Charles H. Cotros of Memphis, Tennessee, was inaugurated as the Chairman of Leadership 100 on February 11, 2012 at the Grand Banquet of the 21st Annual Leadership 100 Conference at The Ritz-Carlton, Palm Beach in Manalapan, Florida. He served as Vice Chairman for the past two years under Constantine G. Caras, of Greenville, Delaware, whose term was completed as Chairman but who remains a member of the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee approved new grants for 2012 totaling $686,250. With the action, grant distributions for 2012 will total $1,742,850, and grant distributionssince the inception of Leadership 100 will reach $33,025,686, a record level.

Paulette Hios, a master musician who founded and operated Belanthi Gallery and was Choir Director at SS. Constantine and Helen Cathedral, for over four decades, both in Brooklyn, New York, bequeathed $100,000 to Leadership 100. She took the action upon learning of the organization’s mission from Paulette Poulos, her first cousin, Executive Director of Leadership 100. Subsequent to her untimely death at age 68, she was enrolled posthumously as a member of Leadership 100.

Gus P. Karos, of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, one of McDonald’s Owner/Operator early pioneers, who died at the age of 87 in May of 2011, bequeathed $500,000 to Leadership 100, which was among numerous charitable beneficiaries of his will. The Karos family, including his brother, Nicholas, also a member of Leadership 100 and nieces Meloney Herrick, Margo Karos and Paige Navratil carry on the tradition as Owner/Operators of McDonald’s in the Ohio region. Gus and Nicholas Karos joined Leadership 100 in 1985, just one year after its founding.

Peter J. Pappas, Chairman of the Board of P.J.M. Holding Group, and a member of the Leadership 100 Executive Committee, was presented with the Hellenic Heritage Award, by Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church of Brooklyn, New York on January 30th. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the Consul General of Greece, George Eliopoulos, and the Consul General of Cyprus, Koula Sophianou, joined the Very Rev. Archimandrite Eugene N. Pappas, Pastor of Three Hierarchs, for the presentation. The Award, given to prominent Greek American leaders for promoting Hellenism, was initiated in 2003.

Thanasi C. Liakos, a member of Leadership 100 with his wife, Stephanie, was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua, New Hampshire on March 14, at the 2012 Youth of the Year Dinner and Inaugural Hall of Fame Ceremony.