Leadership 100 concluded its 35th Anniversary Conference on February 23, 2019 with the Grand Banquet presentation of the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Award for Excellence to George Veras, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Producer of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Stellene Volandes, Editor-in-Chief of Town and Country Magazine, the oldest continually published magazine in the country, according to Argyris Vassiliou, Chairman of Leadership 100.

The Conference, livestreamed for the first time to a worldwide audience and attended by some 500 members and their guests, included a keynote address by Veras, a 10-time National Sports Emmy Award winner and Producer of seven Olympics, a forum led by Volandes, a Health and Wellness panel led by Chairman Emeritus George D. Behrakis with Dr. George Dangas of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and Dr. Harry T. Anastopoulos of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, the Opening Forum led by the Director of The Center for Family Care, Rev. Fr. Alexander Goussetis, and Coordinator for Seminarian and Clergy Couple Care, Presvytera Kerry Pappas, and a program on Youth Ministry led by Dr. Ann Bezzerides, Director of Hellenic College/Holy Cross Office of Vocation and Ministry. The traditional Bible Study and Lecture were conducted by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios and  an Anniversary Concert performed by Aphrodite Daniel’s Synphonia Entertainment featuring renowned Greek vocalist, Dimitris Basis, Daniel as vocalist, Achilleas Wastor, virtuoso pianist, and Yiannis Sinanis, bouzouki virtuoso, with a full musical program  that also featured guest vocalist Eric Nicolas.

At the annual meeting of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee reported its approval of $2,822,100 in new grants for the National Ministries of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. New grants approved and prior year grant commitments total $2,926,000. The total includes $1,000,000 for the Hellenic College / Holy Cross Scholarship Program, continuing Leadership 100’s long-term support of our seminarians with its third 10-year $1,000,000 annual commitment, as well as an additional grant of $500,000 for this year.

The 18 other new  grants included:

• The Small Parish Program - $330,000.

• Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries - $240,000 for the Metropolis Camping Ministries.

• Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries - $62,000 for the Introduction to Orthodox Christianity Video Series.

• Office of Ionian Village “Next” Program - $60,000.

• Archdiocesan National Ministries Survey totaling $100,000.

• Department of Religious Education - $47,500 for the Gospel Project to publish updated editions of two bi-lingual Gospel books for clergy use in the parishes.

• Direct Archdiocesan District – Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries - $45,000 for the Pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

• Department of Stewardship, Outreach and Evangelism - $44,000 for the Home Mission Parish Program.

• The Center for Family Care - $32,600 for the Clergy Peer Learning Groups (CPLG)

• Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations - $100,000 for Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the USA 10th Anniversary meeting.

• Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations - $25,000 for the Ecumenical Guidebook for Clergy.

• Department of Stewardship, Outreach and Evangelism - $25,000 for the National Outreach & Evangelism Conference 2019.

• Department of Stewardship, Outreach and Evangelism - $23,000 for the Reaching the Distantly Connected II.

• Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry (OCPM) - $48,000 for the Prison Ministry Lecture Circuit grant to expand its training for Orthodox priests, deacons, monks, nuns, and interested laity to all eight GOA Metropolises and the Direct Archdiocesan District and to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology.

• The AGES Initiative - $100,000 for the Digital Chant Stand (DCS) Expansion & Improvement grant to expand and improve the Digital Chant Stand, which serves to promote and sustain the Church’s liturgical and music ministry.

• The Liturgical Arts Academy (TLAA) - $40,000 to preserve and teach iconography, chanting and liturgical textiles in Orthodox worship through a week-long immersion seminar.

Prior year commitments included The Small Parish Program - $25,000 for the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Norwich, CT; Office of Ionian Village - $15,000 for the IV On-The-Go program; Center for Family Care - $8,500 for the Family Ministry Webinars project; The Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University - $50,000 for the Affirming an Orthodox Christian Theology of Human Rights project; and Retired Clergy in Need Program - $5,400.