HCAP: New board of directors for the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF)
The Board of Directors of HCAP, the sole shareholder in HRADF, proceeded to appoint a new Board of Directors with collectively extensive and varied experience and expertise, with the aim of achieving successful transactions in the context of the Fund’s Asset Development Plan. At the same time, applying the best practices provided for on issues of corporate governance, it decided to strengthen the composition of the Board of Directors with additional non-executive members.
More specifically, in accordance with the procedure defined in article 197(4) of Law 4389/2016, the HCAP Board of Directors evaluated and selected members with significant experience in and knowledge of sectors that are closely related to the work and mission of HRADF.
In selecting the new members of the Fund’s Board of Directors, HCAP employed the open submission procedure for submission and selection of candidates, in collaboration with two internationally recognized companies in the field, assessing the candidates based on the criteria stipulated in the Call for Expressions of Interest.
Bearing in mind the above, the HCAP Board of Directors unanimously decided on the new composition of the HRADF Board of Directors as follows:
- Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos, Chairman, Non-Executive member
- Dimitris Politis, Chief Executive Officer, (starting date August 1st 2021)
- Panagiotis Stampoulidis, Executive Director, acting as interim CEO (until 31st July 2021)
- Lito Ioannidou, Non-executive Member, Chair of the Audit Committee
- Thalia Emiri, Non-executive Member
- Andreas Stavropoulos, Non-executive Member
- Stefanos Giourelis, Non-executive Member, Deputy CEO of HCAP
The Law 4799/2021 provided for the potential to assign to HRADF the maturation of contracts that are part of the Development Programme for Contracts of Strategic Importance, and the recently passed Law 4804/2021 broadens the scope of HRADF to include provision of maturation services, so that HRADF can also contribute to this goal of accelerating projects of strategic importance for the country and become a development driver through this new role. Maturation services will be provided through a discrete operational unit at HRADF (Project Preparation Facility/PPF), so that there can be a clear distinction from the state-asset development role it has pursuant to Law 3986/2011.
HCAP expresses its thanks to the CEO Mr. Riccardo Lambiris for the services he offered to HRADF during his term, and wishes him every success in his future endeavours. The HCAP Board of Directors expresses its warm thanks to the the non-executive members of the HRADF Board of Directors, , Lila Tsitsogiannopoulou, Aggelos Vlachos and George Marinos, for their commitment to the goals of HRADF and their contribution to the Fund’s work, even under the difficult conditions created by the pandemic
The HCAP Board of Directors also welcomes the new team of the HRADF Board of Directors and wishes them every success in their duties, so that the Fund can continue to play its broader role in the recovery of the Greek economy through attracting investments and bolstering the openness of the Fund and the wider HCAP group; through the new HRADF operational unit – the Project Preparation Mechanism – which is being included in the Recovery and Resilience Fund; and by continuing the implementation of the Asset Development Plan, which is a key pillar of the HRADF strategy.
Below follow the brief CVs of the new Members of the HRADF Board of Directors.
Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos, Chairman, Non-Executive member
Dr. Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos received his diploma in Chemical Engineering from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, his MSc in Industrial Engineering
and his Ph.D. in Transportation Systems Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, USA. From 1996 to 2004, he was the Louis Berger Professor of Transport Systems at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL USA. Dr. Ziliaskopoulos is a Professor of Production and Logistics at the University of Thessaly since 2004; between 2010 and2015 he was the Chairman and CEO of TRAINOSE, S.A and the Chairman of the Greek National Logistics Committee. While at TRAINOSE S.A., he managed to restructure the company rendering it profitable in 2012 despite the annual loss of 240 million euro generated since 2009. Furthermore, in 2013 he was instrumental in initiating the railway container services from the Port of Piraeus to Central Europe. He is an expert on issues of infrastructure with the Asian Development Bank and has participated in various infrastructure and PPP initiatives in Asia. As Chairman of the National Logistics Committee, in 2014 he initiated the development of the Law 4302/2014 regulating logistics issues. In 2020 he was appointed Chairman of the Greek National Council for Logistics aiming to promote Greece as a transit hub.
Dimitris Politis, Chief Executive Officer, Executive Member (starting date August 1st 2021)
Dimitris Politis is a graduate of the American College of Greece and holds an MBA in International Business & Export Management from City University Business School in London, as well as various professional certifications. Since 1993, he has held positions of responsibility at international financial organizations. He began his career at HSBC Bank PLC, initially in Athens and then in London, in the Sector of Investment Banking, covering Greece and the wider region of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. He returned to Athens in 2001 as head of Credit Commercial de France, and in 2003 he returned the HSBC Bank plc Greece as Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking. From 2012 to September 2020, he worked at Credit Suisse AG, based in Zurich, as head of Wealth Management-UHNWI for Greece and Cyprus while in October 2020 he took on the same role at EFG Bank AG, based in Zurich. Mr. Politis is highly experienced in attracting and managing investments in strategic sectors of the economy and has close professional relationships with international institutional and private investors.
