SPECIAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2020 50 Wealthiest · SPECIAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2020 GREEKS IN AMERICA An Annual Edition of our Community's Top Achievers ... pleted the $2.7B acquisition

SPECIAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2020

GREEKS IN AMERICA

An Annual Edition of our Community's Top Achievers

50 Wealthiest

The National Heraldwww.thenationalherald.com

This special edition was sponsored in part by Michael and Robin Psaros

50 Wealthiest Greeks in America2 SPECIAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2020 THE NATIONAL HERALD ❙

2020 is the second year that I am spearheading this incredibleproject. Although most of our top ten have been at the top of rankingssuch as Forbes magazine for many years, their incredible stories andbiographies still strike me year after year. They instill in me a realsense of pride and relatedness – even though I have not had theopportunity to meet most of these high-net individuals first hand. I liketo believe that this is because their stories are relatable – they arefamiliar to me. Growing up with immigrant parents, like most of ourreaders, I have heard and read countless stories about their hardshipsand year after year I can’t help but feel a renewed admiration for ourpeople, our culture, our perseverance, and our work ethic. Many of ourfeatured Greek-Americans came here with nothing in their pocketsand had no other choice but to work incredibly hard to just put food ontheir table every night. Eventually, they caught their big break (again,with that unwavering work ethic and a little bit of luck) – and what istruly noteworthy is that most of these individuals managed to instillthe same principles and ideals in their children (even if they were notable to be home too often).

America’s genius has always been its ability to attract the world’sbrightest minds and hardest working people and have them livealongside each other to advance the common good – while at the sametime maintaining and advancing our history, culture and religion. Our listproves that Greeks have been contributing mightily to the Americansuccess story for as long as they have been coming to these shores inthe hopes of a better life for themselves and for their families. This

courage is the indispensable kindling needed for the American patentedentrepreneurial approach to work that creates jobs and fortunes.

Many studies have been conducted in an effort to understand whyhuman brains love lists. In an article written just a few years ago, theNew Yorker stated that whenever we encounter new information, ourbrains immediately try to make sense of it. Once they figure out whatwe’re seeing in a physical sense, they provide personal context anddecide if it’s relevant enough to focus on further. The process isinstantaneous – we don’t even realize we’ve made a choice in thetime our minds have selected one path or another. Our gaze eitherstops, or we simply keep scanning. Recall a time when you werespacing out while skimming a stream of content and then, withoutquite knowing why, found yourself pausing to actually process theinformation. This is likely because we saw a phrase, a word, a locationthat we identify with.

It’s the same with our list. Once we see the name of the island wehave roots in, or see the name of our church, or even see a job title orpassion that we share with a particular individual, we automaticallystart paying closer attention. However, I encourage you to actuallyspend the time to read each and every one of the biographies of ourfeatured individuals. Although many of the same individuals arefeatured year after year, their biographies are updated as moreinformation becomes available. Not only that, the saying that ‘oldhabits die hard’ is truly representative of our culture. Despite the ageof many of the people on our list, they have not slowed down – with

many in their 80s and 90s still going to the office at least five days aweek. Thus, while the numbers may be the most ‘fun’ part to skimover and the easiest way to list these individuals, it is by far the leastvaluable. Contrastingly, what is valuable is each person’s unique story– their struggles, their triumphs, their journey. They cover animpressively wide spectrum of industries: energy, retail, finance,shipping, food service, engineering, publishing, entertainment – just toname a few. I encourage everyone to take the time this weekend toactually read the biographies of these individuals – you may besurprised at how much we all have in common and you may get someideas on what the next steps of your career should be.

Although countless hours were spent researching the variousindividuals featured on our list, we are aware that this list is not allencompassing (some individuals do not like to be in the public eye)and that the net worth of the individuals are approximations (i.e., thestock market’s daily fluctuations may cause some people’s net worthto change minute by minute). This is a ‘problem’ that is not unique toThe National Herald but also to Forbes, for example, which is widelyregarded as the ‘gold standard’ of such rankings.

We invite you, once again, to enhance this list by letting us know ofany information – including, perhaps, a particular Greek-American wemay have overlooked, so that this Special Edition can continue to getbetter and better, year after year.

Vanessa DiamatarisEditor-Publisher

Welcome to TNH’s Annual 50 Wealthiest Greeks in America Special!

1JIM DAVIS & FAMILY -Massachusetts $7.7 BILLION (Forbes) NEW BALANCE Middlebury College(Biology/Chemistry); Married, 2 Children

With a huge bump in net worth since last year– 2.1 billion to be exact – James S. ‘Jim’ Davis,the owner and Chairman of New Balance (NB) topsThe National Herald’s 50 Wealthiest Greek-Ameri-cans once again.

Davis, now 77, is the Massachusetts-born sonof Greek immigrants. He graduated from Middle-bury College with a degree in biology/chemistrybut soon realized he didn’t enjoy school (“hatedschool” were his exact words in an interview withSports Business Daily). After college, he startedselling equipment having to do with biology andchemistry. He then decided it was time for him tobuy a small company for himself and New Balancewas the first one he looked at. At the time, hesaid he knew a little about sporting goods but no-thing about footwear, so he decided to pass onthe offer. However, a year later, in 1972, the com-pany was still for sale, and that’s when Davis de-

cided to buy the now 114-year old retail sportsfootwear company.

In 1976, the company began soaring to newheights with the development of the New Balance

320 running shoe. Davis’ wife, Anne, joined thecompany in 1977 and now serves as NB’s ViceChairman. The company has since grown, remai-ning one of the few shoemakers that continuesto manufacture some of its shoes in the UnitedStates, and now features clothing and equipmentfor lacrosse and soccer. Davis and his family ownan estimated 95% of the company, which is stillprivate.

In June of 2019, the Boston Globe announcedthat New Balance was planning to open what Davisdescribed as a “factory of the future” in Methuen,

The 50 Wealthiest Greeks in America List

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Massachusetts. The report said that state tax bre-aks amounting to $900K and property tax breaksof $272K would help subsidize the $33M project.The factory will be New Balance’s sixth in the NewEngland region, where the brand produces mostof its Made in USA footwear. This will be the firstmanufacturing plant New Balance has opened intwo decades. In return for the tax breaks, New Ba-lance has pledged to create 60 new jobs in the80,000 square-foot factory. According to the Globe,the focus will be on testing advanced manufactu-ring techniques, 3D printing, and research and de-velopment.

In April of 2019, NB Development Group brokeground on The TRACK at New Balance near BostonLanding, featuring a multi-sport athletic complexspanning a city block, as well as a concert venuewith The Bowery Presents (with room for up to3,500 fans) and a New Balance Athletics SportsResearch Lab. The 250,000 square foot complexwill also include ground floor retail and food serviceswith an expected completion by late summer 2021.Of the project, Davis said, “The TRACK at New Ba-lance will set a new performance standard in pro-fessional and amateur sports due to its innovativedesign, location and amenities.” The project willalso drastically change the area from a sprawlingmass of decrepit warehouses.

Here are some other interesting facts about JimDavis taken from an interview he gave to SportsBusiness Daily:

Favorite music: The Rolling StonesFavorite movie: I’m not big on movies.Favorite quote: Anything that refers to tenacity,

to never giving up, I strongly believe in.Favorite vacation spot: The north shore of Bo-

ston.Typical day off: If I’m not doing something with

my family, I’ll be fooling around with my cars. I col-lect cars.

2TOM GORES - California 6.6 BILLION (Forbes) EQUITY INVESTMENT, SPORTS Michigan State University (Construction Management); Married, 3 Children

Tom Gores scores number 2 on The NationalHerald’s 50 Wealthiest list this year. Gores, 55, wasborn in Nazareth, Israel to a Greek father and a Le-banese mother. When he was only four years old,the family moved to Genesee, MI.

Throughout his youth, Gores stocked shelvesat his father’s small grocery store in Flint, MI. Afterearning a bachelor’s degree at Michigan State Uni-versity, he joined his brother Alec (also featured inthis edition) in buying out companies.

Gores oversees approximately 40 companieswith some $19 billion in assets through his LosAngeles-based private equity firm, Platinum Equity– which he founded in 1995. Platinum Equity isone of the largest private companies in the UnitedStates and has offices in California, New York, Bo-ston, London, and Singapore. Its in-house businessdevelopment, M&A, transition, legal, real estate,marketing, finance, and operations teams enableus to resolve matters expeditiously.

Since its founding in 1995, Platinum Equity hascompleted nearly 200 acquisitions in a broad rangeof market sectors. The current portfolio includescompanies in diverse industries, acquired in a rangeof corporate divestitures, public-to-private transac-tions, and transactions with private sellers. Eachportfolio company operates independently with thegoal of creating long-term, sustainable value. Forexample, this past January, Platinum Equity com-pleted the $2.7B acquisition of Cision Ltd., the Ch-icago-based parent of PR Newswire.

In 2011, Gores and Platinum became ownersof the National Basketball Association’s Detroit Pi-stons. In August, 2016, he purchased Platinum’sstake and became sole owner. In the beginning of2020, Jalen Rose, a former NBA player and currentsports analyst for ABC and ESPN, approached Go-res to become a minority owner of the Pistons.Rose is a Detroit native, grew up idolizing the De-troit franchise and has a longstanding relationshipwith Gores who has been a major supporter in Ro-se’s public charter school in Detroit.

In 2016, he launched FlintNow to address thewater crisis in his hometown of Flint, MI. This pastNovember, through an expanded partnership withthe Michigan State University-Hurley Children’s Ho-spital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, FlintNowand the National Basketball Players Association di-stributed $325,000 worth of gift certificates forfruits and vegetables for all Flint children duringthe holiday season. During that same holiday sea-son, Gores donated approximately 10,000 toys, bi-cycles and helmets that were distributed to familiesin the Detroit area.

Gores, his wife, Holly, and their three children

live in Beverly Hills, CA, but also maintain a homein Birmingham, MI. In January 2020, an articleabout property taxes was published which discus-sed the property taxes in Los Angeles. The articlestated that there are 12 homes in LA that pay morethan $1M a year in property taxes. One of thosehomes was the $100M Holmby Hills mansion ofTom Gores. Gores bought this 10 bedroom, 20 ba-throom, 30,000 square foot mansion in 2016. Themaster bedroom of the home is 5,300 square feet– roughly twice the size of the average home inthe U.S. The article stated that the Gores estateproperty tax bill is $1.22 million annually.

3JOHN A. CATSIMATIDIS -New York $3.3 BILLION (Forbes)

OIL, REAL ESTATE, SUPERMARKETS New York University; Married, 2 Children

At a personal fortune estimated at $3.3 billion,John A. Catsimatidis remains very close to the topof our list again this year.

