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James Stavridis, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, John Angelos and Rev. Nathaniel Symeonides the Main Speakers at the 2018 Leadership 100 Conference

By NEO Magazine on January 14, 2018

Admiral James Stavridis, formerly Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and currently Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, will give the keynote address at the Grand Banquet at the 27th Annual Leadership 100 Conference, February 1-4, 2018 at The Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, Florida. According to Chairman George S. Tsandikos. “The Conference will present an inspiring program that will also feature two other prominent speakers. They are Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and current President of American University and John P. Angelos, Executive Vice President of the Baltimore Orioles and President and Chief Operating Officer of the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).” In a statement to NEO, Tsandikos pointed out that “Leadership 100 has grown stronger with each passing year in membership, assets and, most importantly, in the amount of grants distributed. Each year our annual conferences reach new heights in attendance and programming. Our good works have a profound and lasting impact in transforming lives and institutions at all levels of society. Our accomplishments have been exceptional thanks to the committed men and women who comprise our membership.”

Dr. Anthony Papadimitriou, Afroditi Panagiotakou, Archbishop Demetrios, George Behrakis and George Tsandikos

Reverend Archimandrite Nathanael Symeonides, Director of the Office of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, will conduct a panel titled “Transforming the World through Collaboration: The Work of the Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations” with four participants: Dr. Carrie Frederick Frost, Professor at Saint Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary, Joyce S. Dubensky, CEO of Tanenbaum, Christina Hioureas, Counsel at Foley Hoag LLP, and Dr. Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Visiting Associate Professor of Conflict Resolution at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Archbishop Demetrios, Geron of America will preside at all events, along with Chairman Tsandikos, as well as deliver both the traditional Bible Study and Lecture. Other events include Golf and Tennis Tournaments and Awards, a Walk/Run competition, new member orientation and a young adult and youth program.

The Archbishop lakovos Leadership 100 Award for Excellence will be presented at the Grand Banquet on Saturday, February 3. The Conference will conclude with the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy celebrated at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Miami on Sunday, February 4.

Speaking to NEO Chairman Tsandikos observed that “When Greek Orthodox American Leaders banded together in 1984 under the spiritual leadership of Archbishop Iakovos. the objective was to propel the Greek Orthodox Church in America and the Greek American Community to recommit to their ancient faith and heritage by sharing their time-tested values and philanthropy with future generations. The Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Fund, Inc. was the fruit of their efforts, a legacy down through the decades that has attracted newer generations of leaders to commit their time, treasure and talents to seeding and nurturing programs and projects that advanced Orthodoxy and Hellenism in America.”

Memories from the 2017 Conference, PHOTO: VASSILIOS KUKORINIS

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According to Executive Director Paulette Poulos, “Leadership 100 has made great strides since its founding in 1984. Beginning with just 100 members, it has now reached more than 1,000 members. At the close of 2017, we increased membership to 1,071, with 626 members fulfilled. Furthermore, total assets have topped $100 million for the first time in 2017. Finally, grants distributed since our founding have also reached a new high of $48,198,332.” However, “The story of Leadership 100 cannot be found in numbers alone. Committed Greek Orthodox American leaders, men, women and young adults, have joined together from every walk of life and from every part of the country to become a force for good, perpetuating our Orthodox Faith and Hellenic Heritage through programs and projects that have had a lasting impact.”

Sylvia Burwell

Sylvia Burwell is American University’s 15th president and first woman president. She served as the 22nd Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 2014 to 2017. During her tenure, the Department implemented the Affordable Care Act, pioneered groundbreaking advances in research and innovation, and expanded critical services for families.

Previously, she was the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, where she worked with Congress to negotiate a two-year budget deal following the 2013 government shutdown. Her prior government experience includes Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the Treasury, and Special Assistant to the Director of the National Economic Council.

Burwell served 11 years at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, including roles as the Chief Operating Officer and President of the Global Development Program. She then served as President of the Walmart Foundation and ran their Women’s Economic Empowerment efforts.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard University and a BA in Philosophy, Policy and Economics from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

A second-generation Greek-American, President Burwell is a native of Hinton, West Virginia. She and her husband Stephen Burwell are the parents of two young children.

John Angelos

Over the past two decades, John Angelos has been involved in business operations for the Baltimore Orioles and Oriole Park at Camden Yards while serving since 2006 as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Mid-Atlantic Sports Television Network (MASN), one of the leading multimedia entertainment and sports properties in the United States.

Recognized as Marylander of the Year-Honorable Mention by the Baltimore Sun, Angelos has been hailed by industry-bible Sports Business Journal as a “top-ten decision maker” on MLB league, media, and digital issues and for his “reinvention of the Spring Training business model” in creating taxpayer-conscious, public-private sports tourism development partnerships around sports venue, youth academy, and family entertainment real estate development that drives responsible fiscal return on investment for all stakeholders.

Making regular appearances or featured as a guest expert on CBS Television and Radio, Bloomberg Media, PBS, MSNBC, Fox Sports Radio, and Rogers Media, as well as in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Sports Pro, the SBJ and other publications, Angelos is a frequent featured panelist or presenter at media and sports industry summits. He is recognized by the national sports business, media, and journalist communities as one of a select few among both sports team or network media executives to possess several decades of experience in all three keystone sports industry disciplines of professional sports league governance, franchise valuation and management practice, sports television and multimedia property development, distribution, and rights negotiation, and sports facility and subsidiary asset consulting, funding, design, and development.

