2022 Speakers - Athens Sustainability Forum 2024

Inspiring Leaders towards a more sustainable tomorrow

Leaders of the ESG, responsible finance and sustainability world—renowned experts, CEOs, managers, and sector leads—have prepared exclusive programs just for Sustainability Forum participants. You’ll hear from these industry leaders everything you need to know to take your business growth and sustainability career to the next level. Tune in now!

Maria Rita Galli

CEO

DESFA - Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator

Maria Rita Galli

CEO

Maria Rita Galli is the CEO of DESFA (Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator). Until recently she held the position of the Executive Vice President Business Development & Asset Management at Snam S.p.A, a leading global energy infrastructure company and was the Chairman of the SENFLUGA Energy Holdings S.A., a consortium controlling 66% of DESFA's share capital. Ms. Galli started her career at Eni in 1997, as a graduate in nuclear engineering from the Milan Polytechnic University. At Eni, she went through various roles within the International Business Development Department, joined relevant international projects and was involved in M&A activities. As a member of Eni's Board of Directors, she also oversaw the operations of some of the Group’s companies abroad (Galp, Distrigas, eni Gas&Power Trading BV, eni Gas&Power France, GVS GmbH, etc.) Since 2006, she has been in charge of the International Business Development unit and, from January 2010, she has been in charge of the International Business Development and Assets Management department. In October 2016, she joined Snam as the Head of Business Development and International Asset Management.

Iakovos Michalitsis

Regional General Manager

Bausch Health Companies Inc.

Iakovos Michalitsis

Regional General Manager

“A disruptive & energizing leader improving people’s lives. A captain in both good & bad times leading by example, always moving forward for my people and our society”. Iakovos Michalitsis is a Senior Executive with track record and years of success in executive & operational / financial positions, delivering demanding growth objectives within diverse, conflicting & rapidly changing multinational environments. His academic background consists of his Bachelor’s degree in Economics with Distinction, from Athens University of Economics and Business, and a Master in Science in Investment Management with Distinction, from CASS Business School, City University, London. Since 2006, his employment history includes several important positions in BAUSCH Health Companies Inc, such as PharmaSwiss Hellas SA CFO Greece, Regional Finance Head Central & S.E. Europe, Middle East, North Africa and Regional Finance Director CEMEA. Since 2015, Iakovos Michalitsis holds the BAUSCH Health General Manager position for Greece, Cyprus & Malta. Some of his demanding tasks and objectives are leading the $ 45 mil Hub & 8 Business Units Structure and managing the BAUSCH Health team, in meeting tough performance improvement goals & turning around operations, built through acquisitions, experiencing significant operational & cultural challenges. His professional career comprises numerous qualifications also in Corporate Governance and established memberships: - An Advisory Board Member CEO’s Club - A Certified Market Maker / Trader ADEX - A Member of Economic Chamber of Greece - An AMCHAM member - A SFEE / EFPIA Member - A Certified & Diploma Holder in Corporate Governance Non Executive Director by the Institute of Directors UK.

Simon Thompson

CEO

Chartered Banker Institute

Simon Thompson

CEO

Simon leads our work to shape and implement professional standards and professional development for bankers. Simon Thompson was appointed as our Chief Executive in 2007. In 2011, Simon led the establishment of the Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board (CB:PSB). He is a Board member of the CB:PSB and chairs the CB:PSB’s Professional Standards Committee. Simon was responsible for managing the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB), developing ethics and education standards for accountants. He previously worked for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), establishing ACCA in 25 countries in Central & Eastern Europe, and leading a number of EU and other donor-funded accounting education and reform programmes. Simon holds a BA (Politics and Economics) from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and an MBA from the University of Edinburgh. He is one of our Fellows (FCIBS), and a Chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD). Simon chairs the Global Education Standards Committee recently established by a group of leading international banking institutes, and is a lay member of the General Teaching Council for Scotland. He is a former Vice President of the European Bank Training Network

Thomas Kolster

Mr. Goodvertising, Marketing Activist and Author

Thomas Kolster

Mr. Goodvertising, Marketing Activist and Author

Thomas Kolster is a marketing activist on a mission to make business put people and planet first. As a seasoned branding and sustainability professional of more than 18 years’ standing, he’s advised Fortune 500 companies, small start-ups, governments, agencies, and non-profits. He’s the founder of the global Goodvertising movement that’s inspired a shift for the better in advertising. He’s also the author of two books: ‘Goodvertising’ (Thames & Hudson 2012) and ‘The Hero Trap’ (2020) He’s an internationally recognised keynote speaker who’s appeared in more than 70 countries at events like TEDx, SXSW, D&AD & Sustainable Brands; and is a columnist for the Guardian, Adweek, The Drum and several other publications, as well as regularly judging at international award shows such as Cannes Lions and D&AD. As a passionate entrepreneur and change agent he’s launched several impact platforms like Cph:Change and Wheregoodgrows. Thomas’ belief is simple: Change begins with you!