Since our last 50 Wealthiest issue, Catsimatidishas been extremely active in our community andbeyond. He was the featured speaker at the Helle-nic-American Chamber of Commerce event whichfocused on the effect of politics on New York City’sreal estate and the future of energy in the U.S. andabroad; he expanded his supermarket holdings bytaking ownership of the D’Agostino chain of su-permarkets; he was appointed the Vice-Presidentof the Archdiocesan Council; he has joined the newentity, The Friends of St. Nicholas, Inc., a non-profitin charge of overseeing the completion of the St.Nicholas shrine at Ground Zero; he acquired the77 WABC Radio station; he was honored for hiscontributions to the community at Three Hierarchsin Brooklyn; and finally, he was informally endorsedby former NYC Mayor Giuliani as the “logical” can-didate for NYC’s new mayor – just to name a fewof his achievements.

In 2013, Catsimatidis self-funded a campaignfor Mayor of NYC in which he finished a strong se-cond in the Republican primary. He might do itagain in 2021. In a recent interview with the RealDeal, Catsimatidis said he’s considering launchinganother bid – perhaps as a democrat. He was quo-ted saying, “Well, somebody has to do it. The cityis getting in worse shape and I’m very much con-cerned. I love New York.”

Catsimatidis is chairman and CEO of the RedApple Group, which is among the country’s largestprivately held companies with 8,000 employeesand estimated annual revenues of $5.2 billion. RedApple has holdings in oil refining, retail petroleumproducts, convenience stores, supermarkets, andreal estate. With a major focus on energy, Catsi-matidis’ fortune accelerated with rising oil prices.

Catsimatidis’ most recent projects include buil-ding mixed-use developments in Brooklyn's FortGreene and Coney Island neighborhoods. He isplanning to build Ocean Dreams – a 425-unit lu-xury rental complex overlooking the Atlantic inConey Island. In March of 2019, Santander Bankprovided Red Apple with a $200 million refinan-cing package for its downtown Brooklyn 32-storyproject, the Eagle.

More recently, in December, Red Apple Groupreceived site plan approval from St. Petersburg,Florida’s Development Review Commission for a$300M mixed use project. The project includes a45-story condo building, 20-story hotel, roughly20,000 square feet of office space, and an 800-space parking garage. Catsimatidis will need ap-proval from the Federal Aviation Administration fora 515-foot tower. This new tower would surpassthe tallest building in that city.

When Catsimatidis was an infant, he and hisfamily moved to an apartment in Harlem from thesmall Greek island of Nisyros. Catsimatidis, now71, is a true self-made billionaire – getting therethrough decades of hard work and innovation.

Catsimatidis attended New York University, butwithdrew before completing his degree require-ments, much to the dismay of his father. He openedhis first grocery store in 1969 and owned ten storesby the age of 24, making $25 million a year in re-venue. He plowed $5 million into Manhattan realestate in 1977; that property was worth $100 mil-lion just five years later.

Catsimatidis stumbled upon the Chapter 11 pro-ceedings of United Refining in Warren, PA. and pur-chased the oil refiner’s stock for $7.5 million. Thefirm now owns 375 gas outlets and conveniencestores in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio.

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Catsimatidis is a licensed pilot, though eye sur-gery has grounded him over the past few years.He has helped raise millions for Alzheimer’s, Par-kinson’s, and Juvenile Diabetes research. He ser-ved as co-chairman and founder of the BrooklynTech Endowment Foundation. At the time, the $10million fund was the largest gift to a secondaryschool in the United States. Since 1988 he hasfunded scholarships at the NYU School of Business.

Catsimatidis is married and the father of twochildren, Andrea and John. His wife, Margo, runshis company’s in-house advertising agency.

4JOHN PAUL DeJORIA -Texas $3.1BILLION (Forbes)

HAIR CARE PRODUCTS, SPIRITS Married, 4 Children

John Paul Dejoria’s net worth is back to whereit was a few years ago after a significant dip lastyear.

Born to an Italian immigrant father and a Greekimmigrant mother, who divorced by the time hewas 2, DeJoria has known poverty repeatedly: firstduring his childhood being raised by a single motherin Los Angeles, CA, and two periods of homeless-ness as an adult.

DeJoria has been quoted telling a story thatwhen he was 5, his mother didn’t have enoughmoney to buy her sons Christmas presents. Asthey walked through downtown Los Angeles, hismother pointed to a woman wearing a navy bluesuit ringing a bell. “Boys,” his mother said, “I’m gi-ving you a dime. See that lady ringing the bell? Putthis in her bucket.” DeJoria didn’t understand; 10cents was a lot for a kid who didn’t have much in1950. Why did he have to give it away? “That’s theSalvation Army. They need it more than we do,”was her reply. From that experience, he learnedthat “success unshared is failure.”

DeJoria’s very first job, at age nine, was sellinggreeting cards door-to-door. He and his brother hadpaper routes through their school years. After highschool and two years in the U.S. Navy, DeJoria didwhatever it took to make ends meet – from sellingencyclopedias and working as a janitor to pumpinggasoline. During his first homeless period, after heand his then-wife separated, he collected bottlesto stay afloat, all while caring for his two-year-oldson. Eventually, he took his talents to several haircare and cosmetic companies before becoming anindependent consultant.

In 1980, DeJoria teamed up with his friendPaul Mitchell to launch John Paul Mitchell Sy-stems, a line of high-end hair care products. Thepartners began with $700 and with DeJoria livingin his car at the time. He said he knocked on salon

doors until he got 12 orders and checks. Aftertwo years of hand-to-mouth work, the companygrossed $1 million.

In 1989, after Mitchell died, DeJoria found ano-ther partner and launched Patron, a premium te-quila, something unheard of at that time. His friendClint Eastwood placed it in his film In the Line ofFire, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck endorsed it, andDeJoria gave it away at John Paul Mitchell events.

In June 2014, DeJoria co-founded (with Britishentrepreneur Jonathan Kendrick) ROK Mobile, amusic streaming service combined with a contract-free mobile phone plan offering unlimited voice,text, and data that runs on the rails of larger cellphone carriers T-Mobile and Sprint. On March 20,2019, ROKiT (part of ROK Mobile) announced aline of five mobile handsets, including three smart-

phones, to market (sold at ROKit.com and Wal-mart.com). Unlike other phones, these are pairedwith vital life services like family telemedicine, legalcounsel and more. In August of 2019, ROKiT ente-red into a distribution arrangement with UniversalPictures Home Entertainment which would enableROKiT customers to rent and watch a diverse col-lection of 3D films from the movie studio’s catalogon their glasses-free 3D ROKiT smartphones.

As expected, Dejoria has a soft-spot for helpingthe homeless. In response to the homeless crisisin America, Dejoria is building a community calledMobile Loaves and Fishes which has constructed250 small homes in the city of Austen, Texas, forthose who have been sleeping on the streets forover a year. Homeless people pay $90 per monthfor their small homes but are prohibited from drin-king alcohol and fighting. The program also affordsthe homeless the opportunity to learn skills andearn money; it offers woodshop, auto shop, metal

shop, crafts, and gardening. This training allowsthem to earn an income and their gardens allowthem to eat organically. Dejoria noted that the pro-gram is working so well that they will be adding anadditional 400 homes to the project.

The vast list of charities supported by John PaulMitchell Systems includes the Boys & Girls Clubsof America, the American Cancer Society,Food4Africa, Grow Appalachia, and Chrysalis, anonprofit group that helps homeless and low-in-come people get back on their feet and find thepath to self-sufficiency. DeJoria is also a patron ofMineseeker, a non-profit organization dedicated toseeking solutions to the worldwide problem of land-mines.

Today, DeJoria is on lists of the world’s billio-naires, and one of America’s richest living veterans.His John Paul Mitchell Systems hair products, stillprivately held, is worth more than a billion dollars.They are available in more than 100,000 salons inthe United States and are distributed throughoutthe world. Patron Spirits, the original ultra-premiumtequila, also the vision of Dejoria, was recently ac-quired by Bacardi Limited for $5.1 billion.

He and his third wife, the former Eloise Brady,are based in Austin, TX. Dejoria has four children,one of whom is professional drag-racer, Alexis De-Joria.

5AMB. GEORGE L.ARGYROS - California $2.7 BILLION (Forbes)

REAL ESTATE, SPORTS Chapman University(Business & Economics); Married, 3 Children

George L. Argyros is well known in a wide varietyof prominent circles, as his long and illustrious lifehas included achievements ranging from realestate, to sports, to international diplomacy.

Argyros served as U.S. Ambassador to Spainand was an owner of the professional baseballteam, the Seattle Mariners – which he sold in 1989.But Argyros, 83, made his fortune in grocery storesand real estate.

A second-generation American of Greek de-scent, he was born in Detroit, MI and raised in Pa-sadena, CA. He worked his way through high schooland college in southern California as a paperboyand grocery clerk. Argyros went into real estate in1962, selling land at busy intersections to gas sta-tions. Today, his privately held Arnel & Affiliatesowns and manages 5,500 apartments and 2 millionsquare feet of commercial space.

Argyros also founded Westar Capital, a privateequity firm, in 1987 and he is a director of FirstAmerican Financial Corp and Pacific MercantileBancorp.

In 2001, then-President George W. Bush ap-

pointed Argyros U.S. ambassador to Spain. Argyrosalso served on the Federal Home Loan MortgageCorporation (FreddieMac) under President GeorgeH.W. Bush.

A resident of Harbor Island in Newport Bay, CA,Argyros is a recognized business leader and phi-lanthropist. He was the 1993 recipient of the Ho-ratio Alger Award of Distinguished Americans, anda 2001 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.

Chapman’ University’s School of Business andEconomics was renamed in his honor in 1999. Hehas served on the board of trustees for severalcommunity organizations, including the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology, the Beckman Foundation,the Horatio Alger Association, and Chapman Uni-versity.

Argyros developed a friendship with scientist/in-ventor Arnold Beckman in California in 1962. Soonafterward, he began a 22-year service as chairmanof the board of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Fo-undation, which awards research grants in chemi-stry and the life sciences. In 2013, the foundationdeveloped the Beckman-Argyros Award in VisionResearch. The annual award offers a $100,000prize and a $400,000 research grant to an individualwho has made a significant achievement in visionresearch.

In January 2012, Argyros became a memberof the Board of Regents of the Orange County Co-uncil Boy Scouts of America. In April 2011, he andhis wife made a $5 million gift to an ambulatorysurgery center at the University of California. In2018, the Argyros family foundation pledged $7.5million to renovate the Los Angeles Coliseum,home of the USC Trojans and, according to theLos Angeles Times, the foundation donated$750,000 to help get the Balboa Island Museum& Historical Society established in its new locationin Newport Beach, CA.

Most recently, the Argyros family is part of anestimated $17-million campus renovation for the

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Mariners Christian School in Costa Mesa. Theircontribution went towards a new 900-seat audito-rium (the Argyros Center for Worship and Perfor-ming Arts) and a redesigned gymnasium (LivingLegacy Athletic Center).

Additionally, in December of 2019, the Argyrosfamily announced a surprise $5M donation to theSouth Coast Repertory, the Tony Award-winningtheatre in Costa Mesa. It is one of the largest singledonations in the history of the theatre, which wasfounded in 1964. The Argyros family has been oneof the leading supporters of the Repertory sincethe 1970s.

