At a time when the rate of replacement of CEOs in large corporations worldwide has skyrocketed to historic highs (1,800 layoffs or voluntary departures between October 2023 – October 2024 were recently reported by “Financial Times”), Greek or Greek-born CEOs are not only staying in their positions, but new ones are being added.
From the most influential across the international business world, such as Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase or Ron Vachris of Costco and Albert Bourla of Pfizer, to new entrants such as Duke Energy’s Harry Sideris, the Greeks and Greek heads of multinational conglomerates and national business leaders of major economies, e.g. Germany, Australia, etc, have proved resilient. They have managed to adapt and successfully reshape the business plans of the huge companies they lead in the rapidly changing economic, commercial and business environment.
In conditions of long-term inflation, high interest rates, soaring energy costs and constant turmoil in supply chains, Greek leaders are withstanding the relentless competition and moving forward…All of them are writing their own chapter now in international business developments, all over the globe. Their main weapons include excellent training, creative spirit, flexibility and adaptability, as well as strong personal ambition, elements that make up the profile of a successful CEO.
Many are quick to associate their successful careers with the Greek DNA, which means combativeness, perseverance in the goal, ability to survive in adverse conditions. What is certain is that these are indeed common elements that are found in everyone’s individual success story. And some of them do justice to their Greek roots, as they exert their influence in the implementation of significant investments in our country.
Pierre-Emanuel Angeloglou – LVMH Fashion Group
Mr Fendi
On March 5, 2024, on the day of his birthday, one of the richest men in the world, Bernard Arnaud called one of his close associates, the Greek-born Pierre-Emanuel Angeloglou, and gave him a great gift: he announced his promotion to CEO of several brands in his empire. He’s the new CEO of LVMH Fashion Group, which houses brands like Fendi, Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs, Pucci, Stella McCartney, Patou and Off-White.
He comes from L’Oreal, where he rose to the top of its hierarchy as its global general manager in 2017-19. At that time, the company’s active cosmetics business saw record sales growth of +15.5%. In 2019, however, the resourceful Arnaud has thrown him into the deep end at Louis Vuitton as director of strategic missions, in charge of fashion and leather goods. In 2022, he became deputy general manager and executive vice president. His responsibilities include men’s products, where during his tenure revenues soared to €5 billion, as well as women’s accessories, digital innovation, communications, and events. The latter two areas are vital for a company with more than 50 million followers on its Instagram and TikTok accounts.
A new surprise for Angeloglou followed. At the end of May last year, it was announced that he was personally taking on the role of CEO of Fendi. And many don’t believe that the next internal restructuring of Louis Vuitton patriarch Bernard Arnaud (who will hold the reins until 2029, before handing it over to his five children) will likely elevate him even higher, to the position of CEO of the giant. After all, he is a “multinational”, as he speaks seven languages, and now has all the necessary credentials. However, he doesn’t speak Greek.
Ron Vachis – Costco
From forklift driver
COSCO, the Chinese giant that manages the port of Piraeus, and Costco, little known in Greece, are separated by just one… “t”. But also an abyss of tens of billions of dollars. The just 42-year-old American retailer is a multinational giant, spread across dozens of countries, with 890 warehouses/stores, operating mainly through the membership/subscriber system and with revenues last year of $254 billion. Third largest global retailer, behind only Walmart and Target Corporation, at No. 12 in the Fortune-500. Its big competitive advantage is its private label products, discount prices and subscription system. And with 333,000 employees, led by a Greek-born, highly capable manager.
His name is Ron Vachris. He took over as president and CEO of Costco in January 2024, having previously, for 28 years, worked his way up through all ranks. Starting as a seasonal forklift driver (!) while studying Business Administration at Glendale Community College in Arizona, he climbed all the rungs to the top. He is the epitome of technocratic genius, hard work, perseverance, and immense modesty. “Throughout the company, there are many like me. But there is only one CEO position, so I happened to be in it,” he said recently. Lucky? Costco shareholders (Vanguard Group, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and others) probably think differently to set him apart from the rest of the executives at the company, whose doctrine is to elevate its leaders from within.
