Led by Chair Emeritus Chad Holliday, and President and CEO Deborah Wince-Smith, Council leaders – like University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis; Director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Steve Ashby; Argonne National Laboratory Associate Director Megan Clifford; Chairman of Gallup, Inc. Jim Clifton; Georgetown University Senior Vice President for Research and Chief Technology Officer Spiros Dimolitsas; Council on Competitiveness Executive Vice President Chad Evans; Lockheed Martin Vice President of Internal Audit and Enterprise Risk Christopher Geiger; Texas A&M University Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Engineering Research; Ancora L&G CEO Josh Parker; Paul Skoutelas, President and CEO, American Public Transportation Association; and, Wethington International LLC Chairman Olin Wethington – focused in an intense, 5-day innovation immersion with key leaders from over 30 nations to develop actions and partnerships to:
(1) change innovation mindsets
(2) understand the dynamics of innovation ecosystems
(3) promote the legal and regulatory frameworks to enable the circulation of innovation-enhancing resources
(4) bolster innovation investments, and
(5) connect innovation assets and stakeholders.
The Council delegation engaged directly not only with GFCC members from dozens of nations, but also with key leaders from across Greece, including: Kostas Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens; Lucas Papademos, Former Prime Minister of Greece; Dimitris Papastergiou, Mayor of Trikala; Alexis Patelis, Chief Economic Advisor to Greece’s Prime Minister; Kostas Skrekas, Minister of the Environment and Energy, Hellenic Republic; Niki Kerameus, Minister of Education & Religious Affairs, Hellenic Republic; Christos Staikouras, Minister of Finance, Hellenic Republic; Christos Dimas, Deputy Minister for Development and Investments, Hellenic Republic; Kostas Fragkogiannis, Deputy Minister for Economy Diplomacy and Openness, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hellenic Republic; Simos Anastasopoulos, President, CompeteGR; Symeon Tsomokos, Founder & President, Delphi Economic Forum; Athina Chatzipetrou, CEO Hellenic Development Bank; Leonidas Christopoulos, General Secretary of Digital Governance, Ministry of Digital Governance, Hellenic Republic; Themis Eftychidou, Secretary General for Industry, Ministry of Development and Investments, Hellenic Republic; Moses Elisaf, Mayor of Ioannina; George Handjinicolaou, Chairman, Piraeus Bank; Alexander Kachrimanis, Governor, Epirus; Yianos Kontopoulos, CEO, ATHEX Group; Stelios Petsas, Alternate Minister of Interior, Hellenic Republic; and, Ioannis Smyrlis, Secretary General for International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hellenic Republic.