Argyros is an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriar-chate’s Order of St. Andrew the Apostle. He andhis wife, Julia, have three children and seven grand-children. The Argyroses were honored by the cityof Costa Mesa, CA in May with a Lifetime Achie-vement Award for service to the community.

6C. DEAN METROPOULOS -Florida$2.4 BILLION (Forbes)

MANAGEMENT, ACQUISITIONS Babson College; Married, 2 Children

C. Dean Metropoulos, age 72, is Chairman andCEO of Metropoulos & Company, a boutique buyoutand management firm. He remains very high onour list, as a result of his $2.4 billion estimatedworth (a slight dip from last year). Metropoulos ac-cumulated his fortune by purchasing and resurrec-ting food brands such as Hostess, Pabst Blue Rib-bon Beer, Chef Boyardee, Ghirardelli ChocolateCompany, Pinnacle Foods, Bumble Bee Tuna, VlasicPickles and Utz Snacks. He also recently helpedproduce the film Cliffs of Freedom.

The Greek-born Metropoulos moved from Tripolito Massachusetts with his parents at age 10. Typi-cal of many immigrants, his parents worked hardand encouraged their children to pursue their dre-ams. Metropoulos made his first American acqui-sition at the age of 32, when he acquired a cheesecompany in his wife, Marianne’s, native Vermont.

Metropoulos is very well known in the privateequity, investment banking, and financial commu-nity, having spent nearly three decades creating,acquiring, restructuring and growing nearly 100different businesses and 300 brands involving ap-proximately $14 billion in capital in the United Sta-tes, Mexico and Europe. Many of these were sub-sequently taken public or sold to strategic acquirers.

“We love acquiring and transforming underma-naged companies by investing heavily in operatingefficiencies, systems, new products, and innova-tion,” Metropoulos said, “and unique marketing,thus turning them into vibrant, growing businesses.We have been particularly privileged and fortunate

to acquire and revitalize brands with deep roots inour American culture and tradition, such as the re-cent acquisitions of the 170-year-old PBR and 100-year-old Hostess. Our European-acquired brands,such as Perrier Jouet and Mumm Champagnes,among others, often go back 300-plus years: trulyhumbling heritages.”

In July 2013, Metropoulos paid $410 million tobuy Hostess Brands and return Twinkies to groceryshelves after the company had filed for bankruptcyprotection and closed its doors. Hostess has madea remarkable turnaround; in the past few years ithas released several ice cream flavors and rolledout a new upscale line of snacks. In 2016, The Go-res Group (see Alec Gores, infra) acquired Hostessvia a spin-off, under a special-purpose acquisitioncompany process – but Metropoulos remained ch-airman. In August of 2019, Hostess completed apublic offering of 12 million shares of Class A stock- which was owned by Metropoulos and entitiescontrolled by him. Following the sales, Metropoulosstill owned 8.1% of outstanding Hostess stock. To-day, the Hostess company is worth more than $2B.

Metropoulos sold Pabst Brewing for an estima-ted $750 million in September 2014, nearly triplinghis 2010 investment. Pabst remains one of the fa-stest-growing brewing companies in the UnitedStates, if not the fastest.

Metropoulos’ sons, Evan, 38 and Daren, 35, areand have been an integral part of the turnaroundof the acquired companies. He has said that hissons have been the “the creative catalysts for re-positioning and reinventing these brands.” In Au-gust of 2016, his son Daren made headlines afterhe purchased the legendary Playboy Mansion inLos Angeles, CA for $100 million.

In 2019, Metropoulos was selected as one ofthe five distinguished Greeks of the Diaspora to behonored by the International Foundation for Greece


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(IFG). Every three years, the IFG honors distingui-shed members of our community for their contri-butions to enhancing the country’s internationalpresence in various fields – including entreprene-urship, which was given to Metropoulos. The Hel-lenic Post issued stamps dedicated to Metropoulosas well as to four other members of the Diasporaincluding: George Behrakis (also featured infra),Corinne Mentzelopoulos, Alexandre Desplat andDimitri Nanopoulos.

Metropoulos and his wife are both members ofthe Leadership 100 Foundation, a leadership orga-nization that supports the activities of the GreekOrthodox Church in the United States. Metropoulosis also a founding member and president of FaithEndowment, a New York based organization pro-moting the Greek Orthodox religion and Hellenicculture and interests.

7PETER NICHOLAS -Massachusetts $2.3 BILLION (AffluenceIQ)

Duke UniversityMarried, 3 children

Peter Nicholas, now 80, was raised by Greekimmigrant parents. His father, who had come as achild from Constantinople, settled in the MunjoyHill neighborhood in Portland, ME – a Greek com-munity that produced “dozens of immigrant childrenwho grew up to achieve real success.” In a reportpublished by the Partnership for a New AmericanEconomy, Nicholas was quoted saying: “Thesefunny looking Greek kids all had embedded in themthis ambition to work hard and achieve a better lifethan what their parents could have ever imagined.”In the same study, Nicholas also said that he was“very aware” of the old country his family camefrom and how much his parents wanted him towork to take advantage of the many opportunitiesthat America offered.

A graduate of Duke University, Nicholas wenton to earn an MBA from the University of Pennsyl-vania’s prestigious Wharton School of Business.He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, resigninghis commission in 1966. He is Chairman Emeritusof Duke’s Board of Trustees. In 1996, Nicholas gave$20 million to Duke for its School of the Environ-ment, which was named in his honor. Since then,he and his wife, Virginia (Ginny) Lilly, have madeother gifts of tens of millions of dollars to Duke.Ginny is the great-grand daughter of Eli Lilly, foun-der of the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Company,where Nicholas worked prior to founding BostonScientific, the medical device company.

In 1979, Nicholas co-founded the aforementio-ned Boston Scientific with scientist John Abeleafter meeting him at a children’s soccer game. Thecompany started out by making steerable cathetersused in less invasive medical procedures.

Today, Boston Scientific is a worldwide deve-

loper, manufacturer, and marketer of medical de-vices whose products are used in a range of in-terventional medical specialties, including inter-ventional radiology, interventional cardiology,peripheral interventions, neuromodulation, neu-rovascular intervention, electrophysiology, cardiacsurgery, vascular surgery, endoscopy, oncology,urology and gynecology. The company went publicin 1992 and currently employs 35,000 peopleacross six continents.

The company is primarily known for the deve-lopment of the Taxus Stent, a drug-eluting stentwhich is used to open clogged arteries. With thefull acquisition of Cameron Health in June 2012,the company also became notable for offering aminimally invasive implantable cardioverter-defi-brillator (ICD) which they call the EMBLEM Subcu-taneous Implantable Defibrillator (S-ICD).

In 2016, Nicholas announced that he would stepdown as Boston Scientific’s chairman, a year aheadof his intended retirement. President & CEO MikeMahoney, who succeeded Nicholas as Chairman,said this about his predecessor: “These changesrepresent a major milestone in the history of thecompany, as Pete’s dedication, passion, and com-mitment were instrumental in bringing the benefitsof interventional medicine to patients in need. Un-der Pete’s leadership, Boston Scientific has becomea leading global healthcare corporation serving 22million patients each year, and we are deeply in-debted for his decades of service and love of thecompany.”

Today, Nicholas serves as the managing directorof Ithaka Partners LLC, a relationship-driven private,alternative asset management firm. The firm in-vests in and actively advises early-stage companies(especially in the areas of healthcare, technologyand the environment) on the development of brea-kthrough products and services that will improvethe well-being of people and the planet.

8ALEC GORES - California $2.1 BILLION (Forbes) TECHNOLOGY, LEVERAGEDBUYOUTS Western Michigan University (ComputerScience); Married, 5 children

Alec Gores, 66, like his brothers Tom and Sam(both also featured in this edition) was born to aGreek father and Lebanese mother, in Nazareth,Israel. It took the family, which included 6 children,five years to get visas to enter the United States.Eventually, the family finally made it to Americaand settled in Genesee, MI when Alec was a tee-nager. The sons, who were originally named Elias(Alec), Samir (Sam) and Tewfic (Tom), were prom-ptly given new American names by their aunt, whopicked them up from the airport.

"My father was willing to give up literally every-thing he had [in Israel] and pack his bags and bringus here," Gores told Forbes in October, 2016. "Hedid it for the kids, to make sure we have a betterfuture."

The elder Gores, Charlie, emphasized hard workand an appreciation for the opportunities the UnitedStates presented, his son told Forbes. "The day welanded in America, my dad sat us down and hesaid, 'This is your new country. You have to respectit. You have to embrace it,’" Gores remembers. Hisdad added: "You've got to work hard, and you cando anything you want in this country."

Alec began his professional career by bagginggroceries at his uncle’s store soon after arriving inAmerica (for 25 cents an hour) – he didn’t speakany English at the time.

Today, Gores heads the Beverly Hills-based pri-vate equity firm The Gores Group, which has $2.5billion in assets. He lives in an 11-bedroom mansionon 2.2 acres in Beverly Hills – near his brother Tom,who bought a palatial estate in Holby Hills in 2016as part of a reported $100 million deal.

After graduating from Western Michigan Uni-versity with a degree in computer science (the firstperson in his family to finish college), he foundedExecutive Business Systems in 1978, for $10,000,and was selling computers out of his basement.His father “gave [him] his last $8,000 and had [him]go buy a demo machine," Gores told Forbes. "That'swhat I needed to start the business." He grew thecompany tremendously, and sold it in 1986 to Con-tel for approximately $2 million.

In 2016, he joined C. Dean Metropulos, also fe-atured in this edition, to take the food snack giantHostess public.

Gores famously lost over $17 million in a three-day backgammon series to fellow billionaire JPMcManus in 2012, the Independent reported, andGores promptly “paid up like a gent.”

The father of five, Gores is now married to KellyNoonan Gores, his second wife (John Legend per-formed at their wedding in 2016). Alec’s eldest

child, daughter Rochelle Gores Fredston, foundedthe Philanthropic Society Los Angeles (now calledLearning Lab Ventures) in 2010. The organizationis focused on education, and provides disadvanta-ged students with after-school learning and enri-chment programs. Kelly, Alec’s wife, recently rele-ased the documentary Heal (83% on RottenTomatoes) on Netflix which is about the power ofthe mind to heal the body.

8HASEOTES FAMILY -Massachusetts $2.1 BILLION (Forbes)

CONVENIENCE STORES

Vasilios and Aphrodite Haseotes founded Cum-berland Farms in 1938. The Haseoteses emigratedfrom Greece’s Macedonia and Epirus regions tothe state of Maine and eventually proceeded topurchase a one-cow, one-calf dairy farm in Cum-berland, RI for $84. They had eight children, two ofwhom – Demetrios (Jim) and Lily – would go on tolead the convenience store chain.

Cumberland Farms eventually expanded acrossstate lines and grew to become the largest dairyfarm operation in Massachusetts. In 1956, the com-pany opened a jug-milk store in Bellingham, MA.During the 1950s, few convenience food storeswith dawn-to-midnight service every day of theweek existed in the northern part of the country. In1962, Cumberland Farms quickly expanded to be-come New England’s first true convenience store.

