Mike Manatos Named Executive Director of The Hellenic Initiative

The Hellenic Initiative (THI) announced that Mike Manatos will become the organization’s Executive Director, effective May 1, 2025. Manatos is a longtime member of Leadership 100 and serves on its Executive Committee.

Mike Manatos

 “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am excited to welcome Mike Manatos as our new Executive Director. Having spent his entire career working with the leadership of the global Greek diaspora and promoting Greece around the world, Mike brings to this role unique and valuable experience, relationships, and passion,” said THI Co-Founder and Board President George P. Stamas, also a longtime member of Leadership 100.

 “After a remarkable first 13 years, THI is gearing up for an even more impactful future. Mike will be an essential part of shaping and implementing our bold vision of the future of our organization and the global Greek diaspora” said THI’s Co-Founder and Board Chairman, Andrew N. Liveris, a member of Leadership 100.

 THI is a global nonprofit that unites the diaspora Greeks and Philhellenes to invest in the future of Greece and Cyprus through economic development, entrepreneurship, and humanitarian aid. Since inception in 2012, THI has raised over $35 million to support 104 economic development grants and 218 crisis relief grants in Greece. This has directly led in Greece to: 4,500 direct job placements to reverse the brain drain; over 1.5 million hours of mentoring; over $6 million in funding to start-up companies; engagement with over 40,000 entrepreneurs. In addition, crisis relief has included: food insecurity (400,000 meals in 2024 alone); children’s poverty, abuse, and disabilities (over 30,000 children served); response to natural disasters, refugee services, low birth rate reversal and palliative care, to name a few. Overall, it is estimated that THI’s impact on the economy of Greece has well exceeded $500 million.

 “I have worked closely with Mike over his decades of service to our community, Greece, Cyprus, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate. I have seen the trusted relationships and respect he has built, as his father and grandfather did before him. His addition to the THI team is very exciting,” said Executive Board Member Father Alex Karloutsos, former Executive Director of Leadership 100.

 Manatos’s previous service on the Boards of numerous Greek and non-Greek nonprofits has included: Leadership 100 and the National Hellenic Society; the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; and the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as Committee Chair, among others. He co-founded and served as Executive Director of the Washington Oxi Day Foundation, creating the world-renowned OXI Courage Awards and Service Awards. He served as Chairman of the Board of Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Mid-Atlantic where he has been involved in various capacities for over 26 years and has personally raised over $2 million for the Foundation and granted the wishes of over 250 children.

 Mike most recently served as President of Manatos & Manatos where he has worked for 35 years.

 “I have been blessed to have spent my entire professional and personal life promoting Hellenism and Orthodoxy while working closely with the most successful and philanthropic diaspora Greeks, many of whom serve on the THI Board. Having the opportunity to continue and even amplify this service as THI Executive Director is a dream come true. I am grateful to THI’s Board for this remarkable opportunity and can’t wait to get started,” said Manatos.

 “THI has brought the global Greek diaspora together like no other Hellenic organization has ever achieved and created a connectivity to Greece and its considerable philanthropic needs,” said Liveris.

 “After 13 years of inspired work by so many, THI has a track record of unifying the global Greek Diaspora to make a positive impact in Greece. With our extraordinarily impactful Board, a dedicated team with Mike now leading as Executive Director, partners on the ground in Greece and Cyprus, a powerhouse New Leaders community, and the many donors and friends of THI globally, the sky’s the limit for where THI will go, as we Dare to Dream together,” said Stamas.