Harry Theoharis, with a background in software engineering, has significantly contributed to Greece's digital transformation and fiscal health through various public service roles, including Secretary General for Information Systems and Public Revenues, Minister of Tourism, and most recently, Deputy Minister of Finance for taxation matters.
We're excited to announce even more additions to our impressive lineup for the FWA's
2024 International Business Conference (IBC) in Greece. Join us and learn from their unique insights into Greece’s economic reinvention and path to success.
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Mr. Harry Theoharis was first elected in 2015 and on December 18, 2018, he joined the New Democracy party.
Mr. Theoharis holds a MEng (Hon) in software engineering-first class from Imperial College, London, and has held high-ranking positions in companies of the private sector in Greece and abroad. He has also worked in start-up companies.
During 2011-2012, Mr. Theoharis served as secretary general for information systems and he is known for introducing new digital services to assist the public, helping reduce bureaucracy and its resulting costs.
He later (2013-14) served as a secretary general for public revenues at the Greek Finance Ministry. There, he succeeded in meeting budget revenues and producing a fiscal surplus. He is also known for launching the www.publicrevenue.gr platform to increase transparency in public administration.
Mr. Theoharis was Minister of Tourism from 2019 to 2021 and the Parliamentary Spokesperson of New Democracy political party at the Hellenic Parliament from 2021 to 2023.
In the national elections of May and June 2023, he was re-elected Member of Parliament with New Democracy political party and on June 27, 2023, Mr. Theoharis was appointed by the Prime Minister Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis as Deputy Minister of Finance of Greece for taxation matters.
Aphrodite Avramea leads Strategy and Sustainable Development at ELLAKTOR Group, a leading international infrastructure company. Her career includes pivotal roles at Intrum Hellas, Piraeus Bank, and Marfin Investment Group.
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Aphrodite Avramea serves as Head of Strategy and Sustainable Development of ELLAKTOR Group since July 2021. She has more than 20 years of experience in the banking and financial sector, having served as Senior Director of Corporate and Shipping Restructuring at Intrum Hellas, Director of Corporate Restructuring, as well as Senior Manager in the Strategy and Task Force and Merchant Banking Divisions of Piraeus Bank, Head of Banking Relations at Marfin Investment Group, Head of Corporate Banking at Marfin Egnatia Bank and Manager at the Shipping Finance Division of Laiki Bank. She holds a Master's Degree in Finance from Harvard University, an MBA from the City University of New York and a Bachelor of Economics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
She is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Charterholder and member of the Hellenic CFA Society.
Dr. Maria-Oraiozili Koutsoupia is President and co-founder of Rythmisis, Greece's first National Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Data Protection, and Digital Governance Law. She is a qualified lawyer in Greece and Belgium, specializing as an AI legal expert in Brussels, focused on healthcare and medical technologies.
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Dr. Maria-Oraiozili Koutsoupia is a qualified lawyer in Greece and in Belgium, working as an AI legal expert in Brussels, in top tier US law firms, focused on healthcare and medical technologies.
Maria-Oraiozili holds a PhD in Information Law from the UoA Law School and three masters in law, one in public law, one in international legal studies and one in IP and Information, Communication and Technologies from the UOA and the KU Leuven Law Schools, respectively, while she has published numerous articles in the field of public law and digital healthcare. Maria-Oraiozili is the President and co-founder of Rythmisis, the first National Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Data Protection and Digital Governance Law in Greece combining law and technology towards regulatory compliance.
Spyridoula Boutou is Chief Operating Officer of MIBS Group, a leading Greek real estate developer. She has a background in civil engineering, real estate, and project management, having held key leadership positions across three systemic Greek Banks.
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Spyridoula Boutou is a highly accomplished and results-oriented executive with over 18 years of experience in civil engineering, real estate, and project management. Throughout her career she has held key leadership positions in the real estate sector across three systemic Greek Banks, gaining a comprehensive 360-degree view of the real estate market both in Greece and abroad. She has excelled in collaborating with professionals from various cultures and countries, providing valuable advice and successfully coordinating investments for diverse asset portfolios. She is noted for her ability to provide solutions in difficult situations, managing teams that operate efficiently, consistently and implementing and introducing innovative and sustainable policies. As COO at MIBS Group, she leverages her vast expertise and strategic mindset to drive MIBS Group's growth and operational efficiency with a focus on unity, trust, and quality.
