19th Leadership and HR Management Conference

Partner, Advisory, PwC Cyprus

Philippos brings more than 30 years of experience in business transformation consulting and leadership effectiveness. He is a Partner, in charge of Business Consulting in PwC Cyprus, supporting business leaders and their teams, across a wide range of industries, to enhance business outcomes. He is passionate about the opportunities that the digital era is bringing, working with organisations to reassess their business strategy, digital agenda and operating models with particular emphasis on accelerating implementation. In the implementation support, he draws from extensive experience in people consulting, leadership alignment, as well as change & culture management. Beyond his private sector experience, Philippos has led numerous projects relating to the reform of the public sector in Cyprus. He also has extensive experience as an Executive Coach and facilitator, as well as a conference chairman and speaker. Philippos has graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, he is a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), a member of the corresponding professional body in Cyprus (ICPAC) and a member of the Cyprus Human Resource Management Association (CyHRMA).

Global Leader, Strategy and Leadership for the PwC network, USA

Blair Sheppard joined PwC in 2012 as Global Leader, Strategy and Leadership. Blair leads the team that is responsible for articulating PwC’s global strategy across 158 countries and the development of the current and next generation of PwC leaders. He is also Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Blair spent the majority of his career at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. During his tenure, Blair held several roles, including Associate Dean for Executive Education, during which Fuqua created one of the world’s first blended degrees, the Global Executive MBA, and founding CEO and Chairman of Duke Corporate Education, which was rated as the world’s top provider of custom executive education for nine years in a row. As Dean, Blair was also the primary architect of Duke Kunshan University in China, which opened in 2014. Blair has advised more than 100 companies and governments in the areas of leadership, corporate strategy, organizational relationships and design, and has published more than 50 books and articles. His most recent publications, A crisis of legitimacy and Adapting to a new world in strategy+business magazine, focus on the most acute global challenges facing the world today, including those of the post-COVID-19 landscape. And his book Ten years to midnight: four global crises and their strategic solutions will be published in August 2020. Blair is a regular speaker at high-caliber international forums including the Global Solutions Summit, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, and Slush. Blair is an international advisory board member at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO and at the University of Oman. Blair received his Doctorate in social psychology from the University of Illinois in 1980 and Masters from the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario) in 1977.

Former VP Twitter, bestselling author, UK

Bruce Daisley is one of the world’s most influential voices on fixing work. His book was the UK’s top selling business hardback of 2019 and is an international bestseller - translated into 14 languages. Previously he spent over a decade running Twitter and YouTube (the latter at Google) for Europe, leaving Twitter as its most senior leader outside of the US. Bruce runs the Apple #1 Business Chart topping podcast Eat Sleep Work Repeat on work culture. He now spends his time championing reforms to workplace culture.

Distinguished Professor Of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, IMD Business School, Switzerland

George Kohlrieser is Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Organizational Behavior at the Institute of Management Development (IMD) Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is the creator and director of IMD’s High Performance Leadership Program and of the Advanced High Performance Leadership Program. George is a best-selling, award-winning author, a veteran hostage negotiator, organizational and clinical psychologist, media spokesperson, consultant and international keynote speaker.

SAP Hellas, Cyprus & Malta, Greece Representing AMS Ltd

Ιoanna Douka is a Solution Advisor for Human Experience Management - Business Development SAP Hellas. Responsible for SAP Human Experience management Solution, supporting Greece, Cyprus and Malta. SAP professional with excellent all-round Functional and Technical expertise and a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. With extensive business experience in various industry sectors and LOB’s can provide advisory services to organizations by identifying business needs and then translate them into appropriate product solutions.

General Manager Human Resources, Hellenic Bank, Cyprus

George Christodoulides graduated from B’ Lyceum in Paphos. Studied Business Administration (B.Sc.) at the American College of Greece and then Banking Management (MBA) at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. He began his career in 1993 at the Bank of Cyprus. He worked in Greece as HR Manager (1998-2005), for the Bank of Cyprus Group (Cyprus, Greece, UK, Russia, Ukraine, Romania and Australia) as a Senior HR Manager (2005-2009) and as a General Manager of HR in 2009-2013. He then worked as Group HR Manager of Lanitis Group of Companies (2013-2015). In 2015-2017, he un-dertaken the position Gray HR Manager of Baker Tilly South East Europe (SEE) and Managing Director of the Human Cell Consulting Department of Baker Tilly in South East Europe (SEE). On 5th December 2017, he joined Hellenic Bank’s Executive Team as General Manager, Human Resources.

Chief Operating Officer, C.A.Papaellinas Group

Maria Germanou is the Chief Operations Officer of C.A. Papaellinas Group, which holds a leading position in retail trade in the areas of Cosmetics, Health, and Wellness in Cyprus. With more than 10 years of strategic and operational experience, she has a strong track record of successes in relation to all aspects of Operations, Sales, Marketing, People & Organizational Development of the company. Maria leads through the Business Transformation Office, the culture and business change management of CAP by embedding a strategy that supports and amplifies business objectives. She is focusing on the development and utilization of innovative and sustainable digital solutions that will support all business procedures, operations and initiatives, and in expanding in-store services, enhancing customer experience and logistics capabilities. She holds an MSc in Human Resource & Organizational Behavior from Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) and an MBA from Cyprus University

