Born in Athens in 1984. He studied Business Administration at the University of the Aegean and holds a MSc in Applied Accounting and Auditing from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens as well as a MSc in Banking from the Hellenic Open University.
Since 2008 he has been working at Alpha Bank. Until 2014 he was a Credit Officer at the Credit Division and then an Executive of the Product Development Department of Small Business Banking Division. Since 2017, he is the head of the Primary Sector Development and Sales Management Department of the Small Business Banking Division aiming an holistic service of agri-food enterprises and the development of the agricultural entrepreneurship.

A Thessaloniki native, Dr. Athanasios Gertsis completed undergraduate degrees in Agriculture, in Thessaloniki and transferred to further his education in the USA. He received his BSc and MSc degrees from Mississippi State University –and a Ph.D. degree from Texas Tech University, in USA. His Post-Doctoral research was in the University of Thessaly, Greece. He joined the founding faculty at Dimitris Perrotis College of Agricultural Studies in 1996 and he continues as a Professor to lead teaching and research in the upgraded after 2017 program of Perrotis College. His major areas of teaching and research include: Agronomic Sustainable Agricultural systems, Soil-plant-water relationships, Soil-crop simulation modelling, Precision Agriculture for sustainable production, Innovative olive production systems adapted for mechanical harvesting and special hydroponics in floating systems. He authored books and chapters in books and presented and published research work on the above areas. He developed Perrotis College’s globally unique BSc degree with specialization in Precision Agriculture, offered through the Dept. of Sustainable Agriculture &Management. He is also the Chair of the new MSc program in Sustainable Agriculture and Management (after 2020) . He also serves as the Director of the 2014 established Krinos Olive Center at Perrotis College/AFS.

Sandra Meca. Degree in Chemistry from the University of Barcelona (UB) in 2002 and doctorate from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in 2009. She has more than 10 years of experience as researcher, focusing her activities on the practical implementation of the principles of the circular economy and the recovery of resources from waste through separation technologies, hydrometallurgical processes, chemical recycling and thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis and gasification.

Dr. Braverman earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He is a former Fulbright Scholar to Thailand and Extension Horticulturist with Texas A&M University. He has been with Rutgers University since 1999 where he currently manages an international capacity building program on GLP pesticide residue studies in Asia and Africa. His mission is to develop new CODEX MRLs to facilitate international trade on specialty crops such as olive, and is seeking global partnerships in pesticide residue issues.

Arturo has a Degree in Economics and Business Administration (1998) in the School of Economics and Business Sciences from University of Malaga and an MBA from the IE Business School of Madrid (2001). As well as a Program in Account Auditing (2000) in the School of Economics and Business Administration, Department of Finance and Accounting of the University of Málaga. In 2014 achieved the Expert Title in Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Program in the School of Experimental Sciences from the University of Jaén. Since then, he started a PhD student at the University of Jaén in the School of Economics and Business Administration working on the “Analysis cost on the agri-food chain of Virgin Olive Oils.” He is also a Lecturer of Business Organization at the University of Cádiz and Financial Economics and Accounting at the University of Jaén. As an entrepreneur he co-founded Oleum Excelsus S.L., a family business dedicated to the commercialization of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the Gourmet market niche with its own olive grove production in the region of Jaén. He is an expert in the production process and the olive value chain as well as the commercialization in the gourmet market and currently holds the position of CEO at Oleum Excelsus. His professional career has been developed in several companies such as Leroy Merlin, S.L.U. as Head of Controller at two business units with sales of up to 38 Million Euros per year, international company that develops its activity in the DIY sector. Also, he has been Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Grupo Diseño y Produccion S.L., a company in the marketing and events sector. And also, as Office Financial Advisor at Atlantic Bank S.A., retail bank with offices all over Spain.