The 60-year-old Vachris works in an office on the 9th floor of Costco’s headquarters, just a little larger than his colleagues. His favorite spot in the new building, in a city of just 40,000 people called “Issaquah,” in Seattle, Washington state, is the ground-floor cafeteria, where he socializes with employees. Last year’s earnings topped $12.5 million. He was born in Staten Island, New York, and moved to Arizona as a teenager. He and his 58-year-old wife, Kim, have two boys, 37 and 33, a daughter, 26, and a granddaughter.
Constantina Kanellopoulou – Deutsche Wohnen S.A.
Leader in real estate
Konstantina Kanellopoulou, 42, has been one of the heavyweights of the German real estate market in recent years. A senior executive at Vonovia for seven years since 2014, she became co-managing director of Deutsche Wohnen S.A. on January 1, 2022, when her company was acquired for €19.1 billion by the country’s real estate leader, which manages more than half a million properties.
After a productive stint as co-CEO for DW, she moved in August 2023 to become chairman and CEO at subsidiary GSW Immobilien AG, which celebrated 100 years in business last year. GSW owns around 61,000 residential units in Berlin and is focused on long-term management of rental apartments. Its real estate portfolio is valued at around EUR 3,3 billion. In 2011 it was listed on the Stock Exchange and was acquired by DW two years later.
Its Greek head studied business administration at the University of Minster. He worked in Customer Service at Arvato and Deutsche Annington Immobilien, Bochum. And then in 2014 at Vonovia, where the launch came. She believes that climate change and an aging society will shape the housing market in the coming years: ‘The demand for living space is one thing, but we also have to look at how we can renovate that space energy-wise,’ she says. Although she is one of Germany’s most important technocratic personalities, Konstantina Kanellopoulou is projected strictly for her work alone. She is a recognizable face at the opening of a new project or through an interview about the apartment market in the country, a topic that “burns” Germans.
Merilyn Paspaley – Paspaley Pearls, Pinctada Hotels & Resorts
The Queen of Pearls
74-year-old Marilyn Paspaley started as an actress, but life led her into business. It makes sense, since her father Nicholas Paspalis, starting in the 1930s, managed to build an entire empire on the coast of Western Australia, arriving there from Castellorizo. An empire in the pearl market primarily, Paspaley Pearls, but it expanded into wine, aviation, real estate, and even the “Wall Street Hotel” in New York.
At the multinational giant, the successor was Nicholas Paspaley Jr. and his sister Rosalyn Bracher. The second sister, Marilyn, after a career in television series, took the helm of the company. This may have happened without much effort, but it does nothing to diminish Marilyn’s status and successes as CEO of the company.
In 2008 she was awarded the Order of Australia for her contribution to the marketing and promotion of Australian-designed pearls and jewellery. She has focused on the development of the hotel market-leading subsidiary Pinctada Hotels & Resorts in the world-class resort of Kimberley in north-western Australia, with a range of ultra-luxury resorts. However, on her frequent European trips she prefers luxury Swiss destinations such as St Moritz.
Hari Sideris – Duke Energy
The new leader
Harry Sideris is the youngest to join the list of the world’s top Greek-born CEOs. The definition of an executive who has fought for three decades very hard, with diligence, consistency, and professionalism, climbing step by step up the ladder of a great energy company like Duke Energy. Raised in Asheville, North Carolina, by Greek immigrant parents, he studied chemical engineering and then charted an upward trajectory at the same company, reaching the presidency last year and, as of April 1 this year, will take over as CEO, succeeding Lynn Goode.
The company whose helm the 53-year-old Sideris will keep is no accident. It’s listed on the NYSE, with 121 years of history behind it. Its headquarters are at the Duke Energy Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina. Other than that it electrifies and supplies natural gas to Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Indiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, and Puerto Rico. It operates 11 nuclear power plants at six sites in North and South Carolina. With revenues of $29.06 billion in 2023, over 30,000 employees, and nearly 8 million customers, it was ranked as the 141st largest company in the US in 2024, steadily climbing up the rungs of the Fortune 500 list and aiming for the Top 100 this year. Harry Sideris lives in Charlotte with his wife Catherine and their two daughters, Marie and Zoe.