Michalis Vlastarakis

General Manager, Group Marketing and Corporate Communication

Eurobank

Michalis Vlastarakis

General Manager, Group Marketing and Corporate Communication

General Manager Group Marketing & Corporate Communications Eurobank S.A the last 7 years. Member of the Board of Directors of Eurobank A.D. Belgrade, Chairman of the Steering Committee of Eurobank’s Incubator/ Accelerator «egg - enter•grow•go». Before Eurobank, he has held managerial positions at Euromerchant Bank, Barclays Bank Plc in Greece and the U.K. and National Bank of Greece. During his career, Mr. Vlastarakis has played an important role in the development of Retail Banking in Greece and Southeastern Europe, having served among others as a Board Member in Banks in Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. He holds an MBA in Financial Services from ALBA Graduate Business School, a Degree in Economics from Athens University and has attended various Executive Education Courses like Strategic Marketing at Harvard Business School and Leadership at IMD.

Georgia Kartsanis

Founder

CEO Clubs Greece

Georgia Kartsanis

Founder

Georgia Kartsanis is the founder of CEO Clubs Greece (2009) the Founder of CEO Clubs Romania (2012), Your Directors Club (2019) and SARGIA Partners (2010). A Visionary Business Builder and Leadership Coach who founded a premium and exclusive Group of Companies, shaping the future in business and society, by inspiring greatness and co-creating experiences. A natural edge-walker, inspiring leaders around the world to take a stand, create radical new rules of business, generate systemic change and transform their leadership for game-changing results. Her clients are passionate, powerful and prosperous CEOs, Entrepreneurs and Senior Executive Teams with a track record of success, looking to play even bigger. Georgia’s passion is to facilitate core shifts in consciousness, mindsets and behaviors which are needed to achieve breakthrough results in the context of transformation.Her rich international business career includes a decade as an industry leader in executive search services and 20 years of commercial management experience from the consumer, industrial and technology sectors, working with Stanton Chase, 3M, Philip Morris, TYCO and WR Grace, in Greece, the USA and the Middle East.
She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, USA. Georgia is a certified Master Coach by the Center for Advanced Coaching (CAC) in the USA; certified neuro-coach from the Neuro Business Group (NBG), certified Leadership Agility 360 Assessor by Change Wise and certified by Quantum Entrainment on Mindful Practices as they apply to authentic leadership. She has worked with leaders and leadership teams in the FMCG, financial, technology, pharmaceutical, industrial and green energy sectors. Due to her diversified and vast experience in organizational structure/management matters and unique capability of C-level coaching, she is typically engaged to support leaders in improving their interpersonal impact, agility, creativity and executive presence, as well as strengthening their team’s alignment and effectiveness. Her rich international business career includes a decade as an industry leader in executive search services and 20 years of commercial management experience from the consumer, industrial and technology sectors, working with Stanton Chase, 3M, Philip Morris, TYCO and WR Grace, in Greece, the USA and the Mid East. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, USA.

Sharon Jackson

Founder & Director

European Sustainability Academy

Sharon Jackson

Founder & Director

Sharon Jackson is the Founder & CEO of the European Sustainability Academy, (ESA) Crete, Director of Carlton Consultancy Ltd. UK, Senior Leader Apprenticeship Tutor at Cranfield University, Associate Faculty at Cranfield School of Management, Associate Scholar at University of Cumbria, Institute for Sustainability and Leadership, Visiting Lecturer at Murray Edwards College- Cambridge University and Visiting Research Fellow at Athens University of Economics and Business. Her academic publications and research focus on how senior leaders make sense of sustainability in organisations and can be found at ResearchGate
In 2011 Sharon built ESA in Crete, as a 400m2, bioclimatic/ biophilia designed, natural building materials, off-grid, international centre of experiential learning for developing sustainability leadership skills. Her vision to build ESA evolved from her extensive global experience in business and academia over nearly 3 decades, and from a personal frustration with ineffective and inadequate approaches to leading sustainability action in business, climate change action and the transition to a Green Economy. Her leaders’ skills development programmes for business managers, leaders, and entrepreneurs, are pioneering, immersive learning programmes, with a focus on activating sustainability strategy and policy across all organisational functions.

