Archives

Born in Athens in 1967, Alexis Sioris gained his Bachelor’s and consequently his Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, in 1990.

He then went into General Management Consulting with Nestle’s  “Productivity Team” in Switzerland and Indonesia. In 1992, he joined Harvard University’s MBA program. In 1994, he returned to Greece to conduct his military service with the Paratroopers’ Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols of the Greek Army’s Special Forces (ETA).

In 1996, he joined Athens International Airport S.A. (AIA), still under formation at the time, and since then, in his role as Manager of Cargo Development and Chairman of the Airport Cargo Community Committee, has spearheaded AIA’s efforts to place Athens on the world cargo map and gradually transform it into a cargo gateway of SE Europe.

In 2016, he additionally took on responsibility for the whole ground-handling sector at AIA, his vision being to promote the growth and development of new ventures within the airport community through a true synergetic approach. From 2014-2017, he served as Vice Chairman of the Institute of Logistics Management Greece (HILME), the Greek branch of the European Logistics Association (ELA). Alexis is a Greek native speaker and fluent in German, English and French.

Alexandra joined the European Banking Federation (EBF) in January 2017 as a Senior Policy Advisor in charge of the Cybersecurity, Digital Skills and Social Affairs portfolios.

In the framework of cybersecurity and digital skills, Alexandra is responsible for the creation and implementation of the EBF Cybersecurity Working Group action plan, relevant EBF positions, relations with EU institutions, the annual EBF Cybersecurity Conference and projects aimed at the harmonization of the legislative and regulatory environment, cybersecurity awareness-raising and the enhancement of digital skills for bank employees and customers. She also represents the EBF in the Advisory Group on Financial Services of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition of the European Commission.

Between 1999 and 2016, Alexandra served as Director of the Hellenic Banking Institute at the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA); Secretary of the Executive Committee and Member of the Board of Directors of the European Banking & Financial Services Training Association (EBTN); Member of the Board of the Institute of Career Guidance (IEPAS); Chair of the Financial Literacy Committee of EBTN; Vice-Chair of the Financial Education Project Group of EBF; and HBA rep. to the International Network on Financial Education of OECD.

The professional experience of Alexandra prior to joining the EBF includes a range of fields mainly in but not restricted to the banking sector, in national, European and international settings: business relations, industry positioning, management of professional training and qualification services (including accreditation of qualifications, skills frameworks, certification exams and e-learning), publications, events and financial literacy activities.

As of December 2010, Iryna Makarenko is at the Permanent Secretariat to the Commission on the Protection of Black Sea Against Pollution (Bucharest Convention), an international intergovernmental organization based in Istanbul, Turkey.

In April 2014 Iryna has been assigned as Pollution Monitoring and Assessment Officer. Before moving to Turkey worked as a diplomat in the Mission of Ukraine to the European Union in Brussels being responsible for EU-Ukraine cooperation in the field of environment, transport, space, research and education; earlier as a Deputy Head of Office to Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and as a diplomat of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Iryna has a Master Degree in the field of Environmental and Energy Law obtained at a Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Leuven (Kingdom of Belgium), Certificates on Water Law (University of Dundee, Scotland), Environmental Diplomacy (University of Geneva, Switzerland) and Regional Economics (University of Genoa, Italy).

Nazlan Ertan is a journalist, blogger and strategic communications professional currently based in Turkey. She graduated from Middle East Technical University International Relations Department and has attended postgraduate studies in City University of London – School of Journalism; Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne and Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

A journalist who worked in Ankara, Paris and Brussels, Nazlan also held positions as Culture and Audiovisual Manager in EU Delegation in Turkey; Director of the EU Information Centre in Ankara; Director of Communications of International Road Federation and Director of Communication, Culture and Information in Turkey’s Ministry for European Affairs. She has worked as Corporate Communications Manager, then Corporate Affairs Director of Kipa, the Turkish business of international retailer Tesco between 2011 and 2016.

Nazlan has worked on plans and programmes on women’s leadership throughout her career in private and public sector. She believes leadership requires a sense of humor and a lot of resilience.

