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Speakers and Trainers 2016

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ArisVrettos161x168[1]Mr. Aris Vrettos has been working on sustainability since 2005. He currently leads CISL’s executive education open programmes on sustainable business and is a member of CISL’s senior management team. He is also the global director for The Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme (BSP), the world’s longest running leadership programme on sustainability. The BSP trains approximately 150 business leaders and other decision-makers annually on global sustainability trends in Brussels, Cambridge, Cape Town, Melbourne and São Paulo. Aris is also involved in designing and delivering CISL’s work with individual companies in the areas of sustainable health, climate leadership and the retail sector.He was previously a Senior Advisor at AccountAbility, the pioneering think-tank,focusing on business strategy,engagement and innovation. At AccountAbility he advised Fortune 100 companies and worked with global corporations such as General Electric and Merck on their global sustainability, stakeholder engagement and access to medicines strategies.He led a two year collaboration with the International Finance Corporation and the UN Global Compact promoting sustainable finance and sustainable business in emerging markets, including a 3 month placement in Brazil. Previously he helped establish the Global Leadership Network, a big business network pursuing corporate citizenship excellence.Aris is an expert reviewer on stakeholder panels and has sat on the Judges committee of various awards, including the Ethical Corporation’s Sustainable Business Awards. He is an advocate of the role of science, business and leadership and helps companies establish a long term vision. He has worked on the ground in Europe, the US, India, Australia, Latin America and the Middle East.Heis a trained economist and journalist and holds an MSc in international money and banking from the University of Birmingham. He began his career writing for an international news department and reporting on social issues in Greece.

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Dr. Bruce Piasecki is the president and founder of AHC Group, Inc., a management consulting firm specializing in energy, materials, and environmental corporate matters, whose clients range from Suncor Energy, Hess, FMC, the Warren Buffet firm Shaw Industries, Toyota and other global companies in his Corporate Affiliates training workshops. Piasecki is the author of several seminal books on business strategy, valuation, and corporate change, including the Nature Society’s book of the year, In Search of Environmental Excellence: Moving Beyond the Blame as well as recent New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller Doing More With Less. Since 1981, he has advised companies about the critical areas of corporate governance, energy, environmental strategy, product innovation, and sustainability strategy with his teams of Senior Associates. See www.ahcgroup.com for more details.

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Dr. Jeremy Pearce is a senior lecturer in strategic management. He has extensive senior management experience in both the public and private sectors and has worked as a consultant in corporate governance and corporate responsibility with the World Bank and board advisory at KPMG. Jeremy has been widely published in international law, corporate governance and ethics. He is a member of the Australian Sustainability Leaders Forum, an Associate of the Bond Centre for Commercial Law and a Fellow of the World Business Institute. Jeremy holds a doctorate of Legal Science (SJD) and master’s degrees in criminology, international law, law and management and international human rights law. He is a member of New College, Oxford and Trinity College, Cambridge.

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Kiara KontiMs. Kiara Konti is a Manager in EY’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services practice, with subject-matter knowledge and 12 years of experience in sustainability engagements. 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 Greek and Southeast Europe clients on sustainability training, management, valuation, reporting and assurance services. She has also gained experience in the field of the Circular Economy having worked on engagements including legislation overview and assessment, sectorial current state assessments and gap assessments against leading practices. She is a GRI nominated trainer, having delivered a series of open and in-house courses on G4, an AccountAbility Certified Sustainability Assurance Practitioner (CSAP), a CSR Hellas member on the UN SDGs team, a CSR Committee member at the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Internal Auditors Institute. Her overall professional experience reflects a thorough understanding of extra financial management and reporting, as well as development particularities for the Greek market. She has published a number of articles on sustainability in Greek magazines and newspapers, has contributed to international publications on the subject, including the GRI recent publication titled “Sustainability and Reporting Trends in 2025; Preparing for the Future”, and is a regular speaker at sustainability related conferences and events.

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Shivani photoMs. Shivani Rajpal works as a Deputy Director Services at GRI. The GRI Services team is overall responsible for providing a variety of tools and services for sustainability report preparers and report users. She oversees the ongoing activities in the Services department. Shivani has an in-depth understanding of training development and delivery process and has successfully implemented multiple cross cultural corporate training programs. She is responsible for content development for the GRI Services department and has a thorough knowledge of GRI Standards.