Evangelia Wletta – Skyline Equities Realty
He “built” Miami
Evangelia Gouleta is a first-generation Greek-American businesswoman. Her company’s sales reach over $5 billion in many parts of the US, particularly in the greater Miami area. For a time she was also the “first lady” of New York City, between 1981-82, as the wife of then-state governor Hugh Carey, whom she divorced in 1989.
Her parents were originally from Euboea and Santorini, while Guleta was born in Athens during the difficult years of the Occupation. Her family soon immigrated to Chicago where, when she was 17, her father bought a building with 6 apartments. She then gave him $700, which she had saved from jobs she did in the afternoons after school, as a down payment on one of the six apartments and paid the mortgage payment for the remaining amount each month.
Today, the demonic Greek is president and CEO of Skyline Equities Realty, a company that acquires, builds, and develops luxury real estate in upscale areas.
She has sold tens of thousands of properties and the name “Evangeline” is synonymous with prestigious addresses. Its portfolio includes “Buckingham Plaza” in Chicago, “Barclay Tower” in Denver, “Lafayette” shopping center, “Century of Progress” in Chicago, and “Skyline” on the famous Brickell Avenue, also known as “Millionaire’s Row” in Miami.
Goleta is interested in Greece and is involved in many Greek-American organizations, including the Hellenic American Women’s Council (HAWC). In recognition of this quiet contribution, AHEPA Greece honored her at the first AHEPA Awards last December with the Greek American Personality Award for her promotion of Hellenism, dedication to family and personal development, and contributions to social and charitable causes.
Jamie Dimon – JP Morgan Chase
The most influential
When Jamie Dimon speaks about the economy, the stock market, and geopolitical developments, everyone in the US listens intently. His opinion carries weight with the markets, investors, and governments of major countries. His predictions rarely miss. It was his brilliant moves that averted the collapse of Wall Street and the US financial system in the 2008 Lehman Brothers crisis.
A legacy that has enshrined him as by far the most influential manager, if not in the world, certainly in American finance. He has led, for the past 20 years, as chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase, the leading US bank, and has repeatedly been included in Time magazine’s annual lists of the “100 most important people in the world”. One of the few managers who became billionaires by receiving staggering pay packages. For years the highest-paid CEO in the US, with an annual salary of $28 million. The 69-year-old third-generation Greek-American Dimon was born in New York to Greek immigrant children. But also bankers.
Theodore’s father rose to executive vice president at American Express. Jamie studied psychology and economics at Tufts University and then at Harvard. It was there that he met his future wife Judith Kent. They married in 1983 and had three daughters. After a working stint in consulting firms, in March 2000 Dimon was appointed CEO of Bank One, then the 5th largest bank in the US. When JP Morgan Chase acquired it in July 2004, he became president and chief executive officer of the merged banks. A year later, on December 31, 2005, he became CEO of JPMC and then its chairman.
An “unrepentant” banker, though the “sirens” to cross over into the political arena, even running for president, was constant, coming from both camps, Republican and Democrat. His relationship with Trump has gone through forty waves. Sometimes calm, sometimes cloudy. Same with Musk. In the campaign season (for party nominations) Trump, thinking he would support the Democrats, attempted to verbally disparage him. But quickly, when Dimon spoke sympathetically about his policies in 2017-20, he raised eyebrows. He even floated the idea of making him Treasury Secretary. He got no response.
However, his key warning about the risk of stagflation in the US if the announcements of increased tariffs are implemented, the planetary leader seems to be ignoring it for now. Dimon does not forget his Greek roots. He is interested in the Greek economy, pushes investments to our country, both JP Morgan and others, and meets frequently with the current Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Albert Bourla – Pfizer
The businessman of the pandemic
One of the most talked-about faces of the last five years, 64-year-old Albert Bourla, as the pharmaceutical company he heads, Pfizer, was the first, in partnership with BioNTech, to manufacture and distribute billions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Born in Thessaloniki, of Jewish descent, he studied at Aristotle University and obtained a PhD in Biotechnology of Reproduction at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. A professorship at AUTH awaited him, but he was beaten to it by the tempting offer from Pfizer to join its staff. He set off for Athens, but after two years the journey continued to four different countries. In January 2018 he became general manager of operations, in October CEO, and in January 2020 he became executive chairman of the pharmaceutical giant.