Panagiotis Stampoulidis, Executive Director, Ιnterim CEO (until 31st July 2021)
Panagiotis Stampoulidis is a graduate of the Higher Technological Education Centre of Western Macedonia and holds an MBA from the University of Wales in the UK. With a successful 15-year career in administration, he is an experienced executive in the running of private and public organizations. He has experience in the sectors of development plan design, restructuring, and execution of public contracts, and he has managed a variety of technical and financial projects, as well as projects for restructuring and streamlining of corporate procedures. During his career, he has gained significant experience interacting with Institutional Committees and serving on decision-making bodies. He started his career as an executive in the food sector. He then served as CEO of the Central Markets and Fishery Organizations (CMFO SA), responsible for the Central Markets of Athens and Patras and the 11 Fish Markets throughout Greece. In 2013, he created the innovative Retail Consumers Wing at Renti and he prepared two PPP projects during his time as CEO. From the period 2019-2021, he was the Secretary General for Commerce and Consumer Protection, implementing dozens of reforms in the functioning of the market, consumer protection, and implementation of public contracts worth over €100 million.
Lito Ioannidou, Non-executive Member, Chair of the Audit Committee
Lito Ioannidou holds a Bachelor of Commerce (1975) and Master of Business Administration (1978) from McGill University in Canada. She has a long career in Financial Services. Her experience extends to the areas of Corporate Risk Management and Corporate Finance, and she has managed a variety of Financial projects and projects for Restructuring and Process Improvement in accordance with Best Practices at globally prominent companies. During her career, she has gained considerable experience in Risk Control and Management through her participation in a number of relevant committees in Greece and abroad. She started her career at Citibank Hellas, where, from 1978-2000, she held positions of high responsibility with the rank of Vice President, as Deputy Market Manager, Country Credit/Risk Manager and Local Corporate/Corporate Finance Head, while also serving as President and CEO of Citi Leasing from 1998 to 2000. She was also a Senior Credit Officer at the Bank from 1989 to 2000 – authorized to sign for loans and risk exposure to a high limit undertaken only by specific senior-management personnel in the Bank’s international network with special knowledge of Risk Assessment and Risk Management Procedures – Chair of the Credit Risk Committee, New Products Development, and a member of the Liquidity Committee. During her career at Citibank, she also carried out Portfolio Quality and Risk Management Procedure Audits in many countries in Europe, Africa and Latin America. She subsequently served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Athens Stock Exchange (2001-2005), as well as Chair of the Audit Committee and Member of the Working Committee of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) during her time at the Athens Stock Exchange. Since 2008 she has served as BoD Member and Audit Committee Chair at the ASE listed companies M. I. Maillis S.A. (2008-2014), Nireus Aquaculture S.A. (2010-2019), LAVIPHARM S.A. (2008-present), and member of the HRADF Audit Committee (2019-present). In 2006, she founded LIAL Business Consultants LTD, which specializes in Corporate Strategy, Capital Raising, Debt Restructuring, Mergers and Acquisitions.
Thalia Emiri, Non-executive Member
Thalia Emiri is a lawyer with broad experience spanning both the private and the public sector. She has worked for approximately 15 years in law firms and private companies focusing mainly on company law, new technologies law and banking law. She then served as Advisor to the PM and Legal Advisor to the Minister of Finance (2012-2013). She was Chief Legal Counsel of the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF), directly involved with the three rounds of recapitalizations of the Greek Banking system (2013-2018). She currently works in the private sector as Legal Counsel and Compliance Advisor. Thalia Emiri holds an LLB from National and Kapodistrian Univerity of Athens, LLM (DEA) in European Economic Law and PhD in European Competition Law from Panthéon-Assas University (Paris II).
Andreas Stavropoulos, Non-executive Member
Andreas Stavropoulos graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Computer Science and holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the same university. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, graduating at the top of that year’s class. Since 1999, he has been active as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, California, USA, and has sat on Boards and Committees of a number of tech companies active in the software, semi-conductor, energy technology and computational biotechnology sectors. In this role, he has gained experience in weighing and responding to business risks, managing fixed and intellectual property, appointing and evaluating technical and business personnel, and attracting additional investors. Mr. Stavropoulos advanced his investment career at DFJ, where he was hired as an Associate in 1999, taking over as Director in 2000 and Managing Director in 2002, and in 2014 he took on complete management of the company with two other partners. DFJ was recently renamed Threshold Ventures and is one of the most successful venture capital companies, with investments in companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, Skype, Baidu and hundreds of others during the 35 years of its operation. Before DFJ, he was a business consultant at the San Francisco office of McKinsey & Co. from 1997 to 1999, having previously worked as a financial advisor at Cornerstone Research in Boston from 1992 to 1995. Mr Stavropoulos also serves on the Boards of non-profit organizations, such as Endeavor Greece, the Alumni Board of Harvard Business School and the Advisory Cabinet of the Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering.
Stefanos Giourelis, Non-executive Member, Deputy CEO of HCAP
Stefanos Giourelis holds a degree in Mining Engineering & Metallurgy from the National Technical University of Athens. He has worked for the past 25 years in the Information Technology sector, mainly in international sales and management positions. He worked for 19 years at Hewlett Packard for Greece, Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa based initially in Athens and afterwards in Dubai, 4 of which as a General Manager (Greece) and 8 years as Managing Director in Greece, Africa region and GRAF (Greece & Africa) region. Mr. Giourelis joined HCAP in 2017 and serves as Deputy CEO and Executive member of HCAP.
