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Dr. Antonis Zampelas

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.

Mr. Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos

Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos is a Mandate Manager with the European Investment Fund (EIF) for the last 5 years where he has been involved with European Structural Funds in Greece and Cyprus, provides funding for projects that help to achieve EU aims. In addition, Alexandros has 20 years of experience on financial planning, analysis, annual strategic planning and business decision support, including maintaining and developing comprehensive modelling tools to facilitate sales forecasting, consolidation and evaluation for domestic and exports business.

Past employers include ABN Amro Bank in Luxembourg, where he currently resides, Alpha Bank, Hellenic Bank, and Michaniki Group of Companies in Athens, and Schroder Wertheim & Co. in New York City. Alexandros holds a Master’s degree of Business Administration in Finance from the Kogod School of Business, American University of Washington D.C. and a Bachelor degree in Economics from Clark University, Boston area.

Mr. Hans Nijhoff

Hans Nijhoff is a private sector development expert with a track record of over 20 years in the agriculture sector. He is an experienced project manager of multi-year projects in the local economic & agriculture market development, agribusiness finance & investment, and institutional development domains. His main interest is in business models for upscaling climate-smart agriculture (CSA), and in creating business clusters and Triple helix platforms to overcome blockages to growth. He has worked closely with hundreds of SME and large agribusiness companies, assisting them in the design and write-up of bankable business plans for development banks and investment funds. Related to this he has managed a major research project in six East African countries on the role of agribusiness SMEs as drivers for regional development. Hans Nijhoff is a part-time lecturer & trainer, of both students and professionals, on the key concepts of agribusiness management. He recently started his PhD on ‘success factors of innovation ecosystems to support climate-smart agriculture (CSA) farm operations’. He is senior expert with Maastricht School of Management.

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 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).

Mr. Kostis Moussouroulis

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.

Dr. Konstantinos Aravossis

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.

Mr. Christoforos Chatzopoulos

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 Baginetas

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.

Dr. Konstantinos Tsimpoukas

Tsimpoukas Konstantinos is Professor of the Laboratory of Agribusiness Management, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development in the Agricultural University of Athens. He is a graduate from the Agricultural University of Athens and has a M.Sc. from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier , D.E.A. and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics  of Montpellier III University, France.

He teaches Rural Economy & Policy, Introduction in Agricultural Economics, Farm Management and Economics of Animal Production at undergraduate level and Economics of Animal Production and Farm Management at postgraduate level. His research interests focus in techno-economic analysis of agricultural production systems and in decisions making at farm level. He participates in research projects (national and EU funded) as a coordinator and researcher in areas concerning economic analysis of agricultural production systems and economic viability at farm level.