Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou, Board Member, Invest Cyprus
Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou is a Board Member of Invest Cyprus. She is also a joint CEO of TOTOTHEO MARITIME, a leading global service provider specialising in innovative, efficient, andfunctional solutions in the fields of digitalisation, maritime satellite communications, automation,and navigation systems. Despina is a Board Member of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber and the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation. She also sits on the Board of Governors of the Cyprus Maritime Academy and the Strategic Committee of Crans Montana – Club of Ports. In July 2020, she was elected as a Member to the General committee of the Association of SA and Limited Companies in Greece and as Head of its Shipping Sector committee. She is President of Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association, an organisation comprised of 51 National WISTA Associations. She has been instrumental to WISTA’s success in receiving consultative status atthe International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in 2018. Leading international shipping publicationLloyd’s List selected Despina as one of the Top 100 Most Influential people in shipping in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In 2019 she was also named as the “International Personality of the Year” at the Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards. She holds degrees from the National and Capodistrian University of Athens, the Copenhagen Business School, and the University of Oxford.

Michalis P. Michael, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Invest Cyprus
Michalis P. Michael is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency since January 2018. He has a long professional career in business and audit services,both as a sole practitioner and as a Partner at KPMG Cyprus. Michalis has vast experience in theUkrainian market and he is the Chairman of the Cyprus-Ukraine Business Association from 2012 until today. Michalis has been actively involved with public life since his early career. Formerly, he served as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (1996-2000), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Organisation of Land Development (2000-2003),Member of the Committee for the Supervision and Development of Cooperative Societies (2003-2013). He was also Member of the Board of Directors of The Cyprus University of Technology (2014-2016), where he currently holds the position of Vice-President (July 2016-today). Michalis is a Chartered Certified Accountant, a Fellow member of the UK Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and Member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, of which he also served as a Member of the Board of Directors.

George Campanellas, CEO, Invest Cyprus
George Campanellas is the Chief Executive Officer of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (Invest Cyprus) and the Vice President of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA). He has nearly twenty years of professional experience in Cyprus and abroad, working with the DG Competition in Brussels and directly with the Cypriot Ministers of Health and Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism. George has been actively involved in the development of the oil & gas sector in the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone, dealing with licensing, exploration and exploitation activities, as well as promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation at a regional level. Throughout his career, he also had an active role in drafting the regulatory framework and running the relevant licensing procedures for attracting Foreign Direct Investment in sectors of strategic importance and large-scale infrastructure projects, such as the LNG terminal at Vasilikos Energy Center, Cyprus Techno Park, EuroAsia Interconnector and the City of Dreams Mediterranean, Europe’s largest integrated casino resort and Cyprus’ largest FDI project.

Constantinos Herodotou, Governor, Central Bank of Cyprus
Constantinos Herodotou is the Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) and a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. Previously he served as an Executive Director at the CBC’s Board of Directors (2017-2019). He also held the position of the Commissioner of Privatisationsin Cyprus (2014-2017). Before moving to Cyprus in 2014, most of his career was in investment banking at UBS Investment Bank in London, where he rose through the ranks to head concurrently two sectors: Shipping for Europe, Middle East and Africa and simultaneously Infrastructure & Concessions Advisory/ Project Finance for Central & Eastern Europe. He has advised governments and global conglomerates on major financial transactions and strategy, totaling a value of over €50 billion. His experience includes among others structuring and heading complex negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, project concessions, listing companies on stock exchanges (NASDAQ and NYSE), structuring and raising equity and debt, corporate and financial restructurings and project finance. Constantinos Herodotou holds an MBA from London Business School and a BSc in Economics from University College London.

Dr George Theocharides, Vice-Chairman, Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission
Dr George Theocharides is the Vice-Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. As an Associate Finance Professor at the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) and Director of the MSc in Financial Service Programme from September 2010 until July 2020, he has extensive work experience in the wider financial sector. Prior to joining CIIM, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Sungkyunkwan University of South Korea from 2006 to 2010. In 2006, he has also worked as an International Faculty Fellow at the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the past, he served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), a member of the Interim Board of Bank of Cyprus, Chairman of the Board of the Cyprus Blockchain Technologies Ltd, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus -Kuwait Business Association. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of Management of The English School, from July 2016 until July 2020, a member of the Training/HR Committee ofthe Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA), as well as a non-executive member of the Boardof Directors for a number of organisations and companies in the financial services sector. He is also an Associate member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and a ResearchAssociate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT). Dr Theocharides holds a degreeof BΕng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering & Electronics from the University of Manchester (U.M.I.S.T.), anMBA from the University of San Diego and a PhD in Finance from the University of Arizona.

Charalambos Prountzos, Partner, Central, Eastern, Southeastern Europe and Central Asia (CESA) Law Leader, Head of Law & Fund Services of EY Cyprus
Charalambos Prountzos is a Partner, Central, Eastern, Southeastern Europe and Central Asia (CESA) Law Leader, EY Law and Funds Leader for Cyprus, co-founder and owner of Prountzos & Prountzos LLC Law Firm since 2010 and EY Law in Cyprus since April 2017. He is a Barrister-at-Law of Gray’s Inn and successfully completed the BVC course at the Inns of Courts School of Law in London with Merit. He holds an LLB (Honours) from University of Bristol and a Diploma in Professional Legal Skills from City University, London. He is a member of the Cyprus Bar Association. He has over 15 years of experience as an advocate in Cyprus, mainly dealing with corporate and commercial law, regulated financial services and banking law, energy law and public procurement law, project finance and banking law. He is a licensed insolvency practitioner in Cyprus and a Board Member of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association. He combines dispute resolution and legal advisory experience and is able to offer hands on, practical advice and practitioner opinions. He is also the Chairman of the Board of the Open University of Cyprus and a Board Member of RISE, Cyprus’ largest research project.

