National Innovation Conference by the Greek America Foundation

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The Greek America Foundation hosted recently its second biennial National Innovation Conference (NIC). The three-day meeting allowed global thinkers, leaders and doers to present their “ideas worth sharing” to a captivated audience of over 500 people. NIC attendees, volunteers and presenters hailed from 30 states and 6 countries. Participants later described their feelings as inspired, emotional, unified, and hopeful - a feeling which resonates with Greeks around the world.

In the foundation’s effort to support and promote Greek owned/inspired businesses, the weekend opened with a welcome reception Friday evening at the newly-opened Coco-Mat store in Soho, a popular Greek mattress and bedding company that only uses all-natural products. Afterwards, a few blocks away, guests ended the night sampling the creations of TV personalities Katherine and Sophie Kallinis at their wildly popular Georgetown Cupcake shop.

Saturday’s all-day conference, held at New York University’s Skirball Center, provided a forum for the exchange of ideas which addressed the pressing issue: how Greek diaspora can help with the current Greek financial crisis and support the affected individuals and institutions in Greece. Greg Pappas, the founder & chairman of the Greek America Foundation co-hosted the event along with Leda Karabela, leadership coach and expert in public affairs and international management, who offered commentary before and after each talk, and interacted with the audience frequently. Together they introduced and welcomed the nine conference presenters as well as an hour long panel discussion just before lunch. The panel was moderated by Kostas Mallios, vice president of Intellectual Ventures, and included guests Basil Mossaidis, Executive Director of AHEPA; Endy Zemenides, Executive Director of the Hellenic American Leadership Council; Emanuel Manousakis, Co-founder & CEO of Groopio.com; John Pyrovolakis, Executive Director of the Innovation Accelerator; and Loukas Pilitsis, CEO of Piraeus Equity Partners at Piraeus Bank. Together with a question and answer period, the discussion became a Philanthropreneurism Session: A panel discussion about how we can use philanthropy and entrepreneurship for the benefit of Greece.
Among the nine presenters were: Internationally acclaimed chef Diane Kochilas who explained how we can turn one of our most untapped resources, the Greek diet, into a positive ambassador for Greek culture; George Logothetis, Chairman and CEO of Libra Group who described how 'philotimo' applies to business and how adherence to our Greek ideals will propel us to success; Coco-Mat’s Paul Evmorfidis talking about how the economic crisis presents opportunities to return to our roots and rediscover Greece's natural resources; John Pyrovolakis, founder and CEO of the Innovation Accelerator Initiative who continued on about filling the leadership void of the Greece's economic problems which can be solved by the 'people in this room'; award-winning 22 year old filmmaker, Stefanos Sitaras, who gave an inspiring speech on living in the moment that brought the audience to tears as well as a standing ovation after opening up about his personal health struggles, and proving that crisis - whether economic, existential, or emotional - forces us to examine who we are at our core; U.S. Marine Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, who described how he had led a mission recovering and returning 5,000 priceless jewelry and art pieces to Iraq confiscated in the chaos of war; Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, former Ontario cabinet minister, who explained how we can influence meaningful change through use of political psychology; Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of AOL Huffington Post Media Group via video, who reminded us that failure is just a stepping stone to success as we look deep inside ourselves for the leaders within; and finally, brand strategist Peter Economides, owner and founder of Felix BNI, who closed the day’s conference with his outlook on how each of us is a brand, and Greeks have the unique opportunity to redefine their brand in the wake of the crisis.

The next day, during a Sunday morning breakfast for attendees at the New Yorker hotel Mr. Economides culminated the conference by making a much-anticipated announcement: the launch of a new initiative called "Ginetai", a new center for entrepreneurship and innovation that will operate in an old hangar at the former Hellenikon Airport outside of Athens. The initiative has already attracted substantial funding.

In accordance with the innovations-themed weekend, the Greek America Foundation also recognized 40 young leaders under the age of 40 from all over the U.S. and Canada (40 Under 40), who are successful at what they do, and simultaneously make tremendous contributions to their communities and to the world around them. The awards reception was held Saturday evening after the conference in the Grand Ballroom of the New Yorker Hotel. After being a part of this splendid celebration I hope examples like these will inspire our future generations to take an active role in becoming leaders in their own lives as well as in their communities around them, so that we can induce change for the better; little by little, one by one, we can and will prove that anything is possible... "Ginetai"!

For a list of 40 Under 40 honorees, you can visit
www.greekamerica.org/40-under-40.

©2012 NEOCORP MEDIA



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