His international accolades and awards are innumerable. With his name synonymous with the battle against coronavirus, CNN chose him as Businessman of the Year, where he beat out Ilon Musk. Of all the Greek-born CEOs who excel internationally, Bourla is the best known, but also the most… Greek. He lives permanently in New York, but has a home in Halkidiki where he comes for summer vacations with his wife and their two children. Bourla has given a huge boost to Pfizer’s investment in Greece, signalling for other US giants to follow. In October 2021, Pfizer’s Global Digital Innovation Center and Global Operations and Services Center opened in Thessaloniki, creating hundreds of new jobs.
Hundreds of hundreds of jobs have been created and hundreds of employees have been employed.
Although under his tenure Pfizer’s profits soared, nevertheless a new minority shareholder, the Starboard Value fund, accused him months ago of bad choices that damaged the company and demanded an explanation. However, the operation to reinstate Burla failed. The major shareholders (Vanguard Group, BlackRock, etc.) of the giant fully supported the Greek CEO. Despite this, he remained among the 100 most powerful people in business, according to Fortune, and the most influential in health care, according to Time. While last April he received the American Association for Cancer Research’s Outstanding Achievement Award in San Diego, California.
Ted Sarantos – Netflix
From the video stores…
Third-generation immigrant, Netflix strongman Ted Sarantos, was born in New Jersey and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. His grandfather had emigrated from Samos to the US, also changing his last name from Karyotakis to Sarantos. He gave up his studies in journalism at the University of Arizona to run the video store he worked at when he was in high school. He soon managed to run 8 stores until he became an executive at one of the largest videotape distribution companies in the US, East Texas. By March 2000, Sarantos was vice president of Products and Merchandise for the nearly 500-store chain.
His next career move was to join Netflix, which had nothing to do with today’s global streaming giant but was simply a mail-order movie distribution company. Having met then CEO Reed Hastings in March 2000, he took over as Head of Programming and his choices proved to be the key man in its evolution into the powerful conglomerate it is today. The rest is a deafening success story. As of summer 2020, Sarantos was upgraded to co-CEO.
He and his first wife Michelle had two children, film producer Sarah Sarandos and film editor Anthony Sarandos. In 2009 he married former US Ambassador to the Bahamas Nicole Avant, daughter of former Motown chairman Clarence Avant. They now live in Hancock Park, Los Angeles. A staunch Democratic supporter and interlocutor of former President Barack Obama. He frequently visits Greece for business and vacations.
In July 2022, he even became the recipient of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s desire to have a successful Greek-language series on Netflix, during a discussion at the Herodesion at an Endeavor Greece event. Among other things, the two men discussed the prospects of Greece becoming a country for film and series production.
Michelle Dukeris – AB InBev
The King of Beer
Greek-Brazilian, eminent technocrat, currently based in Belgium and the city of Leuven, “King of Beer”. This is briefly the profile of 52-year-old Michel Dukkeris who respects and honours his motherland, namely Greece. And he often declares himself proud of his Greek roots. From July 2021 he will lead the management of the world’s largest brewery, AB InBev, with over 150,000 employees in 24 countries. Born in Lagos, Brazil, the son of a first-generation Greek immigrant, a chemical engineering graduate from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, and with a rich post-graduate background in management in the US, he joined AB InBev in 1996.
He worked first in Latin America and then as the company’s head of China and Asia-Pacific for seven years. The first achievement was a 400% jump in corporate revenue. He was promoted to head of global sales and then CEO of North America, where he took the company from loss to profit. All this led him to the top of the hierarchy of the giant that has 400 brands under its umbrella, including Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck’s, Leffe,and others.
An earlier Financial Times feature on Dukkeris said he was fascinated by China’s five-year growth programs and adopted their philosophy in his business strategy. He operated the company based on a ten-year growth plan, always aiming to stay ahead of its competitors. From the result, he was vindicated. Among his major successes, he drastically cut costs to reduce the company’s debts, which when he took over the helm amounted to $80 billion. “Every dollar counts,” he says, asking every regional manager to justify every single expense, even the paper for the printer. The severe cost-cutting has saved thousands of positions for the company’s staff. It also credits the implementation of AB InBev’s first e-commerce platform, where it also increased sales.
Ask me anything
Explore related questions
