Speakers and Trainers 2014

Mr. Panagiotis Louizos is Corporate and Stakeholder Relations Planner at the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in Amsterdam. At GRI he has been involved in the business planning and project management of the Network Relations Department for the last two years. He is working in the GRI Organizational Stakeholder Program, which connects more than 600 organizations from over 60 countries, committed to advancing sustainability reporting. He is also working closely with GRI’s Focal Points, which are national offices that drive GRI activity in particular countries and regions. Panagiotis presented the G4 Guidelines at the official Greek G4 launch event in Athens, Greece in December 2013. He holds an MSc in Management (University of Bath, UK) and a BSc in Forestry and the Natural Environment (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece).

 

Mrs. Ramona’s da Gama passion for helping businesses and people GROW started 15 years ago after a very successful career in Fleet Street, the heart of the newspaper industry in the 80s and 90s, where she worked on the London Times and Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday. Today Ramona works with her clients helping them to clearly understand what their offering is and how to position their brand in the market. She works with them to create a strategy aligned with their vision, their purpose and, values.

 

 

Mrs. Kiara Konti is a Manager in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services, with subject-matter knowledge and experience in sustainability assurance and advisory engagements. Prior to joining ΕΥ in 2008, Kiara worked for leading Corporate Responsibility boutique consultancies in Greece since 2004. She has an MSc in Business and Community (University of Bath, UK) and a BSc in Business Administration (Deree College, Greece). She has extensive experience with GRI G3/G3.1 and deep knowledge of the GRI G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, along with strong expertise in sustainability management (ISO26000, UNGC) and assurance standards (ISAE3000, AA1000AS). 

 

Mr. Michael Spanos is a corporate executive with extensive hands-on entrepreneurial experience in sustainability, corporate responsibility, management consulting, investments and business information with exceptional communication and networking skills and a demonstrable track record of delivering sustainability and business development solutions. Michael is an accomplished project manager, accustomed in working in international and multi-cultural environments, with solid analytical and quantitative skills and strong synthesis and strategic thinking ability. His is an expert in representing initiatives in high-profile settings and venues with outstanding stakeholder engagement skills and the ability to build meaningful and long lasting relationships with clients and partners.

 

Mr. Aris Vrettos is the global Director for The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme and the Director of open programmes at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. He works with international companies and runs seminars in Europe, South Africa, Australia and Brazil. He was previously a senior advisor at the think-tank, AccountAbility where he advised global organisations on leadership and sustainability. He helped General Electric and Merck design and implement their global sustainability and stakeholder engagement strategies and worked with the IFC and the UN Global Compact to promote sustainable finance and business innovation in emerging markets. He is a trained economist and journalist.

 

Mrs. Georgia Kartsanis is the founder and CEO of SARGIA Partners, a unique provider of state of the art human capital development services linked to change strategy. She is also the founder of the Greek and Romanian Chapters of CEO Clubs Int’l.

Her forward thinking ability, passion and professionalism allow her to offer unique value to organizations in the area of leadership development with breakthrough solutions and tools. Her international experience is a unique blend of leading change, commercial management career consulting and transformational coaching.

 

 

Mrs. Nadine Cino is a LEED Accredited Professional, the CEO and co-Inventor of both Tyga-Box and Tyga-Trax Systems. A prolific inventor, she holds multiple patents for containers and electronic technology. Nadine is a passionate sustainability and technology subject expert, and shares her knowledge by developing programs, writing and speaking at industry events. Nadine’s articles are frequently published in the New York Real Estate Journal for the purpose of providing information and generating sustainable action. 

Recognized by peers for her natural leadership talents, she has won many awards and has been awarded multiple scholarships to help further the success of her companies:

• 2013 IWEC: International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge Award
• 2012 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Scholarship
• 2011 NYCEDC Strategic Steps for Growth Scholarship
• 2010 Citi Global Sustainability Vendor of the Year
• 2009 IFMANYC: Associate Member of the Year Award
• 2006 IFMANYC: Tony Cornaccia Lifetime Achievement Award

 

Dr. Georgios Kostakos holds MA and PhD degrees in International Relations from the University of Kent, UK, and a Mechanical Engineering degree from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. He served on the secretariat of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) as Senior Adviser and Acting Deputy Executive Secretary (2010-2012), and on many other positions at the United Nations, the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), the University of Athens, The Hague Institute for Global Justice and the Salzburg Global Seminar.

 

 

Mr. Félix Romero Cañizares is the Regional Director for Europe at FSC International. He is BSc in Forestry at Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain), BSc in Environmental Science at Castile-La Mancha University (Toledo, Spain), MSc in International Development Aid and NGO management at European Institute Campus Stellae, (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) and MSc in Foreign Businesses and International Relations at Politics and Sociologist Spanish Society (Madrid, Spain).

As FSC Regional Director for Europe he is focused on coordinating and creating synergies among the FSC National Offices in Europe encouraging the development and improving the performance of FSC Network in the region.Increasing markets opportunities for FSC products in Europe and smallholder certification are two of his major priorities.

 

 

Ms. Aoife  Connaughton is the Director of Client Delivery at 2degrees. Having worked as a management consultant with Deloitte specialising in FMCG sector supply chain strategy and operations she joined 2degrees to manage the delivery of our corporate supply chain engagement programmes for clients such as Asda, Tesco, GSK and Kingfisher. Aoife has strong expertise in sustainability strategy development and delivery. She works with our clients and their stakeholders to help them establish and deliver programmes that yield tangible financial and environmental benefits for them and their supply chains. 

 

Dr. Despina Anastasiou is currently Country Managerfor Dow Greece and Cyprus. She is a member of the Central European Leadership team.

Despina joined Dow Chemical (Australia) in 1990 in Technical Service for Epoxy Products. In 1992, this role expanded to Technology Focal Point for Asia Pacific for the Composites industry, and included a concurrent six-month financial assignment. This was followed by Market Development and then Regional Market Management roles for Epoxy/Thermosets in Asia Pacific in 1996. In 2001, Despina undertook Account Management in ANZ for Dow’s Epoxy, Polyurethanes and Glycols businesses which included regional coordination of strategic coating accounts. In 2004, she served as Pacific Area Market Manager for Monomers and Epoxy Specialties and in 2005 was responsible for Global Market Development, focusing on Dow’s epoxy dispersion and toughening technologies.

 

Dr. Karampasis Ioannis studied at the University of Patras (Chemical Dept), and at the University of Oxford (D.Phil., Physical Sciences, Chemistry). He worked for the creation of the National Documentation Centre at the National Hellenic Research Foundation and he contributed for thirteen years to its consolidation. Main specialized contributions was the creation of the “National Archive of Doctoral Dissertations” and the implementation of the Hellenic Research Antenna (HERA) Greek – European Project, which led to the operation of the two Innovation Relay Centers in Greece.