This is Athens AGORA 

With studies in economics and international relations, Ioannis Pallas has been managing the Secretariat of ESAE, the European Society of Association Executives since October 2018.

Born in Greece,  and based in Brussels since 2009, he gained experience in in consulting, lobbying and development projects evaluation. He is graduate of the Executive Master in International Association Management from the Solvay Business School, focusing on Strategy and Business Plans for International Associations.

Parallel to his engagement with European and International Associations, he maintains a career in artistic photography.

Ioannis speaks English, French, Spanish and Greek.

www.esae.eu | LinkedIn

Elke Dens is global director at The Travel Foundation, a NGO with a mission to strengthen the benefits of tourism for local communities, so that future generations will be able to travel.

As a former marketing director of a national tourism board, she was rewared ‘marketeer of the year’ in 2019 by The Belgian Association of Marketing. She has been chair of marketing of The European Travel Commission between 2016-2021 and aligned the marketing directors from 28 countries in Europe around one and the same brand and strategy.

Recently she published a book ‘Tourism is dead. Long live the traveler’.

thetravelfoundation.org.uk | LinkedIn

Stylianos Filopoulos has spearheaded various international associations and has a successful track record in leading change. His long experience with multicultural teams and complex partnerships, paired with his multidisciplinary educational background, allows him to understand complex problems from different perspectives and successfully drive collective action.

He has founded Association by Design to help communities reach their true potential and create a positive impact.

Association by Design (AbD) offers services in association management, strategic marketing, ESG projects, event design, and workshop facilitation. AbD’s customers include renowned trade associations, professional societies, NGOs, corporations, academia, and destinations.

www.associationbydesign.com | LinkedIn

Prof. Dr. Christina Gitsaki is the Acting Director and Research Coordinator at the Center for Educational Innovation, Zayed University, Dubai, UAE.

She has served on the Executive Boards of several national, regional and international professional associations (ALAA-Applied Linguistics Association of Australia; TESOL Arabia; QTESOL-Queensland TESOL Association; GCES-Gulf Comparative Education Society; AILA-International Association of Applied Linguistics).

AILA is a federation of 35 national associations of applied linguistics and Dr. Gitsaki has served on the AILA Executive Board since 2011 in a number of different capacities (Executive Treasurer (2011-2014), Secretary General (2014-2021) and currently as the AILA Congress Coordinator). She has chaired a number of regional and international conferences and was the Chair of the 2014 AILA World Congress in Brisbane, Australia that was attended by 1,700 delegates. Her current role as the AILA Congress Coordinator reflects her experience in organizing events and her knowledge of the association and its affiliates.

aila.info | LinkedIn

Maria Founta is Google’s Head of Marketing for South East Europe. She focuses on establishing strategic partnerships and launching Google services and initiatives that support consumers and help businesses grow online. She is also the founder of Grow Greek Tourism Online, a Google initiative that has supported over 250K people in the tourism sector to develop their digital skills and grow their business; the program has scaled to Japan and more countries. She first joined Google in 2006, as a Google Customer Solutions Manager, leading the teams in 8 markets in EMEA.

Before Google, Maria held an engineering management position at Rhetorical Systems Ltd., a world-leading Text-to-Speech (TTS) systems developer in Edinburgh, Scotland. She joined the company in 2002 and led the design and development of its speech products for South Europe. Maria holds a degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from NTUA and recently
graduated from INSEAD’s Marketing Academy in France. She was born and raised in Greece and has worked in the UK, Ireland, Greece and Japan.

LinkedIn

Born and raised in Athens, Spyridon Kagkas is a Communications, Destination, Diversity, and Urban Sustainability consultant providing services to non-profits, business, and public sector clients. For ADDMA he works as their Digital and Community Manager, overseeing its digital channels, and its Sustainable and DEI initiatives. He is also the head of This is Athens with a Local, an initiative connecting volunteers to visitors, so they can experience the city’s neighborhoods through the eyes of a local. Every day Spyridon uses his skills in digital marketing and destination development to help Athens stand out from the competition, and one of the projects he has worked for in ADDMA is Athens, the city is the museum. In his free time, Spyridon is an urban activist and one of the leading figures of Atenistas, fighting for gender equality, lgbtq+ visibility, climate change, and just development.

