Six distinguished alumni of Strathclyde were honoured by the Hellenic Alumni Association of the University of Strathclyde at a ceremony held on June 11 in Athens at Ktima Filira.
The Hellenic Alumni Society normally hosts an annual meeting but this year decided to host a quite different form of event for their membership, now numbering just under 2000. They decided to host a more formal evening and present lifetime achievement awards for those within their alumni membership.
The lifetime achievement awards were made to three alumni from the world of academia and three from the business world. Those awarded from the academic world were: Dr George Avlonitis, Professor of Marketing at the Athens University of Economics, and President of the European Marketing Academy; Dr Athanasios Kouremenos, Professor of Marketing at the University of Piraeus, Athens University of Economics, University of the Aegean, and the Technical University of Athens; and Dr John Kontos, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Athens.
From the business community, awards went to: Dr Andrew Spyrou, former technical director of the Onassis Group companies in Europe and the USA; Mr Christos Papapolyzos, President of DDB South Eastern Europe and Vice President of DDB Worldwide Europe; and George Linardatos, managing director of Schools, S.Avgoulea Linardatos, the largest private school in Greece.
Three of the six alumni were graduates of the business school, namely, Professor Georgios Avlonitis, Professor Athanasios Kouremenos, and Mr Christos Papapolyzos.
They keynote speaker at the event was Dr John Kalogerakis, secretary of the alumni association and CEO of JMK Ltd. He highlighted the importance of this award as a well-timed initiative in the current 'gloomy' economic environment. The people being honoured, he said, were bright examples of people who, through hard work and ethics, supported by the solid foundation of their education, showed a way out of the current crisis.
Guests representing Strathclyde University included Professor Stan Paliwoda and alumni officer Lucy Alder.
Professor Paliwoda said, "This was a splendid event held outdoors on a beautifully warm summer evening. The presentation was very professional with two screens presenting information in Greek and English. Clever lighting and music were used throughout to create a wonderful and highly memorable spectacle."
He added that attendees were impressed by the nature and quality of the event.