Theme: Paths/ Διαδρομές

Life is a road and our life courses are the paths which we follow through time. Parallel, continuous and promising paths. They can be difficult, steep and discouraging. Our goals often seem to be drifting away, but in the end hopes and dreams light the way and this is how the most beautiful stories are made.
TEDxChalkida is such a story, inspired by life itself and its paths. TEDxChalkida 'Paths' aims to bring us stories, which will make us think, relate to and become inspired by. The more paths we manage to travel the closer we will get to what we really are.

Συνεδριακό Κέντρο Περιφερειακής Ενότητας Εύβοιας
Leof. Chaina 93
Chalkida, Evvoia, 34100
Greece

Christos Kiousis

Presenter/ Radio Producer

Chris Kiousis was born and raised in Athens, but has spent the last 20 years living and working in Thessaloniki. Since 1997 he has been cooperating with Antonis Kanakis for both television and radio shows. Christos studied Cinematography at the Stavrakos School. He started his professional career as a technician, but in the time he gained experience on almost all areas of television production (except of makeup). For the last ten years, aided and supported by Antonis, he started co-hosting the TV show “Radio Arvyla” and a radio show at Imagine 89,7. He describes himself as a radio and TV multipurpose tool, a latent writer but above all as the father of three great children.

Christos Tarantilis

Professor

Christos Tarantilis is Full-Professor of Management Science & Decision Making at the Dep. of Management Science & Technology, and Head of the “Operations Research & Decision Systems” Centre at Athens University of Economics & Business. As the Head of the Dep. he led it to: an excellent evaluation by an external committee of distinguished professors in recognised Universities of Great Britain and USA (e.g. LSE, Imperial College), launch new specialisations & courses oriented to innovation, entrepreneurship & business analytics, commence the first MSc in Business Analytics in Greece making it the first MSc in the history of the Dep. He has more than 150 scientific papers in international academic journals, books & conferences, including more than 60 research papers in the most well-respected international journals in the field of operations research, logistics & transportation. He has received teaching awards the last twelve consecutive years (courses in both English and Greek).

Dimitris Theocharis

Photographer

Dimitris Theocharis was born in 1977 in San Jose, California, grew up in Greece and has been living in the UK since 1995. He studied in the Fine Arts School of Northumbria University in Newcastle, and Photography and Digital Arts in the University of Westminster in London. He worked as a Photographer with top fashion magazines like Elle, Harpers Bazaar, Vanity Fair and Vogue, and as a Casting Director for various fashion houses. He was on the list of the 50 best fashion photographers in the world and won the Irish Golden Award for photographer of the year in 2011. Over the past few years, he has used his work to support various charities in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Greece. When he is not behind the camera, he is traveling, spending as much time as possible in California or hiking around the Peloponnese.

Elpida Pavlidou

Cognitive Psychologist

Dr. Elpida Pavlidou is currently a Cognitive Psychologist and Lecturer at the University of York, UK. She is also affiliated with Haskins Laboratories (Yale University) and the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses mainly on how people learn and read words, and why some people have difficulties (e.g. the reason why some children confuse “nap” with “pan” or why they take 20 minutes instead of 5 to read a paragraph from “Harry Potter”). To find an answer to these questions, Elpida’s research uses neuroimaging techniques (MRI and EEG) to study the behavior of children in experiments and the activity of their brain during these experiments. In 2012, the European Commission – via the Marie Curie International Fellowships scheme – funded her ground-breaking research on developmental dyslexia and a type of learning called implicit learning.

Francesco Benincasa

Entrepreneur and Investor

Francesco Benincasa is an entrepreneur and investor. After 20 years of experience in starting new business to solve problems around him, he moved to the “dark” side of investing in tech start-ups. After a career in entrepreneurship in London, Europe and New York, Francesco now lives in Athens where he engages and invests in Start-ups from all around the world. Thanks to his expertise in the setup and management of growing businesses, he helps other entrepreneurs tackle the challenges in order to make their dreams come true. Francesco is passionate about discovering extraordinary people to work with, but also supporting, advising and guiding teams. He lives with his family in Athens and in his free time he enjoys traveling, sports and spending time outdoors.