Simone Utermarck

Director, Sustainable Finance

International Capital Market Association (ICMA)

Simone Utermarck

Director, Sustainable Finance

Simone Utermarck is a Director, Sustainable Finance at the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) based in London. She is part of the Secretariat that manages the Principles which underpin the global sustainable bond market, Secretary to the Advisory Council, the ICMA Sustainable Finance Committee (SFC) and the Global Sustainable Finance Council (GSFC), and otherwise involved in all of ICMA’s sustainable finance activities. Simone is also a member of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance (involved in drafting the reports on a Social Taxonomy and the Minimum Safeguards); the UK Stakeholder Discussion Forum and the ASEAN Joint Sustainable Finance Working Group Industry Advisory Panel.
She is a trained banker with extensive international experience having lived and worked in Europe, the United States, Asia and the GCC. Her previous roles were with Thomson Reuters, S&P Global Ratings, Bloomberg, PwC, Ernst & Young, DaimlerChrysler Global Capital Services. Simone holds a double degree in International Business from Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland and the ESB Business School, Reutlingen Germany. She also completed the International Certificate in Investor Relations and the CFA Level 1.

Matthew W. Patsky

CEO, CFA

Trillium Asset Management

Matthew W. Patsky

CEO, CFA

Matt Patsky is the CEO and Lead Portfolio Manager of the Trillium ESG Global Equity strategy and Portfolio Manager of the Trillium Sustainable Opportunities strategy. Matt has over three decades of experience in investment research and investment management. He began his career at Lehman Brothers in 1984 as a technology analyst. In 1989, while covering emerging growth companies for Lehman, he began to incorporate environmental, social, and governance factors into his research, becoming the first sell side analyst in the United States to publish on the topic of socially responsible investing in 1994. As Director of Equity Research for Adams, Harkness & Hill, he built the firm’s powerful research capabilities in socially and environmentally responsible areas such as renewable energy, resource optimization, and organic and natural products. Before Trillium, Matt worked at Winslow Management Company in Boston, where he served as director of research, chairman of the investment committee, and portfolio manager for the Green Growth and Green Solutions Strategies.
Matt currently serves on the board of TONIIC and has previously served on the Boards of Environmental League of Massachusetts, Shared Interest, Pro Mujer, US Sustainable Investment Forum (SIF), and Root Capital. He is also a member of the Social Venture Circle (SVC) and is a member of the CFA Society Boston and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.

Pakis Papademetriou

Head of ESG Division

Eurobank

Pakis Papademetriou

Head of ESG Division

Pakis Papademetriou has been serving Sustainability since 1995. He is an experienced integrator of management systems and a passionate advocate for sustainability. He has received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering, both from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also certified professional in Business Sustainability Management by the University of Cambridge (CISL).
In 2021 he joined Eurobank as Head, ESG Division with the objective of driving the embedding of ESG Principles & Culture, enabling the materialization of the ESG Community and contributing to the continuous improvement of ESG performance. Prior to that, he served at Athens International Airport (AIA) for 22 years in the position of Manager, Corporate Quality & Sustainability.
In 2022, he was appointed Chairman of the Hellenic Bank Association (HBA) Coordinating Committee for ESG, Corporate Governance and Green Banking and member of the HBA’s Executive Commitee. Since 2016, he has been serving as Chairman of the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM).

Robert Adamczyk

ESG Advisor, Associate Director, ESG Focal Point and Sector Lead, Heavy Industry and Power

European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD)

Robert Adamczyk

ESG Advisor, Associate Director, ESG Focal Point and Sector Lead, Heavy Industry and Power

Robert is a Senior Environmental Advisor within the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD, Environment and Sustainability Department. He is the sector co-ordinator for Power Projects and Heavy industry and focal point for ESG and Performance Requirement 3 (PR 3 – Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention and Control). As part of the Bank’s mandate, Robert is involved in project appraisals and due diligence. He is member of the EC Platform for Sustainable Finance and represented the Bank on the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD). He has helped to develop the 2021 Warsaw Stocks Exchange ESG disclosure and reporting guideline and is working on similar Stock Exchange ESG disclosure guidance in Czech Republic and Romania. He is an a member of the EFRAG Expert Group developing ESRS standards for pollution and biodiversity under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
Robert has extensive experience of environmental issues in industry and power sector in Bank’s Countries of operations. He has worked on developing the Responsible Steel standard and with the WBC SCI (Sustainable Cement Initiative) on guidance for ESIA and biodiversity management plans. He holds a degree from Kings College London and an MSc from Imperial College London (Environmental Technology). Prior to joining the EBRD in 2004, he was a Director and Head of the Environment Division of Atkins Europe based in Poland. Robert is an active member of IEMA (Institute of Environmental Management), member of RICS and member of the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species Energy Task Force (UN CMS EFT) – among others developing post-monitoring guidance for the wind sector jointly with IFC and KfW. He has been elected and served as chairperson of the EBRD Staff/Works Council for 8 years.