Dr. Vasiliou received his BSc in Chemistry (1983) and PhD in Biochemical Pharmacology (1988) from the University of Ioannina, Greece. He then trained as a Fogarty Fellow in gene-environment interactions, molecular toxicology and pharmacogenetics at the Department of Environmental Health in the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati (1991-1995). In 1996, he joined the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy where he rose through the ranks to become Professor and Director of the Toxicology Graduate Program. In July 2014, he joined the faculty of Yale University in his new position.Professor Vasiliou has established an internationally recognized research program that has been continuously funded by several USA federal agencies such as NEI/NIH, NIAAA/NIH and NIH/NIEHS since 1997. His research interests include mechanisms of cellular responses to environmental stress, gene-environment interactions, alcohol –induced tissue injury, pharmacogenetics and his laboratory studies metabolic diseases including obesity and diabetes, and cancer. Dr. Vasiliou has published over 220 papers and edited three books on Alcohol and Cancer. He has trained over twenty five doctoral and post-doctoral students. Dr. Vasiliou is the editor of Human Genomics. Prof. Vasiliou along with Dr. Tassos C. Kyriakides has been establishing The Yale Olive Sciences and Health Institute. This Institute’s mission is to facilitate and coordinate rigorous study, robust research, and creative interdisciplinary education and activities related to the olive tree and its products. The concept and mission of the Institute has been widely supported and endorsed by over 70 international and national academic, research and private entities working in the field.

Vasiliki Kinigopoulou is an Analytical Chemist in Hellenic Agricultural Organization ‘DEMETER’, Institute of Soil and Water Resources of Thessaloniki, from 2013 until now. She has expertise on chemical and physical analysis of water, wastewater, soil, plant tissues and sludge. She holds a Master in Analytical Chemistry and Quality Control, as well as a Master in Teaching of Chemistry and New Technologies-Green Chemistry from National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She is also a PhD candidate in Faculty of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, focusing on Olive Oil Mill Wastewater Treatment. She has participated in 5 national and international research and monitoring projects and she has co-authored 7 papers in international journals and 7 papers in conferences.

Entrepreneur (food industry production chains); Researcher (CDFIs, impact investments, social design and social finance); Academic director EU IFI (Innovative Finance Inclusion); Business project manager -EU ENI ARTOLIO project; Adjunct Professor (Hebrew U. Jerusalem business school, Coller Business School, Tel Aviv University, Bezalel academy of art and design, Academic Tel-Aviv-Jaffa Business School) and beneficiary of several EU grants such as Marie Curie (FAB‐MOVE) and Erasmus + CLEVER. Former JDC Head of Social-Finance Innovation. Until 2014, was the head of the Recanati Business School’s Development and International Relations Unit. Completed a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy and an M.A. in Communication Technologies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Ph.D. on the evolving of the new economy at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, focusing on the high-tech industries in North America and Europe. As a recipient of a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) scholarship she participated in the McGill Program for Economic and Social Rights, working with the Mohawk people (first nation) in Kahnawake, Canada, and writing an assessment report of business opportunities in the Mohawk community (the KANATA 2000 Report). Prior to her time spent in Canada Yifat worked for five years with the Association for Human Rights in Israel as director of the consulting department, working with security forces and public service leaders. She mentor entrepreneurs from around the world as part of the Pears Program for Innovation and International Development, is involved in numerous initiatives in Israel to promote social entrepreneurship and has acted as a judge for several enterprise pitching competitions. Her current academic activities consist of participation in an international research group on social and sustainable finance (Oxford-Helsinki), focusing on alternative socio-economic models and acting as board member, writing social-finance case studies and leading and managing the Horizon 2020 ENI project on creative platform for regional economies based on food industries.

Petros Samaras is Professor of Water Technology and Environmental Protection, at the Department of Food Science and Technology of the International Hellenic University. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Thessaloniki. He has expertise on the application of physical, chemical and biological methods for water and wastewater treatment towards the removal of solids and dissolved organic substances and nutrients and energy recovery from byproducts. He has participated in more than 50 national and international research and demonstration projects, funded by E.U. and national sources (ministries, industries, companies etc.). He has 125 publications in journals and h-index=30 (scopus); more than 100 presentations in international conferences; 6 chapters in books; 1 EU patent. Reviewer of research project proposals in EU and Greece.

