Leadership 100 Presents the New Entrepreneurs at Conference

2019

Dec 1

Leadership 100 presented three outstanding young members of the Greek American Community who shared their experiences as highly successful entrepreneurs and innovators at a panel at the Saturday Forum, February 22, 2020.

Argyris Vassiliou, Leadership 100 Chairman, moderated the panel consisting of George Bousis, Founder and Executive Chairman, Raise and Owner and Chairman, Riot Squad Esports; Doretta Mistras, a Managing Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking Division of Citigroup, based in New York; and Athan Stephanopoulos, President of NowThis, the leading digital media news brand known for producing and distributing short-form video news for a predominantly millennial and Gen Z audience.

George Bousis, a member of Leadership 100, began his career at the age of 14 as a professional gamer for a variety of internationally recognized esports organizations. Following his retirement from competitive esports, he began working at his family-owned business, Cermak Fresh Market which today is one of the leading independent grocers in the Midwest. After a successful tenure in various leadership roles, Bousis went on to found Raise, a leading retail payments and gift card company, that today is the largest exchange and mobile prepaid wallet in the world.

Since 2013, Raise has been globally recognized as one of the fastest growing and transformative e-commerce companies. Under Bousis’ leadership, Raise has generated nearly $4 billion in transactions and saved its millions of customers over $175 million to date. In addition, he has attracted more than $147 million in funding from leading global investors including Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, and PayPal. Most recently, George returned to his roots and love for professional gaming by founding Riot Squad Esports, a professional esports organization focused on enabling the growth and advancement of gaming across the world.

Bousis is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Leadership 100, a Major Contributor to FWD.us, a recipient of Chicago Business 20 in their 20’s, a three-time recipient of the Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs List, and an esteemed honoree of the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.

Doretta Mistras, also a member of Leadership 100, is responsible for the Health Investment Banking Division of Citigroup’s coverage of the Healthcare Technology and Outsourcing Practice. Prior to joining Citigroup in 2019, she spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs & Co. in their Healthcare group focused on M&A. While at Goldman Sachs, Mistras advised on over $200 billion of M&A transactions for Healthcare companies.

Mistras earned a dual degree from the University of Pennsylvania, receiving both a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in Spanish and International Studies. Mistras serves on the Board of the National Hellenic Society and the PanHellenic Scholarship Foundation.

Athan Stephanopoulos, as President, oversees all operations of NowThis -- from sales & revenue, editorial & product strategy, data & audience insights and brand partnerships.

NowThis is the #1 video news publisher in the world with a singular mission: to make news engaging and relevant for young adults by humanizing and explaining the complicated world through insightful and informative context, and delivered directly to the social platforms where these audiences spend most of their time consuming content.

Today, NowThis has more than 70 million social followers and generates 2.5 billion monthly views with more than 8 billion monthly impressions. As the pioneer of the distributed media model, NowThis has revolutionized how news is consumed and has become the trusted news source for young audiences.

Previously, Stephanopoulos was the founder and CEO of Cliptamatic, a social video distribution platform that was acquired by NowThis in 2014. He currently sits on the board of the publicly traded company Akazoo, a leading global music streaming and technology platform.

Stephanopoulos has also served as an adjunct professor and board member at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business in New York City, where he has taught courses on Media Entrepreneurship and Social Media. He resides in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

2019 - Issue #6 (Winter 2019)