Group Director, Parimatch, Cyprus

Marianna Hadjiandoniou is the Group HR Director of Parimatch, which is an international holding company with a 24-year betting experience, represented in more than 8 countries, with a strong presence in CIS region. Being in the HR field for the past 18 years as an Executive Human Resources professional and experienced consultant, she had a wide exposure to local and international companies across various industries, geographies and cultures. She had also the opportunity to practise HR Consulting, with focus on defining and implementing HR strategies, initiating the HR function during start-up operations, and managing the HR aspects of large-scale reorganizations. She does have a solid background of managing all HR areas (sourcing/recruitment, compensation & benefits, organizational development, motivation & retention, performance management, along with employment law issues based on EU Regulations); managed several downsizing exercises, as well as mass recruitment and reorganizations. She is a member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and she holds an MSc in Human Resource Management from Surrey University, UK. “Do what you love and do it with passion! Invest in knowledge, both in theory and practice…and then success is matter of time!”

General Manager and Head of Global HR Operations & Services, Wargaming Group

Valentinos Polykarpou studied Political Science at The University of Cyprus and then went on to complete a Master’s in political science at the French National School of Political Sciences (Sciences Po Paris). Building on his studies he started his career in political communication and electoral analysis and then made the transition to the business world. He joined Wargaming as Communication and HR Manager in 2014. Today he is Head of Global HR Operations & Services and since 2018 the General Manager for the company’s Headquarters office in Cyprus. Wargaming is an award-winning online game developer and publisher. It is one of the leaders in the gaming industry with 5000+ employees and offices all over the world. Over 200 million players enjoy Wargaming’s titles across all major gaming platforms.

Founder & Managing Director - Badass Unicorn, Former People Strategy & Development Manager - Deliveroo, UK

Alice ter Haar is the founder of Badass Unicorn – a personal development consultancy that inspires individuals and businesses with what they can learn from Unicorn ($1bn) scale-ups about hyper-personal growth. Alice delivers this message as a keynote speaker and through client, public and partner workshops. She’s a keen writer in publications like People Management and shares her personal story via social media. Prior to going full time on her business, Alice spent four years building one of Europe’s fastest growing scale-ups, Deliveroo.

Culture and Business Change Lead, Cisco Operations, USA

Yosi Kossowsky leads the culture and business change management for Cisco’s Operations organization. Yosi is responsible for driving the culture and leadership transformation change management initiatives in Operations and for evolving the Operations-led transformational business change management strategy for Cisco. Yosi is an accomplished business transformation leader with extensive experience developing people-focused transformation strategies that directly support Cisco’s business objectives. Passionate about leadership and developing world-class, highly motivated teams, Yosi has a proven track record of delivering successful change programs that enhance and amplify the business.

President, sayAplus & Former Corporate VP Project Management, Transformation, Integration, and Continuous Improvement, Caesars Entertainment, USA

Rias Attar, is an accomplished business strategist, business transformation expert, operational excellence leader, and program and change management professional. He is an industry award winner executive with a track record of increasing profits and delivering strategic initiatives that have successfully transformed and integrated business operations. He has delivered transformational programs (business and technology) that have contributed over $1 billion of combined EBITDA. Rias also published a book in 2020 called “Change to Win” which goes deep into how to embrace change and optimize or transform businesses to deliver positive results. Mr. Attar has an MBA, PMP, ACP, CSM, LSSBB, and CMP.

Advanced Management Solutions Ltd (AMS) is a business and information technology consulting firm established in Cyprus on February 2001. As an authorized and certified SAP Channel Partner, AMS offers a full range of services including systems integration and consulting services. Based on our proposed solutions, organizations can quickly meet their current and future needs for proper management of information and knowledge, and utilization of technology. The key to our success is the deep understanding of the operational needs of national and international organizations both in the public and private sectors.

Parimatch is one of the most time-tested and fastest growing betting companies. It is headquartered in Cyprus, with an online betting license from the NBA and is considered one of the most promising and innovative leaders in labour and corporate culture. Apart from its innovative technologies, 25 years of expertise and top-notch product & service lineup, Parimatch in Cyprus stands for partnership, loyalty, mutually beneficial relations between employees, top managers and the market leaders. Also Parimatch was the "Best Workplace" winner at the IN Business Awards 2019.  

The Cyprus International Institute of Management is a non-profit business school established in 1990. To accomplish its mission, CIIM has pioneered the modular educational model. This gives our programmes exceptional flexibility, enabling students to focus on a specific subject within short yet intensive time periods. CIIM offers 8 distinctive MSc programmes. Choose yours to become part of CIIM’s excellence!

IN Business magazine has a monthly readership of more than 40,000. It is the only monthly business magazine in Cyprus that provides a comprehensive overview of all segments of the economy, from retail to services, as well as reporting on new deals, presenting new faces and, generally, everything that’s happening in the local business sphere. IN Business is a pioneer in local business journalism, thanks to its in-depth analysis and research backed by previously unpublished facts and figures. www.inbusinessnews.com

GOLD magazine was founded in 2011 as the first English-language business monthly in Cyprus. Today, it is not only synonymous with the promotion of good business practices but it has a unique and valuable readership of High Net Worth Individuals, international company executives, English-speaking Cypriot and non-Cypriot businessmen and women. GOLD provides a comprehensive and informed overview of the local business scene, the economy and the market and has gained a reputation for its in-depth articles and revealing interviews with key local and international personalities. www.goldnews.com.cy