Names are presented in alphabetical order
Anastasia Marinopoulou MBA MCMI
International Change Management professional with lean projects in her portfolio, Coach and Entrepreneur with expertise in strategic marketing and sales planning, business and organisational development and with a keen interest in creating intra and cross organizational synergies, recognizing environmental, cultural and team dynamics.
Anastasia is the Belbin representative for Greece and Cyprus and combines the Belbin methodology with lean practices to achieve a more effective regarding change management initiatives.
Her very interest in deploying the right strategy effectively, led her to receive training on Lean management and develop bespoke training and consultancy on lean change management programmes, bridging operational planning with the corresponding communication, people centric and work-flow management systems.
Sectors of consultative, training and managerial experience include Banking, Retail, Luxury Retail, Hotel & Catering, Food and Drinks, IT, Construction, Not for profit organisations and the Pharmaceutical sector in Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Turkey, N. Russia, Kenya and the DRC.
Education and Professional Training
Holds an MBA with Distinction in strategic planning (LSBU - UK) following in the same university her bachelor’s degree in marketing. She is also Belbin® and MBTI® accredited (Personal and Team Development methodologies) and uses her skills in team development and communications to empower managers and executives worldwide. She has learnt and practiced Lean management over ten years. Her deep knowledge and experience in business development, training, and change management initiatives reflect a careful analysis, innovative thinking and mentoring attitude.
Anastasia has participated in many restructuring - change management, business development and HR initiatives including Strategy evaluation, Communications strategy, Account Management and the re-design of training centres for major Retail groups and pharmaceutical companies. Some of the clients that have been served directly or via collaborations are: La Prairie Group, Motor oil, Fourlis, TFL, Novartis, Phizer, Elpen, The Hellenic Banking Institute, The Banking Institute of Egypt, Eurobank).
A sample of Lean projects she has co-ordinated include the HR processes (HR processes including Payroll and Training academies) of major retail groups of companies and one of the biggest private banks in Greece. She has also trained NHS supervisors and managers in lean techniques through University courses and the LSBU Enterprise Centre.
Her teaching and coaching experience derives from designing training content in F2F and Online formats and lecturing at the University of Law (Global Business Strategy, Operations Management, Procurement and Supply Chain Management and Consumer Behaviour), having started her lecturing career at London South Bank University (Project and Operations Management, International Management, Business Ethics, Business Relationship Management), and from training projects for SMEs via the Enterprise centre (LSBU).
Progress through (the company she founded in 2013) offers bespoke training services on business and operational topics as well as Lean educational trips to the US and Japan in cooperation with renown lean consultants.
Recently, she has been invited to join as a Research Fellow, the Health Sector Research Unit - HealthSec - of the Management Science Laboratory – MSL, of the Athens University of Economics and Business.
As part of her continuous professional development, Anastasia studies ‘Terror and Terrorism: comparing theory and practice’ (Leiden University) and ‘China and Political Science’ (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology).
Languages
Anastasia speaks English (excellent), French (very well), German (well), Turkish (learning), Swahili (learning) and Greek (mother tongue).
Deltcho Vitchev MSc
Business and finance specialist with engineering background and more than 30 years of experience with IFIs, project financing, project development and appraisal, and funding work in Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovak Republic, Romania, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Hungary, Belarus and Indonesia. Extensive experience advising government officials and international financial bodies’ representatives (The European Commission, the European Parliament, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) on financial matters relating to energy, environment and nuclear safety. In recognition of his international expertise in implementing international projects he has been a visiting lecturer in the Swiss International Banking School in Basle and is a Fellow of International Project Finance at the Westminster University School of Law, London.
Deniz Gumusler Demetis MSc
Sociologist with a Master degree(University of Smirni-Turkey) and university degree on public realtions (Uludag University – Turkey) advises on teamwork and cultural issues.
Dimitris Kalfas MSc
Internet and Social marketing consultant with Masters on strategic marketing (University of Greenwich - U.K.) and vast experience in Greece and the U.K. designs and delivers innovative campaigns as well as training sessions on internet marketing and social media. Dimitris collaborates with Progress Through since 2011 through his own company Third Step (www.thirdstep.gr).
CV Dimitris Leimonis
Dimitris is an adjunct professor for LeBow Corporate Relations and Executive Education and ALBA Graduate Business School. He is an experienced finance professional with an in depth 20-year experience in financial markets. He is the Managing Director of Financial Arena, offering training and consulting services, specializing in financial modeling, portfolio management, valuation and risk analysis. He has hands-on experience in a number of industry sectors, including information systems, education and financial services.
