Presents
In Celebration of Women's History Month
Featured Discussion:
Advice to Young Adults & Professionals:
Staying Engaged & Making an Impact
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Panelists
Dr. Ann Mitsakos Bezzerides has served as Director of the Office of Vocation & Ministry (OVM) at Hellenic College Holy Cross since 2003, when she was hired to run a new $2 million Lilly Endowment grant. In that role she founded CrossRoad, a high school summer institute to help students explore their vocation and purpose within the context of our Greek Orthodox theological tradition. Over the last 17 years, CrossRoad has expanded from one session to three, with its latest iteration in Chicago, and has an active cohort of alumni. The OVM also recently received a new $1.5 million grant to start The Telos Project, working with 14 pilot parishes across the country to research and design initiatives for and with young adults. Ann teaches the graduate course in Youth Ministry at Holy Cross and is an editor and contributor to two volumes of collected essays that inform the OVM work: Christ at Work: Orthodox Christian Perspectives of Vocation (Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2006) and Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Higher Education (University of Notre Dame Press, 2017). She is a graduate of Middlebury College (BA), St. Vladimir's Seminary (MDiv), and Boston College (PhD). She and her husband Vassilios, a pediatric cardiologist, have three boys and live in Brookline.
Noel Giglio Denice is Legal Counsel at Philips North America. Her practice focuses on anti-bribery and anti-corruption in the med-device space. Ms. Denice is responsible for the North American Market, supporting the sales function across the full suite of medical devices and solutions. Last year, Ms. Denice started a women attorney affinity group at Philips as a forum for sharing experiences and advice to support recruitment, retention, development, and advancement. Previously as Assistant General Counsel at Olympus, she supported the life science and industrial businesses in the US and Canada. She is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law. Ms. Denice serves as National Hellenic Society Boston Chapter Co-Chair, and formerly served as the chair of the Heritage Greece Alumni Program, working to preserve Greek heritage and culture. She also enjoys traveling abroad and cooking.
Athena Kalyvas has worked in the biotech industry for over twenty years supporting C-Suite executives and is currently employed at Morphic Therapeutic in Waltham, Massachusetts. She is a dedicated Philoptochos member for over thirty years and has held various positions including past Philoptochos President at Saint George Church, Bethesda, Maryland and Saint Demetrios Church, Weston, Massachusetts. Serving on the Metropolis of Boston Philoptochos Board since 2018, she was appointed as President by His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios in September 2019. In 2018, she had the honor to serve on the 2018 Clergy Laity Congress Committee in Boston. Currently, she is a member of the Saint Demetrios Church, and serves on the Parish Council and as alternate Choir Organist. Athena is a graduate of Regis College, Weston with a BA in Greek and European History.
Jane P. Kourtis is Deputy General Counsel at Bright Horizons, a global leader in early child care, dependent care solutions, and education management, where she handles a wide array of business and operational legal matters. Jane is a graduate of Boston College and Boston College Law School and serves on the BC Law Alumni Council and the BC Hellenic Alumni Network. Jane is a member of the Executive Board of the Hellenic Bar Association of New England and serves as President of the Hellenic Women’s Club, a Boston-based women’s philanthropic organization founded in 1936. Among her community endeavors, Jane is the director of her church’s youth music program and is a past officer of Philoptochos.
Dr. Sophia Koustas is an Assistant Professor at the School of Business at Southern New Hampshire University. Her studies include: a dual major degree BM in Music Education and International Affairs (University of New Hampshire); Graduate Certificate in International Business (New Hampshire College); MSc in Organizational Leadership (Southern New Hampshire University); PhD in Business Administration with a specialization in Industrial Organizational Psychology (Northcentral University). She is co-founder of S.Mou.Th. (Synergy of Music Theater), elected member on several boards, and recipient of a European grant for Young Female Entrepreneurs which led to the creation of SK Boutique Agency in Greece (2011-2015). Sophia enjoys working in creative, evolving environments where experience, talent, culture and individuality are respected and recognized. Her current projects revolve around experiential education, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and leadership. Sophia is a member at the Assumption and St George Churches in Manchester, NH, and is the Greek-American Women as Preservers of Hellenic Folk Culture and Traditions Department Chair of the Boston Lykeio Ellinidon.
Tamika Tompoulidis is a professional speaker and career counselor focused on advancing communication skills, establishing professional goals, and developing a career trajectory. She currently serves as the career counselor at the University of Kentucky in the Honors College and teaches public speaking courses for the College of Communications. Tamika is a certified practitioner in the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory assessment. She has coached students and professionals in the art of connecting with audiences and effectively presenting, while managing public speaking anxieties. As the advisor for the Forte Club, a national organization with the mission to empower women and link them to influential mentors in business sponsors of Fortune 500 companies, Tamika prepares the next generation of female leaders. Her focus, professionally and interpersonally, is inspiring her clients by teaching them how to transform their skills in their careers. Tamika is a former board member for the National Hellenic Student Association and regularly conducts professionalism workshops during their national conferences. She earned her Bachelor and Masters degrees from the College of Communications at the University of Kentucky.