By the early 1990s, Cumberland Farms rankedthird among the country’s convenience store ch-ains, and was also a leader in both the retail andwholesale distribution of petroleum products thro-



ugh the Cumberland Farms (and previously, alsoGulf and Mobil) names.

The company first added a gas station to one ofits stores in 1971 and expanded greatly in the wakeof the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. By 1975, Cum-berland Farms opened its 1,000th store. The follo-wing year, it opened a 560,000-square-foot bakeryand warehouse in Westborough, Mass. In 1987, itpurchased all of the Northeast assets of Gulf Oilfrom the Chevron Corporation, including 550 ser-vice stations and a terminal network throughoutthe Northeast.

In 2010, Gulf Oil L.P., a subsidiary of CumberlandFarms, announced it had acquired all rights, titleand interest to the Gulf brand in the entire UnitedStates and its territories. About 5 years later, Cum-berland Farms sold Gulf Oil for a reported $1 billionin order to “get out of the wholesale business andfocus exclusively on retail.”

Until October of 2019, Cumberland Farms wasone of America’s largest family-owned conveniencestore chains – and one of the largest family-ownedcompanies of any kind in the United States. A clo-sely held family-owned company since its inception,Cumberland Farms grew to become a multi-billion-dollar corporation – in 2017 alone, the companyreported $6 billion in revenues. Lily Haseotes Ben-tas, daughter of Vasilios and Aphrodite Haseotes,

was chairman of the board of directors and her ne-phew, Ari, succeeded Bentas as CEO in June 2014.

However, on October 22, 2019, EG Group, aUnited Kingdom-based company, officially boughtCumberland Farms which operated 567 stores inseven states in the northeast as well as in Florida.At the closing, Ari Haseotes said: “Being a third-generation founding owner and operator, I have animmense amount of gratitude for the CumberlandFarms team and what we have achieved together,”he said. “This is the right next step for CumberlandFarms and creates an incredible opportunity to ex-pand and grow the existing business into the widerEG Group global network. In that regard, I couldn’tbe more pleased with the historical milestone ach-ieved today.”

The EG Group intends to retain the CumberlandFarms logo and their locations. Of the acquisition,Zuber Issa of EG Group said: “Over nearly eightdecades the Haseotes family have built Cumber-land Farms into an outstanding portfolio of large,modern facilities run by a team of associates whoare connected to the communities they serve.”

Also in October 2019, Vasilios Haseotes washonored (posthumously) for his service to the Uni-ted States in World War I with the ‘Oxi’ ServiceAward (part of the Washington ‘Oxi’ Day FoundationCourage and Service Awards) at the National WWIIMemorial in Washington, D.C. After arriving in Ame-rica at the age of 15, Vasilios enlisted in the armyin 1917 and found in WWI. He was decorated byboth the U.S. and France for his heroic service. Hewas an Archon the Ecumenical Patriarchate andpassed away in 1980 after years of philanthropiccontributions to various charities.

10 PETER G. ANGELOS -Maryland$2.0 BILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

LAW, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALLUniversity of Baltimore; Married, 2 children

Peter G. Angelos finishes off our top ten weal-thiest Greek-Americans of 2020. Angelos, now 90,is an attorney based in Baltimore and is best knownfor being the owner, chairman and CEO of Major

League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles. Angelos was born in Pittsburgh, PA on July 4,

1929, to immigrants from the island of Karpathos.He went to Baltimore at age 11, where his familysettled in the Highlandtown section of the city. Hisfather owned a tavern in East Baltimore where Pe-ter worked during his adolescence. Peter learnedvery quickly how hard life could be – especially inBaltimore. Baltimore wasn’t a gentle environmentto say the least; in order to protect himself, Peterlearned how to box at the Baltimore Athletic As-sociation. Years later, Peter graduated from theUniversity of Baltimore School of Law, where hewas class valedictorian, and went onto a lucrativecareer in trial law, specializing in cases involvingharmful products, professional malpractice, andpersonal injury.

His firm, the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos,has attorneys and locations in Maryland, Dela-ware, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Angelos be-gan working as a criminal defense lawyer follo-wing graduation. For most of his legal career, hewas a successful attorney representing Baltimorelabor unions and their members through his ownprivate practice, which he founded in 1961. Be-ginning in the 1980s, he refashioned his firm’sfocus from criminal law to civil class action suits.His law firm and wealth expanded exponentiallyin 1982, when he represented 8,500 plaintiffs –the largest number of plaintiffs ever – in an asbe-stos litigation and won. He reportedly made over

$100 million on this one case alone.Angelos was also enormously successful in

suing Wyeth, the makers of the diet pill fen-phen,and representing the state of Maryland as leadattorney in a lawsuit against tobacco companyPhilip Morris. The agreement had stipulated thathe would receive 25% of the recovery, but whenit came to $4.5 billion, Maryland refused to pay;Angelos’ team settled for $150 million. After thathe became a major player in the Baltimore com-munity. Commenting on winning settlements ofthat size on behalf of governmental entities, An-gelos said, “If you get that kind of a fee, you’refundamentally taking it from the public interest.”

Angelos bought the Orioles in August 1993,leading a group of investors including prominentMarylanders like novelist Tom Clancy, in purcha-sing the team for $173 million, a record price atthe time.

The Orioles enjoyed some success early underAngelos’ ownership, making the postseason as awild card team in 1996 and winning the AmericanLeague East Division title in 1997. But managerDavey Johnson resigned after the 1997 season,and 14 straight losing seasons ensued. As of late,their fortunes climbed, as they clinched the divisionin 2014 and just felt short of repeating in 2015,but made the playoffs again in 2016. In 2016, For-bes reported that the Orioles’ value had increased61% in two years, from $620 million to over $1billion. In April of 2019, Forbes reported that theteam is worth $1.3 billion.

Angelos and his wife, Georgia, have two sons:John, who serves as the Orioles’ executive vicepresident and Louis, an attorney at the family lawoffice. Angelos began to cede control of the Oriolesto his sons starting in 2017. Amid rumblings of apotential sale or a move out of town a few monthsago, John was quoted saying that the Orioles wouldbe in Baltimore “as long as Fort McHenry is stan-ding watch over the Inner Harbor.” Relatedly, onFebruary 22nd, Baseball Commissioner Rob Man-fred expressed optimism that the Orioles’ franchisewas solid in remarks he made at a news confe-rence. He said, “I have spent a considerable amountof time with the Angelos family this off-season. Ithink the family is committed to making baseballas good as it can possibly be in Baltimore. They’reexcited about [general manager] Mike Elias andhis team in terms of their ability to make the fran-


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chise as competitive as possible.”A lifelong Democrat, Angelos has thrown his

hat into the political arena as well. He won electionto the Baltimore City Council and served on theCouncil from 1959 to 1963. He also ran for mayoras an independent in 1964, but lost. He has beenan active supporter of national Democratic candi-dates.

Angelos has been active in charitable programsin the city and state. He enjoys horse racing andowns thoroughbred horses. He has given $10 mil-lion to his alma mater, the University of Baltimore;in return, the new law school building bears thename of his parents: The John and Frances AngelosLaw Center, which opened in April 2013. That sameyear, he gifted $2.5 million to the MedStar FranklinSquare Medical Center in Baltimore to open a lungdisease center.

11JAMIE DIMONNew York$1.7 BILLION (Forbes)

FINANCETufts University (Psychology &Economics); Married, 3 children

Jamie Dimon, 63, is chairman and CEO of Amer-ica’s largest bank JPMorgan Chase, and consideredone of the nation’s most powerful people.

Dimon was born and raised in New York Citywith his older brother Peter and his fraternal twinTed. To ensure their surname sounded French (andnot Greek), his paternal grandfather changed thefamily surname from Papademetriou to Dimonwhen he emigrated from Smyrna. Dimon’s grand-father became a broker and passed his knowledgeof the business onto his son, Theodore (Dimon’sfather). Dimon’s father and grandfather worked to-gether for 19 years and Jamie joined them duringthe summers in their New York office. In a 2016interview with CNBC, Dimon said that he and hisfamily were very ‘tight’ – so when both of his par-ents died within a few hours of each other in thatsame year, it was very tough on him.

As a boy, Dimon attended the Browning School,a prestigious all-boys prep school on New York’sUpper East Side. He later majored in psychologyand economics at Tufts University, and earned hisMBA from Harvard University Business Schoolwhere he met his future wife and mother of his

three daughters, Judith Kent. Upon graduating in1982, Sanford Weill convinced him to turn downoffers from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley,and instead to join him as an assistant at AmericanExpress. Through a series of unprecedented merg-ers and acquisitions that ensued, they formed Cit-igroup, then the largest financial services conglom-erate in the world. Weill was the one who madethe deals, but Dimon was the “whiz kid” who madethe numbers work. Dimon left Citigroup in Novem-ber 1998 due to an internal conflict with Weill.

For the 2013 fiscal year Dimon received a 74%pay raise to $20 million, which has continued toincrease since (his current salary is $31.7 million,after a record 2019 profit for JPMorgan). The WallStreet Journal said that Dimon looks set to remainthe highest-paid CEO in the banking industry.

According to Forbes’ 2019 list of the world’slargest companies, JPMorgan is the largest andmost powerful public company in the country, andsecond in the world behind one Chinese bank(ICBC). Its market value was estimated at nearly$370 billion. It is one of the oldest financial institu-tions in the United States, with a history datingback over 200 years, a presence in over 100 mar-kets, and over 250,000 employees. The firm hasassets of $2.7 trillion and serves millions of cus-tomers in the United States and many of the world’smost prominent corporate, institutional, and gov-ernment clients.

Dimon has been on Time magazine’s list of the100 most influential people in the world four timessince 2006 and on Fortune’s World’s Greatest

Leaders for 2018 list. He is also on the Board ofDirectors of Harvard Business School and theBoard of Trustees of New York University Schoolof Medicine.

In July 2014, Dimon said he had been diagnosedwith throat cancer. The following December, he an-nounced to his staff that he had concluded treat-ment and that after testing, his doctors found noevidence of cancer in his body, although he willcontinue to be monitored. Even though he contin-ued to work during his treatment, he had cut backon his schedule. By 2016, it appeared the cancerwas in remission and he had a good long-termprognosis.

12GEORGE M. MARCUS -California$1.6 BILLION (Forbes)

REAL ESTATESan Francisco State University(Economics); Married, 4 Children

Born George Mathew Moutsanas in 1941 onthe island of Evia in Greece during World War II,George Marcus, now 78, emigrated to the UnitedStates at the age of 4. His family settled in SanFrancisco’s blue-collar Potrero Hill neighborhood,where, he has said, his top priority was fitting in. Itwas in this neighborhood that Marcus eventuallymet his future wife, Judy. According to an interviewwith the Nob Hill Gazette, Marcus was friends withJudy’s younger brother – they knew each othersince elementary school. However, it wasn’t untilafter Marcus came home from the military that hisfriend, Judy’s brother, suggested that he shouldgo on a date with his sister.

