Advisory Committee
Dimitris Aspros
Managing Director of DATA ConsultantsAfter 15 years of valuable professional experience in projects for public bodies and private institutions, today he holds the position of President and Managing Director of DATA Research and Consulting SA, based in Patras, Greece. He also has the honor to be Vice-President of Executive Committee of the Hellenic-Italian Chamber of Athens and in charge of the Hellenic-Italian Chamber of Athens Representative Office in Patras. Regarding his educational profile, he is an economist – statistician, alumnus of the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB).
Christos J. Bouras
Rector of the University of Patras
Christos Dimas
Deputy Minister for Development and Investments in charge of Research and Innovation, Hellenic RepublicDr Christos Dimas is a lawyer and a Member of the Hellenic Parliament, representing Nea Demokratia in the district of Korinthia.He was born on the 29th of May 1980 and graduated from Athens College.Christos obtained his LLB degrees from the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and from Queen Mary University of London. He completed his Masters Degree in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).At the LSE, he finished his PhD in European Political Economy, as a scholar of the Alexander Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. His thesis title was «National institutional contexts and domestic discourse during proposed transformative policy change. The case of the telecoms privatization in Greece and the Republic of Ireland.»
During his studies, he worked as the London correspondent of Apogevmatini newspaper and practiced journalism at the BBC.
At the age of 25, Christos taught the course «Introduction to Comparative Politics» at the LSE Government Department. He has also taught the course «Mass Media and Social Regulation» at ICON College, University of Leicester and worked as a research associate at the European Centre of Excellence «Jean Monnet». He has published many articles in Greek and international journals.
Before entering politics, he worked in the private sector as a business consultant for the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Since 2012, Mr Dimas serves as Member of Hellenic Parliament for Corinthia and from July 2019 he is Deputy Minister for Research and Technology.
In his spare time he enjoys playing football and basketball and reading history books.
He is married to Nikoleta Syrengela and they have one daughter and one son.
He was born in 1980 and grew up in Agrinio.
He was awarded with Bachelor’s degree in Law from Democritus University of Thrace. He completed his postgraduate studies at the School of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace (LLM, Civil Procedure). He has been an Ombudsman accredited by the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights since 2013.
He is a lawyer before the Supreme Court. He has been practicing Law since 2006 as a member of the Agrinio Bar Association.
He speaks two foreign languages, English and German. He has completed his military service (Hellenic Air Force). He is married to Lawyer Evi Chr. Pappa. They have a daughter and a son.
His involvement in politics began during his student years. He had been regularly elected as a member of the Board of Directors of Law Students’ Association “Costas Varnalis”. He was Secretary of DAP-NDFK of Komotini and a member of the Central Council of DAP-NDFK of HEIs.
In the elections of November, 2010, at the age of 30, he was elected first as Regional Councilor with the political group “Zoume Dytika” in Aitoloakarnania.
In the elections of May, 2014, he was a candidate for Vice-Governor of Aitoloakarnania with Andrea Katsaniotis’s political group “Mazi, na ftiaxoume ton topo mas”. In Aitoloakarnania, it was Andrea Katsaniotis’s political group that won the elections (52.5%).
For many years, with his interventions and proposals to the Regional Council of Western Greece, he has highlighted the need for mitigating intra-regional inequalities, prioritizing regional strategies based on taking advantage of the comparative advantages of each Regional Unit and taking the initiative to add value to anything produced in the Region of Western Greece, by making good use of its human resources, know-how and natural resources.
He was elected Head of the Region of Western Greece in June 2019, with his political group “Ola apo tin arxi”, and assumed his duties on 1 September during this year.
Nektarios Farmakis
Regional Governor of Western Greece
Louka T. Katseli
Professor of Economics at National and Kapodistrian University of AthensLouka T. Katseli is Professor Emeritus of the Department of Economics of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens, Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Greece in Cyprus, and CEO of the Rightholders Cooperative EDEM. She is also the Vice-President of the Executive Board of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Co-chair (with Poul N. Rasmussen) of the Independent Commission for Sustainable Equalityof the S&D Group at the EU Parliament, a Research Associate of the Hellenic Observatory at LSE and a member of the Euro 50 Group .