George Koukis

Businessman

He started his career in 1973 with Qantas Airways. In 1980, he joined Management Science America (MSA), a USA software company based in Sydney. From 1993 onwards he was the Founder, President & CEO of Temenos Group. He acquired a twice bankrupt company in Switzerland, saved it and renamed it Temenos. Today, Temenos is considered to be the best company for Corebanking systems worldwide. It has over 50 offices worldwide, 4000+ staff, and is listed in the Zurich Stock Exchange. He retired as President in 2011 remaining an active member of the Board ever since. He is a member of the Board of the Pasteur Institute in Geneva and Chairman of the Classical Opera in London. Also, The “George Koukis Paediatric Rheumatology Clinic” at the Evelina Hospital, London has been named after him. He has created the program “A Dream For The World – DFW”, for young entrepreneurs. Professor Stefano D ‘Anna has written a biography “A Dream For The World – George Koukis, Path To Integrity“.

Ioanna Kourbela

Fashion Designer

Ioanna studied fashion design and she attended various design courses on stage & costume design. Her collections reveal different aspects of a minimalist aesthetic, and the essential is the return to the charm of the classical harmony. After graduating, in 2003 she joined the family business «Kourbelas Knitwear» and presented her first collection named ‘Ioanna Kourbela’. With Ioanna as creative director, the company develops three distinct collections: Female & Male Exclusive Collections, Ioanna Kourbela Accessories Collection as well as the timeless Basics Collection, for which she was presented this year with the Emerging Designer Award at the international PURE exhibition in London. Moreover, the sur mesure bridal collection “White Collection” places Ioanna at the map of haute couture. Her creations can be found all around the world, with more than 100 collaborations and three exclusive boutiques in Greece as well as exports in 21 countries (Europe, USA, Australia & Middle East)

Kostas Onisenko

Journalist

He started working in 2001 at the online news channel of Kathimerini Group (kathimerini.gr, skai.gr) and then for the printed edition of “Kathimerini” newspaper. He has also worked for the “Horizon” TV show at Mega Channel and has helped in creating numerous news sites and local papers. For the time being, he is collaborating with VICE and InsideStory and he is the Head of SecurNewswebsite. He has been reporting on police/ court news, however his main area of ​​interest is social issues, human stories, and refugees, conflicts of individuals and groups or among groups of people. He has covered dozens of topics of human interest in Greece,but also abroad. As a journalists, he has been at the center of various conflicts, while sometimes he was attacked while covering the story. One of those times, in March 2014, he was violently attacked by gunmen in Crimea during the Russian military operation for the occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula.

Lefteris Paraskevas

Long Distance Runner, Sports & Charity Events organiser

Lefteris Paraskevas was born in Volos, Greece in 1975. He lives and works in Athens as a hairdresser mostly in movies and also runs his own small hair salon in the city center. He is married and has a 2-year-old son. Lefteris is a former swimming champion and former Member of the Greek National Swimming. He has been a water polo athlete for almost 30 years now and is an active member of Niki Volos Water Polo Team. His journey as a triathlete started in 2011, when he participated in his first Triathlon Race, Ironman-Bolton. Other triathlon races such as Celtman, Ultraman followed, along with many major local triathlon races and open water swimming challenges. Lefteris has always used his athletic challenges as an opportunity to raise awareness and funds for charity organizations supporting children.

Olga Lymperopoulou

Neuropsychologist specialized in Ageing and Dementia

Having discovered her passion for the science of neuropsychology quite early, she was accepted at 19 as a trainee at the Memory Clinic of the ArmyShare Fund Hospital, and remained until her graduation from the Psychology Dep. of the University of Athens. In 2004 completed her postgraduate studies in Cognitive Neuropsychology at the University of Essex, the same year she was part of the interscientific team of the Dep. of Neurodegenerative Brain Diseases–Memory Clinic of “HYGEIA” Hospital. She is one of the cofounders of the Athens Association of Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Disorders. Her scientific interest has focused on the promotion of cognitive wellness, maintenance of brain health and dementia prevention. She develops cognitive training programs for people with dementia and participates (researcher) in clinical studies and European programs. She writes articles for printed and online media and since 2015 has her own blog at the Greek edition of “TheHuffingtonPost”.