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She was born in Athens. She studied in the Evangelical School of Nea Smyrni and the Foreign Literature Department of the Paul Valery University, in Montpellier, France.

She is the widow of the “Patriarch” of Greek shipping, Pericles S. Panagopoulos, honorary President of the Union of Greek Shipowners and President of Magna Marine. Family enterprises have been sponsoring an important number of Greek track & field champions. She is a mother of a son and resides permanently in Athens. She speaks English, French and Italian.

She has worked in tourism and commerce and became a successful businesswoman through the creation of Studio Alta Moda in Athens.

After she signed Memorandum of Cooperation with the Association of Greek Olympians (SEO) and the Hellenic Paralympic Committee as the President of KALLIPATIRA in 2013, she has been supporting Olympic and Paralympic Champions and Winners, the construction of athletic venues (more than 25) all over Greece, providing athletic and medical equipment as well as financial support to athletic associations.

In cooperation with the Hellenic Organization of Political Scientists (EOPE/ HAPSc), she has been providing “Katerina Panagopoulos Scholarships” to young scientists. 

She holds the following titles:

• Ambassador at Large of the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (since May 2019) 
• Pro bono – Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Greece for Hellenic Diaspora (since May 2018)
• European Citizen of 2017, which was awarded by the European Parliament.
• National Ambassador of Greece in the Council of Europe for Sports, Tolerance and Fair Play, accredited by the Ministry of Culture since 1998 and fulfilling her duties on an exclusively voluntary basis.
• President of the Panhellenic Women’s Sports Association “KALLIPATIRA” since 2005. (www.kallipatira.org) . The PWSA KALLIPATIRA is an exclusive women’s sports association, member of SEGAS, recognized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and founded in 1976.  
• President of the International Center for Science and Hellenic Values, which was co-founded in Ancient Olympia by more than 100 distinguished professors of Greek and foreign universities, under the presence of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos and the Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr Frans Timmermans.
• President of the Hellenic Organization of Political Scientists (EOPE/ HAPSc). 

She is the first Greek to have obtained the 1st European award “Woman and Sports 2012” by the IOC, in Los Angeles, in February 2012.

According to Greek and international press, this prize was characterized as “the 1st gold medal for Greece in the 2012 Olympic Games”.

Her list of activities on a national level is also very substantial and includes participation in conferences and working groups, visits and lectures in schools and foundations nationwide, aiming at raising awareness on the principles and ideals of Fair Play.

It is worth mentioning her initiative, in collaboration with the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to organize a series of lectures in the most important centers of the Greek Diaspora in the US, aiming at activating the Diaspora in the framework of the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004.

Through memoranda to the Ministries of Education, Culture, Public Order, Healthcare and Foreign Affairs, she insisted on the importance of the institution of Fair Play and its crucial role for social cohesion and global peace in our century.

During the preparations for the Olympic Games, Athens 2004, as an Ambassador of Greece to the Council of Europe, she undertook the responsibility of promoting the “ideological background” of the Games, in collaboration with the responsible ministries, through special programs and lectures in schools, institutions and associations.

As a National Ambassador of Greece to the Council of Europe for Sports, Tolerance and Fair Play she has received various awards and honorary prizes.

She is also:

• • An honorary president of the Hellenic Organization of Political Scientists (EOPE/ HAPSc).
• • A member of the Board of the International Committee for Fair Play (2005-present).
• • An honorary member of the Euro-American Women’s Council.
• • An honorary member of the Panhellenic Association of Friends of the Archdiocese of Athens.
• • An honorary member of the Lord Byron Company.
• • An honorary member of the Greek “Pierre de Coubertin” Committee.
• • An honorary member of the “Friends of the B & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music”.
• • A member of the Associations of Friends of the Anticancer Company.
• • A member of the “ELPIDA” Association.
• • A member of the “ELEPAP” Association.
• • A member of “CHARA” Association.
• • A member of the “Friends of the National Gallery” Club.
• • A member of the Board of the Association of Friends of the Cord Blood Bank (OPA).