
Speakers


Highlights

CASPAR BERRY
RISK TAKING AND DECISION MAKING EXPERT
Caspar started his working life at the age of 16 as an actor in the first two series of BBC drama Byker Grove with “Ant and Dec”. They went on to become two of the most famous people in the UK and Caspar went on to study economics at Cambridge where he had early commercial success directing award-winning short films and TV commercials from the age of 18. He went on to write two feature films which were produced by Film Four and Columbia Tri Star before he had graduated. He did not get a very good degree. He went on to write and direct in the film and television industry for much of the next four years before deciding that he was heading towards the age of 30 without having lived much of life outside of that crazy and unreal world. So aged 26, he decided to take a risk and move to Las Vegas with his life savings in his pocket. Playing poker was disciplining, testing and demanding but also incredibly emotionally rewarding as he conquered the challenges it posed and made a living as a professional poker player at the tables of Las Vegas. After three years, however, he decided that his future lay away from the poker table and he returned to the UK and set up Twenty First Century Media which he built to a team of 40 before selling to Bob Geldof’s Ten Alps plc. At around this time, in 2005, the poker boom happened, and Caspar had already started speaking professionally so he moved to London to create a portfolio career as a trainer for the Mind Gym by day (delivering over 400 sessions to 100 companies) and a TV poker commentator by night (doing over 2000 hours of live broadcasting on poker channels and Sky Sports).In 2006 he was asked to be one of the two poker advisors on the James Bond movie “Casino Royale”, tasked with training the actors up to look like professional poker players for the key scenes. In the last 15 years Caspar has delivered over 2,000 speeches and training sessions in more than 30 countries for nearly 500 organisations including the biggest companies in the world. He now mentors young speakers and brings together all the otherwise disparate skills he’s learnt over his career – writing, directing, training, economics – to help young speakers craft messages culled from their own life that are focused on helping people and businesses make profound changes in all manner of ways.


Highlights

INMA MARTINEZ
DIGITAL PIONEER AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SCIENTIST
Inma Martinez is a technology pioneer and AI scientist advisor to leaders in business and government on the digital economy as a force for progress and societal welfare. Progressing her previous careers in investment banking and telecommunications towards technology entrepreneurship, she is recognised worldwide as one of the leading entrepreneurs who pioneered with teams at Cambridge University and Trinity College Dublin the first real-time AI recommendation system of the mobile Internet. Throughout the 2000s she continued working in technology innovation creating emerging digital technologies like mobile music and video streaming, the connected car and smart living. Her unique experience has allowed her to become one of the most sought-after forecaster of digital disruptions revealing the potentiality of AI and other transformative technologies. As a government advisor, Inma currently serves as Chair of the Multi-stakeholder Expert Group and Co-Chair of the Steering Committee at the GPAI, the G7/OECD global agency for the development and cooperation on AI. She joined the GPAI as a government nominated expert on innovation and commercialisation of AI and leads the AI in Agriculture and the AI Safety projects. She has served in the United Kingdom at the Trade & Investment agency and at the Innovation Fund of the Department of Sport, Media and Culture, the All Party Parliamentary Group on AI, and is currently a member Member of the A.I. Council Advisory Board State Secretariat for AI) at Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Government of Spain. Since 2001 Inma has provided expert testimonies and sector strategies on Big Data and AI at the European Commission contributing to numerous strategies and policies shaping the digital future of the single market. She is an advisor and collaborator of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the High-Level Board on AI, an ambassador of UNESCO’s initiative to make AI inclusive of intercultural input and their AI Ethics Observatory, and the European Space Agency’s Human and Robotic Exploration and the Ariane Cities programmes. Inma is a guest lecturer at Imperial College London Business School and directs the Master in AI at the University of Loyola in Spain, where is a member of its Advisory Council, and mentored and collaborated with UCL, IE, ESADE, Deusto, IESE and INSEAD. She has been a key figure in the European knowledge-transfer efforts and has mentored technological innovation at the top venture-focused acceleration programmes. Read More...


