Simon is a trainer and board evaluation and governance consultant. He stepped down as CEO of ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute (CGI) on 30 June 2019, having held the role since 1 October 2011. That appointment followed eight years as Joint Head of ICSA Board Evaluation, a role to which he has returned. Simon is a Fellow of the CGI, having qualified first as a solicitor. He worked as in-house counsel for 30 years in the railway industry, latterly as Company Secretary and General Counsel and then as a main board executive director of the former Railtrack Group PLC.

Simon is now an Executive Fellow with the London Business School Leadership Institute. In addition to his board evaluation practice, he delivers training programmes for company directors. Simon is a member of the International Corporate Governance Network (he is immediate past chair of ICGN’s Bylaws & Procedures Committee and was a founder member of its Business Ethics Committee). He is a vice-president of a charity, the Railway Benefit Fund of which he was previously the deputy chair. He has served also as a NED of a boutique media and events company, as the chair of the ICSA Company Secretaries Forum, as a member and chair of the audit committee of The Law Society of England and Wales and as a member of the audit committee of a major City of London law firm.

Costas is a founding partner in A. & E. C. Emilianides, C. Katsaros & Associates Ltd and a practicing lawyer in Cyprus, advising some of the biggest organizations of the island and a portfolio of international clients that operate in Cyprus and abroad.

He was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. He graduated with grade excellent from the Law School of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1999. In June of 1999 he received a scholarship for participating in a postgraduate seminar course in maritime law of Tulane University, New Orleans, US & University of Aegean. He completed his postgraduate studies in History, Philosophy & Sociology of Law (LLM) at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with grade excellent.

He has worked as an investment broker & trader, being certified as a derivatives consultant from ADEX (Athens Derivatives Exchange) in 2001 having succeeded in the exams for the relevant professional licence, until his entrance as an advocate in Thessaloniki (Greece) Bar Association in 2002, where he has been a member for 15 years as a licenced advocate.

Since 2008-2009 he has moved to Cyprus and contributed to the task of the new charter of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus and served as the legal advisor of the Holy Archbishopric of Cyprus and head of its legal activities and entities. He has been a visiting lecturer of University of Nicosia (UNIC) and published various scientific articles and lectures.

He has significant administrative experience as he served as the Chairman of the board of one of the biggest media groups in Cyprus, Senior Independent Member of the Board of the biggest credit & financial institution of Cyprus (Bank of Cyprus), Chairman of the board of one of the biggest insurance companies of Cyprus (Eurolife), a board member of CNP Holdings and it’s subsidiaries, one of the biggest insurance companies of Cyprus and a member of CNP global group, Chairman of the supervisory board and member of the board of banking institutions abroad, Member of one of the biggest securities companies of Cyprus (Laiki Capital) and others.

He serves as a non-executive board member of the biggest real estate fund of Cyprus (CYREIT Variable Capital Public Ltd). He also serves as a board member of the Cypriot-Italian business association (Sintesi), which has been recognized as the Italian-Cypriot chamber of commerce by the Italian goverment in December 2019.