On the eve of the Leadership 100 25th Anniversary Celebration Conference next week, February 5-8, in Puerto Rico, membership has increased to a record 814 with 64 new members joining in 2008 and 374 members fulfilling their pledges of $100,000 each. An estimated 324 members and their guests will gather at The Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel in Carolina, Puerto Rico to celebrate 25 years of the Leadership 100 mission to advance Orthodoxy and Hellenism in America.

George D. Behrakis, former Chairman of Leadership 100 and Chairman of the 25th Anniversary Celebration Conference, will open the Conference on Thursday, February 5 at The Ritz-Carlton San Juan Hotel in Carolina, Puerto Rico and moderate a business panel discussion on important economic issues.

Nestled in the tranquil woods of New Hampshire in the historic town of Contoocook, the St. Methodios Faith & Heritage Center of the Metropolis of Boston has been termed “a beacon of Orthodoxy and Hellenism.”

Ted Mathas, 41, who became a member of Leadership 100 shortly after being named chief executive officer by the Board of Directors of New York Life Insurance Company last year, presented Archbishop Demetrios with a $1 million donation on behalf of the company on Jan. 9 for the establishment of the New York Life Center for the Study of Hellenism in Pontus and Asia Minor atHellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, MA. The donation is part of New York Life’s outreach program to the heirs of Greek policyholders in the Ottoman Empire.

Dr. John Psarouthakis, a pioneering scientist-entrepreneur and member of Leadership 100, traveling with his wife, Antigoni, in Europe last December gave the keynote speech, "The Challenge of Rapid Change in a Borderless World", at the graduation celebration at the Neynrode Business University in Holland; a lecture at the same school on "How to Acquire the Right Business"; and then two lectures, "How to Turn Around an Underperforming Business", and "Management Change", at a German university and in Milan.