This page will be updated as soon as the CCE 2020 speakers have been finalised.
Below you can find the speakers at Cyprus Career Expo 2019.
Alex Loizou
Alex is a computer scientist turned entrepreneur. After going through the inaugural Entrepreneur First programme in London, Alex co-founded Trouva, the curated online marketplace for the best independent bricks-and-mortar shops and one of the five fastest growing tech businesses in the UK (TNW Tech5). In 2016, Alex was the first ever Cypriot to be included in the US & European Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
As CTO, he has led the build of all of Trouva’s technology in-house from the bottom up, using innovative technology such as Node.js and Ember.js. Trouva’s mission and Alex’s ambition is to utilise technology to enable its community of independent retailers to gain access to markets that were previously locked down, providing the technology and scale for them to succeed online. An experienced iOS, Javascript and PHP developer, Alex studied at the London School of Economics and the University of Cologne.
Pavlos S. Charalambides
Pavlos S. Charalambidis is the Managing Director of MGR Human Resources Ltd (MGR), an accredited Human Resource Advising Services and Temporary Employment Personnel company, with offices in Nicosia and Limassol. The MGR offers solutions for each organization and can manage projects of great importance in cooperation with its network of recognized and specialized associates in Cyprus and abroad.
He has worked for Deloitte for many years, holding the position of Business Advisory Services Manager, and provides, among other things, advisory services to domestic and international organizations in connection with business start-ups and business management, corporate strategy, management efficiency, managing efficiency and empowering corporate culture and levels of commitment to human resources.
In addition, he has extensive experience in attracting, selecting and recruiting executives for all levels of hierarchy, by identifying and evaluating candidates by designing and conducting assessment centers, psychometric tools and structured interviews. He regularly evaluates individuals for internal promotional purposes and takes upgraded tasks through personal development centers and is an approved trainer on issues such as leadership and management, performance management, emotional intelligence in the workplace and negotiation skills.
Valentinos Polykarpou
Valentinos Polykarpou is the General Manager and the Head of Global HR Operations & Services at Wargaming, an award-winning online game developer and publisher that operates across 17 countries, with its headquarters based in Cyprus.
Valentinos has been working within the organization since 2014 when he first joined as HR & Communication Manager. Since then, he has climbed to the position of the Head of Global HR Operations and Services. In early 2018, he took on the additional role as General Manager for the company’s Headquarters in Cyprus.
He graduated with a degree in Political Science from the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Cyprus and he is a Master’s Degree graduator of the National School of Political Sciences of France (Sciences Po/IEP Paris). Prior he had graduated with the degree of Electrical Engineering in the Higher Technical Institute.
Valentina Kislaya
Valentina Kislaya is Founder and CEO of Phoenix Leaders, a leadership and executive training consultancy located in Nicosia and London. Valentina works with global leaders to help them inspire multi-generational and multi-cultural teams in a world of changing business models and non-traditional ways of working. She is passionate about promoting an authentic, sustainable and impactful leadership style.
Valentina’s unique approach combines business psychology, corporate experience and neuroscience, allowing her to help her clients to develop the skills and mindset required to adapt to the demands the modern world places on today’s leaders.
In 2018 Valentina founded Cyprus’ first private Members’ Club, as a place for members of the Cypriot business community to network and collaborate. The Club is an emerging concept in the Cypriot business community, providing a unique environment for leaders that helps facilitate dialogue, whilst also nurturing entrepreneurs of the future.
Valentina studied organisational leadership at Stanford Business and Columbia Business Schools. She also studied with CTI (acknowledged as a pioneer within the coaching profession) and is a graduate of its Barcelona based advanced training program. Valentina is a graduate of The Institute of Contemporary Knowledge, Minsk, Belarus, where she received her B.A. Degree in Intercultural Communications.
Prior to becoming a Leadership Consultant, Valentina completed advanced training at the London Image Institute, internationally recognized for image training. She is a member of AICI, Association of Image Consultants International.
Panayiotis Thrasyvoulou
Panayiotis Thrasyvoulou currently serves as the Head of People Advisory Services (PAS) of EY Cyprus. PAS delivers integrated HR solutions, via a global EY network of more than 10.000 PAS professionals. After graduating from the University of Essex (BSc in Business Management), he moved on to acquire an MSc in International Employment Relations & Human Resources Management from the LSE.
