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Keynote Speaker
Hisham Zaazou
Hisham Zaazou began his career in the City Bank Group for five years in Cairo. Then he helped to establish a tourist agency in the US focusing on the Egyptian market and began to work in the tourism field. From 2004 to 2007, Zaazou served as the chair of the Egyptian Tourism Federation.
During the Hosni Mubarak era, in 2009, Zaazou served as the first deputy of the Minister of Tourism. After the Egyptian uprising, he served as senior assistant to former Tourism Minister, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour. On 2 August 2012, Zaazou began to serve as Tourism Minister during the presidency of Mohamed Morsi and continued with the current president Abdel Fattah el Sisi .
After his departure from public office in 2016, Zaazou returned to the private sector as a consultant working with a number of international and local prestigious organizations.
He holds a bachelor of arts degree in commerce from Ain Shams University (1976) . Besides his Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Ain Shams in Cairo, Zaazou earned a specialized Certificate in PPP (Public Private Partnership) from Harvard Kennedy Business School, MBA in 2009 & PhD from the international business from IBRA, Delaware, USA in 2014.
Moderator
Sakis Papadopoulos
Sakis Papadopoulos was born in Thessaloniki where he completed his studies at the Aristotle’s University.
Journalism won him over from a young age. First in the student newspapers of the schools where he attended and then in the city's media. From the mid-eighties he was involved in sports reporting for «Thessaloniki newspaper», for «ERT radio», for «Antenna» (radio and television), for local TV channels in Thessaloniki and as a correspondent in several Athenian magazines.
In 1993 he quit journalism to set up his monitoring media company “Enimerosi - www.apo.gr”, which continues its activity to this day.
In 1997 he returned to journalism dealing with tourist reporting. Originally in “Radio Thessaloniki”, later in the newspaper “Agelioforos” where he created the weekly tourist insert, and since 2005 in the newspaper “MAKEDONIA” with which he collaborates to this day, editing the weekly tourist insert of the Sunday edition.
Alongside, he has been creating the “Omorfa Taxidia” web side with his team for the past 9 years. It is a page of tourist and travel content that consistently and continuously keeps up with current travel and tourism news with over 170,000 to follow and many thousands more to read.
Speakers
(in alphabetical order)
Georgios Drakopoulos
George Drakopoulos is the Founder & CEO of Tourism Generis, a consulting company that supports decision-makers in tourism, based in Athens, Greece. During the period 2014-2017, he served as a Special Adviser to the Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in PPP (Public Private Partnerships). As from 2018, he cooperates with the UNWTO as an Expert Consultant and as of 2019 he is SMEs Adviser at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
He holds a MSc in Tourism Studies from the University of Surrey, UK. He has also studied Tourism Management, Technological Educational Institute in Athens, GR and trained in Hotel Management in International Centre of Glion, CH.
Spyros Kouris
Having commenced his career at the emblematic Makedonia Palace Hotel in Thessaloniki, he has moved then to Athens having senior roles in corporate sales for Classical Hotels Headquarters before continuing to Grecotel across Luxury Hotels as the Deputy General Manager for the Amirandes Exclusive Resort, a Virtuoso Hotel in Crete and as the General Manager for the Cape Sounio Exclusive Resort, a Small Luxury Hotel of the World in Attica and the Baby Grand a Small Luxury Hotel of the World in Athens. Since, March 2016 he is the Operational Leader of Domes Resorts. His academic credentials include a Master of Science (Msc) in International Hospitality Management at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. a Post Graduate Diploma (PgD) in Tourism Management at Northumbria University Business School in Newcastle, U.K. and a Bachelor Degree (BA) in Tourism Management in the Department of Tourism Enterprises Management, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Fanis Krommidas
Fanis Krommidas is an accomplished marketing professional with more than 14 years’ experience in hospitality sector. With a proven track record with one of Europe’s leading resorts, Sani Resort, currently as Marketing Director he leads the marketing team and external partners across areas of both strategic planning and tactical execution. Fais Krommidas participated in the launch of the Sani green programme in 2006, which is the umbrella project of all sustainability initiatives at Sani Resort till today.
Georgios Matsigkos
Georgios Matsigkos is the General Manager of Atrium Hotel in Rhodes, managing the group's three luxury hotels since 2009. In the past, he held the manager position at Blue Horizon Hotel, Elizabeth Hotel and Atrium Palace.
He is a member of the Board at the Rhodes Hotel Managers Association since 1994, and its President for the last nine years. He is also the Vice President of The Hellenic Hoteliers Federation since 1996.
During his presidency, he organized many seminars and international tourism conferences focusing on quality and extending the tourism period and has participated in various tourism fora in Greece and abroad.
He has contributed to the growth of Rhodes as a tourism destination for the French, Russian and Ukrainian markets.