Dr. Christian AvérousDr. Christian Avérous is an economist and engineer of French nationality. His competencies include green growth, sustainable development, environmental management, environmental economics, environmental resources, and internationalco-operation. At OECD (1973-2008), he has Directed programs concerning environmental information, country environmental reviews, sustainable development and resource efficiency. He has created and led programs on environmental information (e.g. pressure-state-response model, environmental data, environmental indicators, measuring material flows and resource efficiency). This work has translated into OECD Council Acts, many publications, seminars and conferences. This work has contributed to the establishment of an international measurement regime. At OECD, he has also created and led the OECD program of environmental performance reviews (70 country examinations and publications, including for OECD countries such as Australia, Japan, Korea, Canada, Mexico, USA, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Poland, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and other countries such as Chile, China, Russia). These reviews have influenced national progress in environmental management (e.g. legislation, planning, taxation, information, governance), sustainable development (including in sectors like agriculture, energy, transport, fiscal affairs and development aid), and international co-operation. He has taught in a number of universities (e.g. Berkeley, Caracas, Paris). He has worked as consultant for, inter alia, the World Bank, OECD, UN, UNEP, EU, ADB. He has been President of the environment committee of the French CNIS and contributed to the Stiglitz-Sen report. He has conducted environmental evaluations of the World Bank Group, and of the REC for central and eastern Europe. Dr. Christian Avérous holds degrees in engineering (ENPC, Paris) and in economics (PhD UC Berkeley, French State Doctor).

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ALKAMs. Alka Banerjee is managing director and head of product management for S&P Dow Jones Indices. Alka is responsible for the design and commercial policy governing all indices from different asset classes at S&P Dow Jones Indices, focusing on providing the most relevant benchmarks and strategy indices for clients around the globe. Since September 2013, Alka has also served as CEO of Asia Index Private Limited, a joint venture between S&P Dow Jones Indices and the BSE of Mumbai, India’s premier stock exchange. Alka has over 19 years of experience in the global indexing business, both at S&P Dow Jones Indices, and at the Bank of New York. She has pioneered a large number of initiatives at S&P DJI, ranging from developing global smart beta indices to the latest approaches in sustainability investing. Her latest work spans multi asset indices including equities, fixed income and commodities to create theme based indices. In addition to evaluating and improving existing market capitalization weighted benchmarks, Alka has led S&P DJI’s efforts for new index developments for Africa, China, Korea, India, Latin America, and throughout the Middle East. Alka frequently presents at indexing and investing events, and is widely cited in the press.

John_ZepposMr. John Zeppos is a seasoned Business Continuity Management professional and entrepreneur who has shifted the global mindset of resiliency and risk awareness to the next level, being hugely innovative and passionate about his job. His achievements and thought leadership have been internationally recognized by his peers, leading to him being the two times winner of the BCI Global Business Continuity Awards Business Continuity Manager of the Year 2012 & 2014, which is just a testament to his skills and commitment to always strive for excellence. John has been the leader of numerous ISO22301 and BS25999 accreditations for a number of multinational companies within different business sectors. He is a member of the Judging panel for the IRM Global Risk Management Awards since 2012 and member of the Judging panel for the BCI Global Business Continuity Awards for 2013 and 2015. Since 2014 John has setup Resilience Guard GmbH in Zurich, Switzerland in order to support organizations enhance their resilience measures across Europe.