At LSE he graduated with Distinction and received the “Foundation of Automation and Human Development School Prize” for the best overall performance. He is currently a Phd candidate in Management from the University of Cyprus, researching issues related to organisational and job (re) design. At EY, Panayiotis and his team are advising clients on talent acquisition, performance management, immigration and mobility, organisational design, change management, learning & development and many other HR-related systems, processes and practices.
He currently serves as the President of the Cyprus Human Resource Management Association (CyHRMA).
Stephanie Michael
Stephanie has obtained her BA (Hons) in Home Economics at LJMU, an MSc in HR Management & Organizational Behaviour at CIIM and completed a Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing at DMI. After completing her studies, she kick-started her career to pursue her dream job at a newly international company that had started operating in Limassol which is one of the highest ranked companies in the Binary Options industry, IQ Option Europe Ltd. Stephanie was employed as an HR Officer in order to start HR processes as well as on-boarding new personnel.
By having shown her dedication on the fulfillment of her tasks, 2 years later she was promoted to a Senior HR Officer, supervising a number of people in the HR Department. Stephanie is also a very active individual, enthusiastically involved in many projects and campaigns. She used to be the President of the Student Council of CIIM, has been involved in the non-profit organization Rotaract Limassol Amathusia Club as a Secretary of the BOD and is a member of the CyHRMA.
Sotiris Kambanellas
Experienced financial executive in Shipping, Real Estate, Hospitality and Gaming industry, currently serving as the Financial Controller of Melco Resorts & Entertainment responsible for the development and operation of City of Dreams Mediterranean, the largest Casino Resort in Europe.
Holder of a degree in Accounting and Finance, the professional title ACCA and member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.
Actively involved with non-profit organization YoungShip Cyprus, Sotiris has been until recently the President of YoungShip Cyprus and participated in various committees and Advisory Boards for local and international projects and companies, currently acting as an Advisory Board member for [bluester] Germany.
Sotiris is Passionate about new technologies and disruptive ideas, always welcoming and embracing change.
Polis Xinaris
Polis Xinaris is the owner of PAX Social Media Agency. Working as a Marketing Manager since 2003, he developed a passion for Social Media early on and in 2012 began his career as a trainer on the subject.
In 2015 he established his own business, providing a variety of services on Social Media and Digital Marketing both in Cyprus and abroad, helping people and businesses achieve their goals.
Emilios Rotsides
Emilios studied Electrical Engineering at ATI. He then studied political science at the University of Cyprus and recently got his MBA from CIIM. He started his career as a guild and more specifically in the guild of semi-governmental employees.
Later, he joined the AREEBA and then MTN human resources departments. Over the past 10 years, he has been working as a Human Resources Manager for the Zorpas Group.
Leonidas Alexandrou
Self-development and high performance mentor, Leonidas Alexandrou empowers teens, young professionals and senior management teams with the soft skills, public speaking and employability traits demanded in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In terms of his background, Leonidas blends the leadership, focus and self-discipline of a former athlete, with nearly two decades of experience in entrepreneurship, business consulting and corporate training.
Having worked extensively in the UK and the Gulf, today he runs Leonidas Alexandrou, his personal Nicosia-based training brand, offering one-on-one mentoring and unique self-development workshops, both in Cyprus and abroad. Leonidas is currently board secretary to the Cyprus branch of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, partners frequently with the Cyprus Volunteer Association to offer free self-development and public speaking workshops to students and new graduates and has mentored high-ranking officers of the Cyprus Youth Council.
Maria Markidou Georgiadou
Maria Markidou Georgiadou has 25 years of experience with the Cyprus Development Bank (cdb bank), where she worked between 1988 and 2013. At cdb, she headed for 8 years the International Banking Unit, she set up the EU Unit of the bank and attracted EU grants for SMEs in Cyprus and in for 3 years, she was Head of Business Development & Marketing of the Group. She was also extensively engaged in the Management Consulting Division of the Bank and in SME banking. Prior to joining cdb bank, she worked in the European Commission in Brussels. For the last 5 years, she is an Evaluator for the EU SME Financial Instrument which supports innovative technology projects. Since 2005, she is one of the two partners of the World Economic Forum in Cyprus for Cyprus’ participation in the WEF annual Global Competitiveness Report.
