8th Greek RM Dialogue – Meet the Speakers

Christos Balaskas joined Eldorado on October 9, 2017 as VP and General Manager, Greece.

Prior to joining Eldorado, Christos was the General Manager of the Athens Natural Gas Supply & Distribution Company, a position he held since 2009. Christos has over 25 years of experience in the Downstream Oil & Gas sector mostly with the Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies and BG Group where he held various managerial positions in Greece and in the UK.

Christos is a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer by training from the National Technical University of Athens. He also holds an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham and an MBA in Engineering Management from Bayes Business School – City, University of London (formerly Cass Business School). He is also a Board member of the Canada-Greece Chamber of Commerce.

He got interested in raw materials markets and policy during his studies in European affairs in 2010. In his research, he took up the research question on how the EU could ensure supplies of rare earths. At that time, he did not expect that this academic interest would continue in his future professional career. First, by being a consultant on issues related to supplies of raw materials and performing economic and technological analysis of various innovative projects that gave him an understanding of the industry. Later on, in the public sector in the European Commission, which he joined in 2018. He is placed in the unit for Energy Intensive Industries, Raw Materials and Hydrogen in the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. His main responsibilities are EU activities on raw materials, particularly for batteries and EU Horizon Europe framework program on R&I in the area of raw materials.

Senior Program Manager, Strategical Programs and Alliances. Over 20 years’ experience from managing development projects within R&D. Both as engineering responsible, project manager and R&D group manager. The last 18 years working for Epiroc and product development of underground mining equipment. Coordinator for the NEXGEN SIMS consortium and Managerial background in different areas.

Professor Dr. Emmanouil Kakaras has been Executive Vice President NEXT Energy Business at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries EMEA, Ltd., since 1 April 2021.

Prior to this role, he was Senior Vice President for New Products and Energy Solutions at MHI Group company Mitsubishi Power Europe since January 2018. Up until then he served as Vice President and Head of Research & Development at Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe since September 2012. His R&D activities mainly focus on flexible operation of thermal plants, on fuel cells and electrolyzers, the  development of  large  scale  energy  storage  and on the capture and utilization of CO2.

From 1999 to 2018, he has been the Director of the Centre of Research and Technology Hellas/ Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute (CERTH/CPERI) and he serves also as Independent Non-Executive Board Member of listed companies.

He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Hellenic Foundation for Research & Innovation, overseeing basic research for Engineering Sciences since March 2021.

Professor Kakaras’ academic background is on clean energy generation technologies and since December 1991 he has been Professor at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. Since 2018 he also lectures at the University Duisburg Essen, Germany. He has been  also guest lecturer at the Universities of Warsaw and Tokyo. He has participated as an external member in various working groups organized by the European Commission (CAG, Energy Committee), the Advisory Council of the Technology Platforms on Zero Emission Power Plants and on Smart Networks for Energy Transition as well as a Board Member of Industrial Associations (VGB, Rhein Ruhr Power, BDI, EUTurbines, EPPSA).

Niki Karali, as part of the Mantis Beyond Innovation team from the early beginning, is currently the Chief Innovation Officer of the company. A Civil Engineer by degree and an innovation enthusiast by nature, she holds an MBA from NTUA, and she was listed in the Greek Forbes 30under30, as one of the most innovative minds in Greece under 30 years old. Having managed the most significant innovation projects and programmes of Mantis, she has supported the development of the Startup Ecosystem in a national and pan-European scale, acting as a community builder and an enabler of innovation and entrepreneurship. Niki has supported the startup creation of more than five hundred (500) startups and innovative ideas and has provided counsel on business development topics, including the development of new businesses and innovative ideas in innovation model development, market research and financial analysis.

Athanasios Kefalas is Chairman of Imerys Greece S.A. He has studied Mining Engineering-Metallurgy at the National Technical University of Athens and has completed an Executive MBA at INSEAD. He started his career on operations and gradually moved to more strategic roles with high international exposure, building 40 years experience in the extractive industry, minerals processing as well as in business development and corporate governance.

