20th Leadership and Human Resource Management Conference

Blair Sheppard joined PwC in 2012 as Global Leader, Strategy and Leadership and he leads the team that is responsible for articulating PwC’s global strategy across 155 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. As Dean, Blair was 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. His book Ten years to midnight: four global crises and their strategic solutions was published in August 2020.

#4 in Global Guru's World's Top 30 Motivational Speakers 2021, Inspirational Executive Team Coach, Author, Founder and CEO of Symmetry, UK, Record Breaking Freediver

Record breaking freediver and voted #1 Motivational Speaker outside of the US in the 2021 Global Guru rankings, Jim Lawless has inspired over a million people on five continents through his presentations. As CEO of transformation architects Symmetry, Jim is a leading thinker and practitioner in building the Future of Work and Executive Team Coach. With his team, Jim has been instrumental in the transformation of international organisations, fast-growth companies and Olympic Teams. Author of the international best seller ‘Taming Tigers’ (Random House), Jim became a televised jockey (and lost 25% of his bodyweight) within 12 months of sitting on a horse. He became the deepest freediver in British history within 8 months. Both of these ‘impossible’ adaptations were experiments to test and validate the approaches he shares. Both were done alongside his day job - as most transformations are. Jim is loved internationally for his energy, humour, engagement and his lasting impact on mindset and action. He leaves a new vocabulary behind that lives on in meetings, conversations and in thinking. Outside of his work, Jim is a dad, friend, helicopter pilot, kundalini yoga practitioner, freediver, and pianist.

CEO, Ancoria Insurance

Tasos Anastasi has more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry across a variety of roles in the UK, Greece and Cyprus. He was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Ancoria Insurance in 2015. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Ancoria Insurance and the President of the Investment Committee. Previously he spent 7 years with Eurobank Cyprus, where he last held the position of Head of Business Development of the Wealth Management Division. He holds a Master's Degree in Finance from the London Business School and a BSc in Accounting & Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

General Manager, Safe Bulkers Management Ltd

Nikos Kratimenos is the General Manager of Safe Bulkers Management Ltd., since 2017, a company based in Limassol Cyprus. His tenure with the Safe Bulkers Group started in 2014, when he joined Safety Management Overseas S.A. in Athens Greece as Internal Controls Manager and from 2016 as General Manager. With diverse studies in Business Management, HR & Organizational Behaviour, Mr. Kratimenos also holds a master’s degree in Procurement, Logistics & Supply Management and has gained broad international experience in various industries and leading multi-national companies. From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Kratimenos started his Maritime career by serving as General Manager of MSC - Mediterranean Shipping Company (Albania & Balkan Region). Prior to that, between 2005-2012 he had joined Fourlis S.A., as Group Procurement Director, representing the companies such as Samsung, IKEA and Intersport. He began his diversified working background from 1997 to 2005, by holding managerial roles for 9 years in Nestle, Greece.

Director, American Medical Center/American Heart Institute

Dr Marinos Soteriou is the founder and chairman of the board of the American Medical Center/American Heart Institute, a private hospital offering high quality tertiary care medical services. He is the director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department. Throughout his career, Dr Soteriou has been a member of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgery, member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, fellow of the American College of Surgery, fellow of the American College of Cardiology, founding president of the European Resuscitation Council – Cyprus Chapter and he has been the President of the Cyprus Society of Thoracic Surgery. He pursued an academic career at the department of surgery at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, USA where Dr Soteriou is serving as an assistant professor of clinical surgery at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He holds a medical degree from the University of Cologne, Germany and a PhD degree from the University of Zürich, Switzerland. Currently he maintains a medical license in the state of Tennessee, USA and in the Republic of Cyprus. He is certified with a diploma of the American Board of Surgery and a Diploma of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. Dr Soteriou has numerous scientific publications in medical peer reviewed journals, and presentations in international medical meetings.

CEO, Swissport Cyprus Ltd

Sofocles Tymvios graduated from the University of Manchester in 1992 with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Social Studies. Subsequently, he worked for Touche Ross (Deloitte) and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1995. During the span of his 25 years career he worked in leadership positions for private, public and multinational companies based in Cyprus. Since 2015 he is working for Swissport, initially as Swissport Cyprus CFO and Swissport International Med region CFO and currently as Swissport Cyprus CEO. He is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Cyprus, founded its CFO committee and introduced the Mentoring program of the Institute.

Maria Germanou has amassed over 15 years of valuable experience, serving in key leadership roles such as Chief Operations Officer and Chief Retail Officer. Her tenure in these positions underscores her strategic acumen and operational expertise. With a strong background in Operations, Sales, People & Organizational Development, Maria brings a wealth of knowledge to her current role as Chief Transformation Officer. In this capacity, she drives business transformation initiatives, aligning strategies with organizational goals, fostering sustainability growth, and nurturing cultural development within PAPAELLINAS GROUP. She holds an MSc in Human Resource & Organizational Behavior from Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) and an MBA from Cyprus University.