Douglas G. Mashek, Ph.D., is a Professor at the University of Minnesota. He has appointments within the Departments of Biochemistry and Medicine. He obtained degrees from Iowa State University (B.S), Michigan State University (M.S), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Ph.D) and conducted postdoctoral work at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The focus of his research is on understanding fat metabolism as it relates to the development of metabolic diseases and aging. Major research emphases are on lipid droplet biology and signaling as a key node in regulating energy metabolism and on how various dietary interventions impact health.

Alexandros Tsipras, is born at 10th October os 1985. Permanent resident in Evinohori, Aitoloakarnania district. Studied in unified High-school of American Farm School in Thessaloniki. He has graduated the Agricultural University of Athens, the department of Utilization of Natural Resources and Agricultural Mechanics. From 2005, until now, he is running, with his brother, the 40 years old family business of production, processing and trading olive products from their own olive grove. In 2012 they established the collective partnership company “Tsipras Bros”, with main activity the production, processing and trading olive products.

Senior Researcher of ELGO- DIMITRA and Head of the Waste Management and Bioprocessing Lab. He holds a MSc and PhD in agricultural engineering from the Faculty of Agriculture, AUTh. From 2011 to 2018 he worked at the Department of Environmental Engineering of Technical University of Denmark up to the position of Associate Professor. His research interests focus on agro-industrial waste management and treatment with biotechnological methods and the development of sustainable solutions for the utilization of organic waste to produce energy and high market value products.

Georgios Theodoridis is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He studied Chemistry (1990) and received his PhD (1994) in separations sciences from the Aristotle University. He then worked as (post-doctorate) researcher in the Universities of Pardubice (CZ) and Leiden (NL), in AstraZeneca UK DMPK and as team leader at the Edmund Mach Foundation, Trento Italy. His research focuses on the application of LC-MS and GC-MS in metabolite profiling and bioanalysis with emphasis on analytical method validation, QC and biomarker discovery. He leads the BIOMIC initiative of Aristotle University (http://biomic.web.auth.gr/) and the FoodOmicsGR_Research Infrastructure (http://foodomics.gr/). He has co-authored ca. 190 peer reviewed articles, 20 book chapters and made more than 200 presentations in international meetings. He serves as Editor of J. Chromatography B, in the editorial board of Metabolites and think tanks and scientific bodies (EURACHEM, mQACC and other bodies).

Professor Kailis has contributed in the areas of food and drugs during his academic career that spans over 50 years. He has held senior teaching positions at Curtin University of Technology and the position of Professorial Fellow at the University of Western Australia. For over 20 years, he has concentrated on the quality and safety aspects of table olives. He is the co-author of - Producing Table Olives and The Olive Propagation Manual, as well as research papers. He has recently co-authored reviews with Professors A Kyritsakis (Greece) and Manuel Brenes (Spain) on table olives, especially, natural table olives.

Antonia Trichopoulou, MD. PhD. President, Hellenic Health Foundation, Professor Emeritus, University of Athens Medical School. Acknowledged as a ‘Highly Cited Researcher’ by Clarivate Analytics. Ηer focus is in public health nutrition and nutritional epidemiology. Her work on the Mediterranean Diet has global reach. Decorated with the Golden Cross of Honor by the President of the Greek Republic for her work in nutrition and public health. She received the 2011 Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS) Award for her “outstanding nutritionist career”.

Dimitri Verweire has a M.Sc. in Biotechnology (University of Ghent, Belgium), and holds a PhD in Plant Biotechnology (Free University of Brussels, Belgium). He has more than 10 years of experience in strategy, business development and start-ups in Agriculture and Animal and Human Food value chains. He worked for top tier consulting firms and held corporate strategy and hands-on business development roles at Syngenta. At Invaio, he is leading the business development efforts in Europe.