Highlights

LARS TVEDE
AWARD-WINNING SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR, SUCCESSFUL FINANCIAL INVESTOR AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Lars Tvede is a Danish citizen who has lived in Switzerland for three decades now. He holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and a Bachelor’s degree in International Commerce, and he is also a certified derivatives trader from National Futures Association in Chicago. His 17 books have been published in 11 languages and more than 60 editions. He spent 11 years in portfolio management and investment banking before moving to the high-tech and telecommunications industries in the mid-1990s, where he was a co-founder of several technology companies, which have won various international awards, including the Red Herring Global 100 Award, the IMD Swiss Start-up Award, the Bully Award, and Nordic Investor of the Year Award. He is also founder of Beluga, a very successful financial trading company. In 2016, he co-founded the Nordic-American venture capital fund Nordic Eye. In 2019, he founded Supertrends AG which uses AI, text mining, statistics and crowdsourcing to map and visualise global innovation. This includes 1) all historical innovation, dating 3.3 million years back, 2) what is going on right now (by tracking vast amounts of data sources in real time) 3) and what is expected for the future – mapped by AI and crowdsourced from the entrepreneurs and scientists who are creating the future. The company was recently awarded TOp Hot Swiss Startup 2024. Lars has been listed in The Guru Guide to Marketing as one of the Worlds 62 leading thinkers of marketing strategy and has appeared on media hundreds of times, including as guest host on CNBC and as multiple TED-speaker. For his contribution to the political discussion, he has also received the Adam Smith Award and was in 2021 Finalist for the Fonsmark Award.


Highlights

LEWIS PUGH
ENDURANCE SWIMMER &
UN PATRON OF THE OCEANS
Lewis Pugh is an endurance swimmer and an ocean advocate. He swims in the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth to campaign for their protection. As an endurance swimmer, Lewis is unparalleled. He was the first person to undertake a long-distance swim in every ocean of the world. He pioneered the first swim across the North Pole, the first swim along the length of the English Channel, the world’s highest swim (on Mt Everest) and even a swim under the Antarctic ice sheet. Last year he swam the length of the Hudson River. Lewis’s work focuses on creating marine protected areas. In 2016 he helped establish the largest protected area in the world in the Ross Sea off Antarctica. Over a 10-year period he has been instrumental in protecting over 2 million square kilometers of vulnerable ocean. To put this in perspective, it’s an area the size of western Europe. Lewis talks about how he undertakes these swims, which many regarded as “impossible”, and the campaigns to get the areas protected. He speaks about creating a clear vision, choosing the right team, meticulous preparation, resilience, and changing when circumstances dictate. And he speaks about purpose - it’s the engine which drives us. TED describe him as a “master story-teller”. Lewis studied law at the Cambridge University.



EVGENIOS EVGENIOU
RESPONSIBLE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT AT GLOBAL FIXED INCOME BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT
Chairman of Invest Cyprus, member of the National Board for Research and Innovation, member of the Corporate Governance committee of the ICAEW and former member of the Council of the University of Cyprus. Currently a non-executive director. Had a 31-year career with PwC serving as Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC Cyprus (2012-2021) and member of the PwC EMEA Leadership Team (2014 - 2021) representing fifteen European countries. Beyond commercial success key achievements included: technological transformation; digital upskilling of personnel; developing the data analytics, Cyber security, and AI capabilities; launching the PwC Experience Centre. An Imperial College London Engineering graduate (BEng(Hons)), a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA), completed the Harvard Direct Leadership program. Over the last two years he earned the MA in International Affairs (Strategic Studies) from King's College London and the Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.



DR. VASILIS CHATZIKOS
CEO OF SIEMENS S.A. - HEAD OF DIGITAL INDUSTRIES
Dr. Vasileios Chatzikos has extensive professional experience in management, sales, and marketing within the technology sector of major companies in Greece. His notable academic achievements include participation in European research projects, delivering lectures, and publishing in international research journals. Dr. Chatzikos joined Siemens S.A. in 2016, initially serving as Business Unit Manager in the Electrical Products Division, and later in the Motion Control Division. Since February 2021, he has been the Head of Digital Industries at Siemens Greece, leading the forts for the adoption of technological solutions and innovations from Siemens’ global network to accelerate the digital transformation of Greek businesses and advance the Greek industry towards Industry 4.0. On February 1, 2022, Dr. Chatzikos assumed the role of CEO of Siemens S.A., while continuing to lead Siemens Digital Industries. He holds a PhD in Engineering from the University of Sheffield.



