Speakers

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  Kyriakos Anastasiadis Rector of Aristotle University (AUTH) & Professor of Cardiac Surgery
  

  Kyriakos Anastasiadis

  Rector of Aristotle University (AUTH) & Professor of Cardiac Surgery

  Kyriakos Anastasiadis, Professor of Cardiac Surgery, is the Rector of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 2025.
  He obtained his MD from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1991 and his doctoral thesis (PhD) in 2004. Since 2011 he serves as Head of Cardiothoracic Department at AHEPA University Hospital in Thessaloniki. In 2017 he was elected Deputy Head and between 2020-2024 he served as Head of the Aristotle University School of Medicine and President of the Biomedical Research and Education Special Unit.
  Kyriakos Anastasiadis is a pioneer and key-opinion-leader in the field of minimal invasive extracorporeal technologies, founder of Minimal Invasive Extracorporeal Technologies International Society (MiECTiS). Moreover, he founded in 2015 the Postgraduate Course on Extracorporeal Technologies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Medicine, which is the only accredited program in Greece by the respective European Board. He is fellow of the European Board of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (FETCS), the European Society of Cardiology (FESC), and the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP). He has been appointed as President of the National Boards of Cardiothoracic Surgery for Northern Greece.
  He has edited 8 books and more than 16 book chapters, while he authored numerous publications which received more than 3,000 citations. He obtained the Best Innovator Award by the Royal Society of Medicine in 2010 and a Honorary Distinction by the Director of Cardiac Centre in Mauritius, Africa after completion of a humanitarian philanthropic mission. He was recognized by the Greek Reporter as one of the Greeks Who Left their Mark in 2018.

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  Anna Diamantopoulou President of the think tank “DIKTYO,” Former EU Commissioner, Former Minister
  

  Anna Diamantopoulou

  President of the think tank “DIKTYO,” Former EU Commissioner, Former Minister
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  Panayotis Glavinis Professor of International Economic Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
  

  Panayotis Glavinis

  Professor of International Economic Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

  Panayotis Glavinis is Professor of International Economic Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He graduated in 1986 from the same Faculty before studying in France, at Paris 2 University, where he completed his PhD and received his habilitation à diriger des recherches. He teaches International Trade Law, Foreign Investment Law, Energy Law, Finance Law and International Business Transactions. His most recent book on “Power Redistribution Mechanisms in the International Economic System”, published by Papazisis Publications, was awarded the prize of the Academy of Athens on 19.12.2019. From 2004 to 2018, he was a member of the Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (Paris). From 1.10.2011 to 19.6.2012, he served as Legal Adviser to the Prime Minister of Greece at the peak of the Greek debt crisis. From 2019 to 2021, he served as Chairman of the Legal Committee of the University of Thessaloniki and from 2020 to 2024, as Vice President of the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY). Since Sept. 2021, he is the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

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  Ioannis Sarmas Former Prime Minister and former President of the Hellenic Court of Audit
  

  Ioannis Sarmas

  Former Prime Minister and former President of the Hellenic Court of Audit

  Ioannis Sarmas took office as President of the Hellenic Court of Audit in 2019 having served as Vice President and President of Chamber III (2013-2019). He joined the Hellenic Court of Audit in 1993, after serving as judge of the Council of State (1987-1993).
  President Ioannis Sarmas was a member of the European Court of Auditors for two consecutive terms (2002-2012). During his tenure in the ECA, he had been elected Dean of Chambers IV and I. He also served as chair of the audit committee for Europol.
  Ioannis Sarmas holds a doctorate in individual rights’ law, from the University of Paris II. He also holds postgraduate diplomas (DEA) from the University of Paris II in criminal law, public law, and public finances law, with scholarship awards from the French Government and the Hellenic Scholarships Foundation. He holds a Degree in Law from the University of Athens having graduated at the top of his class.
  Judge Ioannis Sarmas has been awarded honorary doctorates from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Faculty of Law), the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Department of Public Administration) and the International Hellenic University (Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Economics).
  He has authored several law books, including leading treatises on the jurisprudence of supreme national and supra-national courts.

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  Ilias Lekkos Group Chief Economist, Piraeus Bank
  

  Ilias Lekkos

  Group Chief Economist, Piraeus Bank

  Dr. Ilias Lekkos is the Group Chief Economist and Head of Investment Strategy with Piraeus Bank, one of the largest banks in Greece. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation of Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) and a member of the External Advisory Committee of MSc in Quantitative Management at Actuarial and Financial Risk. He is also a member of the Council of Economic Advisors of the Hellenic Bank Association. Dr. Lekkos holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Athens University of Economics and Business, an MSc in Economics and Finance from Warwick University and a PhD in Finance from Lancaster University. His research has been published in a number of academic journals.

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  Georgios Ηatzitheofanous Major General (ret.) - Economist
  

  Georgios Ηatzitheofanous

  Major General (ret.) - Economist

  Graduate of the Hellenic Military Academy, the Supreme War College, the National Defense College (HNDG), and the Department of Economics of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, he is also certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute. He served as Commander of the Greek KFOR contingent in Kosovo from 2009 to 2011. He teaches in postgraduate programs as an external collaborator and teaches at the National Center for Public Administration and Local Government and also the Cyprus Academy of Public Administration. He is the author of the book “National Strategy – Proposal for a New Institutional Framework”. He is also a columnist in the print and electronic press on economic and geopolitical issues and a speaker at numerous seminars, workshops, the Delphi Economic Forum, the Money Show, the Ministry of National Defense, the War College, and other institutions. He is a member of the Institute of International Relations and the Alexandros Papanastasiou Institute. He currently serves as President of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Alumni Association.

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  Margaritis Schinas Minister of Rural Development and Food of Greece
  

  Margaritis Schinas

  Minister of Rural Development and Food of Greece

  Margaritis Schinas was born in Thessaloniki in 1962, where he completed his secondary education at the historic 5th Lyceum. He is a graduate of the Law School at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He continued his postgraduate studies in European Politics at the College of Europe in Bruges as a scholarship holder of the Ministry of Finance, and then in Public Administration and Politics at the London School of Economics.

  He is married and father of two children.

  Mr Schinas started his professional career at the European Commission in 1990 and is one of the few EU officials to have been appointed as a member of the College of Commissioners, becoming the first Greek Vice-President of the European Commission in the history of the institution. From 2007 to 2009, he was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), elected with New Democracy.

  As a member of the European Parliament and the EPP Group, he participated in the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

  Upon completion of his parliamentary work, he returned to the European Commission where he held senior roles. In 2010, Commission President Barroso appointed him Deputy Head of the College of European Policy Advisers and later Director of DG ECFIN in Athens, with responsibility for coordinating the European Commission’s technical assistance framework in Greece.

  In 2014, Commission President Juncker appointed him Chief Spokesperson of the European Commission.

  He became Vice-President of the European Commission for Promoting the European Way of Life in December 2019. In this capacity, he oversaw EU policies on migration, security, social rights, skills, education, culture, sport, youth, public health, interreligious dialogue and the fight against antisemitism.

  On April 4, 2026, Margaritis Schinas assumed the duties of Minister of Rural Development and Food.