8th Business Leaders Summit

Panicos Nicolaou is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Member of the Board of Directors of Bank of Cyprus since September 1, 2019. He joined the Bank in January 2001 and started his career serving at various positions, mainly in the Corporate and Credit Risk departments. He was the Manager in the Restructuring and Recoveries Division from April 2014 until June 2016. From June 2016 until August 2019, he served as Director of Corporate Banking Division. He holds a diploma (5-year degree) in Mechanical Engineering from National Technical University of Athens (Metsovio Polytechnic) in Greece, and an MSc in Mechanical & Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the USA. He also holds a BSc in Financial Services/ACIB from the School of Management, UMIST in the UK. Panicos is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Cyprus Banks (ACB), member of the Board of Directors of the Employers’ Association of Cyprus Banks, and member of the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Employers & Industrialists Federation (OEB).

Xenios is the Director of Corporate and SME Banking at Bank of Cyprus since January 2022. He is responsible for the wholesale Business (Corporate Banking Units, the Small and Medium Enterprises Banking Centres) and the Bank's Factoring Unit. He joined the Bank in 1993 as Management Trainee and served the Group from various managerial positions mainly in the Corporate and Credit Risk Departments. Prior to his appointment as Director of Corporate and SME Banking, he served as Director of Corporate from August 2019 until December 2021. Xenios holds a BBA with honours in Accounting from Southern Arkansas University, USA, and an MBA Finance with honours from Louisiana Tech University, USA. He is a member of the Board of Directors of General Insurance of Cyprus, a member of the Board of IDEA, and a member of the Board of Directors of Limassol Marina Ltd.

Annita Pavlou holds the position of Manager Investor Relations and ESG of the Bank of Cyprus since 2020, after holding the position of Manager Investor Relations since 2016, and several positions in Treasury Department since 2000 when she joined the Bank. She is responsible for developing and strengthening the Group’s relationship with existing and new investors, analysts and rating agencies aiming to enhance interest in the Group's listed securities. She is also in charge of the Group’s ESG program. More recently, she also assumed responsibility for the Strategy Department of the Bank, expanding her leadership role. She is a holder of a BSc in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Cyprus and an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Warwick.

George is the chairman of McKinsey’s work in Greece and Cyprus. He joined the London office in 1994 and served as a coleader in the firm’s opening of the Athens office in 2000. Beyond working in Cyprus, Greece, and the United Kingdom, he has served clients in Egypt, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. George has worked extensively in the energy, financial, industrial, infrastructure, and transportation sectors. Additionally, he has led major efforts related to economic policy and development, with particular focus on structural reforms and growth-enabling policies.

Lefteris Charalambous is the Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company’s Athens office where he also leads the Energy & Heavy industry work. He is a core leader of McKinsey’s Global Energy and Materials Practice. He joined McKinsey in 2008 and since then has had extensive experience in serving clients in Greece, rest of Europe, Middle East and the USA in the power, oil & gas, metals, basic materials and other industrial sectors in large scale transformations. He brings particular expertise in the fields of corporate strategy, sustainability and technology enablement. Lefteris has been a core member of McKinsey “Greece 10 years ahead” economic development work and has led the effort to develop the “Net Zero Roadmap” for Greece and for Cyprus in cooperation with a broad range of institutions. He has also led various pro-bono initiatives to support energy transition and youth reskilling in cooperation with industrial associations and NGOs in Greece and beyond. He holds a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

The Bank of Cyprus Group is the leading banking and financial services group in Cyprus, providing a wide range of financial products and services which include retail and commercial banking, finance, factoring, investment banking, brokerage, fund management, private banking, life and general insurance. The Group’s digital infrastructure is proving successful, transforming the Bank to a modern, customer-centric hub offering banking and broader financial digital products and services in Cyprus. The Group has set the foundations to enhance its organisational resilience and ESG agenda and continues to work towards building a forward-looking organisation with a clear strategy supported by effective corporate governance aligned with ESG agenda priorities, aiming to lead the transition of Cyprus to a sustainable future.

IMH is a leading Corporate Events, Media, Business Intelligence and Networking organisation with a vast annual agenda of over 300 conferences, business forums, exhibitions, investment summits, client events and business awards ceremonies. Organised by IMH in Cyprus and abroad, these are considered to be Cyprus’ largest business and professional networking platforms. Our Business Media Department publishes Cyprus’ two most popular monthly business magazines– IN Business and GOLD –and two digital media platforms, IN Business News and CBN (Cyprus Business News) with their Daily Newsletters providing executives with news and updates on the local business and economic landscape, in Greek and English respectively. Our Consumer Media Department operates REPORTER, one of the country's most popular news portals, as well as SUPER FM, Cyprus’ Number 1 Greek music radio station. IMH also participates in Cyprus Government, EU and other international organisations’ projects and programmes www.imhbusiness.com