Sotiris Mylonas
Sotiris Milonas is a Civil Engineer with an MBA and recently has completed Business sustainability management program at Cambridge University. Sotiris is working on the field of environmental management since 1997 and sustainability in tourism since 2004. He working on sustainability and health and safety tourist related projects around the globe and he is a lead auditor for Travelife covering more than 20 countries.
Stefanos Papanikos
Stefanos is a Strategy, Analytics and M&A Manager in Deloitte Greece. He holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Finance & Accounting from the University of Macedonia, a Master of Science (MSc) in Finance from Warwick Business School and a Postgraduate Diploma in Managerial Accounting & Financial Control from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE). He has contributed to a significant number of projects in the areas of Strategy, Finance & Operations for major public and private sector firms, mainly in tourism, hospitality & leisure, consumer goods, education, manufacturing, media and telecommunications.
Spiros Pengas
Spiros Pengas is the CEO of Wise Ram SA since 2019, a company that activates tourism and hospitality growth, which has already signed a contract with the Municipality of Ioannina in order to promote the city and the region abroad.
Through the last nine years, he has been Deputy Mayor for Culture, Tourism and Education, Tourism, E-Governance and International Relations, responsible for the extroversion policies of the City of Thessaloniki. He is responsible for 'Cities Diplomacy', an awarded by 'Greek Hospitality Awards 2016' project and various 'spin offs', ideas and projects (Thessaloniki Food Festival, Thessaloniki Mystery City, WOMEX2012, ‘Study in Thessaloniki’) that significantly contributed to the visibility of the city. During this tenure, he has also been member of the board of Thessaloniki Tourism Organization, Thessaloniki Convention Bureau, Thessaloniki Film Festival and TIF Helexpo SA.
He is a graduate of the German School of Thessaloniki and studied Political Science and International Relations at the Universities of Freiburg and Munich.
Katerina Santikou
Katerina is a Greek hospitality entrepreneur; She has been heading the business development for the hospitality group Santikos Collection for the past five years and is leading the education and marketing efforts for the union of hoteliers of Skiathos. In 2017 she founded the award winning hospitality recruiting platform, Workathlon. She has been included in the 2019 lists for Forbes 30 under 30 and Fortune 40 under 40.
Eleni Sotiriou
Eleni Sotiriou is Managing Director of the Thessaloniki Convention Bureau. She has served as senior advisor to the Mayor of Thessaloniki (2011 – 2018) focusing on the city’s promotion as a prime destination. She was co-founder of Wine Plus, an innovative company specializing in wine promotion, gastronomy and oenotourism. She has occupied different positions in the private sector in Consulting, Marketing and Sales. She holds an MSc in Economic History from LSE and a BSc in Economics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Marina Spyridaki
Marina Spyridaki is a Corporate and Regulatory Affairs expert, with long term experience in advocacy lobbying, corporate communications and business representation across various industries.
She works as a Corporate Affairs Manager in AEGEAN, the largest airline in Greece and amongst the top regional carriers in Europe, working in the areas of corporate communications and public relations, sustainability policies and CSR, stakeholder engagement, advocacy lobbying for the aviation industry in Greece and EU, etc.
Marina has a strong academic background in Political Science (MA), Business Administration (MBA), Public Policies and European Policies (MSc), with a proven track record of successful management of interdisciplinary projects.
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O Γιώργος Ποδάρας είναι προπονητής ιστιοπλοΐας της Ελληνικής Ιστιοπλοϊκής Ομοσπονδίας και ναυτιλιακός σύμβουλος, μέλος της Διεθνής Ένωσης Ναυτιλιακών Συμβούλων με έδρα τις ΗΠΑ. Με δεκαετή επαγγελματική εμπειρία στο yachting, περισσότερα από 100.000 ναυτικά μίλια στην Ελλάδα και το εξωτερικό, έχει εργαστεί σε ναυτιλιακή εταιρεία, σε σχολές ιστιοπλοϊας έχοντας δώσει πάνω από 1000 διπλώματα, και είναι ο καθηγητής ιστιοπλοΐας του ACT. Το 2014 ιδρύει στο Λονδίνο την εταιρεία Captain Bigfoot Sailing Enterprises, η οποία, και στην Ελλάδα πλέον, ασχολείται με την ολική διαχείριση και τις ενοικιάσεις σκαφών αναψυχής και με τη δημιουργία θεματικών και tailor-made ιστιοπλοϊκών εκδρομών.
O Βαγγέλης Τσακάλης είναι εμπειρογνώμονας με 20 ετη εμπειρία στον ποιοτικό έλεγχο, το σχεδιασμό και την τεχνική υποστήριξη ναυτικών και ναυτιλιακών εταιριών.
