THE WORLD AHEAD ECONOMIST GALA DINNER 2021

Andrew Palmer is the executive editor of The Economist, in which role he leads the newspaper's digital transformation. His responsibilities include running the news-desk and Espresso teams; working with product managers on the development of The Economist’s app, website and newsletters; and building out the audience teams. He is also the author of the weekly Bartleby column on management and working life, where he has written on everything from the lessons of The Beatles for business to the best way to run meetings.
Andrew has been the paper’s business-affairs editor, the first head of its data-journalism team, Americas editor, finance editor and banking correspondent, having joined The Economist as management correspondent in February 2007. He has written special reports on the financial crisis, the housing market, financial innovation, lifelong education and brain-machine interfaces, as well as feature stories on everything from the Spartathlon endurance race in Greece to Britain’s bloodiest-ever battle. He is the author of Smart Money (Basic Books, 2015) on the good that finance can do. He was previously at the Economist Intelligence Unit, sister company to The Economist.

Mrs Angelopoulos is a lawyer, former parliamentarian, ambassador at large of the Greek state and best-selling author. In 1986, ambassador Angelopoulos was elected to the Athens Municipal Council. In 1989, she was elected to the Greek Parliament and won re-election the following year.

Following her marriage to Theodore Angelopoulos, Gianna resigned her seat in the Parliament to focus on family and business. In 1996, Costas Simitis, the prime minister of Greece at the time, appointed her to lead the country’s successful campaign to host the 2004 Olympic Games. In 2000, when slow progress and gridlocked bureaucracy put Athens in danger of losing the Games, she was asked to assume the presidency of the Athens 2004 Organising Committee and save the project. Her memoir, My Greek Drama, was published by Greenleaf Book Group in May 2013, and became a top ten New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

At Harvard, Mrs Angelopoulos has served as vice-chairman of the Dean’s Council of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (HKS) since 1994 and now also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Business and Government. In 2011, she established the Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Program at the HKS to bring distinguished leaders to Harvard in order to interact with students, share lessons learned and reflect upon the next phase of their public service. Mrs Angelopoulos is the founder and sponsor of the Angelopoulos Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) Fellowship Program (100 young Greek entrepreneurs have benefitted), and a leading philanthropist for projects in Greece and around the globe. In October 2019, she founded the “Gianna Angelopoulos Programme for Science Technology and Innovation” (GAPSTI) in Cambridge University, which supports especially talented scientist who are in the first steps of their career.

In 2019, Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis appointed her as president of the ‘Greece 2021’ Committee for the celebrations of the 200 years since the Greek Revolution and the birth of the modern Greek state.

Kostas Axarloglou, dean and professor of international business and strategy (Alba Graduate Business School), associate professor of international business (Democritus University of Thrace), Michael Gerrits Term chair assistant professor of economics (Babson College), visiting assistant professor of economics (Fuqua School of Business, Duke University), instructor (University of Michigan).

He holds a BA from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, an MA from the University of Michigan and a PhD from the University of Michigan.

Dr Axarloglou is doing research and consulting work in the areas of international business (foreign direct investments), strategy (strategic leadership), and pricing. His research has been published in leading management and economics journals such as Management Science, the Journal of Business, the Journal of the European Economic Association, World Economy and Managerial and Decision Economics. He has received several research grants and also participated in numerous international conferences. Recently, he completed a study for the Athens Academy of Science on “The Lack of FDI Flows in Greece”. Dr Axarloglou serves in various company boards and has done extensive training and consulting work in numerous multinational corporations such as Carrefour, Eurobank, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen-Cilag, Novo Nordisk, Philip Morris International, PepsiCo, Shell, Titan, Viohalco and Vodafone.

Dr Axarloglou, a recipient of the Fulbright scholarship, has extensive teaching experience in all levels of business education and has also received several teaching awards.

He is a member of the American Economic Association.

Paschal Donohoe TD is the minister for finance. He was re-appointed to this role in June 2020, having served in this role since June 2017.

Minister Donohoe was elected president of the Eurogroup on 9 July 2020. His two and a half year term began on 13 July 2020.

From May 2016 - June 2020, he served as the minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and from July 2014 - May 2016, as the minister for transport, tourism and sport. He also held the position of minister for European affairs at the department of An Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs from July 2013 - July 2014.

Minister Donohoe was first elected as a TD in February 2011 for the Dublin Central constituency. Prior to this he was a member of Seanad Éireann, from 2007 - 2011. He also served as member of Dublin City Council from 200-07.

He was formerly the chair of Ireland’s Future in Europe Oireachtas Sub-Committee, as well as a member of the Public Accounts Committee. He has also served as the vice-chair of the European Affairs Committee and, as a Senator, he served as a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport.

During his time as member of Dublin City Council, he served as Chair of the Environment & Engineering Strategic Policy Committee, as a member of the Corporate Policy Group and also as Chairman of the Central Area Committee.

Minister Donohoe is a graduate of the Trinity College Dublin, with a degree in Politics and Economics and he attended St. Declan’s CBS.

Dr. Christian H. Kälin, TEP, IMCM is considered one of the world’s foremost experts in investment migration and citizenship-by-investment, a field he pioneered. Holding master’s and PhD degrees in law from the University of Zurich, he is a sought-after speaker and advises governments and international organizations. He is the author, co-author, or editor of many publications, including standard works such as the Global Residence and Citizenship Handbook, and the Switzerland Business & Investment Handbook. His academic background and personal interests have motivated him to become increasingly involved with the global issue of forced displacement and, in particular, with the global refugee crisis. Since 2014, and through a partnership with the UNHCR, Dr. Kälin has made a significant contribution to the refugee cause — and in 2017 he established the Andan Foundation in order to amplify the impact of his personal commitment to support refugees.

Christos Staikouras was born in Lamia, Fthiotida, in 1973. He was elected MP in Fthiotida with Nea Demokratia political party on the election of 2007, 2009, 2012 (May and June), 2015 (January and September) and July 2019.

From October 2009 until June 2012 he was deputy head of the Economic Policy Sector of Nea Demokratia. From June 2012 he was appointed as alternate minister of finance, and held his position until the election of January 2015. From February 2015 until June 2019 he was the head of ND Economic Policy Sector.
From July 2019 he was appointed as minister of finance.

Christos Staikouras holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Management School, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London, and a Doctor’s degree (PhD in Banking) from the Department of Banking and Finance, Cass Business School, City University. He is associate professor in Finance at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He was part time academic staff at the Hellenic Open University (2004-07), assistant at the Athens University of Economics and Business (2006 - 19), visiting professor at the Universities of Thessaly, Athens, City and European University Cyprus.

He has worked at the Central Bank of England and the Eurobank Group.

He has published over 50 research papers in international refereed scientific journals, books and monographs and he has also participated in many scientific international conferences.

Christos Staikouras is member of scientific and research societies and organizations.