New Leadership

The Board of Trustees, meeting at the 19th Annual Leadership 100 Conference, elected Constantine G. Caras of Wilmington, Delaware as Chairman; Charles H Cotros of Memphis, Tennessee as Vice-Chairman; and George S. Tsandikos of Greenwich, Connecticut as Treasurer. Kassandra L. Romas of Short Hills, New Jersey continues to serve as Secretary. The Board also elected Tsandikos along with John A. Catsimatidis and Peter J. Pappas of New York to the Executive Committee and, most significantly, seven new members, representing the greatest diversity to date, were elected to the Board of Trustees.

Elected to the Board of Trustees were Maria Allwin of Connecticut, Drake G. Behrakis of Massachusetts, Eleni Bousis of Illinois, Tarsi Georgas of Florida, Patsy Kouvas of Ohio, Mike A. Manatos of Maryland and Adam M. Tzagournis of Ohio.

The trend to a younger and more diverse leadership was a result of the adoption of term limits initiated in 2002. The result has been a decrease in the average age of members of the Board of Trustees, as well as standing committees. Beginning when records were kept, the average age of the Board was 63.9 in 1994, ten years after the founding of Leadership 100. By 2000, the average age had increased to 66 years of age and by 2001 to 69, where it remained until 2005, jumping to 70 in 2006 and 71 in 2007 and 2008. Only in 2009 did the average age decrease, to 66, coming down to 64 in 2010, approximately where it had been 16 years prior.

In addition, recruitment of more women to leadership positions has culminated in the greatest representation of women as officers (1) and on both the Executive Committee (2) and Board of Trustees (9) in the history of the organization.

The development represented an intentional policy to recruit younger and more diverse members to leadership positions as advocated by the last three Chairmen and the Nominating Committee.