Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis first woman to head Greek presidential committee

When Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton recently named Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis to head “Greek-Americans for Clinton” she made the powerhouse California businesswoman the first woman appointed to that post by a leading Presidential candidate.

“Hillary Clinton is the best candidate out there, for many reasons,” says Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, president of AKT Development Corporation. “She and her husband have a world view. When Mr. Clinton was president, she brought him to Istanbul and the patriarchate, and she’s very aware and very dedicated and very knowledgeable. They both have a strong sense that it is necessary to keep stability in and around the region of Greece and both have been very willing to listen to input from the Greek American community. She is really dedicated.”

Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is a leading Democratic contributor in California, a state known for its major political contributors, and the two fundraisers she hosted for Senator Clinton in California were extraordinarily successful.

She is also known throughout the Greek-American community for her philanthropic and civic efforts and her fight on major issues vital to the community including the crisis facing the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the nearly 2,000-year-old spiritual see of the world’s second largest Christian church, Orthodox Christianity.

Senator Clinton was instrumental in creating the first visit of a sitting American president (Bill Clinton) to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The senator also played a major role in beginning the practice of the U.S. pressing the Ecumenical Patriarchate issue with every senior Turkish official visiting the White House Oval Office. That practice had continued for over a decade and into the Bush Administration, which eventually stopped it. This access to the administration on such a vital issue and its renewal is a major focus of Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis’ most recent efforts.

She has also secured more signatures of United States senators for a letter to President George W. Bush on this issue than any other Orthodox Christian. The letter urged the Ecumenical Patriarchal issue to be raised higher on America’s agenda. As well, she has personally escorted California Senator Diane Feinstein, along with a sizeable delegation, to visit Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in 2005.

The indefatigable businesswoman is also well known for the creation of numerous Hellenic Chairs across the country at some of America’s top universities. “It’s a very privileged feeling to participate in supporting non-profits,” she said, “and also to draw a circle around Hellenism. When Bush was asked right after 9/11, ‘Why do the terrorists do this?’ His answer was, ‘They hate us for our freedom.’ Well, you can’t understand what that means if you can’t understand the history of Greece and Hellenism. When Prime Minister Mitsotakis spoke at Stanford, he said, ‘Greece is the birthplace of democracy and America is the greatest embodiment of that ideal.’”

And adopting the civic practice of her father, she has been a staunch supporter of the political process and several candidates, Republican and Democrat, most recently Phil Angelides when he ran for California governor.

“I get misty thinking about what our families have done,” Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis’ husband Markos once told the San Francisco Chronicle, “because I honor and respect both our families so much for what they have achieved. They started in this country with nothing, and then in later years are meeting presidents of the United States. It’s amazing. I mean, we are the products of their dream.”

Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis echoes her husband: “Markos certainly got that from his father, and I certainly got it from mine. My father put up his hands once (when he was asked) and admitted: ‘Okay, okay, it makes me feel good to do things in the community.”