THEODORE ANGELOPOULOS AND GIANNA ANGELOPOULOS-DASKALAKI TO RECEIVE LEADERSHIP 100 AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE
George D. Behrakis, Chairman of Leadership 100, announced that the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Award for Excellence will be given to two of its most prominent and long-time members, Mr. Theodore P. Angelopoulos and Ambassador Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, for their accomplishments in business, public service and philanthropy. The Award will be presented at the Grand Banquet of the Leadership 100 17th Annual Conference in Palm Desert, California, on Saturday, February 16, 2008.
The couple is credited with Athens’ successful bid and hosting of the 2004 Olympic Games. Heading Greece’s bid to host the Olympics in 1996, Gianna was appointed Ambassador-at-Large in 1998 for her talents and service to Greece. She was asked to take the presidency of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games in 2000 when slow progress put Athens in danger of losing the Olympic Games. Under her leadership, Athens made up for lost time and gave the world what IOC President Jacques Rogge called: “an unforgettable, dream Games”, logistically flawless, visually stunning and with the Organizing Committee’s unprecedented financial surplus of 130.6 million Euros.
Throughout, Theodore Angelopoulos, who is from one of the most prominent families in Greece and a leading industrialist and entrepreneur with international businesses interests and activities, played a pivotal role.
“They did a spectacular job in bringing Greece to the forefront, and I thought it was time to honor them," said Chairman Behrakis. I'm looking at Greece today, the number of tourists, more than its population, and that’s due to what people all over the world saw when the Olympics were held in Athens…and I think this will continue,” he said.
Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, who was born in Crete in 1955 and studied Law at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, was elected a Member of Parliament in Athens first Region Constituency for the New Democracy Party twice; in November 1989 and in April 1990.
In 1990, she resigned as a Member of Parliament after her marriage to Theodore Angelopoulos. Since then she has been actively involved in the shipping business. She is a member of the Athens Bar Association.
Theodore P. Angelopoulos was born in Athens in 1943 and lived in Switzerland for many years where he received his BSc in Business Administration from Zurich University. His family were pioneers in the Greek steel industry and have been dealing in the dry cargo sector of the shipping industry since the early 50’s. He has spent the last 45 years leading and expanding an internationally based group of companies with interests, primarily, in shipping and steel, and with investments in real estate, private equities and other financial entities world wide.
In 1996 Mr. Theodore P. Angelopoulos established Metrostar Management Corp. in Athens, Greece and entered the tanker market in the same year and, since then, became a major player in the sector, gaining a remarkable reputation as one of the leading, quality tanker operators. Since 2002, he took control of the Dutch shipbuilding company, oceAnco, and re-established it as a leading shipbuilder of luxury, custom mega-yachts. Actively involved in charitable work focusing in promoting science, culture and education, Mr. Angelopoulos is particularly interested in advancing health care, and has made generous contributions in support of Harvard’s pioneering medical research, serving on the Harvard School of Public Health’s Board for cancer prevention. In 1994, Ambassador Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was named Vice - Chair of Harvard University's "John F. Kennedy School of Government".
Together they have further contributed to Harvard University by endowing the Angelopoulos Professorship in Public Health and International Development.
Following his father, Panagiotis’, tradition, Mr. Angelopoulos is the lifelong Sovereign of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Archon Megas Logothetis tis Megalis Tou Christou Ekklisias). The honorary title has its roots in the Byzantine Empire and, at the time, was equivalent to that of the Prime Minister. Mr. Angelopoulos is also a Grand Benefactor of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Together, the couple is actively involved with a wholly owned media group in Greece, comprised of a leading, nationally-distributed daily newspaper “Eleftheros Typos”, a news portal www.etypos.com and a radio station. Ambassador Angelopoulos-Daskalaki has a daughter, Carolina, and they have two sons – Panagiotis and Dimitris – 16 and 15 years old respectively.
The Award of Excellence recognizes outstanding Greek Orthodox, Greek American, and other outstanding leaders who have excelled in their vocation and are committed to advancing the values of Orthodoxy and Hellenism in their lives and activities. Other recipients have included George J. Tenet, John D. Negroponte, Senators Paul S. Sarbanes and Olympia J. Snowe, Dimitis L. Avramopoulos, Melina Kanakaredes and Rudolph W. Giuliani.
The Leadership 100 17th Annual Conference will convene from February 14 to 17, 2008 and will include the annual meeting of the General Assembly, meetings of the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees and programs and forums on Church History, Hellenism, business and the arts. Leadership 100 is the largest Greek American membership and charitable organization in the United States, holding more than $82 million in assets. It has distributed more than $23 million in grants advancing Orthodoxy and Hellenism since its inception in 1984.