Marcus completed his undergraduate studiesin Economics at San Francisco State University injust two and a half years, and founded the Uni-versity’s first economics club. He also served asa member of the Board of Trustees of the Califor-nia State University System in 1981-89. He wasnamed SFSU Alumnus of the year in 1989 andone of its 11 Distinguished Centennial Alumni in1999. He and his wife (also an SFSU alum), helpedcreate SFSU’s International Center for the Artswith a $3 million gift. Marcus also helped developSFSU’s Greek Studies program, and chairs itsModern Greek Studies Foundation, which sup-ports the Nikos Kazantzakis Chair for ModernGreek Studies.

Marcus went on to found G.M. Marcus & Com-pany, which evolved into Marcus & Millichap Com-pany (MMC), with the help of his business partner,William A. Millichap four decades ago. MMC is oneof the country’s premier providers of investmentreal estate brokerage services, and the parent com-pany of a diversified group of real estate, service,investment, and development firms. According toForbes, MMC closed nearly 9,000 transactions val-ued at $42.3 billion in 2016.

MMC’s featured company, Marcus & MillichapReal Estate Investment Services, has establisheditself as a leading real estate firm with more than1,200 brokers in markets throughout the UnitedStates. With dozens of offices across the UnitedStates and Canada, the firm concentrates on in-vestment brokerage, and provides financing andresearch services to both buyers and sellers. Mar-cus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Serviceswent public with 6 million shares in October 2013,generating net proceeds to the company of about$34.6 million. In 2015, due to the company’s suc-cess, Marcus’ net worth catapulted him from mil-lionaire to billionaire.

Marcus is also chairman of Essex Property Trust,a publicly held, multi-family real estate investmenttrust (REIT). Located in Palo Alto, CA and tradedon the New York Stock Exchange, Essex is a fullyintegrated REIT that acquires, develops, and rede-velops apartment communities in select west coast

locales. The company, according to Forbes, cur-rently owns almost 60,000 apartments along theWest Coast (with sales of $1.4 billion as of 2018).Marcus is also one of the original founders of PlazaCommerce Bank and Greater Bay Bancorp. Heserved on Greater Bay’s board of directors until itwas sold to Wells-Fargo in 2007 for $1.5 billion.

Along with another Greek-American couple,George and Judy Marcus opened the successfulEvvia restaurant in Palo Alto in 1995, and its sisterrestaurant Kokkari in San Francisco in 1999. Knownfor its rustic and elegant cuisine and environment,Kokkari enjoys its standing as the premier Greekrestaurant and a favorite of the local Democraticestablishment.

Marcus supports many organizations of theGreek-American community. In 2008, he co-founded and is the current Chairman Emeritus ofthe National Hellenic Society, which brings togetherdistinguished Greek-Americans on a national levelto preserve their heritage. His considerable com-mitments to the Greek Orthodox Church and theCommunity include memberships on the boardsof directors of the Modern Greek Studies Founda-tion, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Fran-cisco, International Orthodox Christian Charities,the Elios Society of Northern California, Leadership100, and many others. He is also involved with TheHellenic Initiative, the Washington ‘Oxi’ Day Foun-dation, and the Taube Foundation.

In February 2017, The National Herald reportedthat Marcus donated $1 million to the Hellenic Col-lege and Holy Cross Theological School (HCHC) inMassachusetts. And just a few weeks ago, he do-nated another $2M towards the rebuilding of theSt. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and NationalShrine at the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

The Marcuses also support non-Greek causesas well. For example, last year, they gave San Fran-cisco State University a $25 million gift to benefitthe school’s liberal arts program (the largest grantever given to that institution). Earlier this year theygave $10M to Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit HighSchool which will be used to establish an endow-ment – a gift that the school’s president calls “trans-formational.”

The Marcuses have also been major politicaldonors, mostly to Democratic and liberal causes.Most recently, Marcus has become one of JoeBiden’s largest donors (according to Forbes). Hegave $1M to a super PAC supporting the formervice president in December and hosted a fundraiserfor him in the fall.

13JAMES S. CHANOS -New York$1.5 BILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

INVESTMENTSYale University (Economics & PoliticalScience); 4 children

James S. Chanos, 62, is a second generationGreek-American who grew up in Milwaukee, WI.


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Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon with Pinnacol Assurance apprentices andprogram leads before the launch of a multimillion-dollar career readiness investment on Wednesday,Feb. 12, 2020 in Denver. Denver is one of 10 global cities receiving the investment from JPMorganChase. From left: Cheyanne Greer; Julie Wilmes; Apprentice Angela Mendoza-Rico; Chairman andCEO of JP Morgan Chase Jamie Dimon; Apprentice Eric Miller; Apprentice Moniqe Lane; Phil Kalin,President and CEO, Pinnacol Assurance; Apprentice Sharon Avina-Nunez and Mark Tapy.

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His father owned a chain of dry cleaning stores inMilwaukee and his mother worked as an officemanager at a steel company.

Chanos is informally known as “Wall Street’smost notable bear.” In 1985, he founded KynikosAssociates (in Greek, “kynikos” means cynic) – theworld’s largest exclusive short-selling hedge fund– after a Wall Street career as a financial analyst.Today, Chanos serves as president of Kynikos,which has offices in New York and London. He isrenowned for predicting – and profiting from – the2001 Enron Corporation scandal.

Chanos’ speculations catapulted him into bil-lionaire status just a few years ago, where he hasremained.

Chanos has a long and distinguished history ofmaking shrewd predictions, having identified sev-eral financial meltdowns such as Boston Chicken,Conesco, and Tyco International. In 2000, he startedinvestigating Enron. One year later, predicting thecompany’s financial problems, he became Enron’sshort seller. By the time the Enron scandal waspublic, Kynikos Associates profited greatly. Financialmagazine Barron’s mentioned his early predictionof Enron’s fall as “the market call of the decade, ifnot the past fifty years.” Later on, Chanos success-fully predicted Sotheby’s stock drop – it plummetedin November 2007 from $57 to $10. He even fore-saw the global financial meltdown of 2008. In April2007 at a finance ministers’ conference in Wash-ington, DC, he warned that American banks andbrokerage firms were highly vulnerable to a realestate crash because of the vast amounts of dubi-ous mortgages they held. More recently, Chanoshas taken swipes at the electric car maker, Tesla(and Elon Musk), claiming that the company's eq-uity is “worthless.”

More recently, in October of 2019, Chanos betagainst Grubhub. He said that the food deliverycompany makes almost nothing per order and isrunning into competition and labor issues. In an in-terview with the Financial Times, Chanos said thatOctober actually ended up being “one of [his com-pany’s] best months – both absolutely and relatively– in a long time.”

In March, 2006, Chanos created the Coalitionof Private Investment Companies, an organizationaimed at promoting hedge funds in Washington.Recently, the lobbying group has shifted its atten-tion to Europe.

Chanos appears regularly in the American mediagiving financial advice and predictions. He has longbeen considered a “media operator” with a strongrelationship with journalists that respect and pro-mote his ideas.

Chanos is a graduate of Yale University, wherehe studied economics and political science. Organ-izations he supports include the Washington “Oxi’Day Foundation, the George and Olga Tsunis Centerfor Hellenic Studies at Stony Brook University, andFaith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism.He has also been known to be politically active; inJune of 2019, he hosted a fundraiser for Joe Bidenin his home in Manhattan.

Chanos is currently a lecturer in finance and aBecton Fellow at the Yale School of Management,where he teaches a class on the history of financialfraud. He also serves on the Board of Trustees ofthe Brooklyn Museum, the New York Historical So-ciety, and the National WWII Museum. He was di-vorced in 2006 and lives in New York City with hisfour children.

14TED J. LEONSIS -Maryland$1.3 BILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

INTERNET, VENTURE CAPITAL,PROFESSIONAL SPORTSGeorgetown University (AmericanStudies); Married, 2 children

Theodore J. Leonsis, the grandson of Greek im-migrants, was born to a family of modest meansin Brooklyn, New York and spent his early yearsthere. His family later moved back to his mother’shometown of Lowell, MA where Leonsis, workedas a lawn mower in order to make some money.According to an interview with N-Magazine, Leonsissaid that when his guidance counselor evaluatedhis skill-set, she concluded that he was destinedto work in a grocery store. She was very wrong.

Leonsis graduated from Lowell High School in 1973and attended Georgetown University with the fi-nancial help of a businessman named Jim Shannonfor whom Leonsis had worked for as a lawn mower.After graduating in 1977 (the first in his family toobtain a university education), he moved back tohis parents’ home in Lowell.

Few people have roots as deep in the computerindustry, or as much knowledge and experience ofits history and potential. In 1980, Leonsis startedhis own company, which grew quickly, and sold itto International Thompson for $60M one year later.Establishing himself as a pioneer of the Internetand new media, Leonsis participated in launchesof the Apple MacIntosh, the IBM PC, and the Wangoffice automation. He has led four businesses thathave grown at record rates: he built Wang WP (whodeveloped the first word processor) from a $200million to a $1 billion company with the largest fe-male management team in the country. He wasfounder and CEO of Redgate Communications Cor-poration, considered the first new media marketingcompany. He built AOL into the first $1 billion in-teractive services company and the world’s biggestmedia company, helping to increase its member-ship from fewer than 800,000 to more than 8 mil-lion in a four-year span (1994-97). He retired fromAOL in 2006 and currently serves as vice chairmanemeritus.

Leonsis is probably best known for his involve-ment in our nation’s capital’s sports world. He isthe founder, chairman, CEO and majority owner ofMonumental Sports and Entertainment (formed in2010), which owns and operates the professionalsports teams Washington Capitals (National HockeyLeague), Washington Wizards (National BasketballAssociation), Washington Mystics (Women’s Na-tional Basketball League), and the Verizon Centerin downtown Washington, D.C. The partnershipalso operates Kettler Capitals Iceplex (the Wash-ington Capitals’ training facility and front officeheadquarters) and the George Mason UniversityPatriot Center.

Leonsis is also a co-founder and partner at Rev-olution Growth Fund, chairman of the Grouponboard of directors, and founder/chairman of Snag-Films, a website that allows online audiences tofind, watch and share documentary films. He hasproduced award-winning documentaries includingNanking, which told the story of the 1937 invasionof Nanking, China by the Japanese army. It pre-miered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival andwon a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award in2009.

In 2015 he became Board Chairman of the Dis-trict of Columbia College Access Program, a privatenon-profit organization that encourages and en-ables public high school students to enroll in andgraduate from college.

After surviving an airplane crash landing in 1983,Leonsis resolved to “rethink [his] priorities and how[he] planned to lead [his] life going forward.” Hedrafted a list of 101 goals to accomplish. To datehe has completed 74 of the tasks, including owninga sports franchise, playing one-on-one basketballwith Michael Jordan, and starting a family charityfoundation. (See the complete list at tedstake.com.)In 2010, he published The Business of Happiness:6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work.