Between 2014 and 2017, she was a full-time consultant with the Bank of Cyprus in matters relating to innovation and entrepreneurship; in this capacity, she initiated and coordinated IDEA, the first Accelerator-Incubator Programme in Cyprus which supports the creation of Cypriot start-ups.
She joined the University of Cyprus since in September 2018 to advise on the launching of CYPRUS SEEDS, a new funding program in Cyprus to support academic research with strong IP value and the potential to commercialize. Having designed the program, she is now managing the implementation of it during its first, pilot year, at the University of Cyprus.
Maria Markidou Georgiadou has a B.Sc. in Economics & Computer Science from Trinity College in the USA, where she studied, on a Fulbright Scholarship, and an M.Sc. in Development Economics & Econometrics from the University of Oxford (Trinity College) in England.
Phanos Demetriou
Phanos enjoys developing new businesses and concepts, helping start-ups, talking about tech and discussing crazy ideas. In reality – he spends his time solving customer problems in web tech and marketing campaigns.
His current passion is to integrate web silos and marketing data into solid marketable platforms and Drupal.
Nasia Leonidou
Her professional journey began during her studies at UNIC, when she was offered a full-time position in the Department of Student Affairs. Over 7 years, Nasia evolved from Office Administrator to Officer, to Senior Officer, to Acting Head of the Department.
Eager to develop her skillset and broaden her professional expertise, Nasia decided to make a move to Cablenet, a leading telecommunications provider, where she took on the role of Marketing Executive and then Senior Marketing Executive. It was at Cablenet that she discovered her true passion: Marketing.
Eight years later, Nasia found herself returning to UNIC, an organisation that had provided her with not only vital academic credentials, but also the foundation, skills, mindset and confidence to pursue a career with a global impact.
Nasia has an easygoing style that puts people at ease. She is not afraid to make hard decisions and seek out advice from others when and as needed. She is a team player who works well even under pressure, be it as part of a team or on her own. With more than a decade of marketing-related experience, Nasia played an instrumental role in the development of the THINK BIG and UNIC Stories campaigns, and works closely with other professionals in the field, playing an integral role in developing marketing plans and strategies, on a global scale, for UNIC.
Kyriakos Yiangou
Kyriakos Yiangou is the Training & Development Manager of Melco Cyprus. He has solid experience as a training professional in the hospitality sector, having previously worked for Costa Cruises, one of the largest cruise operators in Europe and the world. He is an HRDA Cyprus accredited trainer and a CIPD and BPS member.
He holds a CIPD Diploma in Learning & Development and a BA & MSc in Psychology. He has a passion for languages and is currently hooked on NeuroLeadership, the science of brain and leadership behaviors; and a few other things.
Motto: “Remain curious and keep learning.”
Tasos Constantinou
Tasos Constantinou is referred to as a specialist in the domain of innovative education. After studying business in four different countries, he finally graduated from the Rotterdam School of Management with an MScBA specializing in Management of Innovation.
Tasos then embarked on a career as a Lecturer of Business Innovation and Sustainable Development at the University of Maastricht. Today, as co-founder of the StudentLife Academy, he presents and coaches on employability skills, aiming to bridge the gap between graduation and employment in Cyprus.
Georgia Cottis
Georgia Cottis is the Director of the Learning Delivery and Programme Management Department and an expert tutor at Globaltraining involved in lecturing for both Professional qualifications and seminars in topics for the financial services industry. She is renowned for her students’ excellent results and pass rates, with several students achieving top ranks worldwide.
Georgia has completed her BA in Accounting and Economics in the UK and then continued and trained for her ACA with Big 4 firm in Cyprus. In her role as member of the Board she has very close contacts and relationships with many companies in the Professional services, banking, and legal industry to enable her and her team to analyze the trends, work requirements and underlying training needs.
Fotini Masia
Fotini Masia is an HR Advisor, part of the Employee Relations and Administration team, at MELCO Resorts and Entertainment Cyprus. She is an experienced HR professional in the Retail sector, having previously worked for one of the biggest retails chain in Cyprus. She holds a BA in Business Administration with specialization in HR.
