The Economic Diplomacy Roundtable is a joint initiative of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK & the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus in the UK with six key pillars of activity:

1. Engage: Strategic engagement with key influencers on Cyprus’ role as an enabler in the region, in the EU and in the Commonwealth.
2. Inform: Actionable information on wider political engagement and the environment in the East Mediterranean that may inform recommendations
3. Advise: Utilise insights of influencers to identify best practices, technological advancements and key opportunities for Cyprus and how to harness these to inform policy, create a positive narrative about Cyprus and capture opportunities.
4. Promote: Share perspectives and support economic diplomacy initiatives
5. Enable: Help enable trade, business, and investment between the UK to Cyprus as well as identify opportunities for ‘Brand Cyprus’ in the UK.
6. Mentor: Mentor, sponsor and advise a talented younger generation Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomats and UK diaspora leaders.

Members

We are proud of UK Cypriots who excel in their fields whilst maintaining proactive support and advocacy for our UK Cypriot diaspora, as well as their homeland. We are grateful for their participation in this roundtable chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus (Nikos Christodoulides).

Nikos Christodoulides (Chair)

Nikos Christodoulides has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus since March 2018. Prior to his appointment, he was Director of the Diplomatic Office of the President of Cyprus (2013-2018) and Government Spokesperson (2014-2018).

A career diplomat between 1999 and 2013, he held the posts of Director of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Spokesperson of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Cyprus in Greece, Director of the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Consul General at the High Commission of the Republic of Cyprus in the United Kingdom.

He holds postgraduate degrees in Political Science from New York University and Diplomatic Studies from the University of Malta. He holds a doctorate from the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the University of Athens. He was a Lecturer and Research Associate at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Cyprus between 2007 and 2010. He is the author of two prominent books on the Cyprus issue and has published extensively in domestic and international journals.

Nikos Christodoulides was born in Paphos, Cyprus.

Christos Karaolis

Christos Karaolis is President of the National Federation of Cypriots in the UK. The Federation is the umbrella body for the UK Cypriot diaspora representing over 80-member organisation. It has two goals: (1) to advocate for the reunification of Cyprus and (2) to promote and advance the UK Cypriot diaspora.

As President of the Federation, he is a member of the President of Cyprus’ ‘Overseas Cypriots Advisory Committee’ and Vice President of POMAK (the World Federation of Overseas Cypriots). Prior to his election as President of the Federation, Christos served as President of NEPOMAK (World Organisation for Young Overseas Cypriots) from 2006 to 2014.

Christos is also a Partner at Bain & Company, based in their London office. He has 11+ years’ experience in Consulting and specialises in Financial Services and Performance Improvement consulting. Christos has worked extensively with leading Banking and Insurance clients across the UK and Ireland. He also leads Experienced Hire recruiting for Bain London.

Christos has an MA in Jurisprudence from Trinity College, Oxford.

Rt. Hon. Lord Andrew Adonis

Andrew Adonis is a member of the House of Lords and has held several senior Government positions under Prime Minsters Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He was Secretary of State for Transport from 2009-2010 and a Minister of State for Transport between 2008-2009. Prior to that, he was a Minister of State for Education (2005-2008) and Director of the Number 10 Policy Unit (2001-2003). Lord Adonis has been a member of the House of Lords since 2005.

He is currently Vice-Chairman of the European Movement and was Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission under Chancellors George Osborne and Phillip Hammond (2015-2017). He was a Labour Party candidate for South West region in the recent European Parliament elections.

Lord Adonis studied History at undergraduate and postgraduate level at Oxford. Before entering politics, he worked as a journalist at the Observer and the Financial Times.

Peter Charalambous

Peter has been an Appointments Commissioner for the States of Jersey since Jan 2018. He is a Senior Consultant at BDO Greenlight in Jersey and a Non-Executive Director of Integritas Wealth Partners. From 2012-2017, he was Executive Director (Head of Operations) at UBS and prior to that worked for HSBC for many years where he held many senior roles, notably Head of Global Asset Management at the Jersey office.

Peter has extensive experience of the asset management and investment banking business, including cross-border activity, operations, audit, risk, compliance, anti-money laundering and business development.

He has worked in London, Hong Kong, South Africa, Toronto and now Jersey. He is an avid Arsenal FC supporter and holds a season ticket.

Constantin Cotzias

Constantin Cotzias is Director of Bloomberg Europe and Chair of Bloomberg London. His responsibilities include leading government relations and strategy, business development and external affairs. Prior to this, he was Chief Executive of Bloomberg Law and oversaw Bloomberg’s legal, risk, compliance news and research platform. In that role, he oversaw a global 500+ employee division and reported directly to the Bloomberg CEO.

Constantin has been a member of the Mayor of London’s Advisory Board since 2016.

He is a law graduate from LSE. He has completed several full distance Ironman triathlons and marathons and is a former Great Britain U23 Rowing Squad and British National Rowing Championships medalist (Mens 8+). He was selected as member of Great Britain team at European Triathlon Championships, Almere, Holland 2006.

Noel Josephides

Noel has recently retired as Chair of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) which he has occupied since 2013 and is also Chairman of The Travel Foundation, the travel industry’s sustainability charity. He is a long-standing director and former chairman of the Association of Specialist Tour Operators (AITO).

Noel is also Chairman of Sunvil Holiday Group and has been at Sunvil since 1973. Earlier in his career, he spent 3 years as a trainee buyer at C&A Modes and then worked for a large Cypriot builder and property developer for whom he set up a London Office buying electrical components for the Middle East and importing lemons from orchards in Cyprus.

