Vasileios Papathanasiou was born in Patras in 1975. He completed his studies at the Department of Agriculture Crop Production and Rural Environment at the University of Thessaly (1999) and his postgraduate studies in Applied Ecology – Ecosystems and Biological Resources Management (2003) and in Geosciences and Environment (2007) at the University of Patras. 

He has also completed a Harvard certified program, specializing in Leadership Foundational Principles. Additionally, he is awarded a certificate in Leadership and Team Development from International Business Management Institute (IBMI). Finally, a certification is awarded to him for completing the certified program Leading and Motivating a Team from European Institute of Management and Finance (EIMF). 

One of his greatest achievements was to enter the name (Φάβα Φενεού (Fava Feneou) (PGI)) in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications, in September 2016, according to the Commission Implementing Regulation.

Since 2014 he has been working for the Region of Western Greece the Deputy Head of the Department of Programming, Research and Agri-food Development Programmes. Today he is involved in the Rural Development Programme (RDP) for Greece 2014-2020, specializing in sub-measure 4.1 “Investments in Agricultural Holdings” and sub-measure 6.1 “Business Start Up Aid for Young Farmers”.