Alex Athanassoulas, born in Athens Greece, holds a Masters in Civil Engineering (M.Civ.Eng.) from Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and a Master in Business Administration (MBA), with distinction, from the Adam Smith Business School of Glasgow University in Great Britain. Alex is also certified in Project Management from the International Project Management Association (IPMA) and in Strategy and Innovation in Customer Experience from the International Customer Service Association (ICSA).
He is the founder, President and CEO of STIRIXIS Group, the awarded Business Concept Development company with more than 650 successful and projects from Scandinavia to Oman and from Russia to Nigeria, many awarded internationally. Alex is also a founding member of CEO Clubs Romania, and CEO Clubs Greece, he served as the Romania for its first year and is currently the Executive Vice President of CEO Clubs Greece and a member of its Advisory Board. He is also an elected Member of the Board and Secretary General of the Greek Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Technology (GNCCT), an elected Member of the Board of British Hellenic Chamber of Commerce (BHCC), President of the Hellenic Alumni of the University of Glasgow, and has served for years as an elected Member of the Board of the Hellenic Institute of Marketing. He is also a member of the Hellenic Romanian Chamber of Commerce, of the Hellenic Engineering Chamber, of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Hellenic network of Project Managers and of the Glasgow University Global Alumni.
Alex was recognized in 2015 by European CEO awards as the Best European CEO in the Retail Development Industry and in 2018 by Acquisition International as the Best CEO in Europe.
Throughout his career Alex has gained a vast, cross-functional experience among which one can find Construction, Design, Project Management, Retail Development, Customer Experience, Marketing Strategy and others.
When studying for his IPMA certification, he was introduced to Systems Thinking and Viable System Model and started to design and develop toos to use this out-of-the-box thinking in Business to increase profitability and use feedback mechanisms to ensure Sustainability. Today, Alex is a sought-after public speaker on the subject of Systems Thinking, Sustainable Growth and Profitability, and Maximization of ROI in Commercial Development projects, with speeches given to a range of organizations such as Universities, CEO Clubs, Multinational companies as well as TV appearances.
Alex has been published widely, with a great number of technical and business articles in the National and International Press. His work in Design, Development and Implementation of innovative “Systems Thinking” at different business sectors, place him at the forefront of Business Development and Business Consulting. He is currently about to publish his first book on how to build Sustainability in successful Retail Concepts, named “Don’t get trapped in a Life-cycle… Designing and Managing Sustainable Growth” .
Alex is married and has three children. He currently lives in Athens but spends most of the week traveling for his projects, clients and speeches.