ELIAS NEOCLEOUS
MANAGING PARTNER, ELIAS NEOCLEOUS & CO LLC
Elias Neocleous is the Managing Partner of Elias Neocleous & Co LLC, Cyprus’ largest and most progressive international law firm. He is a graduate of Oxford University, a barrister of the Inner Temple, and was admitted to the Cyprus Bar in 1993. Elias has more than thirty years’ experience successfully leading legal teams dealing with large, complex and innovative cross-border transactions. His main areas of practice are banking and finance, company matters, intellectual property law, international trade, tax and trusts and estate planning. Elias is a frequent conference guest speaker with many publications to his credit. He is a strong advocate for utilizing technology to benefit the client and is spearheading the introduction of ALSP to Cyprus via Neolaw.ai.



TIMUR TURLOV
CEO OF FREEDOM HOLDING CORP, FOUNDER OF FREEDOM24
Timur Turlov is the founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: FHRC). He began his finance career at 16 and later worked at Uniastrum Bank, where he helped develop trading infrastructure for U.S. stock exchanges. In 2008, at 21, Turlov founded Freedom Finance, which expanded into Kazakhstan in 2012 and became a leading brokerage firm. By 2019, he consolidated his businesses under Freedom Holding Corp., listing it on Nasdaq. Under his leadership, the company grew into a $5 billion financial services group operating in 22 countries, with Turlov personally controlling 69% of its shares. His wealth reached $4 billion by 2024. Freedom Holding Corp. offers diverse services, including banking, brokerage, telecom, and e-commerce, serving over 5 million customers in Kazakhstan. The company also expanded into the U.S. and Europe, acquiring firms like Prime Executions Inc. and LD Micro. Beyond business, Turlov promotes chess in Kazakhstan’s schools, supports youth soccer, and leads cultural and ecological initiatives. He lives in Almaty with his wife and six children.



DIMITRI PAPALEXOPOULOS
CHAIRMAN, TITAN CEMENT INTERNATIONAL
Dimitri Papalexopoulos is Chairman of Titan Cement International (TCI), a cement and building materials producer active since 1902. TCI directly employs about 5,500 people, operates cement plants in 10 countries and is active in many more. Mr. Papalexopoulos is Chair of the Energy Transition & Climate Change Committee of the European Roundtable for Industry (ERT) and is a member of the Boards of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (¬¯°), the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and of “Endeavor Greece”. He served as Chairman of the Board of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) from 2020-2024. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ) and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Prior to joining TITAN, he was a consultant for McKinsey & Company in New York and Munich. He speaks Greek, English, French and German. He is married and has three children.



DEMETRIS DEMETRIOU
CHIEF RISK OFFICER, BANK OF CYPRUS
Demetris holds the position of the Chief Risk Officer at Bank of Cyprus since September 2019. He began his career in 2000 with the Cyprus Investment and Securities Corporation Ltd (CISCO) as Investment Banking Analyst. From 2003 to 2006, he worked for Bank of Cyprus as Customer Relationship Officer and later was appointed Deputy General Manager of CB Bank of Cyprus LLC in Moscow. He then returned to Cyprus and was placed in Private Banking, and later appointed Head of the Institutional Wealth Desk. From September 2013, he worked in various roles in the Risk Management Division, where he remained until September 2019 when he took the position of Chief Risk Officer Demetris holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Mathematics from Yale University, USA and an MSc in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics, United Kingdom. He is also a CFA Charter holder.



CLEA EVAGOROU
DELOITTE CYPRUS, PARTNER, RISK ADVISORY LEADER AND RISK ADVISORY FSI LEADER FOR NORTH SOUTH EUROPE
Clea Evagorou is a Partner within DME and leads Risk Advisory for Cyprus. Clea specialises in Banking and Financial Services. Clea joined Deloitte in 2016, having spent over a decade working in the UK Financial Services across a variety of roles, specialising in structured finance, corporate restructurings and Treasury strategy. She is a member of Deloitte’s Banking Union Centre in Frankfurt and Centre for Resolution Excellence in Brussels. Clea holds a BA in Economics (Accounting & Finance) from the University of Manchester. She is a Fellow Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Tax Advisor, and a Member of the UK’s Institute of Consulting



NIKOS VETTAS
GENERAL DIRECTOR, FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH - IOBE PROFESSOR, ATHENS UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS
Nikos Vettas is the General Director of the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research and Professor of Economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business, where he has served as Chairman of the Economics Department and member of the University Council. He holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been an Associate Professor at Duke University and a visiting Professor at INSEAD. Associate Editor of the International Journal of Industrial Organization, a Research Fellow at CEPR, UK, and a member of the Executive Committee of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics. He has served as a member of the Hellenic Competition Commission and the Economic Advisory Group for Competition Policy at the European Commission. Co-organizer of Conference for Research on Economic Theory and Econometrics. Co-editor of Beyond Austerity: Reforming the Greek Economy (MIT Press, 2017). Vice-Chairman of the Growth Plan Committee of the Hellenic Republic for the Greek Economy, 2020.