Featured Discussion:
Navigating Workplace Gender Inequality
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Panelists
Demetra Ganias Soterakis is the founder of Ganias Media Lab, a speech coaching and media training company. Demetra began her career as a news writer in Boston, rising to the ranks of Associate Producer at MSNBC. She is also a seasoned on-air personality as a reporter and anchor in major markets in New York. Demetra is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communication. She is a wife and mother, and committed to keeping the next generation connected to their Hellenic heritage and Orthodox faith.
Dr. Dena Haritos Tsamitis is the Director of Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute (INI) which is dedicated to teaching and advancing information networking, security and mobility. During her tenure (INI) has extended their reach with programs in Greece, Japan and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Women@INI which focuses on women's equality in the engineering workplace. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American College of Greece and serves on several other prestigious boards.
Maria Markou, Esq. is the founder of the Markou Legal Group in New York. She is an experienced lawyer specializing in international law, intellectual property and business law. She is certified mediator and contributor to many legal publications. She received legal degrees from the Law School of Athens and post law degrees at St. Mary's University, School of Law.
Doretta Mistras serves as a Managing Director at Citigroup's Healthcare Investment Banking Division. She is considered one of Wall Streets top health care investment banking experts. She served as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs specializing in health care industry mergers and acquisitions overseeing over $200B of transactions. Doretta holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Finance, International Studies and Spanish. She serves on the Boards of the NHS and PanHellenic Scholarship Foundation.
Greek American Women Navigating Global Careers
Thursday, March 11, 2021
Panelists
Artemis Kohas is founder of PR agency The Kohas Agency. She has a highly personal approach to everything she does and knows the ins and outs of the world of product promotion, strategic collaborations, communications, branding and event production. She earned a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Art History from Lafayette College and a Masters in Applied Psychology from New York University. Her previous jobs include guidance counselor at a school affected by 9/11, owner of mastihashop in New York, and grief and bereavement counseling through nonprofit A Caring Hand, the Billy Esposito Foundation. Her current work with The Hellenic Initiative she finds especially fulfilling as it combines her love for philanthropy with her ability to skillfully connect people and businesses with special causes. She works with clients in both New York and Greece; Artemis has been called an ambassador of Greek culture as she is very tied to her heritage, is constantly sharing the wonders of Greece with the world, is bilingual, and travels to Greece several times a year.
Natalia Linos is Executive Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. Previously she led UNDP’s work at the nexus of health and environment, looking especially at the vulnerability of poor and marginalized communities to climate change, and served as a speechwriter for the Administrator of UNDP and as a policy specialist at the United Nations in Beirut, Lebanon. She also served as Science Advisor to the NYC Health Commissioner, helping shape strategy around several key initiatives, including ThriveNYC, the Mayor’s $800 million citywide mental health initiative. Natalia is a three-time Harvard University graduate, earning her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, Master of Science in Social Epidemiology, and Doctor of Science in Social Epidemiology. She speaks Greek fluently and has basic conversational skills in Arabic, Spanish and French. Natalia is married and has three children.
Elaine Papoulias is the executive director of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University. She is responsible for the overall management and administration of the Center and its many grants and initiatives which promote the interdisciplinary understanding of European history, politics, economy and societies. She also oversees the Center’s strategic planning, development and stewardship activities. From 1999-2012, Papoulias served at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) as Director of the Kokkalis Program. Under her leadership, the program became the school’s hallmark of Europe-focused activity and its regional model. In addition to her career in academia, Papoulias’ professional experiences include advisory, public affairs, communications and analytical work for government agencies, political candidates, grassroots campaigns, non-profit institutions as well as private companies across a multitude of sectors. She received a BA from Wesleyan University and a MALD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She currently serves on the boards of College Year in Athens (Greece); Navarino Network (Greece); Center for Openness and Dialogue (Albania); Intersection Centre for Science and Innovation (Serbia); and diaNEOsis (Greece). She speaks Greek fluently and has a working knowledge of Persian.
Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou teaches in the Program on International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she is Faculty Director of the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy. She is a Co-President of Religions for Peace, and is nonresident Senior Fellow and Co-Chair of the Working Group on Christians and Religious Pluralism in the Middle East, at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. Prodromou served as Vice Chair and Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2004-2012) and was a member of the U.S. Secretary of State’s Religion & Foreign Policy Working Group (2011-2015). Her current research projects involve cultural heritage and institutional religious freedom in Turkey, Orthodox Christianity and geopolitics, and religious diplomacy and typologies of power. The author of multiple edited volumes and many publications in scholarly and policy journals, Prodromou is a frequent commentator and contributor in US and international media, and she is a frequent advisor to multilateral organizations, governments and local activist and faith communities on religious inclusion and human security issues. She holds a Ph.D. and an S.M. in political science from MIT, an M.A.L.D. in international relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University), and a B.A. in history and international relations from Tufts University.
Katerina Sokou is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and Washington DC correspondent for SKAI TV and Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini, where she is also a columnist. She studied History (First Class Honors) at the University of Ioannina and holds postgraduate degrees in International Studies from the University of Warwick, and in Journalism from Columbia University, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism. She covered extensively the Greek financial crisis from Athens and Washington DC, providing commentary for news media in the US and Europe. Katerina is a regular speaker and moderator in international conferences and has founded News Intelligence, a news analysis and communications consultancy. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Piraeus, a director at The Hellenic Initiative Canada and a member of the Hellenic American Women’s Council.