He has a firm grasp of the international extractive industry regulatory framework and especially environmental permitting as well as aptitude in fostering and maintaining dialogue with public administration and government as well as in building long-term and sustainable local community relations.

Among other activities, he is a member of the General Council of SEV, BoD member ot SEV Business Council for Sustainable Development, member of the ESG Working Committee of SEV, BoD member of the Association of Industries of Central Greece (SVSE) and Vice President of the Hellenic Volunteer Managers Center. Also, since 2021 he serves as President of the European Bentonite Association (EUBA).

Stefanos Kokkorikos holds an Electrical and Computer Engineering Diploma from the National Technical University of Athens with a focus on electronics, telecommunications and computer systems. Stefanos uses his extensive experience in deep tech project implementation to design new solutions for the industry, addressing challenges in operations, maintenance and energy management. His interests lie in technologies of Industry 4.0, business modelling and new product development, applied in the manufacturing, mining and infrastructure industries. His CORE vision is to provide the appropriate tools bridging the gap between research, market and society.

Mrs Natalia Lacorzana is the global head of natural resources of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She has been closely involved in developing the EBRD’s strategies relative to extractive industries including for hydrocarbons and mining sectors as well as energy transition. Mrs. Lacorzana has some 25 years of banking experience across emerging markets, including extensive involvement in the natural resources sector with a successful track record in business development, policy dialogue and transaction delivery. Mrs. Lacorzana received Sloan Fellows MBA in Leadership and Strategy from the London Business School.

George Mavraganis is the Strategic Planning & Sustainability Senior Manager of the Copper & Alloys Extrusion Division of ELVALHALCOR S.A. He is a graduate Masters of Engineering (MEng) in Chemical Engineering from Swansea University and holds an MBA from Cardiff Business School. He worked for a decade in the United Kingdom in multinational organisations in primarily Continuous Improvement managerial roles before joining ELVALHALCOR in 2008.

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Grigoris Paschalis holds a B.Sc. as a Mineral Resources Engineer from the Technical University of Crete. He has more than 17 years of experience in the Aluminium Industry in various managerial roles in the plant of Aluminium of Greece. He currently holds the position of the Business Innovation Director for the Metallurgy Sector in MYTILINEOS, being responsible for the Continuous Improvement projects, the Digital Transformation of the facility and the Research and Sustainable Development projects.

Dr. Eng. Antonis Peppas is an Assistant Professor of the School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering of NTUA, in the scientific field of Energy and environmental optimisation technologies applied to metallurgical industries. He received a B.Sc. and M.Sc. Degree in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering from NTUA and he is holding from 2002 a Ph.D. Degree in Environmental Technologies.

He has extensive research experience in decarbonized technologies for industrial processes, carbon capture combined with alternative fuels production and sustainability analysis (LCA, LCC, sLCA). He has participated as a senior researcher in more than 45 EC funded projects and supervises research activities implemented in an innovative hybrid smart grid, in Lavrion Technological Park, equipped with renewables, hydrogen equipment, batteries banks and intelligent energy management technologies.

He is a Member of European Commission Expert group on alternative transport fuels, appointed by European Commission’s Director-General for Mobility and Transport (MOVE). He has prepared recommendations and technical reports, published by European Union, to support EU Members on applying a common methodology for alternative fuels unit price comparison, in accordance with Directive 2014/94/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council. The methodology recommended is already adapted from December 2022. He is also coordinating the activities for developing the National ID Registration platform for electromobility actors, which is already monitoring and supervising more than 4200 charging points.

Mark Rachovides is President Emeritus of Euromines, Chairman of Venus Minerals, a Director of GreenRoc Mining and a Consultant to Dundee Precious Metals. He has held numerous board positions in Natural Resources Companies in companies active in Europe and elsewhere over the last twenty five years. He also spent 11 years at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and holds an MA from Oxford University.