Dr. Maria Kazou received her PhD degree in Genomics of Lactic Acid Bacteria from the Agricultural University of Athens. Her research interests lie in the field of Food Microbiology, with emphasis on metagenomics analysis and taxonomy, physiology, metabolism, genetics, genomics, proteomics and metagenomics of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. She has participated in 13 EU and National Research projects and has co-authored 17 papers in international journals, 10 book chapters, 48 papers in international and national conferences, and 4 non-conference invited paper.

Εconomist specialised in European Integration, former alternate Member of the European Economic and Social Committee (1981 -1989), principal administrator at the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (1989- 2009) and former Special Secretary for Community Resources and Infrastructures at the Ministry for Rural Development and Food (2009 – 2012). From 2014 to 2020 was the Chairman of the Board at the Friends of the Olive Oil Society “Fileos” and since 2019 Secretary General at the European Chamber for Sustainable Development and Vice-President in charge for the Strategic Planning at the European Organization for Certification a-Cert.

Spiros has been active in agricultural entrepreneurship since 1987. He is president of the Social Cooperative Enterprise “Center of Agricultural Entrepreneurship" and the Agri-Coop “ELIOS”. He is the author of the books: "Fertile Country - Infertile Policy", "The minefield of agribusiness" and "Why do agricultural cooperatives fail in Greece?”. He is an expert in the development of cooperative organizations and change management. He holds an MBA from Teesside University.

Dr. Boskou George is an Associate Professor of Food Service Organization and Management, in the Department of Nutrition-Dietetics at Harokopio University. He is a founding member of the Interdisciplinary Society for Food Hygiene (DEDYT) and the Scientific Society of Olive Encyclopaedists (4E). He is an external collaborator of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania and the Perotis College of the American Farm School. His research work is on food safety, total quality management, food legislation, food services, gastronomy and culinology.

Alexandra Kicenik Devarenne is an olive oil consultant, writer and educator. A trained olive oil taste panelist, she is a judge and advisor for various California and international olive oil competitions. Alexandra has taught olive oil tasting classes in cooperation with IRTA, The Olive Oil Sommeliers of Japan, The Culinary Institute of America, UC Davis, and many others. She has presented at many olive oil conferences, shows and symposia in the US and abroad, focusing on olive oil quality, sensory education and communication. She is the author of “Olive Oil: A Field Guide” (AOCS Press) and numerous articles, papers and book chapters. She works with producers large and small on all aspects of olive oil from cultivar selection to olive oil quality improvement to branding and communication. Alexandra is CEO of Extra Virgin Alliance, an international trade association of olive oil producers and experts working to foster appreciation, restore consumer trust and create value in the market for authentic, high-quality extra virgin olive oil.

Dr Demetrios Kouretas has a BSc in Pharmacy from University of Patras (Greece) 1985, and PhD in Biochemistry from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 1989 (Greece) and Post-doc at Harvard Medical School from 1990-1992. Dr. Kouretas has been staff member in the University of Thessaly since 1996 and from 2007 is Professor of ‘Animal Physiology – Toxicology’ at the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of the University of Thessaly (Greece). He has co-authored 222 articles in peer-reviewed journals and about 100 invited lectures in national and international conferences. According to Google scholar Dr Kouretas’ publications have been cited 9320 times and their ‘h-index’ is 45. In 2017 has been elected member of the European Commission Committee ( Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging risks, SCHEER) and the same year ( 2017) President of the Hellenic Society of Toxicology and Director of the National Master Program in Toxicology.
He has also founded a spin-off company aimed at developing biofunctional nutrition ( FoodOxys) . Prof. D. Kouretas is Associate Editor in the journals "Food and Chemical Toxicology" and and ‘Toxicology Reports’ ( from 2017) of Elsevier, and Academic Editor in Oxidative Medicine and cellular Longevity (from 2017)) and Antioxidants (from 2018)