She holds an MEng in Civil Engineering, an MSc in Real Estate Finance from City University of London, and a Professional Certificate in Hotel Real Estate Investments from Cornell University.
The FWA's International Business Conference (IBC) is a week-long executive-level experience designed to raise your international business awareness while immersing your senses in a dynamic culture. This year, we are traveling to Greece May 11-18, 2024. Join us and learn about Reinvention as a Path to Success while socializing, networking and enjoying the sights, sounds and tastes of Athens and Santorini.
Register now - expand your worldview and raise your professional profile!
Registration Deadline: April 1, 2024
For months, FWA Executive Director Alissa Desmarais and I had been building toward something incredible: a six-day International Business Conference in the UAE, complex and high-stakes, the kind of undertaking that requires you to hold a hundred things in your head at once while also holding your team together, your partners together, and yourself together. The FWA has more than 40 years of experience organizing international conferences around the world; what we were doing was not new. But as we stepped into our new roles as the conference organizers, with the support of a great IBC committee, this one felt different. More meaningful, because it was ours. We were proud of what we were creating. And then the world changed around us. I won’t pretend the decision to pivot was easy, because it wasn’t. There is a particular kind of grief that comes not from losing something you already had, but from letting go of something you had worked so hard to build and had not yet gotten to experience. We had to look at the geopolitical reality of the region, at what was happening, at what we could not control, and make a call. The kind of call that no planning document prepares you for. We chose to pivot. On May 5th and 6th, FWA will host the Global Capital and Leadership Forum in New York. A virtual lunch panel, followed by an in-person morning program at Akin, right in the heart of the city. Smaller in scale, yes. But not smaller in purpose. We kept the questions we had always meant to explore: how shifting alliances and energy transitions are redrawing the map of global capital, what resilient leadership looks like in a world that will not hold still, how women are shaping the future of finance across cultures and geographies. Her Excellency Amna Almheiri, Consul General of the United Arab Emirates in New York, will close our forum. The relationship did not end when our plans changed. The dialogue did not stop. It just found a different room. What I have learned from this experience is something I keep coming back to: a pivot is not the opposite of commitment. Done with clarity and care, it is one of commitment’s truest expressions, because it means you care more about the mission than about being right about how you planned to serve it. It means you can look at the people who gave months of real effort to a plan that changed and help them see that nothing they did was wasted, because it wasn’t. It means you can let go of the version of success you had pictured and trust that a different shape can carry the same substance. I think about the women in this community who have had to do this in their own careers and lives. Who had to walk away from something they had built toward for years, not because they failed but because the world shifted and they were honest enough to shift with it. That takes courage. It takes the kind of steadiness that is very easy to admire from the outside and very hard to practice from the inside. The forum is still taking shape. The work continues. And I am proud of what we are making, not in spite of how we got here, but because of it.
The MENA Capital Landscape: Risk, Resilience & the Road Ahead May 5–6, 2026 Join the Financial Women's Association for a timely conversation on sovereign capital, energy transition, AI, and the geopolitical forces reshaping global finance. When our UAE trip was cancelled, we immediately looked for ways to bring the experience to our community here in NYC - this forum captures the spirit, substance, and strategic importance of that journey. Registration details coming soon - save the date on your calendar now! Virtual Lunch Panel · Tuesday, May 5 In-Person Morning Program in New York City · Wednesday, May 6 One registration. Two experiences. One conversation.
FWA members are invited to participate in a personal finance workshop on April 29th, 2026, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm, at the High School of Economics and Finance. The school is located at 100 Trinity Place, near Wall Street. The workshop will involve the FWA high school mentees at HSEF. We will have a training prep session the week before, either on April 21 or 22, depending on availability of the volunteers. If you are interested, or would like more information, please contact Suzanne Matthews, Committee Co-chair, at [email protected] .
by Robert Brown Every March, Women’s History Month invites us to reflect on the women who challenged expectations, opened doors, and changed the course of industries that once excluded them. For the Financial Women’s Association, that reflection is personal. As the organization celebrates its 70th anniversary, the story of FWA mirrors the broader story of women’s progress in finance. What began in 1956 with eight determined women has grown into a global community that has helped generations of women enter, navigate, and lead in an industry that once shut them out. Those eight enterprising women did something quietly radical. They were working inside investment banks and financial institutions at a time when their talent was welcome, but their presence in leadership circles was not. The established associations of the day did not admit women. Access to the conversations, relationships, and influence that shaped the industry flowed through rooms they were not allowed to enter. So they built their own.