She has served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Greece and Chair of the Hellenic Banking Association (2015–2016). She was Greece’s Minister of Labour and Social Security (2010-2011) as well as Minister of Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping (2009-2010) and a member of the Hellenic Parliament (2007-2012). Prior to her entry in Greek politics, she was Director of the OECD Development Centre in Paris (2003-2007), International Economic Advisor to the Greek Prime Minister (1993-1996) and Director General of the Center of Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) (1982-1986).
Prof. Katseli holds a Ph.D. (1978) in International and Development Economics from Princeton University and has served as Assistant and Associate Professor of Economics at Yale University’s Department of Economics and the School of Organization and Management (1977-1985). She has published extensively in the areas of international and institutional economics and development.
Athanasios Katsis studied Mathematics at the University of Athens and holds a Master of Philosophy and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the George Washington University, USA. He is a Professor of Statistics in Educational Research in the Department of Social and Education Policy and is Rector at the University of Peloponnese. His previous posts include the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, the University of the Aegean in Samos, Center for Educational Research in Athens, The World Bank in Washington etc. His research interests include Bayesian Statistics, sample size determination, the economics of education and statistical modeling in educational data.
Athanasios Katsis
Rector of the University of Peloponnese
Panagiotis Liargovas
President and Scientific Director, KEPEAlexandros P. Mallias ,former ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the United States is a recipient of the 2007 Martin Luther King International Legacy Award. He also received an award (2007) from B’nai Birth International for “his commitment to strengthen Jewish –Greek Relations”.In 1994 he was awarded the Medal for Service with the European Community Monitor Mission in the Balkans. Proud of his roots from Arcadia (Stemnitsa) he was named the “Hellene of the Year 2007” by the Pan-Arcadian Federation of America. He recently received the “Panagiotis Foteas 2020 Price” for his book “THE BORDERS-Revisionism”.
Alexandros P. Mallias
Former Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the United States and Special Diplomatic Advisor
Eleni Marianou
Secretary General of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR)Eleni Marianou is the Secretary General of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR). A Greek national and a multilingual barrister specialised in International and European law.
She has extensive knowledge on European Affairs, grass roots experience and wide working practice with local and regional authorities at the European level.
She worked as European Community Liaison Officer at the Central Union of Greek Municipalities and Cities, then as Cities Networks Manager at the Council of European Municipalities and Regions and finally as Policy Director in Eurocities. Between 2001 and 2009 she ran the South West of England Brussels Office as its Director responsible for coordinating and ensuring strategic development of the region in Brussels and beyond.
Ms Marianou has been active in Brussels for over 20 years. She is currently elected Secretary General of the CPMR and has been managing a growing team of 40 staff members based in the three CPMR premises in Rennes, Brussels and Barcelona. In office since 2010, she is responsible for advising and directing policy development and strategic leadership in the areas of territorial cohesion, EU governance, balanced competitiveness, maritime policy and sustainable development.
Spiros Sirmakessis is a Computer and Informatics Engineer. He received his diploma in 1992 from the Computer Engineering and Informatics Department in the University of Patras (Greece) and his PhD from the same department in 1997. He was elected as Assistant Professor in TEI of Messolonghi in 2013 but now he is a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in the University of Peloponnese in Patras (Greece). He has a significant administrative experience from all levels of Higher Education Institutes (HEI) since he has been elected Head of Department (in two departments), Member of the Administrative Committee (in two HEIs), Member of the Board (in one research institute) and Vice Dean for Research and Development (in one HEI). He is now the Director of the eBusiness and User Experience Laboratory in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in the University of Peloponnese and Member of the Board in Computer Technology Institute and Press Diophantus. He has been working with European and national funds since 1997 as a member or coordinator of several R&D Projects. With published research work in the area of mining, business intelligence, information systems and user experience design, he is working in the technology transfer process from Academia to Industry and as a entrepreneurship mentor for young students. He supports the transition to Industry 4.0 initiative in the private sector and the digitization transformation of public organisations.
Spiros Simarkessis
Professor, Dept of Electrical Engineering & Computer Engineering, University of Peloponnese
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