Mr Georgios Theothoros Doutsias is the President of the National Interprofessional Organization of Table Olives (DOEPEL) since 29/12/2014.
He has studied at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Aristoteleio University in Thessaloniki from 1964 - 1969. He attended post graduate education in France from 1973 up to 1977 at: the Université de DIJON, the Institut Nationale de Recherche Agronomique (INRA) of Dijon. acquired the honorary titles of: D.E.S. (Diplôme d’ Etudes Supérieures) on 1974 and Doctorat ingénieur on 1977 (equivalent to the Greek Doctorate from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1977). He has worked at “ELAIOURGIKI”, the Central Cooperative Union of Producers of olive products (K.S.E.P.E.P.) between 1978 and 2004, and had the following positions: 1978 - 1979 factory processing unit of table olives standardization and packaging processing plant 1980 to 1992 Office of Studies and Planning, 1992 - 2002 Deputy General Manager and 2002 - 2004 General Manager. Ηe represented the cooperating olive growers as an expert regarding table olives: from 1980 to 2004 in the International Olive Council and from 1981 - 2004 in the Organizations COPA-COGECA of the EU. Since 2021 he represents the National Interprofessional Organization of Table Olive (DOEPEL) and the country as an expert in the International ES. Since 2005 he is in charge of the Family Agriculture Holding for the Production of Biological Table Olives.

Dr Konstantinos Tertivanidis is agronomist and has MSc and PhD in Plant Genetics and Biotechnology. Today he is Director of Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia. In the past he worked as Head of Directory of Rural Development for Regional unity of Halkidiki and Head of Directory of Rural Development for Region of Central Macedonia. In 2012 he was trained in International Olive Council in Madrid as panel leader for organoleptic analysis of table olives. He in coordination with P.E.M.E.T.E., Agricultural University of Athens and Institute Agricultural Products created the Greek Taste Olive Panel. He is member of the management team of EU funded projects of INTERREG Europe program and Cross Border Cooperation programs. He had more than 70 publications in scientific literature and conferences. He participated in seminars and workshops in national and European level.

Professor Maria Z. Tsimidou (Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Technology, School of Chemistry, Aristotle Universyity of Thessaloniki) is a food chemist (School of Chemistry AUTH, Food Science Dept. Reading Univ.) She has a long career in the field of olive products; cooperates with many scientists in Greece and abroad participates as expert in different committees; her published work is well recognized and can be found at https://ikee.lib.auth.gr/search?cc=School+of+Chemistry&ln=el&jrec=51&p=Tsimidou%2C+Maria&f=author.

Effie Tsakalidou is Professor of Food Biochemistry in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. She is also the Director of the ACA-DC collection of microorganisms of the Laboratory of Dairy Research. Her research interests lie in the field of lactic acid bacteria, with emphasis on taxonomy, physiology, metabolism, bacteriocins, probiotics, genetics, genomics, metagenomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and technological performance/applications. She has co-authored over 370 publications in the above fields and has been Principal Investigator (PI) and/or co-PI in a number (total 64 projects) of National and European research projects as well as projects funded by the private sector in Greece and abroad. She is member of the Editorial Board in international scientific journals. Effie Tsakalidou is since 2010 the Head of the Laboratory of Dairy Research. From 2012 to 2017, she served as the Deputy President of the Council of the Agricultural University of Athens.

Efstathios Panagou is Associate Professor at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition of the Agricultural University of Athens. His research interests focus on table olives processing – a field in which he has been active for the last 20 years, the implementation of rapid analytical techniques for the assessment of food spoilage in tandem with multivariate data analysis, and the development of mathematical models to describe microbial responses in various food ecosystems. He has published 119 original research papers in scientific journals of the SCI with more than 3,000 citations and 12 book chapters.