Christiana Aristidou
Christiana Aristidou is a former partner of a 50-year legacy medium-sized family law firm, now the managing partner of Christiana Aristidou LLC., a hybrid lawtech firm.
Christiana has been practicing business and technology law for more than 23 years, she is a Member of the Cyprus Bar Association (CBA) since 1997, President of the Technology Committee of the CBA, an approved Trainer (CyQF-EQF-003266), a Certified International Legal Project Practitioner (IILPM), a Member of the Project Management Institute (PMI), a Certified GDPR Expert (HELP-EU), and a Digital Transformation Specialist. She is a Cyprus Delegate to the ISO TC/307 Blockchain Committee, a member of WG6 on Blockchain Use Cases actively contributing to the Blockchain Use-Case Lab reviewing and advising Blockchain and DLT applications and projects in a wide range of industries, and also a Member of WG-3 actively drafting standards on Smart Contracts. Christiana is also a Member of ITU and served in ITU-FG-DLTs and is a co-founding member and Vice-Chair of the Cyprus Blockchain Association (CBA). Christiana is an Advisory Board Member of the SOV Foundation, advising the Government of the Marshal Islands on the implementation of the SOV digital currency.
Having studied and lived in more than five different countries, i.e., Greece, the UK, Germany, China, and Cyprus, Christiana combined legal studies on law and technology, in both, common law and civil law jurisdictions and maintains a very rich business network which supports a global reach of more than 50K professionals and corporates in more than 120 countries. Christiana has been involved in multijurisdictional and complex business and technology legal projects and worked extensively with Silicon Valley-based technology companies, founders, entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists of diverse backgrounds, banks, payment and e-money institutions, funds and fund managers, investment firms, insurance firms, and telecoms giants. She holds management and advisory positions on the boards of several corporate bodies, profit, and not-for-profit, foundations, and charities.
Her expertise lies in the intersection of Business Law, Technology, and Innovation with a focus on digital banking and payment innovation, financial services and fintech, M&A, venture capital/private equity investments, regulatory compliance and regtech, telecommunications, antitrust and competition, proptech, insurtech, corporate finance, and corporate restructuring, funding and innovative financial instruments, internet and cybersecurity, eCommerce, software and gaming, Intellectual Property and technology IP protection, transactional deals and documentation, technology contract drafting, and intellectual property taxing.
Chrystalla Kazara
Chrystalla is a holder of a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration, an MBA from CIIM and a Banking Certificate from the American Bankers Association. She is a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), member of the Board of Directors and Training Director of ACFE Cyprus and member of ACFE Global. She is also a member of ICPAC, of the Cyprus Institute of Internal Auditors and of ISACA Cyprus Chapter. She has 20 years of experience in the Banking sector, in two of the largest financial institutions in Cyprus, and has also experience in the Corporate Services sector. Her expertise mainly focuses in Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance/AML, Corporate Governance, Internal Audit, Fraud Risk Management and Fraud Investigations. Currently, she is the Head-Internal Audit Function of a private company, a corporate trainer of Professional Development courses and an Internal Audit/Fraud Investigations Consultant.
Kostas Katsaros
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.