PETER SARLIN
CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, SILO AI - AMD
Peter Sarlin is the CEO and co-founder of Silo AI, Europe’s largest private AI lab, and a Professor of Practice at Aalto University, specializing in machine learning and AI. Silo AI was recently acquired by AMD. He has a rich academic background that spans roles as a tenured professor, visiting professor and research associate at institutions like the Imperial College London, London School of Economics, University of Technology Sydney, Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Pavia, Stockholm University, IWH Halle, and University of Cape Town. Peter's expertise is further recognized by his former roles as Vice Chair of the IEEE Computational Finance and Economics Technical Committee and the IEEE Analytics and Risk Technical Committee. His professional journey includes tenures at the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, among others.



Adonis Adoni
Journalist GOLD & CBN
With an LLB and LLM in Medical Law from Nottingham Trent University, Adonis began his career as Cloud Research Manager at BroadGroup, where he specialised in researching the critical intersection between cloud technology and privacy law. Upon returning to Cyprus, he transitioned into journalism, writing for IMH’s GOLD Magazine and the online portal CBN.com.cy. His expertise in covering technology and finance has made him a respected voice in these sectors, providing in-depth analysis and commentary on the rapid changes shaping the local and global economy.



Georgia Pitta
CFO / Executive Director, ECOMMBX
Georgia has held to position of Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of ECOMMBX Ltd since 2017, directly reporting to the Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director. As a founding member of the company’s senior management, she actively participated in the digitization genesis of the company. She also set up the company’s accounting and finance departments, as well as the management Risk Committee, and Investment Committee, and is a member of all. Other key responsibilities include ensuring that the business meets its budgetary targets and minimum capital requirements as per Central Bank Directives, while safeguarding clients’ funds in accordance with the regulatory guidelines and EU Directive. In general, Georgia focuses on maintaining the healthy financial profile of ECOMMBX, in the interest of both the company and its clients. Her diligent budgeting, analysis, reporting and projecting skills were honed over many years in both auditing firms and banks, giving her the credentials to fulfil her duties to perfection.



Stavriana A. Kofteros
Founder, Partner, W11 Ventures
Stavriana is a Founder and Partner of W11 Ventures, a unique boutique growth advisory, venture friend, and value adding connector of corporates with the innovation ecosystem, geared to genuine value creation and growth. She is an Investment Advisor to deeptech VC funds, a member of the Investment Jury Committee of the European Innovation Council (EIC Fund €10bn) for European deeptech startups since its beginning, an EIC Ambassador and a Board mentor to EIC Scaling Biotech startups. She is on the Global Advisory Council of G100 for the wing of Humanity, Technology, and Innovation, the former Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Research Innovation Foundation, the national Research and Innovation fund of Cyprus. Stavriana has been active in the European startup ecosystem, as Cofounder and President of the Board of Startup Cyprus, a member of EU’s Innovation Ecosystem Leaders Group, member of the European Digital Leaders Network of WEF, former member of the EPP Expert Groups on Innovation and Digital Transition and a member of the Innovation Advisory Board of the Biosense Institute (foodtech, agritech, food security) in Serbia. She is a Cofounder of the European Startup Network, and has served as Vice President of the Board and a member of the Transatlantic Board of Allied for Startups, Brussels-based startup advocacy organizations. She is experienced in deeptech startup support on C-Executive and Board roles and deeptech investments as VC advisor and Angel Investment Committee Deal Leader with investments in deeptech European startups in cybersecurity, ICT, adtech, lifesciences/healthtech, SaaS, AI and energy, among others. She holds degrees in Business Administration and Political Science (ULV) and Certificates in Entrepreneurship Development (MIT-Fulbright Scholar), Corporate Finance (Columbiax), and Venture Capital (EVCA).