Angelos is known for his executive management oversight and operation of the Oriole Park at Camden Yards venue that forever changed baseball and stewardship of a ballpark and fan experience consistently acclaimed by both consumer polls and media reports as delivering the most memorable sports venue atmosphere and finest customer service quality in all of the American sports industry. Now approaching total attendance of 70 million fans at Camden Yards, the Orioles later carried the concept of sports tourism incubation through multimedia regional promotion, sports brand building and consumer service originated by the Camden Yards example in Maryland to the club’s Spring Training and year round Academy complex in Sarasota, Florida, envisioning it as a magnet for family sports tourism.

Angelos’ professional and philanthropic focus has been on pioneering the use of sports and media platforms to create community benefit and change. His efforts have centered on local initiatives such as: the Orioles “Eat, Train, & Live Like the PrO’s Challenge”, a two-month intensive health and fitness curriculum taught by the Orioles in public schools that has established a new model using sports branding and star players to encourage healthy lifestyles and nutritional literacy among public middle school students; the “Nashville Comes to the Ballpark-Artists and Athletes Playing for Their Community” program, a fusion of world class musicians and athletes using their talents to fund health and literacy services for those in need; and the “Birdland Community Heroes and Americana Music” and “Don’t Miss the Magic” programs, both initiatives using the power of diversity, music, baseball, and positive messaging to raise awareness of our everyday American heroes in civilian and military life and the not for profit organizations that serve our community.

He also participated in the Orioles international “people to people” programs, including the five-year partnership with the International Olympic and Greek Olympic Committees prior to the 2004 Athens Olympics and the club’s creation of an historic 1999 home-and-home series played between the Cuban National Baseball Team and the Orioles in Havana and at Camden Yards. Through the latter initiative, the Orioles became the first professional American sports team to play in Cuba since the 1958 U.S. Embargo was imposed on the island nation and the first American professional sports organization to host a Cuban sports team in the United States during the Embargo and Travel Ban era.

James Stavridis

A Florida native, Jim Stavridis attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent over thirty years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded US Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest serving Combatant Commander in recent US history.

In the course of his career in the Navy, he served as senior military assistant to the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. He led the Navy’s premier operational think tank for innovation, Deep Blue, immediately after the 9/11 attacks.

He won the Battenberg Cup for commanding the top ship in the Atlantic Fleet and the Navy League John Paul Jones Award for Inspirational Leadership, along with more than 50 US and international medals and decorations, including 28 from foreign nations. He also commanded a Destroyer Squadron and a Carrier Strike Group, both in combat.

In 2016, he was vetted for Vice President by Secretary Hillary Clinton, and subsequently invited to Trump Tower to discuss a cabinet position with President Donald Trump.

He earned a PhD from The Fletcher School at Tufts, winning the Gullion Prize as outstanding student in his class in 1983, as well as academic honors from the National and Naval War Colleges as a distinguished student. He speaks Spanish and French.

Jim has published eight books on leadership, the oceans, maritime affairs, and Latin America, as well as hundreds of articles in leading journals. An active user of social networks, he has tens of thousands of connections on the social networks. His TED talk on 21st century security in 2012 has had over 700,000 views. He tweeted the end of combat operations in the Libyan NATO intervention. His memoir of the NATO years, “The Accidental Admiral,” was released in October 2014, and he has two books out in 2017: “The Leader’s Bookshelf: 50 Books That Make Us Better Leaders” in March and “Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the Oceans” in June.

Admiral Stavridis is also the Chair of the Board of the US Naval Institute, the professional association of the Nation’s sea services: Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine. He is a monthly columnist for TIME Magazine and Chief International Security Analyst for NBC News.

Jim is the 12th Dean at The Fletcher School, a post he assumed in the summer of 2013. He is happily married to Laura, and they have two daughters – one working at Google and the other a Registered Nurse, both married to physicians.

Rev. Nathanael Symeonides

The Very Reverend Archimandrite Nathanael Symeonides was born in Thessaloniki, Greece (1978). He is a graduate of Hellenic College (BA, 2000) and of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (MDiv, 2003). He earned an STM (2003) and a Th.D. (2007) in Bioethics from Boston University. Fr. Nathanael has also studied the history and ethics of public health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He is a guest professor of Christian ethics and bioethics at Fordham University, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and Saint Vladimir Theological School. Fr. Nathanael was ordained a Deacon (2003) and a Presbyter (2010) by His Eminence Geron Archbishop Demetrios of America. His ecclesial and pastoral work includes service as the Deacon to Metropolitan Methodios (2003-2006); Deacon to the Archbishop (2006-2010); Pastor of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, NY (2010-2013).

During his time as a parish priest, Fr. Nathanael developed an urban ministry, Orthodox Christians in Action (OPA), which harnessed the gifts and talents of the faithful, especially the energy of over 400 young professionals of Manhattan, offering them ways to create meaningful change in the lives of those most vulnerable in society.

In September of 2013 he was appointed Director of the Office of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. In his present position, Fr. Nathanael manages and directs the relationships between the Archdiocese and numerous religious organizations, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and Permanent Missions to the United Nations. Most recently, he convened a colloquium entitled, Orthodoxy and Humanitarianism: Ideas and Action in the Contemporary World, which brought together experts from around the world to discuss ways that the Church may help alleviate humanitarian crises and promote sustainable development.

Fr. Nathanael is a brother of the historic monastic community of St. George Epanosifis in Crete, Greece.