Dimitris Kazazoglou - Skouras

Head of Governance and Sustainability

Alpha Bank

Dimitris Kazazoglou - Skouras

Head of Governance and Sustainability

Dimitris Kazazoglou-Skouras is the Group ESG coordinator of Alpha Services & Holdings (parent of Alpha Bank), a leading financial institution in Greece and the Balkans.
He has 25 years of experience in the financial services and technology sectors. He has previously worked at The Boston Consulting Group and held senior roles at British Telecom, Eurobank, the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund and the EU’s Single Resolution Board. He holds a BSc in Statistics from the University of London, Queen Mary College and an MSc in Management and Strategic Information Systems from the University of Bath, in the UK.

Ioannis Kallias

CEO

TÜV Austria Hellas

Ioannis Kallias

CEO

Ioannis Kallias is a Production & Management Engineer and holds Master of Science in Quality Management from Cranfield University (School of Industrial & Manufacturing Science), UK. His work experience started in 1997 in Chemical Industries. In 2001 he began his career at TÜV AUSTRIA Hellas as Lead Auditor and Head of the Educational Programs Division. In 2004 he became the Head of the Management Systems Certification Division for the next four years, being responsible for the services offered by the Organization in both Greece and Cyprus. In 2006 he was assigned the position of Director of Development. Since 2010 he is the Chief Executive Officer of TÜV AUSTRIA Hellas. At the same time, he holds the position of CEO in 5 other subsidiaries of the TÜV AUSTRIA Group in Austria (TÜV AUSTRIA Cert) and Middle East countries and has been appointed as TÜV AUSTRIA Group Middle East & Balkans Area Director. Since 2017 he has also been appointed TÜV AUSTRIA Group Director of Certification, with responsibility for Group certification services worldwide. Since May 2019 he is top representative of TŰV AUSTRIA in the assigned Region and responsible for overall cross Business Field local market exploration and penetration in coordination with the Executive Business Directors or Business Field Managers. As of March 2020, Mr. Ioannis Kallias has been appointed as Executive Business Director for Business Assurance business area of TÜV AUSTRIA Group worldwide and he is executive member of the Executive Committee of the Group. Business Assurance consists of the following business streams: Certification, Training, Legal Compliance.

Lefteris Havouzis

General Manager

Lino S.A.

Lefteris Havouzis

General Manager

Lefteris Chavouzis is the General Manager of Lino SA, an integrated printing solutions company and one of the most important technology and software systems integrator’s in Southeast Europe. After graduating from High School, Lefteris received a scholarship and studied Mechanical Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He continued at RWTH Aachen in Germany at the school of Engineering for Production Finance.
He has acquired a wide experience in automotive and 2D printing industries having worked for Audi AG, Daimler Benz AG, and XEIKON International in various positions. Since 2016, he has been working at Lino SA and he is actively involved in additive manufacturing and circular economy projects.

Dr. Ehab Shalaby

Co-Founder & CEO

Dcarbon Egypt

Dr. Ehab Shalaby

Co-Founder & CEO

Dr. Ehab Shalaby is the Chairman and CEO of DCarbon Egypt. A Researcher, Consultant, and Lecturer in the field of Sustainable Development. With more than 20 years of experience, Shalaby worked in lecturing, research, public and private policy advising on Sustainable Development Strategies and Policies; on the local, regional and international level. His core motivation was embedding Sustainable Development philosophy and culture in the Egyptian context, in particular Strategy and Policy planning, project implementation, evaluation, and development. He received his MSc and Ph.D. from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, and Free university of Berlin. His master’s thesis addressed The Economic Impact of the Informal Sector on Economic Development, his PhD thesis addressed Energy Policy and Sustainable Development. Dr Shalaby is a certified quality education manager, visiting lecturer among many universities, currently he is a lecturer at the Maastricht School of Management masters of business administration program. Among others, his consultations experience spans from public consultations including preparation of Egypt’s INDCs report submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat in Oct 2015, Egypt Sustainable Development Strategy (2030) energy pillar, Egypt’s Voluntary National Review on SDGs submitted to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July 2016, developing Egypt’s national strategic review on SDG1 and SDG2 for the World Food Program, developing Egypt Biennial Updated report on SDG13 to the UNFCCC, member of the audit committee of Egypt’s VNR 2018, member of the team of experts working on revisiting Egypt’s vision 2030, to private consultations including; Developing sustainable institutional frameworks for the banking, telecom, FMCG, ICT, and oil and gas sector, capacity building and education for SD strategy implementations.
In addition, Shalaby has peered papers and working papers in the field of Sustainable Development strategies and policies. His familiarity with data ecosystems on the environmental, social and economic systems stems from his experience in preparation of these reports which covers the three dimensions of SD. Ehab Shalaby is the founder and CEO of DCarbon Egypt, the only Global Reporting Initiative certified training partner in Egypt and a member of the golden community. Currently Shalaby is working on a number of projects and consultations including developing Egypt’s first carbon market study, and Egypt’s Low Emission Carbon Strategy, among others. In 2019, Shalaby became a member of the board of trustees of Vodafone foundation, and Head of energy and sustainability committee at the French Chamber of Commerce.

