bios

Katerina Papageorgiou - President

Katerina Papageorgiou is Deutsche Bank’s Head of Legal and Compliance for Greece, as well as for the CEE Region. Katerina has been with Deutsche Bank for 10 years, in London and in Athens. Prior working experience includes working as legal counsel at Eurobank and as an attorney at Clifford Chance LLP. From 2011 through 2013 she was appointed as member of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) representing financial markets participants. Katerina, who is admitted to the Athens and New York Bars, holds a bachelor’s degree from the Athens University School of Law and an LL.M from Harvard Law School. She is married to Vassilis Antoniades (MBA 1999) and has two children, Stelios and Sofia.

Yiannis Spyropoulos - Vice President

Yanni is the Founder and Managing Partner of OCTANE Management Consultants. Yanni has worked for more than 20 years in consulting in Greece and in the United Kingdom. Prior to founding OCTANE in 2007, Yanni was Director in Charge at KANTOR Management Consultants, serving as head of the company’s Private Sector Consulting as well as its Human Resource Services Divisions. He has also held senior level positions at JWThompson Hellas and Booz Allen & Hamilton in London.

Yanni has led a wide-ranging variety of assignments involving corporate strategy, market and competition analysis, customer management, acquisition support, post-merger integration, performance improvement, restructuring, change management etc. for some of the largest multinational and Greek companies. He has also served as a coach, mentor and evaluator for several start-ups and entrepreneurs.

He holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Marianna Athanasiadou - Secretary

Marianna studied architecture in Arizona State University, graduating with the highest GPA in her class (summa cum laude). She received numerous awards at ASU, including a Commendation Letter, the Book of Faculty Award, and Design Excellence Awards. In 2001 she received a Progressive Architecture Citation with the academic team GLUE for the urban redevelopment of Scottsdale Road in Phoenix, Arizona.

She received her Master in Architecture degree from Harvard University in 2005 with advanced placement. She was selected for Harvard’s Studio Works Publications and Exhibitions and she was a finalist for the Clifford Wong Prize in Urban Design for her Thesis: “The Reformation of the Olympic Village in Athens”.

Marianna has collaborated with world famous architecture offices in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Boston and Athens. Through her collaborations she received a commendation for Best Completed Work in Greece for the years 2005-2010 and a finalist position at the World Architecture Festival.

In Greece she created schema architecture & engineering with civil engineer Christos Stavrogiannis. In 2016 they received a commendation for Best Built Work in Greece for the years 2011-2015 from DOMES International Review of Architecture Magazine. In 2018 she received the "40UNDER40" architecture award from Chicago Athenaum Museum of Architecture and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies as one of the most promising and emerging design talents in Europe for 2018.

Many of her works have been published in international journals (Architecture Magazine, Architectural Record, etc.) and exhibited in museums such as Getty and MoMA.

Ilias Papageorgiou - Treasurer

Ilias Papageorgiou is an architect and founder of PILA. He brings extensive experience from Europe and America, having led the design and realization of high profile cultural, commercial and residential projects around the world.

Prior to founding PILA, Ilias was a partner at SO-IL in New York, collaborating with clients including MINI/BMW, Versace, Google, AirBnB, Frieze Art Fair, Manetti Shrem Museum at UC Davis, the Guggenheim Museum, and the New Museum in New York.

Ilias’s work has been internationally recognized, having been awarded as a Curbed Groundbreaker, Architects under 50, Domes International Review of Architecture Awards, and the Young Greek Architects Awards. His work has been widely published and exhibited in institutions such as the Venice Architecture Biennale in Italy, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum in New York and the Benaki Museum in Athens.

Ilias was born in Athens, Greece and studied architecture at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki and at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, with a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation. In addition to his practice, Ilias is a frequent lecturer and panelist at leading design institutions. Ilias is currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and Planning, and has previously taught at Tulane University and University of Thessaly. He co- authored solid objectives: order, edge, aura, published by Lars Müller Publishers and was an Ideas City Fellow, a platform for urbanism organized by the New Museum.

Nicholas Yatromanolakis - Member

Nicholas was born in 1975 in Athens. He holds a BA in Political Science and International Relations from Panteion University, Athens and an MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School. He currently serves as the Chief Marketing & Communication Officer of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center. In the past he held senior positions across industries in companies such as Microsoft, Alpha TV, V+O Communication and S&B Industrial Minerals (currently a part of Imerys). Between 2000-2002 he worked at Harvard as the Deputy Director of Kennedy School’s Program on Southeastern Europe. He has also co-founded and ran in the past as a side project an award-winning e-commerce platform focusing on Greek design. He is a Marshall Memorial Fellow 2013.

In 2014 he was the campaign manager for a newly formed political party, leading it to win 2 out of Greece’s 21 seats in the European Parliament, within 90 days from the party’s formation. In the 2015 parliamentary elections he placed second in votes among the party’s candidates in the Athens district. He also headed the party’s Human Rights and Shipping Policy Sectors, while between 2014-15 he served as an elected member of the party’s Executive Committee.

Nicholas has edited several books on the Balkans and has also been a contributing editor for several major Greek newspapers and news sites and a guest lecturer focusing on integrated communication strategies, crisis management and public affairs. He has supported and volunteered for several Greek NGOs and social initiatives; he also co-created an award-winning concept for a platform that provides legal employment opportunities to refugees.

Calliopi Trapali - Member

Calliopi was born in Thessaloniki, Greece on November 16, 1973. She graduated from Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, in 1991, with several academic and extracurricular distinctions. Calliopi then attended Harvard College from 1991 to 1995. She graduated with a B.A. in Economics, with the distinction Cum Laude in General Studies and has since been involved in business advisory and consulting services.

Calliopi has been active with the Harvard Club of Greece for more than 15 years, serving on the Board of Directors in various functions, as a Member of the Board, as the General Secretary and now as the Vice-President. Since 2008, she has also been an interviewer for Greek applicants to Harvard College.

She is married to Spyros Tzoannos and they have two children, Clio and Demetris. The family maintains close ties to Harvard, which they visit often. A few years ago they enjoyed the 20th year Harvard College Reunion, all together. The 25th is fast approaching and they are looking forward to staying in Harvard Yard, like Calliopi when she first arrived to Matthews Hall as a freshman in September 1991!

Gina Thanopoulou - Member

Gina is a Member