She is a strong believer in the power of positive thinking, collaboration and transparency in the workplace. She is people centric, and is inspired by interacting with and supporting the company’s most valuable asset: its Employees.
Motto: “Hire character, train skill.”
Efthymia Kosmidou
Efthymia Kosmidou is a HR Generalist Specialist at H.M Housemaket (Cyprus) LTD-IKEA where she specializes in Recruitment and Learning and Development. She is working at H.M Housemaket (Cyprus) LTD-IKEA for ten years.
In the past she has worked in several sectors such as Customer Relations and Sales within the organization.
Costas Argyrides
Costas Argyrides received the B.Sc. degree in informatics and computer science from Moscow Power Engineering Institute-Technical University (MPEI-TU), Moscow, Russia, with distinction in 2004 and the M.Sc. degree in advanced computing and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the University of Bristol (UoB), Bristol, U.K in 2005 and 2008 respectively. In 2018, he received his MBA degree with distinction from Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM). Currently he is a RAS Architect at Radeon Technologies Group (RTG) of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (AMD). He joined AMD at 2014 in Munich Germany and moved to AMD California in 2015. He now shares his time between AMD California (Santa Clara) and AMD China in Shanghai.
Prior to this, he served as validation engineer at Intel Inc in Barcelona from 2011 until 2014.
Before joining the industry, he served as a Postdoctoral Researcher with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Newcastle University, Oxford Brookes University, University of Bristol, University of Warwick, University of Cambridge and Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the author or coauthor of more than 50 technical papers.
He was selected by the European Commission as the Ambassador of Cyprus for the 2017 and 2018 Vocational Skills week. Additionally since November 2018, he is the Cyprus Ambassador for the European Pillar of Social Rights.
Chrysoulla Rossidou
Chrysoulla Rossidou has a Diploma of the Department of Human Resource Management from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her professional career started in 1997, with the opening of the first McDonald’s restaurant in Cyprus, where she was employed as a Crew Member. Her hard work, consistency and discipline, along with her leadership and communication skills, were recognized very quickly by the management of the company, who awarded her hard work and her abilities.
In a short period of time she was offered the position of Store Manager, where she was responsible for certain McDonald’s restaurants.The positive results of her work, as well as her love and vision for the company, led her to the position of Head of McDonald’s Human Resources Department. Her duties include various matters revolving around people, mainly the employees of the company. Her restless nature does not allow her to relax, that is why she continuously attends seminars regarding the innovation and development of her work at Hamburger University in Chicago and in Dubai .
Christiana Christofi
Mrs. Christofi is a graduate of University of Cyprus, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Public and Business Administration and an MSc in Management from University of Surrey. She started her career holding the position of Market Research Executive at Amer Nielsen where she worked for a year being actively involved in the design and execution of primary market research on behalf of clients. Her HR career commenced in 1998 where she joined the People Services Department of KPMG in Greece.
Possessing the role of Human Resource Manager in 2000, Mrs. Christofi joined the Human Resources Advisory Department of KPMG Cyprus where she worked for 10 years reaching the position of HR Director. As from July 2012 Mrs Christofi is the Director of Human Asset Ltd, an HR advisory boutique offering HR Services to Cyprus and overseas markets. Her experience focuses on a wide range of services, such as Executive Search and Selection, Design and implementation of Performance Management Systems and Learning and Development.
Angelos Louis
Angelos Louis is the co-founder and Director of the RED HR Solutions. He has more than 25 years professional management experience in Cyprus and abroad (USA, Canada and Romania) in the financial and banking sector. Since 2013 he has worked with various companies consulting them on strategy, policies & processes and human resources.
He is a member of the Cyprus Human Resource Management Association and certified industrial relations officer of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance. He holds a first degree in Business Administration and an MBA from the University of Southern California in the USA.
Andreas Constantinides
With 16 years of specialization in Information Security, Andreas is immensely experienced in the implementation of network and security infrastructures for large scale organizations. He is an expert in numerous security technologies, networking equipment and systems, and he possesses deep knowledge in packet analysis, threat and incident investigation, vulnerability assessments and secure network design.