Μαρία Βασιλείου
Η Μαρία Βασιλείου είναι Νομικός, Διαμεσολαβητής-Διαιτητής, Σύμβουλος Αφερεγγυότητας, ενώ έχει δημιουργήσει και την Συμβουλευτική Εταιρεία, ENTER CONSULTING ZONE LTD. Η εταιρεία ασχολείται με Εταιρική Αναδιαρθρωση όπως υποθέσεις Αφερεγγυότητας Εταιρειών και Αναδιάρθρωσης Δανείων, με θέματα Συμμόρφωσης Εταιρειών με το Εργατικό Δίκαιο και Εργασιακές Σχέσεις/Διαφορές, καθώς και με θέματα Προστασίας Προσωπικών Δεδομένων. Είναι κάτοχος πτυχίου Νομικής (LLB), πτυχίου Στατιστικής (B.Sc), καθώς και Μεταπτυχιακού τίτλου (Master Degree) στη Διοίκηση Ανθρώπινου Δυναμικού και Εργατικού Δικαίου. Παράλληλα είναι: Μέλος και απόφοιτη του Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPD) και πιστοποιημένη Εκπαιδευτής από την ΑΝΑΔ. Διαθέτει μακρά εμπειρία τόσο στην Κύπρο, όσο και στην Ελλάδα και στο Λονδίνο (Η.Β.), αναλαμβάνοντας διάφορες Υπεύθυνες/Διευθυντικές θέσεις. Επιπλέον, έχει μεγάλη πείρα στα Τραπεζικά και σε θέματα Αφερεγγυότητας, καθότι εργάστηκε 14 χρόνια στη Λαϊκή Τράπεζα, ως Νομικός Σύμβουλος και κατέχοντας και άλλες θέσεις ευθύνης. Στην συνέχεια εργάστηκε ως Νομικός Σύμβουλος σε μεγάλο Δικηγορικό Γραφείο στην Κύπρο. Το 2015 διορίστηκε από την Κεντρική Τράπεζα της Κύπρου, ως η Εσωτερική Νομικός Σύμβουλος του Ειδικού Διαχειριστή της Λαϊκής Τράπεζας (ΛΑΙΚΗ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΥΠΟ ΔΙΑΧΕΙΡΙΣΗ). Διετέλεσε, μέλος του Διοικητικού Συμβουλίου Δανειστικών Επιτροπών του Κράτους (Δημόσια Δάνεια) από το 2017-2019. Αρθρογραφεί συστηματικά σε εφημερίδες και ιστοσελίδες και είναι τακτική ομιλήτρια στην τηλεόραση σε θέματα Αφερεγγυότητας / Κόκκινα Δάνεια και Εργασιακές Σχέσεις. Ως ενεργή πολίτης έχει επιδείξει συστηματική ενασχόληση τόσο σε θέματα πολιτικής, όσο και στα κοινά.
Melina Karaolia
Melina Karaolia is a Partner at M. Eliades & Partners LLC since 2008. Her work encompasses a diverse range of corporate and litigation matters. She advises clients in multiple commercial, civil law issues and business law disputes. She concentrates on corporate and commercial litigation and arbitration. She advises and represents clients in international corporate transactions, commercial contracts, mergers and acquisitions and legal matters relating to corporate project structuring and business development. Her practice areas also include insurance law, company redomiciliations and competition law. Melina has further received training and experience in the negotiation and drafting of contracts for Oil and Gas by the leading oil and gas lawyer J. Jay Park QC and the international legal adviser in Energy and Mining Dr. William T. Onorato. Melina is a qualified Arbitrator in Cyprus and Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in London and a member of the Board of the Cyprus Arbitration Forum. She has acted for clients in both domestic and international arbitrations. She has further been trained and is currently actively interested and working with Mediation. She is an accredited and registered Mediator in Cyprus and has obtained the EMTPJ cross-border mediation certification, specializing in the settlement of international commercial disputes. Melina has been teaching Business & Corporate Law to finance major students at CIM Nicosia under the University of West London since 2018. She has further been training professionals and company officials on improving their negotiation skills and has been delivering trainings in international mediation and negotiation skills also jointly with Mr.Willem Meuwissen, a renowned and well established mediator from Belgium. Melina is a qualified and approved professional trainer by the Cyprus HRDA. Melina is also an accredited and registered as an independent Insolvency Consultant in Cyprus. She graduated from the Law School of the University of East Anglia, UK, with an LLB Honors degree. Melina
holds a diploma in International Commercial Arbitration from Queen Mary University (London) and is a qualified Barrister-at-Law, a member of Gray’s Inn London and the Cyprus Bar Association.
Nassos Paltayian, BA, ACA, CAMS, ISO 27001 LI
Nassos began his career as auditor for Financial Services companies and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He then moved to Abacus Limited in 2009 as a portfolio manager. In 2014 he became an ACAMS member and soon after CAMS certified. Since 2015 Nassos has served as the Information Security Officer while simultaneously heading the Compliance Department at Abacus Limited. Nassos has given a number of presentations on both Compliance and Information Security in Cyprus and abroad.
He is also a Chairman of the ICPAC AML & Compliance committee and founding member and Vice chair of the ACAMS Cyprus chapter. Nassos was also leading the DNFBP module for the National Risk Assessment and participated in numerous task forces for the issuance of Directives, Guidance Notes and Certifications in the field of AML, CTF and Compliance.