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todd-feinMr. Todd Fein is a creative and driven executive, with a passion for sustaining people, profit, and planet. Building on degrees in engineering and finance from the U Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science and Wharton Business School, Todd has spent the past 20 years developing management and technology solutions that bring innovation to performance. Todd founded Green Diamond to help organizations achieve breakthroughs via the next generation of business intelligence (BI), bringing people powerful, yet easy-to-use tools to integrate, analyze, and decide how to maximize return and minimize risk across the balance of environmental, social, and financial factors that determine optimal performance. In addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Todd currently serves part-time as the lead for Green Diamond’s team working at the US Department of State, where he previously served as the Franklin Fellow for Global Sustainability Reporting to enable the Department’s Greening Diplomacy Initiative (GDI) under Secretary Clinton and Undersecretary Kennedy. Prior to Green Diamond, Todd founded and served as Director, COO, and CFO of CadenceQuest, Inc. He also helped launch and served as Director of Operations and Corporate Development for Cvent, and was a Manager at American Management Systems (AMS), now CGI, where he helped build an environmental consulting practice and was part of a team whose work was nominated for archival in the Smithsonian. His hallmark achievement was Tools for Environmental Management and Protection Organizations (TEMPO), an enterprise-wide management system for sustainability that he co-invented and that received the first patent in AMS’s 30-year history.

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FAIRHURSTMr. Sebastian A. Fairhurst is Head of Public Policy of Santander Consumer Bank AG in Germany since October 2012. He is in charge of public policy and sustainability. Mr Fairhurst is, inter alia, in charge to coordinate the bank’s efforts to implement the sustainability strategy in Germany. Before taking up the position at Santander, Mr Fairhurst was Secretary General of the European Financial Services Round Table (EFR; www.efr.be) whose Members are Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of major European banks and insurers. He joined the EFR in 2003 in Brussels. Mr Fairhurst started his career in 2000 as head of office of Ms Erika Mann, Member of the European Parliament, covering issues related to transatlantic relations, international trade, telecommunication, intellectual property, and competition. Mr Fairhurst studied law and philosophy at the Universities of Saarbrücken and Regensburg in Germany. After the second state exams in law in 1999 he absolved a master in international and European law (LL.M., Brussels). Mr Fairhurst is Young Leader Alumni of the American Council on Germany and the Atlantik-Brücke (2004). He is co-founder of the network “Brussels in Berlin”.Mr Fairhurst published several articles for journals and books on European law.

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Mr. Yannis Salavopoulos, (MBA, MSc), is Managing Director, Global Sustain GmbH & Group Head International Affairs. He is also Visiting Lecturer for Public Affairs at SRH Berlin University and Senior Advisor for Public Affairs/Policy & Strategy for various companies. Yannis entered Global Sustain after a successful career in Economic Diplomacy, representing, for over a decade, Greece in Germany and earlier in United Arab Emirates. He served from 2007-2014 as First Embassy Secretary for Economic & Commercial Affairs at the Embassy of Greece in Berlin (Deputy Head of Economic Section). Before Berlin, he served as Third Embassy Secretary for Economic & Commercial Affairs at the Embassy of Greece in United Arab Emirates, (Dubai). He was responsible at both posts for bilateral economic, trade, exports, investment relations as well as for finance, energy, climate and sustainability policy issues. Till recently (2014-2015) he was at Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Athens Expert & Desk Officer for the bilateral economic & trade relations of Greece to Germany, USA (TTIP too), Canada (CETA too), Austria, Switzerland, Sweden & Cyprus. Before entering the Diplomatic Corps of Economic Diplomats, he had worked as a Lawyer with expertise in corporate, commercial & EU Law, having a great experience on regulatory affairs. He was a Member of Athens Bar Association. Yannis holds an Executive MBA in International Management (Anglian Ruskin University Cambridge + Berlin School of Economics & Law) & an Executive Master of Sciences in Law & Economics (ALBA Business School, Athens). He holds a Bachelor in Law from the Aristoteles University of Thessaloniki. He is a Senior Expert on Sustainability & Climate Policy & Strategy, Responsible Investing, Government / Public / Economic Affairs & Strategy. He is also Member at the Supervisory Board of the German European Business College (EBC Hochschule). He was elected twice as President at the Club of Economic & Commercial Diplomats in Germany. He is Founder & President of Innovative Public Affairs Network & Think Tank, CAPITALS Business Circle (www.capitalsbusinesscircle). He is Member of the International Bankers Forum in Germany. He is very often public speaker and trainer. He has written various articles on press about above topics. He speaks & writes excellent German, English & Greek.