In his career, he has provided customized solutions and consulting to customers of diverse industries and organizational complexities. For the past few years, Andreas has served as the manager of the “Managed Security Line of Services” and “Professional Services” departments of Odyssey Cybersecurity.
Vanessa Antoniadou
Vanessa Antoniadou has been working with Microsoft since 2009 and is in charge of Microsoft’s education for Greece, Cyprus and Malta. Vanessa graduated from the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and has a Master’s Degree in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City University of London.
Previously, she worked in London as a Pre-Sales Engineer at Computacenter. She lives with her family in Nicosia.
Stelios Anastasiades
Stelios Anastasiades is the Managing Director of Telia & Pavla BBDO, Chairman of The Hybrid Advertising Alliance and most recently, founder of OneRabbit: a joint venture linking business between China and Europe through Cyprus.He graduated from the University of Delaware with a B.A. degree in Mass Media Communications.
A Cypriot/American, Stelios lived in the USA for more than 20 years where he began his work experience under a work study program with WIRV-TV and the U of D in Newark, Delaware. He returned to Cyprus in 1981 and joined an offshore marketing firm: Memo Marketing, where he served as an account executive and copywriter. In 1982, he branched out on his own and founded Telia & Pavla Advertising Ltd. In 1990, Telia & Pavla became the first agency in Cyprus to align with a worldwide network (BBDO Worldwide).
He has attended numerous conferences, workshops and seminars within the BBDO network and the BBDO University and has also concluded a senior management course at the INSEAD International Business School in France. In 2013, he founded The Hybrid Advertising Alliance as a swift and direct response to the severe economic crisis that crippled the advertising industry in Cyprus. The Hybrid Alliance brought together six specialized agencies under one roof, supporting one another through synergies and, at the same time, actually improving the talent and service level during an economic downturn.
Kenneth Cuschieri
Senior Global HR leader with demonstrated success in multiple industries including financial services, hospitality, consulting, pharmaceutical, and industrial manufacturing. Diverse experience working with companies ranging in size from start-up to Fortune 500. International business experience in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Skilled Human Resources professional who partners with business leaders to align HR strategies to drive results. A Leader who mentors and develops strong HR teams. Excellent communicator with fluency in several languages, able to work across diverse organizations, across all cultural and functional boundaries and at all levels of an organization. Recognized as critical thinker adept at aligning Human Resources needs with corporate strategies and leveraging people assets with technology based infrastructure. Practical, forward-looking leader with a collaborative focus.
As Director Human Resources for TSYS International based in Cyprus , since 2007 the function covers locations across the globe with direct responsibility for operations and team members in Nicosia, Cyprus, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Moscow, Russia, Dubai in U.A.E and Campinas, Brazil and provides support to colleagues in the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, and India.
Panayiotis Savvides
Panayiotis Savvides joined TSYS in 2001. During the last 17 years he has held several positions in Sales and has provided consultancy to processing and licensing sales for the PRIME solution.
A large part of his job is to develop relations with prospect clients, 3rd party partners and create complex commercial models based on comprehensive card management solutions.
Panayiotis is committed to applying TSYS’ code of ethics when conducting business, ensuring that the culture and spirit of TSYS of honesty and transparency with clients is present in all interactions and communications with new and existing clients.
Maria Karantoni
Maria Karantoni is an Audit Board Member at KPMG in Cyprus and the Head of Human Resources. Maria got her Bachelor degree from City University, London in Economics & Accounting, before becoming a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. Throughout her career she has provided audit services to large private companies, companies listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange and other Stock Exchanges.
She has experience with the audit of financial institutions, as well as companies in the oil and gas, advertising and retail industry. Maria is a member of the KPMG Cyprus IFRG team and of the IFRS committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus and provides technical support and informed advice on the correct application of IFRSs requirements to the technical staff of KPMG and to clients.
Artemios Antreou
Artemios G. Andreou is the Business Developing Manager for managed services with primary responsibility for Cyprus, Greece, Malta and the Middle East. He has more than 20 years of work experience in in the field of telecommunications and information technology (ICT). He worked in multinationals organizations such as mmO2 (formerly known as BT Cellenet) in the United Kingdom and MTN Cyprus.It has guided, managed and supervised the analysis, design and implementation of complex integrated solutions all the fields of the economy.