Antony has a background in investment banking across Europe and emerging markets. His experience includes the metals & mining, oil & gas and financial institutions sectors. In addition, Antony has experience in family office venture capital and is a partner in a West African mine. At EIT Raw Materials, Antony is responsible for Access to Finance, assisting start ups, scale ups and ERMA projects with their investment programs.

Fokion Tasoulas has worked for Titan Cement Group since 1989 and has held a number of technical, managerial and executive positions. He has been a member of the Group Executive Committee since 2017 and, from October 2020 to December 2022, he held the position of Group Innovation and Technology Director, leading Digital Transformation projects with a focus on Assets’ optimization and Reliability improvements with AI and big data analytics. Prior to that role, he served as Group Engineering and Technology Director for twelve years. He has also covered various roles within the Group including, among others, Regional Director for Egypt, Albania and Kosovo, with P&L responsibilities for those countries, and Vice President, Cement and Aggregates Operations in the Florida Business Unit of Titan America. While in Titan America, he was responsible for the cement and aggregates operations at the Pennsuco plant in Medley, Florida, and had technical oversight of the Roanoke cement plant in Roanoke, Virginia. Fokion Tasoulas earned his Master’s degree in Mining and Metallurgy, Engineering, from the National Technical University of Athens in Greece.

Costas Troulos is Senior Advisor in the Industry, Growth, Technology, and Innovation Division at SEV. He supports startups in their scaleup plans and assists larger enterprises and industries in exploring innovation opportunities. With in-depth knowledge of the European innovation ecosystem, Costas has extensive experience in the industry-academia collaboration conundrum, with particular interest in technology transfer and IP commercialization. He has raised multi-million-euro funding for the private and public sector. Costas is Dr. Electrical and Computer Engineer with an MBA in entrepreneurship.

Dr. Panagiotis Xanthopoulos is a Recycling Expert at Li-R&D of Sunlight Group Energy Storage Systems S.A. and he is in charge for the development of a sustainable metallurgical technology for the recycling of LFP scrap in pilot scale, which will pave the path to commercialization. Prior to joining Sunlight Group, Panagiotis was post-doctoral researcher at SOLVOMET Group in KU Leuven and engaged in many bilateral and EU-HORIZON projects related to metal extraction and recovery from various waste streams. Prior to this, he carried out his doctoral research in the same group within the framework of H2020 MSCA-ETN SULTAN project, for the remediation and reprocessing of sulfidic mining wastes. Before moving to Belgium, he worked as Environmental Consultant at ECHMES Ltd. in Athens, where he was involved in ESG and LCA projects for Greek industries. Panagiotis earned an integrated MSc degree in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering from National Technical University of Athens and a PhD in Chemistry from KU Leuven.

Konstantinos YAZITZOGLOU has over three decades of C-level executive experience in the manufacturing industry, in food, feed and mining. Since 2012 he is the CEO of GEOHELLAS, an industrial minerals company exploiting the unique Greek deposits of Attapulgite in the area of Grevena. He has served on several Boards of Directors, both as executive and as non-executive member. He has also served on Boards of not for profit organizations and independent authorities, national and international. Currently he is the chair of Greek Mining Enterprises Association.

He is involved as advisor and/or investor in various innovative entrepreneurial projects, in movie production, medical technologies, f&b and real estate.

Konstantinos holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management from the National Technical University of Athens, an MSc in Management Science (by Distinction) from Imperial College, University of London and a Certificate in Global Management from INSEAD.

Ioannis Zafeiratos is currently Director for Metallic, Energy and Industrial Minerals at the Ministry of Environment and Energy. In the past he has served as a Mines Inspector (Head of Mines Inspectorate for Southern Greece), a head of the Metallic Minerals Unit of the Ministry, a consulting engineer to mining companies and a researcher at the Laboratory of Metallurgy of NT University of Athens. He has obtained his diploma in Mining and Metallurgical Engineering and PhD in Hydrometallurgy from NTUA.