Athanasios Savvakis, Chairman

Member of the Managing Committee of the Athens Stock Exchange.  Deputy Chairman of the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE). Member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Production – Industry Roundtable for Growth. Member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Association of Business Parks (HELABP). President of the Board of Institute of Industry Association of Greece (INSVE). President of the Board of Directors of the Business and Cultural Development Centre (KEPA). Member of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of International Relations. Member of the Advisory Committee of Delphi Economic Forum.
ΜΒΑ from the University of Stirling (UK). BSc in Business Studies & Economics from the University of Surrey (RIHE). Certified Lead Assessor for BSEN ISO systems from the Scottish Quality Management Center of the University of Stirling. INSEAD Executive Education Program (Negotiation Dynamics & Strategic Management). International Federation of Purchasing & Supply Management – Certificate in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management. 
Mr. Savvakis speaks English and Italian.

Alexandros Papageorgiou, CEO

Mr. Papageorgiou has a long and successful European experience in the Energy sector. He has worked as Head of Organization and Head of Logistics and Operations in Energy companies in Italy, while over the last six years he was a Key Account Manager of power and environmental markets as well as a Senior Sales Manager for Southern Europe at the European Energy Exchange, based in Milan.

Mr. Papageorgiou holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics as well as a MSc in Economics, Environmental and Energy Management from the University of Bocconi, Italy. He was born and raised in Athens.

George Handjinicolaou, Member

Mr. George Handjinicolaou is Chairman, non-executive member, of the Board of Directors of Piraeus Bank, and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX). He is also Chairman of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, a non-profit foundation. Mr. Handjinicolaou has also been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Bank Association, the non-profit legal entity that represents Greek and foreign credit institutions operating in Greece. Mr. Handjinicolaou received his PhD in Finance from the graduate school of business at New York University, where he also earned his MBA, and holds a BS degree from the Law School at the University of Athens, Greece. His career in the financial services sector spans over 35 years, the vast majority of which was spent at global financial institutions based in London and New York. Mr. Handjinicolaou held the position of Deputy CEO of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) in London for 6 years (2011-16), where he was also a member of the Board of Directors. Previously and for over 25 years, he held senior management positions in the derivatives and fixed income markets at several global financial institutions including Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and UBS in London and New York, while he started his career at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Mr. Handjinicolaou has also leadership experience in Greece from his roles as CEO of TBANK and as Vice Chairman of the Greek Capital Market Commission.

Ioannis Emiris, Member

Yannis Emiris was born in Athens in 1963. He is a graduate of the Athens School of Economic Sciences and Business Administration and holds an MBA degree from Columbia Business School as well as a degree of Certified Public Accounting in the United States. He has worked as a certified public accountant in Price Waterhouse in New York. In 1991 he started working in the field of Investment Banking in Alpha Bank. From 2004 until July 2012 he was heading the Investment Banking and Project Finance division of Alpha Bank. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund from August 2012 until July 2014. In 2014 he was appointed Executive General Manager of Private and Investment Banking in Alpha Bank and from December of 2019 he was appointed General Manager of Wholesale Banking. Throughout his career, he has executed significant assignments in the fields of Mergers and Acquisitions, Capital Markets, Corporate and Debt Restructurings and Privatizations, as well as Project Financings for energy, infrastructure and real estate projects in Greece and internationally.

Dariga Haynes, Member

Dariga Haynes is an Associate Director in the Financial Institutions Group of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She has over 15 years’ experience in leading investments in the region. During her career at the EBRD, Dariga has been structuring, negotiating and implementing a wide range of debt and equity projects within banks, asset management companies and stock exchanges across Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey and the CIS. She has also served as a Non-Executive Board member for Prva Group Slovenia. She currently leads complex strategy design and implementation across both the Capital Markets Infrastructure development and structured finance (i.e. asset backed and future flows securitisations and asset-guaranteed bonds) for banks and corporates. Dariga manages complex equity investments in several stock and commodity exchanges, including the Moscow Exchange, Borsa Istanbul and Zagreb Stock Exchange. She has also worked with regulators and industry associations on consolidation and development of local capital markets, including commodity market, and arranged workshops on capital market development in countries such as Morocco and Jordan. She has participated in a Regional Central Counterparty (CCP) study to identify potential solutions for local exchanges in the Central and Eastern Europe. Dariga is a Kazakhstani national. She is a graduate of London Business School (LBS) and holds MBA from the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research (KIMEP) in Kazakhstan.