LinkedIn

The European Tourism Association (ETOA) is a Brussels-based non-profit organisation whose members include 370+ global operators and 700+ supplier and DMOs across Europe. It was a founding partner and supporting signatory of the Glasgow Declaration for climate action in tourism. ETOA delivers a variety of event, in person and online, whose content ranges from commercial networking to market insights. More information at www.etoa.org

Tim is responsible for ETOA’s policy activity from EU institutions to destinations. He is vice-chair of the European Tourism Manifesto  and participates in a range of initiatives from developing the EC’s tourism transition pathway to UNWTO work on sustainability metrics, and various capacity building work in support of the green transition and digitalisation. He studied in France, Ireland, and the UK. By training a lawyer and mediator, prior to joining ETOA he worked in the intra-European and incoming educational and cultural travel sector.

Efi Koudeli is a consultant with an extensive 15 years’ experience in the fields of tourism, destination & cultural management and communication, both in public and private sector, in Spain and in Greece.  Currently, she holds the position of International Relations Officer at This is Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau, part of the Athens Destination Development Management Agency of the City of Athens. Efi is also member of the Greek Meetings Alliance team. 

Between 2018 and 2019 she worked as Knowledge Transfer & Outreach Lead at Foundation, a top-notch technology venture builder. She was responsible for the business development and implementation of programs on digital skills and knowledge transfer programs as CSR for corporations. Efi has designed, developed and supervised the production of emblematic projects, such as the Tech Talents School initiative, a digital skills school, the Start Project, a digital cultural centre in the Kypseli neighborhood of Athens, and the Innovation Hub program in the Thessaloniki International Fair in cooperation with the US Embassy.   In 2015, Efi took over the Thessaloniki Convention Bureau where she was the General Manager for 5 years. During her tenure, she set up, developed and managed the Bureau promoting the destination for international association meetings, incentives and corporate events. Prior to this, she worked in Spain at the Greek National Tourism Organization for the Ministry of Tourism and for the International Air Transport Association-IATA.

Efi holds a Master in Cultural Institutions and Companies Management (Universidad de Barcelona), a Master in Teaching Spanish as Foreign Language (Universidad Complutense) and a Bachelor degree in Spanish Language and Culture.

Anna Vasila oversees Sustainability and Industry Affairs at Athens International Airport. She works towards AIA interests’ representation and to shape conditions that advance business and drive sustainable growth. In charge of the Sustainability Strategic Planning and Reporting, Anna is actively engaged in AIA’s sustainability-oriented activities and operations, and, under the capacity of AIA’s Sustainability Committee Chair, ensures ESG is incorporated into the Airport Company’s Strategy and relevant actions. Anna represents AIA in the WEF – ACI | Airports Council International Initiative: Airports of Tomorrow.

For 8 years, she worked as a Policy Advisor for Industrial, Sectoral and Social Affairs at SEV Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, the major business network and recognised social partner in Greece, member of BusinessEurope, the leading business advocate at European level. Throughout her professional life, Anna has been working as a communication and networking actor on behalf of private interests, to ensure that the voice of business is heard in National and European policy-making, to further strengthen the companies’ strategic position.

Anna holds an MBA from ALBA Graduate Business School at the American College of Greece where she studied as a SEV fellow. She also studied Communications and Psychology and earned an M.Sc. in Media & Psychology from Panteion University and a bachelor’s degree in Communication & Mass Media from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens and the University of Minho in Portugal, where she was an Erasmus student. Anna is a certified graduate of the Employers Young Professionals Academy at the International Training Centre of the ILO.