Charalambos Meivatzis, Partner, Head of Tax, Accounting and VAT, Kinanis LLC
Charalambos Meivatzis is a Partner and the Head of the Tax, Accounting and VAT services of Kinanis LLC. He is a qualified lawyer member of the Cyprus Bar Association and a qualified Chartered Accountant member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) as well as a member of the Cyprus Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC). With more than 15 years of experience, he acted as tax advisor and performed financial and tax due diligence, in numerus M&A deals as well as banking and financing transactions addressing all issues with a holistic approach by combining his legal and accounting backgrounds. He also assisted a number multinational organisations in setting up and relocating their regional Headquarters in Cyprus.

Costas Mavrides, Associate, Chrysostomides Advocates & Legal Consultants
Costas Mavrides is a lawyer with Chrysostomides and a qualified solicitor of England and Wales, having previously worked for 9 years as a lawyer and forensic investigator with the Financial Conduct Authority in London. Costas has extensive experience in financial services regulation,forensic investigations and regulatory litigation. He has worked on several high-profile crossborder enforcement investigations in different sectors and has provided advice on numerous non-contentious regulatory matters. His expertise lies in advising clients on compliance with financial services regulation in the fields of investment services, electronic money, payment services, banking, funds and capital markets. Costas also assists clients in dealing with potential misconduct and provides advice on regulatory or criminal investigation related matters.

Christia Evagorou, Senior Manager, International Private Clients - Funds, EMI & PI Services, PwC Cyprus
Christia Evagorou is a qualified lawyer registered with the Cyprus Bar Association and a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA), registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). She holds a Senior Manager position in the Funds Services department of PwC Cyprus and has been servicing international private clients for the past 12 years, holding positions in the Tax and Legal line of service in Cyprus (Nicosia) and the UK. (London). Christia’s area of expertise is corporate structuring, corporate simplifications and buy-outs, managing regulatoryand tax requirements and cross-border M&A transactions (buy and sell side). She is currentlyworking in the regulated entities division of PwC, servicing Payment and Electronic Money Institutions, Funds and Fund Managers. Christia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Law(Law major) from the University of Manchester and is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) and Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA).

Andreas Yiasemides, President, Cyprus Investment Funds Association
Andreas Yiasemides is the President of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA) and a Partner at PwC Cyprus, in charge of the Fund Services of the organisation. On his graduation from the University of Manchester with a first class degree in Economics, he joined PwC in 1999 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (FCA). He continued his career with the Bank of Cyprus, holding various positions including heading the Custody and Trusts Unit. He then moved on to an organisation of professional services where he set up and led the Fund Services Unit. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Cyprus and of the Central Bank of Cyprus as well as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA). He is also Vice Chairman  of the Cyprus National Advisory Council of Charter Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI). Andreas Yiasemides has also been elected as the President of the Cyprus India Business Association.

Demetris Taxitaris, Chief Executive Officer, MAP S.Platis Group
Demetris Taxitaris is the Chief Executive Officer of MAP S.Platis Group, a leading consulting firm in the provision of regulatory compliance, human resource, executive training and other support services for regulated firms in the financial services industry, whose clients include regulators, banking and payment institutions, investment firms and investment funds and their managers. Demetris supervises a number of engagements related to compliance with various regulatory frameworks, the introduction or amendment of policies and procedures, the provision of advice on governance matters, the mediation during regulatory proceedings and the provision of practical advice on a range of regulatory frameworks. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, the Cyprus Investment Funds Association and the Association of Cyprus International Investment Firms.

Antonis Rouvas, Board Member, Asset Management, Advisory Services, KPMG in Cyprus
Antonis Rouvas is a Board Member at the Asset Management, Advisory Services of KPMG Ltd in Cyprus. He graduated from Wake Forest University, North Carolina, USA with a BSc (High Honors) in Business and Mathematics and holds the professional titles FCA (ICAEW) and AMCT (Association of Corporate Treasurers, UK). He worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in London and then for the multinational Credit Suisse in a number of posts, starting from Singapore with final appointment in London. In 2004, he joined KPMG as a Partner, based in Nicosia. In 2008 he was appointed as Chief Financial Officer of Hellenic Bank Group. He returned to KPMG in January 2018 as a Board Member, working in the field of Advisory Services.

Panikos Teklos, Partner, Risk Advisory & Wealth Advisory Services Leader, Deloitte
Panikos Teklos is the Investment Management, Regulatory Risk and Wealth Advisory Services Leader of Deloitte in Cyprus and a Partner in the Risk Advisory department. He is also Managing Director of Deloitte Investment Services Ltd. He has more than 19 years of international experience in Investment Banking, Strategy, Consulting, Risk Advisory, Asset and Wealth Management. He is a specialist in structured products and complex derivatives, structured finance, funding strategies (including Public Debt Management) and structured solutions for Financial Institutions and Corporates and an expert in multi-jurisdictional investment fund and asset management company advisory.

Savvas Pentaris, Partner, Head of Financial Services, EY Cyprus
Savvas Pentaris is a Partner of EY in Cyprus and is currently leading the Financial Services Industrysector. He has more than 20 years of professional experience and specializes in the provisionof Assurance services to the Financial Services industry, namely banks, insurance and AssetManagement companies. He holds a BA (Econ) from the University of Manchester. He is a Fellow ofthe Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA) and a Chartered Financial Analyst(CFA charterholder). He is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Cyprus (ICPAC)and is currently the Chairman of its Financial Services committee. He is also a founding member ofthe Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA) and served as a member of its Board of Directorsbetween November 2016 and March 2019.