Anastasia Chatziantoniou

Communications & CSR Senior Manager

Desfa

Anastasia Chatziantoniou

Communications & CSR Senior Manager

Natasha Chatziantoniou is the Senior Communications & CSR Manager of DESFA, the Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator, a company that aims to lead the transition to the energy of tomorrow in Southeast Europe. She has over 15 years of professional experience, having worked for the energy and gas industry, as well as the shipping and government relations sectors. Natasha holds a BA in Communications from Deree College and an MSc in Corporate Communications & Reputation Management from Manchester Business School, UK. Her mother tongue is Greek and speaks four languages.

Michael Spanos

Founder & CEO

Global Sustain

Michael Spanos

Founder & CEO

Michael Spanos is the Founder & Managing Director of Global Sustain Group, an Expert Advisor to the European Commission on the Sustainable Development Goals, an Instructor for ESG Seminars for Moody’s Analytics and the EBRD, a member of the founding secretariat of the United Nations Global Compact Network Hellas, former member of the Board of Directors of the CEO Clubs in Greece (VP, Sustainability) and current member of the Sustainability Advisory Council of FMC Corporation (USA). Michael leads projects in sustainable finance, strategy, non-financial reporting, sustainability activities, ESG performance and recognition through indices, awards and initiatives. His experience includes working with multinationals, large corporations as well as small and medium sized firms in North America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. He speaks at international events and produces global publications on responsible investments, sustainable leadership and innovation, collaborating with organisations such as the PRI, Global Compact, GRI, TCFD, Social Value, European Commission and Parliament, EBRD and EIB. He has held senior positions in risk management, investments, business information and consulting. Michael is a visiting lecturer at Universities in Europe, USA and Asia. He holds an MBA, a diploma in Production Engineering and Management, a GRI Standards professional certification, and Certificates in Environmental and Social Risk Management for Financial Intermediaries from the EBRD, in ESG Risk Assessment for Lenders and Asset Managers from Moody’s Analytics, in Social Value and Impact Measurement from Social Value International and in Green and Sustainable Finance by the Chartered Banker Institute. He speaks English, French and Greek.

Christos Tentomas

Deputy Mayor, Climate Change and Greening

Municipality of Athens

Katerina Triviza

General Manager

Thrive Global Greece

Katerina Triviza

General Manager

Katerina is Thrive Global B2B Head. She has 40 years of experience in senior managerial and executive positions. From 2000 to 2013 she was the Founder and CEO of Eurobank Business Services. Previously, she was the Marketing Director of Retail Banking products (1998 - 2000) and Director of Human Resources in the Banking Group of Eurobank (1991 - 1997). Prior to her tenure in Eurobank, Katerina worked for the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers of the European Union. Over the last years she also offers mentoring services to entrepreneurs, startups founders and C-level Executives. Professional memberships : CEO Clubs, EASE, EIMAD, THE, American-Hellenic Chambre of Commerce.

Dimitris Stamatiou

Operations Director

DHL Express Hellas

Dimitris Stamatiou

Operations Director

Born in Athens in 1975, Dimitris Stamatiou holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and an MBA from ALBA Business School. His career first steps were in the retail sector. In 2006, he joined the sales workforce of DHL Express Greece in Thessaloniki while later promoted to the position of Sales Manager for North Greece. In 2010, he moved to Athens taking over the role of Operations Director of DHL in Greece, a position that holds until today. Key responsibilities are the development, management and control of the Country Operations function. He is responsible for all operations facilities and personnel, as well as the domestic linehaul network, interface to international air network, and customs processes for the operational platform of DHL Express Greece.”

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Inspiring Leaders towards a more sustainable tomorrow

Christos Tentomas

Highlighting our previous speakers