Mr. Periklis Drougkas has a professional background evolved through four decades of high performance career to senior-level executive positions in International Financial Institutions.

He has participated in Banking Sector M&A projects in CEE and contributed to the development of the banking sector in Greece and in other European countries through a variety of projects introducing innovative products and services. He has also actively participated in the modernization of the banking legislation and policies.

Mr. Drougkas is the Chairman of the Albanian Association of Banks, President of the Hellenic Business Association of Albania and member of the Greek Chamber of Economists. He graduated from the University of Economics and Business in Athens and speaks Greek, English and Italian.

Mr. Dokos received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Cambridge University and has held research posts at HSFK (Frankfurt, 1989-90) and the Center for Science and International Affairs (CSIA) at Harvard University (1990-91).

He served as the Director for Research, Strategic Studies Division, Hellenic Ministry of National Defence (1996-98) and as an Advisor on NATO issues to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1998-1999).

He is currently the Director-General of ELIAMEP. He has taught at the Universities of Athens and Piraeus, the Hellenic National Defence College, the Diplomatic Academy and the Hellenic National Security School. His research interests include global trends, international security, Greek-Turkish relations & Mediterranean security.

Relevant publications include: Energy developments and Greek foreign policy: The Southern Gas Corridor as a major opportunity for Greece (with Dr. Tsakiris), ELIAMEP Policy Papers, Athens, February 2012, Energy Geopolitics in the Eastern Mediterranean: The Role of Greece, Tel Aviv University, February 2016, The EU and the Western Balkans as a Single Security Space in ‘Resilience in the Western Balkans’, EUISS Report, September 2017.

Dr. Oguz Demir is the Director of International Creative Economy Research Center established by Istanbul Commerce University and UNCTAD and he is also teaching at the same university as an Assistant Professor of Economics since 2013. He worked at the Institute for Innovation, Creativity and Capital at the University of Texas at Austin in 2014 as a visiting scholar. He has developed and managed numerous research based and applied projects on economic and social development in several regions in Turkey.

Added to these core tasks, he is also the Advisor to the Chairman for Travel Agents’ Union of Turkey and he is leading a think-tank named as The Economists’ Association.  He was also co-host of a live TV show in Bloomberg Turkey about economic and social development between the years 2010 – 2014.

He holds a PhD in Economics from Istanbul University and his main research interests are digital economic transformation, globalization, human capital, creativity and economic growth and EU integration of Turkey.  He has 3 books and scholarly papers published.

Born in Athens on 30.05.1944, married to Eleni Mavropoulou and father of three children, he holds a degree in Economic and Commercial Studies (Licence ès sciences économiques et commerciales) of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) of the University of Lausanne and is fluent in French, English and Italian.

Professionally active (1969-2010) in the sectors of trade and consultancy services, he has been elected member of the Board (1974-2010) of various employers’ organizations at all levels: local (Athens Traders Organisation, Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry), national (Union of the Trade Associations of Greece, Central Union of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Greece, Hellenic National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce) and European (the Brussels-based organizations EuroCommerce for the sector of Commerce and Distribution and Eurochambres the organization of all European Chambers of Commerce and Industry).

He has been appointed member of institutional consultative bodies of the European Commission, representing Greek Commerce and Distribution [Committee of Commerce and Distribution (CCD 1986-1998), Professional Chamber of the Enterprise Policy Group (PC-EPG 2001-2006)].

He served twice in the Greek Government as Secretary General for Foreign Trade (1989) and Secretary General for Industry (1991-1993). Being responsible for the coordination of the Government’s Privatization Programme he was the rapporteur to the Ministerial Privatisation Committee. Member of the Hellenic Competition Commission (2009-2017).

Being among the 16 founding members of the Hellenic Network for Corporate Social Responsibility, as a representative of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he was the Network’s first Chairman of the Board (2000-2003) and since 2015 he is the Executive Advisor to the BoD of Global Compact Network Hellas & CSR Hellas.