He is a graduate of the University of Leeds.

Kypros Kyprianou

Kypros is the CEO of the Theo Paphitis Retail Group that encompasses Ryman, Robert Dyas, Boux Avenue and London Graphic Centre. The Group has over 300 UK stores, over 4000 staff and makes sales worth over £360m per year. Kypros has been CEO since 2009 and has overseen retail acquisitions, disposals, a start-up and growing existing businesses. Prior to becoming CEO, he was Group Commercial Director.

Earlier in his career he was Head of Corporate Banking at the Bank of Cyprus UK (until 2003). He graduated with BSC Hons in Actuarial Science from City, University of London.

He is a passionate Tottenham Hotspur supporter and is involved with Omonoia FC who compete in the UK Cypriot community’s KOPA league.

Maria Kyriacou

Maria is the current President of ITV International (2016-present). In this role, Maria oversees ITV Studios’ production companies across Europe and Australia, its growing US scripted business, plus international distribution arm ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE)

She is also Independent Non-Executive Director of Wizz Air Holdings PLC (2018-present).

Earlier in her career, she worked for Disney as Senior Vice-President of New Media Distribution of EMEA & Canada at Disney/ABC International Television. Maria also served as Vice-President of Portfolio Development of EMEA Disney of ABC Media Company at Disney/ABC International Television, Inc. until March 2008.

Louis Loizou

Louis is Co-Founder and Partner at Loizou & Co. since 2013 and is a trusted advisor to corporations, family offices and some of the world’s most affluent individuals. He is also Co-Founder of GC Privé, a wealth management services firm for UHNW individuals.

Prior to this, Louis worked for Citigroup, Barclays Capital and Kleinwort Benson. He has been advisor to mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital raising transactions. Louis co-managed a multi-asset absolute return fund of $500m on behalf of UHNW investors and charitable institutions. Louis has also worked as an economist at the Competition Commission and Her Majesty’s Treasury.

Louis is currently Chair of the Hellenic Bankers Association – UK. He holds a postgraduate degree in Mathematical Finance from Oxford.

Rt. Hon. Dame Janet Pareskeva DBE

Dame Janet is Chairman of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, Chairman of the Appointments Commission for the States of Jersey and a Non-Executive Director of Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Trust. Previously she has served as First Civil Service Commissioner, Chief Executive of the Law Society and a Non-Executive Director of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, as well Chair of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.

She was made a Privy Councillor to assist in her role as a member of the Detainee Inquiry established by the Prime Minister in 2010. She has also been Chair of the development charity Plan UK and was Chief Executive of the Law Society from 2000 to 2006. She was made a Dame in 2010.

Dame Janet began her career as a teacher and then went on to work in youth and community work, establishing and becoming the first Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency and creating the European Confederation of Youth Club Organisations.

Phanos Theophanous

Phanos Theophanous is a Managing Director at Barclays – UK International Private Bank. He is based in London and focuses on advising international private clients, large family holdings and family offices on their investment and wealth management affairs.

Prior to joining Barclays, he was a Partner at Deloitte where he spent over 10 years in the UK and Cyprus. Whilst at Deloitte he specialised in advising international clients on their wealth management needs.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment and a Chartered Wealth Manager.

Lorna Tilbian

Lorna Tilbian was appointed Chairman of Dowgate Capital, the Corporate Broking & Wealth Management boutique, in January 2019. Lorna was formerly an Executive Plc Director (2005-17) and Head of Media (2001-17) at Numis Corporation Plc.

After a distinguished career as a Number One ranked Media analyst by Institutional Investor and Extel from 1987 to 2012, Lorna headed the Numis Media Investment Banking franchise from 2012 until her retirement from Numis in December 2017. Lorna is a founder of Numis as we know it after acquiring a stake in the newly launched broker in 2001 following stints at Sheppards (1984-88), SG Warburg (Director, 1988-95) and WestLB Panmure (Executive Director, 1995-2001).

Lorna sits on the Advisory Board of TechNation’s Future Fifty programme and in 2018 was appointed to the boards of Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc, Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc, M&C Saatchi Plc and Rightmove Plc.

Tom Toumazis MBE

Tom Toumazis MBE has a portfolio of directorships focused in technology, media and the arts. He’s a founder investor and Chair of three start-ups, Tagsmart, Fusebox Games and TVbeat and an External Director of the Performing Rights Society for music.  Tom has held senior roles at ITV, The Walt Disney Company, Eurosport, Endemol Shine and Yahoo!

Tom is a public speaker, sharing his work/life experiences and encouraging young people to explore careers in the world of media and entertainment. He supports Speakers for Schools & London South Bank University, where is a Visiting Professor of Business and Honorary Fellow.

Tom is a Trustee of the NSPCC and has helped raise over £14 million since his involvement in 2005. He was awarded an MBE in 2015 for services to children.

Soulla Tsioupra-Lewis

Soulla has been Chief People Officer at The Telegraph Media Group since Feb 2018, where she focusses on attracting, engaging and developing talent throughout the organisation.

Before the Telegraph, she worked for UBM PLC for 19 years, where she was Senior Vice-President of Global HR and EMEA HR Director from 2011-2018. At UBM, Soulla developed high-level HR strategies, drove business growth and developed talent. Before this she was Group Employment Lawyer at UBM. She has a keen interest in diversity and social responsibility, having developed and promoted D&I and sustainability programmes at UBM.

She studied Law and Russian at the University of Surrey.