Leonsis and his wife, Lynn, live in Potomac, MDin a 20,000 square foot home that Franklin Roo-sevelt, and later, Joe Kennedy (the father of Presi-dent John F. Kennedy), used to rent over the sum-mer. They have a son, Zachary, and a daughter,Elle.

15EDWARD ZANDER -California$1.3 Billion (Wallmine)

TECHNOLOGYRensselaer Polytechnic Institute;Married, 2 children

Brand new on The National Herald’s list thisyear, Edward Zander is the son of Jewish immi-grants from Greece and Poland. His father report-edly dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but insteadsettled for a job as a furrier in order to support hisill parents. Zander’s mother, blind with glaucoma,emigrated from Greece after her entire family waswiped out by Turkish nationalists in 1922.

Zander was given the nickname ‘Fast Eddie’by his friends largely because of his Brooklynroots. According to a Boston Globe article, he fre-quently demonstrated the "hustle of a street kidspoiling for a good fight"; Zander himself re-marked, "I'm from New York, so I'm New Yorkfast.”

Zander's first career choice was electrical en-gineering, which he studied at Rensselaer Poly-technic Institute in Troy, New York. After graduat-ing in 1968, he moved to Boston to fill a positionas an engineer at the defense supply firmRaytheon Company. However Zander quicklylearned that he was, as he described to the BostonGlobe, a "lousy engineer" (June 19, 2000).

Zander spent many decades in the technologysector and has played a key role in shaping someof the major paradigm shifts in technology that im-pact the world today. These include the move frommainframes to minicomputers; minicomputers toworkstations; PCs to networking and to the Inter-net; hardware to software; and the revolution inwireless devices and mobility.

After spending five years with Raytheon he ac-cepted a position as a marketer with Data GeneralCorporation, one of the pioneers of microcomput-ing. Two years later he had earned his MBA atBoston University. His time with Data Generalproved successful, with the company's sales in-creasing from $7 million in 1973, when he joinedthe company, to $500 million in 1982.

Zander then went on to become president andchief operating officer of Sun Microsystems until2002. During his 15 years at the company, he grewSun to $18 billion in revenues; established the com-pany as number one in the server market; and builtit into the pre-eminent supplier of network softwareinfrastructure with Solaris and Java. In addition, Edwas responsible for developing the "dot in dot com”campaign establishing Sun as a leader in Internetcomputing. Before Sun, Ed worked at Apollo Com-puter as vice president of marketing and at DataGeneral in a number of marketing and engineeringpositions.

However, what Zander is probably best knownfor is being chairman of the board and chief exec-utive officer of Motorola. During his four-year tenureat the company, he made the RAZR the best-sellingcell phone in history and reshaped Motorola's im-age worldwide with the popular "Hello Moto" cam-

paign. He sharpened Motorola's edge in technologyinnovation; delivered on 12 consecutive quartersof revenue growth; streamlined the business to in-crease operating efficiencies worldwide; signifi-cantly improved the balance sheet, and acquiredand divested businesses to strengthen the com-pany's competitive position. During his tenure, thecompany doubled its revenue and achieved doubledigit earnings for the first time in over a decade.

Currently, Zander is a member of the board ofdirectors at Seagate Technology, Netezza Corp.,and NetSuite, as well as a member of several advi-sory boards of civic, philanthropic and educationalfoundations, like Jason Foundation for Education,Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and School ofManagement at Boston University.

In January of last year, Zander and his wife werehonored with the Catalyst Award (the GlaucomaResearch Foundation’s highest honor) at the Glau-coma 360 Annual Gala for their commitment to ad-vancing medical research.

16DR. GEORGEYANCOPOULOSNew York$1.2 Billion (Forbes)

PHARMACEUTICALSColumbia University; 4 children

Dr. George Yancopoulos, 60, joined RegeneronLaboratories in 1989 as its Founding Scientist andis currently the company’s President and Chief Sci-entific Officer.

Born and raised in New York, Yancopoulos hailsfrom Kastoria. His grandfather, George Danis Yan-copoulos was born in Kastoria before it was liber-ated from the Turks. “He escaped to Austria…taughthimself German somehow, and remarkably got adegree in electrical engineering,” Yancopoulos saysabout his grandfather. His grandfather eventuallyreturned to Greece and with his business partnersbuilt many of the first electrical power plants there.

Dr. Yancopoulos’ father eventually emigrated toAmerica and pushed his children to get high payingjobs. As Yancopoulos became more interested inthe sciences, his father started getting worried thathe would become a scientist – a career he fearedwould not afford his son a good salary. However,when Yancopoulos was 16 years-old, his fathergave him an article from The National Herald (hedidn’t read the American papers, just the Greekone, Yancopoulos once told us) which was about acertain Dr. P. Roy Vagelos who was leaving Wash-ington University to join Merck as head of Researchand Development.

Yancopoulos remembers his father saying: “Ifyou are going to become a scientist, at least be-come like Roy Vagelos,” and added “we Greeksdid not have many heroes growing up, but he gaveme Roy as my role model.”

Yancopoulos went on to earn his MD and PhDdegrees from Columbia University, has authoredmore than 350 scientific manuscripts, and was theeleventh-most cited scientist in the world in the1990s. In 1989, Yancopoulos went to Tarrytown,New York where he started working at Regeneron.Yancopoulos helped Regeneron’s worth skyrocket2,240% between 2011 and 2016.

He was selected in 2004 as a member of theNational Academy of Sciences. Along with keymembers of his team, he is a principal inventorand developer of Regeneron's seven FDA-approveddrugs and foundational technologies, including theTRAP technology, VelociGene® and VelocIm-mune®. Just this month Regeneron announcedthat the FRA approved EYLEA Injection to treat allstages of diabetic retinopathy – a disease affectingapproximately eight million people. Yancopoulosalso developed “the most valuable mouse evermade,” bred to have immune systems that respondjust as a human’s would, so that it can be used fortesting how the human body might react to variouspharmaceuticals and other substances. Most re-cently, Regeneron has partnered with the U.S. gov-ernment to develop an effective treatment for thenew Chinese coronavirus, using drugs that thecompany developed to fight the Ebola virus.

His career, featured in Forbes, showed how hisscientific ability and humility combined to help himdevelop drugs for patients with illnesses fromasthma to cancer and made the company a forceto be reckoned with in its field.

“We were a tiny company, but we had the mostpowerful technology,” he says. “And sometimes


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that’s what counts,” he told the magazine.“George sees and feels biology in ways very

few scientists really can,” said Elias Zerhouni, thePresident of Global R&D at Sanofi, Regeneron’spartner on most of its drugs. “It is this creative in-tuition combined with scientific rigor that makeshim special in my view.”

Yancopoulos defers to his team of scientistsand the man who hired him, fellow billionaireLeonard Schleifer, who said his find has “immensetalent and genius.”

Yancopoulos works at his science like a scien-tist, not like a man interested in the money itbrings. Nevertheless, in 2017, Yancopoulos tookhome approximately $270 million, based on cal-culations of his actual realized stock gains (whichwas the largest paycheck of any health care ex-ecutive in 2017).

The money hasn't gone to his head: he doeshis kids’ laundry and dresses in the worn Oxfordsand khakis of an academic scientist, Forbes wrote.

He is uncomfortable discussing his wealth buthopes that the very thought of it, generated bylifesaving drugs, might serve “as an inspiration tokids who (might) otherwise become hedge fundmanagers.”

17DR. P. ROY VAGELOS -New Jersey1.0 BILLION (TNHE)

PHARMACEUTICALS, HEALTHCAREUniversity of Pennsylvania (Chemistry);Married, 4 children

Dr. Pindaros Roy Vagelos, now 90 years old,was born in Rahway, NJ in 1929 – just before theinfamous stock market crash. In 1943, about 20years after they had emigrated to the United Statesfrom Asia Minor, Vagelos’ parents, Herodotus andMarianthi Vagelos bought a restaurant (then knownas Estelle’s Luncheonette), where Vagelos and histwo sisters worked during their adolescence. Ac-cording to the Columbia University Magazine, thefamily ate dinner there six nights a week. Vagelos,described as a “violin-playing, sports-loving mathwhiz at Rahway High,” worked behind the counterevery day after school as a soda jerk, a dishwasher,and as a potato peeler.

Vagelos earned his bachelor’s degree with hon-ors in 1950 from the University of Pennsylvania.He then went on to earn a medical degree fromColumbia University in 1954. After an internshipand residency at Massachusetts General Hospitalin Boston (1954-56), he joined the National Insti-tutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD. At NIH from1956 to 1966, he served in the National Heart In-stitute, holding positions in cellular physiology andbiochemistry – first as senior surgeon, then as headof Comparative Biochemistry. In 1966, Vagelosjoined the Washington University in St. Louis Schoolof Medicine as chairman of its Biological ChemistryDepartment where he founded the division of Bi-ology and Biomedical Sciences.

Since then, he has had a long and distinguishedcareer in healthcare, and particularly in pharma-ceuticals. It was in 1975 that Dr. Vagelos left aca-demia to join Merck, which he led with great dis-tinction both as a scientist and visionary corporateleader, first as Senior Vice President for Research,and then starting in 1984 as CEO.

Merck was very respected under his leadership,having been voted “America’s Most Admired Cor-

poration” in the annual Fortune magazine poll forseven consecutive years. During Vagelos’ tenurethere, Merck developed the cholesterol-loweringstatins, MEVACOR and ZOCOR.

Vagelos is sometimes called the father of ‘phar-macophilanthropy’ for his decision that Merck con-tribute the drug MECTIZAN free to cure millions ofAfricans of river blindness.

Since 1995, Vagelos has been chairman ofbiotech company Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,which employs 7,400 people and had sales of $6.7billion in 2019 (Forbes). He is also currently thechairman of Theravance, Inc. (which he alsofounded), another biopharmaceutical company,based out of California.

After retiring from Merck (due to the companyrule that CEOs retire at age 65), Vagelos was chair-man of the University of Pennsylvania’s board oftrustees from 1994 to 1999, having served as atrustee since 1988. He has funded three of theuniversity's most elite undergraduate programs:the Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular LifeSciences, the Vagelos Program in Life Sciencesand Management, and the Vagelos Integrated Pro-gram in Energy Research. His charity work at theUniversity of Pennsylvania includes sponsoringscholarship/study programs as well as the Roy andDiana Vagelos Laboratories.

Between 2005 and 2013, the couple contributed$31.6 million to the University of Pennsylvania forstudies in energy research and the life sciences.In April of 2019, the couple added to that sum bycontributing an additional $50 million to Penn inorder to build a center to connect physical scientistsand engineers who are focused on energy-relatedsolutions. It is the largest gift in the history of theSchool of Arts and Sciences. As The National Heraldreported in May 2016, the Vageloses’ philosophyis simple: “giving back.”