Dimitris has devoted large part of his career on the management and implementation of portfolios of mutual funds and on asset allocation and portfolio optimization strategies for affluent clients. His industry experience is mainly in Investments and Banking where he has been managing international mutual funds at one of the largest European Asset Management firms with Assets under Management (AUM) of almost of 8billion Euros and then created and led a portfolio advisory team that was creating customized portfolios for affluent clients (with assets of more than 1million EUR each).
In the business training area, he has provided training to more than 1000 banking and business professionals focusing on financial modeling, asset allocation and portfolio management. Dimitris is among of the first accredited and certified trainers globally at the FAST Modeling Standard. The FAST Modeling standard is an international recognized methodology in financial Modeling that is used by major firms in their Modeling assignments.
Dimitris holds an MBA from Drexel University, specializing in Management Information Systems and Investment Management and a BSc in Banking and Financial Management from the University of Piraeus. He is also certified Financial Modeler, Portfolio Manager and Investment Consultant.
His wide client portfolio among others includes: the European Court of Auditors (Luxembourg), Johnson & Johnson, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Mizuho Corporate Advisory, Viohalco (GR), Sarantis Group, Citigroup, EFG Eurobank, Terna Energy and others.
Michael Kosmides
Editor, producer and journalist with over 20 years of extensive experience covering major global events from international summits to conflict zones.He is currently producing the flagship daily morning show ‘Morning Money’ for the UK’s business radio station, Share Radio and he is a part-time lecturer on Multimedia Journalism at the London South Bank University.
Michael has worked in demanding online, broadcast and print environments for national and international Media organisations and B2B clients. He is regularly briefing businesspeople and diplomats on issues relating to Greece and was an expert assessor form many years with the EU MEDIA programme defining the policies on transmedia projects funding.
Former editor at the BBC World Service, and vice president of the Foreign Press Association in London.
Mike Malina
A Chartered Engineer with over 25 years experience in building services specializing in Sustainable Buildings and Energy Management. Carries out building energy audits, is a Thermal Imaging specialist and acts as the technical advisor for the UK Electrical Contractors’ Association and Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association on their joint M&E Sustainability Campaign. He is Chairman of the East England Summit skills implementation group and an experienced training practitioner, delivering training on energy management, building regulations and competent person schemes.
Thomas Poutas
Thomas Poutas is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Thomas Poutas International, a management consultancy that focuses on consultative and training services with regards to Strategy Audit and Development and Operational Excellence.
He is an active member of the German Association of Project Management and the Federation for Coaching and Training. Member of the European Social Simulation Association and various international Networks for consulting and coaching.
Thomas has developed and realised in-house and external Workshops and Trainings for more than 3000 participants in Change Management, Project Management, Business Management, Balanced Scorecard, People Leadership, LEAN-TQM-KAIZEN, Sales Process Management, Time Management, Conflict Manageent, Outplacement, Intercultural Communication, HR Recruitment & Assessment Centre, Personnel Positioning. Trainees included leaders, executives, managers, workers and employees from different cultures in CEEMEA.
With an Msc in Industrial Sociology and political Economics and a degree in IT, Thomas is particularly interested in BPR/Lean having already many change management projects delivered successfully during his career including the IT sector (IT audit and Business Development- eGM, CRM, ERP, SAP, Incadea/Navision) and for projects totalling more than €1mil.
Dr Uly Ma MBA CEng
International management consultant awarded with the ‘Βritish Green Apple Award’ and ‘Waste initiative of the Year’ for the co-design and implementation of the NoWaste programme in the construction sector with Bovis Lend Lease. Metallurgy graduate with doctorate in Hot Corrosion of Marine Gas Turbines from Imperial College, University of London, ex Head of metallurgy at Cookson plc and Project manager for the UK government’s Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme, effectively advises on process improvements and quality management. Lecturer at London South Bank University runs various training and development projects on sustainability and lean operations for both the private and public sector assisting clients in achieving significant cost savings through Lean / Six Sigma improvements. His NoWaste® training programme was included as one of the main training programmes for the construction companies involved in the preparations for the London Olympics 2012 and due to its effectiveness in now part of the Olympic Legacy. Progress Through collaborates closely with Dr Uly Ma through his company Greenfile Developments Ltd for projects in the U.K.