Event Speakers
PRIME MINISTER KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been Prime Minister of Greece since July 2019, when a landslide general election victory swept his Nea Demokratia party to power. He is the leader of Greece’s first majority government in more than a decade. Campaigning on an unapologetically pro-business/anti-corruption platform, and an end to populism and the rhetoric of empty promises, as Prime Minister he has focused relentlessly on green and digital job creation, strong economic growth, sustainable tourism, and tax reform. To date, he has prioritised foreign direct investment, enhanced Greece’s credibility among the ratings agencies, provided a strong and respected voice at the centre of the European Union. He has also championed the role of experts and technocrats in his Cabinet, in senior positions in government and at the forefront of Greece’s widely praised response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Political career: Kyriakos was Greece’s Minister for Administrative reform and e-government between 2013 and 2015. He became President of Nea Demokratia in 2016, after winning an open election in which he was widely considered the outsider. He immediately set about radically reinventing the party in opposition; modernising and renewing its appeal; boosting membership; and revolutionising fund-raising, based on small annual donations by members. He also put in place a code of transparency and accountability in how the party operated. A member of the Greek Parliament since 2004, Kyriakos previously sat on a number of prominent parliamentary Committees, including the Committee for Constitutional Amendment, the Committee for Trade, and the Committee for National Defence. He was also an active member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. As Chairman of the Environment Committee and shadow minister for the environment he fought to highlight the issue of climate change and advocated for environmentally sustainable growth. Early career and education: Before entering politics, Kyriakos worked for a decade in the private sector as a financial analyst with Chase Investment Bank, a consultant with McKinsey and Company and as CEO of NBG Venture Capital at the National Bank of Greece. He has a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies summa cum laude from Harvard, an MA in International Relations from Stanford, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Family: Kyriakos is married to Mareva Grabowski, an investment banker. They have three children, Sofia, Konstantinos and Dafni, and live in Athens. In addition to Greek, the Prime Minister speaks English, French and German.
APOSTOLOS APOSTOLAKIS Apostolos is an entrepreneur turned investor in the technology sector. He was a cofounder at e-shop.gr, efood.gr, (exited), doctoranytime and an early investor at Beat , where he was on the board until the sale of the company to Daimler. As an active angel investor since 2010, Apostolos has invested in many startups globally including Spotahome, Booksy, Packhelp, Shift and Nurx. In 2016 he co founded Venturefriends a Venture capital fund. that invests in early stage software startups with a sweet spot in the B2C, marketplace, fintech, proptech and travel tech space. VentureFriends has raised 70 mil euros over 2 funds and has supported 25+ startups including Blueground, Instashop (exited), Spotawheel and Plum
NIKO BONATSOS Niko Bonatsos is a managing director at General Catalyst, a venture capital firm that partners with founders from seed to growth stage and beyond to build companies that withstand the test of time. Working from the firm’s San Francisco Bay Area offices, Niko focuses his investment strategy on finding first-time technology founders with strong product instincts, a robust appetite for learning, and a desire to create innovations with the potential to benefit millions. In his nine years with GC, Niko has been instrumental in the firm’s investments in Audius, ClassDojo, Collective, Cover, Discord, Dubsmash (acquired by Reddit), Hive, Livongo Health [acquired by Teladoc (NYSE: TDOC)]), Microverse, Paribus (acquired by CapitalOne), Remote, Sleeper, Snap (NYSE: SNAP), and Wag! among others.Prior to joining General Catalyst, Niko attended Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar earning an MS in Management Science and Engineering. He has studied in several countries, earning additional degrees in Manufacturing Engineering & Management and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and worked as a part of the R&D team for Yokogawa Electric Corporation in Japan.
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