Nearchos Ioannou
Nearchos Ioannou is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA), a Certified Fraud Examiner(CFE) and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Ontario, Canada.
He graduated from the University of Dundee in Scotland U.K (Bachelor of Accounting(Honours), 1996). He has qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) in 2003, and was the 1st ACCA finalist in Cyprus in the December 2003 examination diet. In 2011 he has qualified as a Certified Fraud Examiner (TEXAS-USA) and in 2019 a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Ontario Canada.
He has been a key learning facilitator in Deloitte, and is also a part-time lecturer of the University of West London (Cyprus branch) and Frederick University in Cyprus. He is an Audit director serving a number of international and local companies, which have to ensure compliance with Fraud and AML procedures as well as to comply with the requirements of the International Standards of Auditing.
He is the Co-author of Dr. Wells book Financial Statement Fraud Casebook. Baking the Ledgers and Cooking the Books, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (Texas- USA). He served as a member of the Advisory and Education Committees of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE, TEXAS-USA). He is also an expert in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, requirements in relation to Section 404 for public listed companies in the NYSE. He is providing seminars in relation to AML, Fraud, audit and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Nicos Ioannou
Nicos Ioannou holds a degree in Business Administration and has more than 10 years’ experience in Credit Management and Credit Insurance. He is currently a Business Development Director at Infocredit Group.
Nicos Ioannou is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM), the Credit Services Association (CSA) and has successfully achieved the Collectors Accreditation Initiative (CAI). Moreover, Nicos Ioannou is a certified mediator and certified trainer by the Human Resource Development Authority of Cyprus (HRDA).
Simon Osborne
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.
Stylianos N. Christoforou
Stylianos received an LLB (Hons) in 1998 from the University of Hull. In 1999, he read law at the University of Nottingham from which he graduated with a degree of Master of Laws in International Commercial Law and thereafter, he became a Barrister at Law of Grays’ Inn. Following his academic achievement he, obtained three additional professional certifications, in 2004 he became a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, in 2015 Insolvency Practitioner and in 2017 TUV Austria Certified GDPR Practitioner.
Stylianos returned to Cyprus in 2001 where, after concluding his pupillage, he worked for some of the most renowned companies and organisations in the Island as a litigation lawyer and was quickly promoted to Head of the Litigation Department. In 2005, he established Stylianos N. Christoforou & Co LLC with offices in Nicosia, Cyprus and Bucharest, Romania. Stylianos is also the exclusive legal consultant of a great number of large companies, organisations and institutions in Cyprus.
Stylianos is one of the most prominent practitioners in corporate legal matters that include data privacy regulation, corporate governance, employment and tax law, company law, as well as mergers and acquisitions and banking law. He is currently handling over 150 Court Cases representing foreign investors against local Banks who have been misled into acquiring Swiss Franc loans and helps clients on a daily basis in achieving ‘’debt to asset’’ settlement of their disputes. Stylianos and his team have to date achieved over 25 debt to asset settlements. He is also a member of a Charter Institute of Arbitrators and a Qualified Insolvency Practitioner. As a TUV Austria certified GDPR Expert, he is able to handle any GDPR related matter from consultation to GDPR Implementation Program and representation before the Office of the Commissioner for the Protection of Personal Data.
Theodoros Stavrou
Theodoros Stavrou was born in 1973. He studied Civil Engineering and he also got a degree in Management from the Henley Management College of London. He is also a holder of a Master in Business Administration (MBA) and an Accredited Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). In 2001 he joined MOKAS, the FIU of Cyprus as an Investigator on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing cases. Apart from his main duties as investigator and throughout the 17 years of Mr. Stavrou in MOKAS he was also the representative of Cyprus in different organisations like Europol, the MONEYVAL committee of the Council of Europe, FIU.net and others. He introduced in Cyprus FIU the automated system for the submission and analysis of suspicious transactions/activities reports being the project manager of the relevant project. This system is now being used by the FIU and all obliged entities in Cyprus. Since 2017 Mr. Stavrou is working in the banking Sector Leading Compliance Departments. He is now the Head of Compliance of Société Générale Bank – Cyprus and he is the person responsible for the AML/CFT/Sanctions and Regulatory compliance of the Bank.