// SPEAKERS
Nikos Avlonas is a recognized leader who has received multiple awards in Corporate Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship. Nikos is founder and President of the Centre for Sustainability & Excellence (CSE) a global Sustainability Strategic Advisory and Training firm with activities in North America, Europe, MENA and Asia. Nikos has been awarded in 2021 as Top 100 Environmental Leaders by the Environmental Leader Magazine, in 2018 by Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest foundation in US, and as Practitioner of the year in 2017 by PR News for setting new standards of excellence. He was also awarded for teaching excellence from AUEB in 2020.
He is a well known international speaker in topics related to ESG and CSR and has delivered speeches and educated professionals in North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at University of Illinois(UIC) in Chicago and awarded visiting Professor at Athens University of Economic and Business (AUEB), MBA international program since 2015.
Nikos specializes in Sustainability, Corporate Responsibility, Carbon Reduction and Impact Investment (ESG ratings). During the last 20 years he has carried out numerous projects in leading organizations, including Fortune Global 500 Companies, such as Nestle, Heineken Group, Coca Cola, ΑΒΜ, Pfizer, Deutsche Post, Under Armor, the European Investment Bankand the Lloyds Banking Group. Additionally he has extensive international experience in executive training & coaching having trained over 5,000 managers worldwide including executives from NASA, Shell, WalMart, Home Depot.
He is Vice President of the Corporate Responsibility Institute since 2007, a non for profit organization for CSR performance evaluation and benchmarking (based on the Business in the Community Index-BITC). Additionally he was founder and Co-Chair of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Strategy Committee and board member in the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) in Chicago.
Nikos is a visiting professor at University of San Francisco Master of Nonprofit Administration. He was in the past program advisor to University of Chicago Graham School, Leadership in Sustainability Certificate and had lectured at a variety of Universities including the Kellogg School of Management, University of Texas in Arlington and Sheffield Hallam University (U.K). He is co-author of the books ‘’Practical Sustainability Strategies ‘’ published by Wiley in 2014 & 2020 which become one of the best selling books in this field and contributor to ‘’Management Models for the future’’ published in 2009. He has published numerous articles & surveys in international and local magazines and newspapers on issues related to Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility & Governance, Climate Change, Business Excellence and he has given many interviews relevant to the above issues to international Media including Forbes, Fortune, CNN (GR), CNBC, CCTV, Voice of America, Ethical Performance and many others.