Vagelos is also the founding chairman of Co-lumbia University Medical Center’s board of advi-sors, and chaired the center’s capital campaign,which passed its target of $1 billion. In 2010 theVagelos couple contributed the lead gift to ColumbiaUniversity Medical Center for a new medical andgraduate education building. Seven years later, itwas announced that the Columbia University’s Col-lege of Physicians and Surgeons would be renamedthe Columbia University Roy and Diana VagelosCollege of Physicians and Surgeons in recognitionof a $250 million gift given by Vagelos to the col-lege. A substantial part of the donation ($150 mil-lion) would be used to endow a fund that will helpeliminate student loans for medical students whoqualify for financial aid. Altogether, the Vageloseshave been responsible for about $450 million inphilanthropy to Columbia’s medical school alone.

The author of several books, including an auto-biography, Medicine, Science and Merck, and morethan 100 scientific papers, Vagelos was elected tothe American Academy of Arts & Sciences and theNational Academy of Sciences in 1972, and to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1993. He hasreceived honorary degrees from 14 institutions, in-cluding the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia,Harvard, Princeton and Washington Universities.He also currently serves on the boards of the Na-tional Math and Science Initiative and The NatureConservancy.

Vagelos has been married to his wife, Diana(nee Touliatos) for almost 65 years. They live inNew Jersey and have four children and severalgrandchildren.

18GEORGE D. BEHRAKIS- Massachusetts$930 MILLION(MassLive)

PHARMACEUTICALSNortheastern University; Married, 4 children

George D. Behrakis, now 86, is the son of Greekimmigrants. Born on New Year’s Day in 1934,Behrakis was raised in Lowell, MA.

Behrakis graduated from Northeastern Univer-sity in 1957 with a degree in pharmaceuticals. Aftercompleting his military service, Behrakis began hiscareer in 1959 at McNeil Laboratories (a divisionof Johnson & Johnson) where he and his team cre-ated Tylenol (which eventually became a householdname). Thus began Behrakis career as a recognizedleader in the pharmaceutical industry. In 1968, hefounded Dooner Laboratories, which developedand manufactured a leading asthma medication,Slophyllin and Slobid. He sold the company toRhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Aventis) and purchasedophthalmic firm Muro Pharmaceuticals in 1978.Behrakis sold his eye care products to Bausch andLomb and searched for new products, includingpharmaceuticals for asthma and allergies. Behrakissold the firm to Asta-Medica AG, a division of Ger-man conglomerate Degussa, retiring as presidentand CEO in 1998.

He became best known, perhaps, for his talentin solubilizing previously insoluble chemicals andmaking them stable for medical use. With the helpof Behrakis, Northeastern University and the Med-ical Center in Boston opened the Behrakis HealthSciences Center (which houses the NortheasternSchools of Health Professions Nursing and Phar-macy) and created the Center for Drug Discoveryin 2003.

Behrakis is truly a well-deserved renowned phi-lanthropist. He and his wife Margo established theBehrakis Foundation, a private family foundationin Massachusetts. Through this foundation theyhave funded major initiatives including establishingchairs and scholarships at various universities andmedical centers (for example: Northeastern Uni-versity, University of Mississippi, HellenicCollege/Holy Cross School of Theology, Tufts Uni-versity, Johns Hopkins University, Bringham andWomen’s Hospital and many others). They also es-tablished and donated the George D. Behrakis Re-search Lab, a state of the art laboratory for LungFunction Testing, to the Hellenic Cancer Society in2008. He has also recently embarked on the revi-talization of the business community in his home-town in Lowell through the renovation of historicbuildings.

However, of all his philanthropic endeavors, themost dear to Behrakis is the anti-smoking campaignin Greece (Smoke Free Greece) he helped fund.Almost a decade ago, he was shocked to see twowomen passing out free cigarettes to 11 and 12-year-old girls in front of a school in the wealthyAthenian suburb Kifisia. Behrakis gave a $1.8 mil-lion grant in 2010 to the Harvard University Schoolof Public Health to study smoking in Greece. Hisgoal was to reduce smoking among Greece’s youthby 35 percent and to date, he has come very close.Since then he has donated more funds to publisha self-help guide to quitting, produce school pro-grams, and further study at the academy of Athenson the effects of smoking.

Probably no institution has received as muchfrom Behrakis as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.His relationship with the museum dates back tohis high school days, when his uncle, John Zaroulis,took him to see the galleries. Later, Behrakis wouldhost parties at the Museum. He became a memberin 1989, a patron in 1996, and an overseer in 1998.Then, one day in 2001, Behrakis showed up forlunch with MFA Director Malcolm Rogers andhanded him a sealed envelope. Inside was a checkfor $2 million to endow Christine Kondoleon’s po-sition as curator of Greek and Roman Art. He hasgiven $25 million to the museum since 2006 andthe museum now has the new George D. andMargo Behrakis Wing, which houses Greek, Ro-man, and Egyptian galleries.

In 2011, the 50 plus-year-member of AHEPAwas honored with the organization’s ArchbishopIakovos Humanitarian Award in Orange, CT. In Oc-tober 2014, he was honored by The Hellenic Initia-tive, a non-profit institution focused on supportingGreece through crisis relief, entrepreneurship, andeconomic development. Like Metropoulos, featured

supra, the Hellenic Post issued stamps dedicatedto Behrakis for his contribution to enhancing thecountry’s international presence in the field of phi-lanthropy.

Behrakis, a former president of the Holy TrinityGreek Orthodox Church in Lowell, is a member ofthe Archdiocesan Council’s Executive Committeeand an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate andis a chairman emeritus of Leadership 100. He andMargo have been married for over 50 years andhave four children and several grandchildren.

A recipient of innumerable awards for his con-tributions to business, science, the arts, and theGreek Orthodox Church, he sits on the board oftrustees of the Boston Symphony Orchestra andis vice chairman emeritus of Northeastern Univer-sity. He has served on many boards of both publicand private companies. He is currently on the ad-visory board of the Harvard School of Public Healthand most recently joined the Board of Directors ofAZTherapies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical companydeveloping therapeutics to extend brain health.

In December 2015, Behrakis was given an hon-orary doctorate from the Medical Faculty of theNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens forhis contributions to science, pharmaceuticals, andmedicine, and for his extensive humanitarian en-deavors.

Extremely moved by the experience, he toldTNH in February, 2016 that “you can receive a lotof honors, but when you receive an honor fromyour own, your family, being first-generation Greek,to receive an honor from Greece is one of the highpoints of my life.”

19KOSTA & TOMKARTSOTIS$902 MILLION (TNHE)

WATCHES, LEATHER ACCESSORIES

Kosta, 66, and Tom Kartsotis, 59, are foundersof the Fossil Group, Inc., whose brand is widelyassociated with watches, jewelry, and other ac-cessories, as well as clothing.

Kosta serves as chairman and CEO of Fossil.Meanwhile, Tom, who founded the company, stillowns a small stake, but in 2003 founded BedrockManufacturing (named after the hometown of theFlintstones of cartoon fame), a Texas-based privateequity and brand management firm, which takesup most of his time. Under this firm, Tom launchedShinola, a high-end watch brand, famous for beingmanufactured in Detroit.

Tom dropped out of Texas A&M and traveled toAsia with a plan to import cheap toys – but ulti-mately decided on Asian-made, moderately priced,watches. With $200,000 that he had earned fromscalping tickets, Tom opened a company importingwatches from Hong Kong – which ultimately mor-phed into the brand called Fossil. Kosta helped getthe line into department stores. Tom and Fossilhead designer Lynne Stafford (who he later married)put their own spin on the watches and in less thanten years, the brand ended up going public and,along the way, grew from a small watch companyinto a global lifestyle brand, selling billions worthof watches, handbags, and clothing annually.

Based in Richardson, Texas, Fossil was foundedin 1984, has almost 11,000 employees and sellsits products in 120 countries around the world. The


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company designs and manufactures accessoriesand its brands include Fossil, Relic, Abacus, MicheleWatch and Zodiac. Fossil also branched into thesale of leather goods and other accessories in the1990s. The company works closely with otherbrands such as Burberry, DKNY, Emporio Armani,Columbia Sportswear, Diesel, Michael Kors, KateSpade and Adidas. Fossil also produces collectibles,some of which are based on popular films or popculture characters.

In 2011, Tom Kartsotis’ Bedrock and Swissmovement maker Ronda embarked on a joint ven-ture to create Shinola, a Detroit-made watch col-lection. According to Forbes, Shinola had originallybeen a shoe polish that was created by the Amer-ican Chemical Manufacturing Company, foundedin 1877 in Rochester, New York. The companymade cleaning products and shoe and boot polishthat the company called Shinol’a. The product waspackaged in a tin with an easy lift-off lid and be-came so popular that by 1917, the company be-came known as The Shinola Company. The phrase“You don’t know S**t from Shinola” was coinedduring World War II – and was slang for saying how‘dumb’ someone was. The saying made the brandeven more popular. Unfortunately, Shinola wentout of business in 1960 – making it easy for Kart-sotis to buy the name to start his new Detroit-based watch and accessories company.

As the (new) Shinola website says, the companyoperates an “in-house watch and leather factoryon the fifth floor of the Argonaut Building, where ateam of artisans hand assembles luxury timepiecesand crafts premium leather straps.”

In 2019, Marc Jacobs announced a partnershipwith the makers of Shinola to launch a new line ofwatches. More recently, they have partnered withIMG, a global brand marketing and licensing com-pany, have unveiled an even more affordable watchdesign (the Detrola) and have launched the GreatAmerican Collection which features limited-editionwatch designs honoring people like Smokey Robin-son, the Detroit-born singer/songwriter who justcelebrated his 80th birthday.

Shinola also started manufacturing bicycles andopened up its first hotel, Shinola Hotel, a fewmonths ago. The 129-room, eight-story boutiquehotel is part of a multi-million-dollar developmentproject by Shinola and Bedrock, which has acquiredand developed more than 100 properties in Detroitsince 2011 – as reported by The New York Timesand The Star Tribune. The company has hired hun-dreds of people in Detroit and across the country(over 600). In an interview with Venture in America,Tom said he started Shinola not as a money-makingventure, but as a project to see how many Americanjobs he could create. When the interviewer askedhim about this, he shrugged and said: “we did itfor sport. We did it to create jobs and simply to seeif it was possible.”

Priding himself as a creator of American jobs,Tom was featured in Business of Fashion in 2016for doing just that. Among the fans of Shinolawatches, are former U.S. Presidents Bill Clintonand Barack Obama and former Michigan GovernorRick Snyder. President Obama in 2016 also pre-sented a special Shinola watch, engraved with thePresidential seal on the back and with a case alsofeaturing the seal, to then-UK Prime Minister DavidCameron, the Washington Post reported.

20JOHN P. CALAMOS,SR. - Illinois$820 MILLION (TNHE)

GLOBAL ASSET MANAGEMENTIllinois Institute of Technology(Economics); Married, 2 children

John P. Calamos, Sr., 79, is founder and chair-man of Calamos Investments, a global asset man-agement firm.

