Akın still continues to develop different projects in order to increase the quality of life in rural areas, for the purposes of ensuring sustainable economic empowerment, accelerating the social development of farmers and their families. With such projects, it is aimed to bring together 742.000 farmers with Agriculture 4.0 technologies within 5 years and increase productivity in agriculture at an amount of 1,5 Billion USD.
She was awarded as Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year and nominated for the Nobel Prize in the field “Work for Peace”. Furthermore, she was chosen as an Ashoka Fellow in 2012.
Meral Guzel is the Partnership Manager of Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator, a multi-partner initiative designed to improve women entrepreneurship around the world in collaboration with five United Nations agencies.
She has previously worked as the Women’s Empowerment Principle Specialist to establish WEPs Secretariat within UN Women. She founded and launched the Women’s Banking department of BNP Paribas TEB and also designed and managed several multi-country entrepreneurship programmes at the World Bank.
Meral has a wealth of experience in global development with 15 years of experience in programme and policy work on gender equality in collaboration with the private sector, financial institutions, governments, CSOs and institutional partners. Meral’s expertise includes women empowerment at the workplace, banking on women, financial inclusion (MSME development, remittances, access to finance) and women’s entrepreneurship.
Meral is an economist and holds Master’s degrees in High European Studies, International Finance and International Franchise and SME Development. She speaks Turkish, English, French and Spanish. She is the proud mother of three sons.
Professor Dercas is an Agricultural Engineer (AUA), Hydraulic Engineer (S.Sp. Institute National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France), and Civil Engineer (National Technical University of Athens). He holds a Master of Science/DEA (University of Montpellier II) and a PhD in Hydraulic Engineering (University of Montpellier II / France).
His research interests cover the area of applied agricultural hydraulics, irrigation systems and management, water resources management, crop water requirements, biomass and energy crops. He has participated in several international and national research projects.
His research work is published in peer review journals and international conferences. He is a reviewer of international scientific journals and research proposals.
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
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