CEO & President of the Council, European University Cyprus

Dr Christoforos Hadjikyprianou is a Fulbright scholar and holds a BSc in Industrial Technology and an MBA from Southern Illinois University, USA. He also holds a Doctoral degree from Middlesex University, UK. He has a proven executive management record of accomplishments and over 30 years of experience in the higher education sector. He is currently the CEO and President of the Council of European University Cyprus. He is also a member of Galileo Global Education Executive Committee. Previously he was the CEO of Laureate Cyprus and a member of the Executive Committee for Laureate Europe. Dr Hadjikyprianou participates actively in discussion panels and forums on issues such as economic reforms; competitiveness; talent development and innovation. Among others, he serves as a judge of the European Business Awards and a member of the Board of the Logicom Group Ltd; CAMPOSOL S.A.; the Cyprus-Jordan Association and the Cyprus-East & South East Asia Association. He also serves in various social / athletic committees and currently he is the Secretary General of the Cyprus University Sports Federation.

Lysandros Ioannou is the Executive Chairman and major shareholder of PHC Franchised Restaurants Public Ltd, the leader of Restaurant, Cafés and Catering Industry in Cyprus. The PHC Group operates more than 100 units (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell, Wagamama, Caffé Nero, Jamie’s Italian, PAUL Burger King etc) in Cyprus and Greece employing more than 2300 persons. Graduate of the London School of Economics, he worked for Pepsi Cola International as Vice President Marketing (Middle East, Africa &Easter Europe) as well as Regional Vice President for Greece and the Balkans. He also worked for Procter & Gamble in different Marketing Assignments in Europe. Both the companies of the Group he leads and Lysandros Ioannou personally have been repeatedly recognised in Cyprus and abroad.

Elias Neocleous is the Managing Partner of Elias Neocleous & Co LLC, Cyprus’ largest and most progressive international law firm. He is a graduate of Oxford University, a barrister of the Inner Temple, and was admitted to the Cyprus Bar in 1993. Elias has more than thirty years’ experience successfully leading legal teams dealing with large, complex and innovative cross-border transactions. His main areas of practice are banking and finance, company matters, intellectual property law, international trade, tax and trusts and estate planning. Elias is a frequent conference guest speaker with many publications to his credit. He is a strong advocate for utilizing technology to benefit the client and is spearheading the introduction of ALSP to Cyprus via Neolaw.ai.

Andrea Antoniou was appointed Regional Managing Director of Iron Mountain Central and Southern Europe in 2020. In this role, Andrea is currently responsible for leading the information management business in 13 countries across the region. Andrea holds a degree in Social Studies and Anthropology from Panteion University of Athens. She started her professional career at Fileminders in 2008 from the Operations Department of the company. Over the years, she has held various positions within the organization, helping her gain specialized experience and knowledge in the field while also enabling her to assume the position of Managing Director. In 2017, the acquisition of Fileminders by Iron Mountain finds her in the position of Managing Director of the company in Cyprus. In a short time she was promoted to Regional Managing Director leading more and more countries in the region. In addition to Cyprus, her regional responsibilities were gradually extended to Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and now include all the countries of the Central and Southern European region.

Michael C.G. Charalambides comes from a banking background with solid academic and strategic foundation in macro-economics and politics. Since the dawn of the Fin-Tech industry Michael has become a part of many leading industry projects and regulatory bodies via contribution through his network of projects. He has successfully launched with his peers the ECOMMPAY brand, was part of the project that launched the first private POS payments terminal in Cyprus and now has taken on a new venture and created the family of ECOMMBX as an EMI regulated under the CBC. Michael's favourite words that lead his vision are: “positive disruption” and “always work in the light".

Andreas Neocleous is the first CEO of Cyta, Cyprus’ largest telecommunications organisation, to have been appointed from the private sector. On assuming his duties in January 2019, he redefined the organisation’s vision and set it on a course of growth and dynamic evolution, which has since resulted in a significant increase in revenue and profitability. His personal ambition is to see Cyta evolve its commercial orientation and assert with confidence and flexibility in every opportunity; a leader in the new generation of telecommunications in Cyprus, offering the technology of the future at affordable prices, impacting consumers’ lives and winning customers’ hearts and minds. He is Chairman of the Board of Cyta subsidiary, Cytacom and a board member of Tech Island. Before taking up his duties at Cyta, he was, among others, Director of Business and Customer Experience at MTN Cyprus, Commercial Manager at Ericsson and a Senior Technology Analyst at Goldman Sachs in London and New York.

Head, Human Resources, Hellenic Bank

Georgios Christodoulides was born in 1968. He graduated from B’ Lyceum in Paphos and 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, worked for the Bank of Cyprus 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, where main responsibilities included culture alignment across the Group and implementation of trademarked Group HR practices, adjusted to every country’s realities. He then proceeded to work as Group HR Manager of Lanitis Group of Companies, where emphasis was given on the Delayering of the Group’s Structure, the development of the Group’s Corporate Culture and the formulation of a Family Succession Planning Program. In 2015-2017, he worked as an HR Director of Baker Tilly and as a Managing Director of the HR Consulting Services of Baker Tilly in South East Europe, providing Human Resources Consulting services to companies from different industries, such as the biggest Cypriot Banking Institutions, insurance companies, retail companies, etc. On 5th December 2017, he joined Hellenic Bank to lead Human Resources.