Marinos Christodoulides, Member

Marinos Christodoulides is the Chairman of the Cyprus Stock Exchange since 2018 and the Chief Financial Officer of Latomia Pharmakas Group since 2006. Additionally, Marinos serves as non-executive Director and member of the Audit Committee of the Hellenic Energy Exchange in Athens and as board member of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA). He served as Vice-Chairman of the Cyprus Stock Exchange and as non-executive Director and Chairman of the Audit & Risk Committees of the Periferiaki Cooperative Bank of Nicosia, which was part of the Cooperative Central Bank of Cyprus. He started his career in 2000 at the Cyprus Stock Exchange as Officer in the Listing & Accounting division and thereafter as the Head of Internal Audit division. Marinos is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holds a degree in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He is member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) and the Institute of Internal Auditors of Cyprus (IIA Cyprus). He is married and has two children.

Gerasimos Avlonitis, Member

Gerasimos is Market Development Manager in the Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA), responsible for the design and implementation of special market reform and expansion projects, including the setup of a wholesale gas market for Greece and the SEE region. Prior to joining DESFA in 2013, he held the position of the Head of the Gas Department in the Greek Regulatory Authority for Energy (RAE) since 2005, playing a key-role in the liberalization and reform of the Greek gas market. From 1999 until 2002, he worked in numerous gas and power projects as a member of the business development team of Prometheus Gas S.A., a joint company of Gazprom and Copelouzos Group. He started his professional career in the upstream sector of the hydrocarbon industry in 1996, when, based in the UK, he worked in numerous oil and gas optimization projects in Europe, Middle East and Latin America. Since 2014, he is a visiting lecturer at the University of Piraeus Master’s program in Energy: Strategy, Law & Economics. Gerasimos holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from the Imperial College, London.

Vasileios Gkountis, Member

Dr. Vasileios Gkountis is currently director of market management for IPTO. He holds a diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a PhD degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His professional interests are in energy market economics, design, operation, modelling and analysis. He has been active in energy markets for almost two decades, holding electricity economics expert positions in the Hellenic TSO (HTSO), the former Hellenic Market Operator (LAGIE), and a dutch utility (DELTA). He has also worked for Genscape, as the product manager of EPSI, a power market fundamental analysis platform and was director of strategy and business development for the Hellenic Energy Exchange.

Smaragda Rigakou, Member

Ms. Rigakou is the General Counsel and Director of the Legal, Regulatory & Compliance Division of the Athens Exchange Group.

She is a member of the Steering Committee of the Stock Exchange and Vice President of the Occupational Insurance Fund. She is also a member of the Managing Committee of the Greek Union of Listed Companies, the Advisory Committee of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission and the Advisory Board of the Climate Governance Initiative Greece.

In March 2024, she was ranked among the top 20 female leaders of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). Also, she is included in the GC Powerlist: Greece & Cyprus of Legal 500 on a regular basis, and was awarded the golden prize in the category "In-house banking and financial services team" in the Business Law Awards for the reformation of the legal services of the Athens Exchange Group.

She is an attorney at law accredited at the Supreme Court and has worked in law firms specializing in financial, European, and competition law. She graduated from the Athens Law School and holds an LL.M. in European law and an MSc. in Finance.

She is the author of the book "State aid rules in the financial crisis", co-author of the books "State Aid Law" and "Treaty of the European Union and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - Interpretation by Article"; she lectures at the University of Piraeus in e-learning courses, and she is a member of numerous legislative committees concerning capital market legislation.