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Tero PietilaMr. Tero Pietila is Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Division at the European Investment Bank, the EU’s long-term financing institution and the world’s largest multilateral lender and borrower. In this role, he leads a team of CSR professionals and is responsible for developing and contributing to the implementation of the Bank’s corporate responsibility and sustainability strategies and activities. Previously, and for more than thirteen years, Tero worked for the EIB’s Legal Service including as Deputy Advisor in the fields of EU law and governance. Tero began his EIB career in 1997 at the Bank’s Human Resources Department where he worked as an HR lawyer. Before joining the EIB, Tero occupied various positions in public and private sector focusing mainly on EU law issues. Tero holds a Law Degree which he obtained after pursuing studies both in his native Finland and abroad.

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Gabriel_AAMMr. Gabriel Karageorgiou, is a Partner at Arabesque Asset Management, primarily responsible for Business Development globally. Gabriel is also actively contributing to Arabesque`s ESG research efforts focusing on thought leadership and integration topics. Most recently, Gabriel was a partner at KKS Advisors where he was assisting institutional investors on integrating sustainability measures into their capital allocation process. Before starting KKS, Gabriel spent time with Lehman Brothers, PricewaterhosseCoopers and Barclays Capital where he was working with corporations on identifying and hedging their non-core financial risks. His work has received significant attention in media outlets including the Financial Times and Harvard Business Review. Gabriel holds a degree in Physics and an M.Sc. in Quantitative Finance.

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photo Gerasimos GeorgopoulosMr. Gerasimos Georgopoulos is the Head of Unit on Institutional Regulations (Company Law) & Business Registry (GEMI) in Greece. This special Unit is based in the Ministry of Economy, Development & Tourism. Gerasimos has served as president of the Council of 28 Member States of European Union during the Greek Presidency. From this position had the lead on negotiations about the Directive 2014/95/EU (non financial reporting) between Member States and European Parliament. His Unit holds a portfolio of 50 EU Directives and 12 Regulations. Also his Unit has the legislative initiative about capital companies and partnerships (general or limited) in Greece. Finally is the responsible Unit for the development of Hellenic Business Registry (GEMI). Gerasimos is a permanent member of the following permanent committees and Groups: Accounting Regulatory Committee (ARC) High Level Group of Company Law Committee of Interconnection of central, commercial and companies registers (CICCCR) Committee established under NFR (EU Directive 2014/95) Gerasimos also cooperates with World Bank & OECD in the fields of starting-up a company, annual accounts, & company law. Gerasimos working on the above mentioned fields for more than 13 years. Also he had 12 years of experience in the Private sector in leading roles in HSBC BANK plc., Alpha Bank .S.C., & BP-MOBIL S.A.. He is married with Chrysa Kostaki and from their marriage they have gained two daughters.

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imageMs. Stavroula Aggelopoulou is the Senior Manager of Corporate Responsibility of OTE Group since July 2011. She has been working at OTE group since 2003 in various positions of the Corporate Relations department; within those she was the Deputy Director of Corporate Responsibility, Public Relations, and Internal Communications of COSMOTE from 2006 until 2011. She started her career path at companies abroad, in the field of Mass and Corporate Tourism. She graduated with a degree in International and European Studies from UCL (University College London), and also graduated from the Environmental Management e-course of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Costas ProvatarisMr. Costas Provataris is the OTE Group Enterprise Risk Management Deputy Director since November 2012, while previously since 2003 when he joined OTE Group, he has held several positions at the Group, having served among others as Internal Audit Deputy Director at COSMOTE, and as Head of Internal Audit at GERMANOS. He has worked for a number of years at PwC, initially as an external auditor, and he then held the position of Assistant Manager at the company’s Global Risk Management Solutions Department, in the establishment of which he participated. He has also worked as an IT systems’ analyst and developer in the United Kingdom, at Northern Trust in London and at Lombard Business Finance in Surrey. He holds several qualifications in the field of Internal Audit (CIA, CCSA, CISA) and is a Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and of ISACA. He holds an MSc in Business Information Technology from Northumbria University, U.K., while he was awarded a scholarship to study in the United States and holds a BA in Economics from Middlebury College, U.S. He was born in Thessaloniki and was awarded a scholarship to study at Anatolia College.