HR Manager, Leroy Merlin Cyprus

Iason Makris is an experienced, self-motivated, and people-first HR manager with more than 12 years of experience in executing, supporting and managing critical HR initiatives. Iasonas was born and grew up in Greece and started his career in Olympic Air and then Aegean Airlines working in the HR field for 8 years, before taking a senior role in Leroy Merlin Cyprus in 2017. Iasonas oversees Human Resources and records several successful HR projects. His experience includes resources recruitment and development, internal consultation/coaching, HR Budgeting, Cyprus Labour Law implementation & compliance, Payroll preparation, Appraisals consulting and monitoring etc. Iason facilitated in increasing employees’ engagement from 9% to 42% within two years and managed to achieve the Best Workplace in Cyprus 2021 Award (Great Place to Work) for Leroy Merlin Cyprus. He holds a BSc in Marketing and Business Communications from Athens University of Economic & Business and a MSc in Finance from Lancaster University, UK. He is an active member in CyHRMA.

HR Manager, Iakovos Photiades Foodstuff Suppliers ltd

Areti Vasilara is the Head of the Human Resources Department of the Iakovos Photiades Group. She has been working as an HR Manager at Mallouppas & Papacostas Group for 10 years and the last 3 years she has joined IPH Iakovos Photiades, operating in the FMCG sector in Cyprus, both for the retail and the foodservice channels . Her professional experiences includes recruitment and development, HR processes, performance management, executive coaching and mentoring, organizational and culture development, employee relations. She holds a BSc in Sociology from Pantion University Athens and a MSc in Human Resources Management and Organizational Behaviour from CIIM. She is an accredited Coach/Mentor (European Individual Accreditation) by the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, and a certified trainer by the Cyprus Human Resource Development Authority in Cyprus.

ΗR Manager, McDonald’s Cyprus

Vasilis Yiannaki is the Head of the Human Resources Department of McDonald’s Cyprus over the last two years. He started his career in the retail industry and then moved to Dubai where he has had the opportunity to build and manage the HR Department of a think tank organization, Strategy Intranational. After he return to Cyprus, he joined Mallouppas & Papacostas Group as an HR Officer and was then promoted to HR Manager. Right before joining McDonald’s, he was in EY, People Advisory. Vasilis has a bachelor’s degree in Economics and an MSc in HR and Organization Behavior.

Ancoria Insurance is an established life insurance company of Swedish origin, registered and headquartered in Cyprus since 1987. The company actively manages €300mln in client assets and caters for the saving, investment and pension needs of more than 20,000 international clients. Ancoria Insurance is recognised as the leading provider of occupational pension plans in Cyprus. In 2016, the company launched the Ancoria Pension Plan which is now the largest pension scheme in Cyprus with more than 230 employers, €75mln assets and 4,000+ employees as members.

Safe Bulkers, Inc. is a global shipping company providing worldwide seaborne transportation in the dry bulk sector and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The Company is the largest ship-owner of the Cyprus registry and operates from offices in Cyprus, Greece, Monaco and Switzerland. The Company is a successor to a business that first invested in shipping in 1958 and since then, holds true to a legacy with uninterrupted presence throughout several shipping cycles. At this stage the Company is pursuing a fleet renewal strategy to meet more stringent future environmental regulations related to Green House Gas emissions and nitrogen oxides emissions.

Conferience is the ideal web-app for event organizers, presenters, market researchers and team leaders all over the world. Engage your audience in any kind of online or/and physical event, facilitating direct interaction among them. It is excellent for any kind of online or/and physical event, including lectures, presentations, webinars, conferences, forums, trade shows, polls, training courses, seminars, workshops, school classes, universities, focus groups, research & internal (corporate executive) meetings.

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.

The Project “University Labor Market Liaison Offices” which is co-funded from the Structural Funds of the European Union and from national resources, aims to improve the association between Universities, the labor market and its needs. The Project’s focus is on placing students in businesses and organizations, as a part of their curriculum, with a view to gaining professional experience. Eight Universities participate in the Project, which is coordinated by the University of Cyprus.

GOLD was first published in 2011 as the first monthly English-language business magazine in Cyprus. Today, it not only consistently promotes good business practices, focusing on the promotion of Cyprus as an international business centre, but has a unique readership, comprising High Net Worth Individ­uals, executives of international companies, and English-speaking Cypriot and non-Cypriot busi­nessmen and women.

As the flagship publication within IMH’s media brands, IN Business magazine, has a 16-year history, during which thousands of examples of good business practices by businesses and businesspeople, brands, commercial practices and developments have been showcased. The aim of IN Business was – and continues to be – the promotion of good Cypriot business. www.inbusinessnews.com