The son of Greek immigrants, he grew up abovehis family’s grocery store on Chicago’s west sideand attended Chicago public schools. He developedhis passion for the stock market as a teenager andbegan his investment career when his parents en-trusted him with the family’s $5,000 nest egg. Withthis responsibility, Calamos got a taste for the mar-kets but ended up attending the Illinois Institute ofTechnology on an ROTC scholarship to pursue an-other passion – architecture. Finding that he had“very little design talent,” Calamos shifted his focusto economics, finance, and philosophy. Interest-ingly, Calamos has said that economics is moreabout philosophy than it is about math; “In collegeI learned that economics is not a math problem. Itis economic philosophy: how are we organized asa society? Reading many philosophers from Platoto Socrates and many others, I felt it taught me agreat deal about life and gave me a perspective ofhistory going back thousands of years.”

After graduating from college (the first in hisfamily to achieve this great feat), Calamos spent15 years in service with the United States Air Force

- five of which were in active duty flying the B-52bomber and during the Vietnam War as a forwardair controller. He later spent about a decade in theUSAF Reserves flying the A-37 jet fighter andearned the rank of major.

Throughout his Air Force years, Calamos hadcontinued to study books on finance and investingstrategies. In 1977, he flexed his confidence andstarted his own company, taking out a $60,000second mortgage on his house to help bankroll theendeavor. One of his early employees was his olderbrother, Angelo, who retired from the company in2004. Calamos also ended up taking the companypublic in 2004 under the NASDAQ ticker CLMS.

In 2016, Calamos stepped down as CEO (andwas replaced by another fellow Greek and Chica-goean – John Koudounis) and now serves as theChairman and Global CIO of the company. The com-pany traces its roots to the 1970s when Calamosused convertible securities, which were little knownat the time, to help his clients grow and preservetheir wealth.

Today, the firm, headquartered in Chicago withadditional offices in London, New York, San Fran-cisco, and Miami, serves clients worldwide, includ-ing major corporations, pension funds, endow-ments, foundations and individuals. The firm alsoprovides wealth management services to high networth individuals and families. The company offersits investment capabilities through separately man-aged portfolios, mutual funds, closed-end funds,private funds and UCITS funds. A recognized expertin risk-managed investing, Calamos has writtentwo books (Investing in Convertible Securities: YourComplete Guide to the Risks and Rewards andConvertible Securities: the Latest Instruments, Port-folio strategies, and Valuation Analysis) and con-tributes to industry publications. He is interviewedregularly by CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox BusinessChannel.

The factors to which Calamos attributes his suc-cess include his Greek heritage, a strong workethic, and entrepreneurial spirit. Calamos also cred-its his military service as a key factor in his success,as it solidified his view of the importance of disci-pline, risk assessment, and teamwork.

His entrepreneurial activities extend beyond thefinancial services sector, with a private real estatearm, Calamos Real Estate LLC.

Calamos established the John P. Calamos Foun-dation, which supports a number of scholarshipinitiatives in the Greek community. He and his wifealso endowed Illinois Institute of Technology’s firstendowed chair in philosophy. Since 2012, he hasalso served as chairman of the board of directorsof Chicago’s National Hellenic Museum, of whichhe is a major benefactor. He says of the museum:“we have built a national institution to honor ourparents and grandparents, to honor our rich Hellenichistory.” In addition, he and his wife were recog-nized as 2014 Distinguished Citizens by the ThreeFires Council, Boy Scouts of America last October.The Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of The-ology also honored Calamos in 2018. Most recently,he was honored by the Washington ‘Oxi’ Day Foun-dation with the Michael Jaharis Service Award forhis service to our country in the Vietnam War, tothe Greek-American community, our country, andto the world.

Calamos is married and has two children. Heand his wife, Mae, are active philanthropists. He isa trustee of the Illinois Institute of Technology andof Benedictine University.

21JOHN PAYIAVLAS -Ohio$751 MILLION (TNHE)

FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRYMarried, 2 children

John Payiavlas, 88, is chairman of AVI Foodsys-tems, the country’s largest independent, family-owned and operated contract food service com-pany, providing vending, institutional dining, andcoffee service operations.

A son of Greek immigrants from Ohio and rootsin the island of Chios, Payiavlas grew up in a work-ing-class family with hopes of realizing the Ameri-can dream. In 1951, Payiavlas was drafted into theUnited States Army and promptly left for basic train-ing in Fort Riley, Kansas. In 1952, he was deployedto join the UN forces supporting South Korea andlater transferred to the Greek Expeditionary ForceBattalion. He was one of four Greek-Americans toserve in this Battalion and was awarded the Com-mander’s Silver Cross of Valour, the highest militarydecoration of the Greek state. Payiavlas completedhis service in 1953 and was honorably dischargedas Sergeant First Class.

Payiavlas’ successful journey in food servicebegan when he and two friends opened and oper-ated a local diner, the Village Café, in their smallhometown of Warren, Ohio. In 1956, he marriedMarisa Tsagaris and four years later he foundedAVI after a frequent customer presented John an

opportunity to purchase a very small vending com-pany known as Automatic Vendors. His decision toseize the opportunity later resulted in him runninga multi-million-dollar corporation.

From the beginning, he was determined to makehis business a success. Insisting on absolutely noshortcuts, he differentiated himself from the com-petition by providing homemade “from scratch”fresh foods for the refrigerated vending machineshe serviced. The company has grown immenselywith 6,500 locations in 44 states and serves mil-lions of consumers daily in some of the most pres-tigious institutions in America, including industrialcenters, corporate headquarters complexes, uni-versities, school systems and healthcare facilitiesthroughout the country. Their clients include OhioState University, FedEx, DirecTV, BMV of NorthAmerica, Xerox, General Electric, Wellesley College,Progressive Insurance, University of PittsburghMedical Center, Verizon, and Xerox. Intensely pri-vate, Payiavlas runs the company as chairman ofthe board, while his son Anthony is president andCEO and his daughter Patrice (Patsy) Kouvas servesas vice chairman (they have come a long way sincethey first started at the business by sweeping thefloors, preparing sandwiches and assisting in theoffice).

Family values, a strong work ethic and dedica-tion to customer needs continue to permeatethrough thousands of team members in every facetof the business. As Chairman, Payiavlas has been

actively involved while his children lead the organ-ization with the same enthusiasm, commitment,and vision. Payiavlas and his wife were honored in2006 with the Cleveland Clinic’s Distinguished Fel-low Award. They have supported several of theclinic’s initiatives, including the Heart and VascularInstitute, Taussig Cancer Center, Glickman Urolog-ical Institute, and Department of Nutrition Therapy.In April, 2017, the Payiavlas family donated$500,000 to Youngstown (OH) State University fortheir new sports media center.

In 2000, Payivlas was inducted into the BusinessHall of Fame of Northeast Ohio's Inside BusinessMagazine (ibmag.com). In October, 2016, at the‘Oxi’ Day Foundation in Washington, DC, Payiavlaswas honored with the Jaharis Service Award spon-sored by the Jaharis Family (also featured in thisedition). He is a Life-Time Chairman of the Arch-bishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Endowment Fund,an Archon Depoutatos of the Ecumenical Patriar-chate, as well as a member of AHEPA and othercommunity and business organizations.

The Payiavlas family, including their two childrenand six grandchildren, all reside in Warren, Ohio.

22GEORGE SAKELLARIS -Massachusetts$739 MILLION (MassLive)

ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTUniversity of Maine-Orono; Married, 2 children

George Sakellaris, 73, has persevered in the en-ergy industry, working to eliminate regulatory bar-riers to investing private capital into energy effi-ciency and renewable initiatives.

Sakellaris was born in Laconia and after gradu-ating from high school there, he arrived in Bangor,ME, as a college exchange student in 1965. Hespoke little English when he first enrolled at the

University of Maine-Orono, but worked his waythrough his studies and earned a B.S.E.E. degree,driven by a love of mathematics and the sciences.His parents arrived in the U.S. in 1969 and the fam-ily settled in Boston.

He then started working at local utility New Eng-land Electrical Systems (NEES), earning an MBAand MSEE from Northeastern University along theway. Then, Sakellaris explains, “in 1979, whileworking for New England Electric, NEES Manage-ment wanted to establish a company to promoteenergy efficiency to avoid the need to build newgeneration plants. They asked me to lead that ini-tiative and I welcomed the challenge.”

The subsidiary he launched was called NEESEnergy. Then in 1990, Sakellaris purchased NEESEnergy and it became the energy conservationcompany he re-named NORESCO. In 1997, he soldthat industry-leading independent energy servicescompany to Equitable Resources (EQT), a Fortune500 company. Sakellaris continued to leadNORESCO and was appointed as a Senior VicePresident of Equitable Resources. In January 2000,he left EQT and three months later foundedAmeresco.

Sakellaris took Ameresco public 10 years later.The company has become one of the largest energysolutions companies in North America with over1,000 employees and more than 70 local officesthroughout America and the United Kingdom.Ameresco specializes in providing comprehensiveservices, energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades,asset sustainability, renewable energy, and energyinformation management solutions.

Today Ameresco has dozens of offices through-out North America and Europe and over a thousandemployees providing strong local operations.“Green. Clean. Sustainable” is the motto of thecompany that increases energy efficiency for fed-eral, state and local governments, healthcare andeducational institutions, public housing authorities,and commercial and industrial customers.

In October 2014, Ameresco was chosen to con-struct a $25.4 million solar project at the Minneapo-lis-St. Paul International Airport with the Metropol-itan Airports Commission (MAC). Minnesota’slargest solar generation site to date, the airporthouses a 3-MW solar installation on the top deckof two Terminal 1 parking structures.

Sakellaris is a Distinguished Member Inducteeof the Frances Crowe Society at the University ofMaine, which gave him the Edward T. Bryand Dis-tinguished Engineer Award in 2007. In May 2012,the University of Maine granted him an HonoraryDoctorate for his lifetime of achievements, recog-nizing his dedication and exemplary leadership inthe field of energy efficiency and renewable energy.His awards include winning an Ernst & Young En-trepreneur of The Year 2011 New England award,and Business Leader of the Year 2012 for LargeBusiness by the Worcester Business Journal. In2009, he received a Gabby Award (named looselyfrom the acronym “Greek America’s Best andBrightest”) from the Greek America Foundation.

He supports numerous educational institutions,including Northeastern University, Holy Cross/Hel-lenic College, and the University of Maine. AtUMass Lowell, he established an endowment inmemory of his mentor, the late MassachusettsSenator Paul Tsongas. In addition, he was a found-ing member of Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxyand Hellenism. He is an Archon of the EcumenicalPatriarchate, and a major benefactor at his localchurch, St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in


TOM KARTSOTIS

U.S. Navy Awards Task Order to Ameresco for EnergyResiliency Project at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Ameresco, Inc., a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company founded by GeorgeSakellaris, announced on Feb. 12 that the U.S. Navy has awarded its Federal Solutions team atask order to implement a $58 million energy resiliency project at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyardin Kittery, Maine.

BUSINESS WIRE

Braintree, MA.An avid sailor, Sakellaris has won the RORC

Caribbean twice – once in 2014 and then again in2016. He has also won the sailing competition LesVoiles de St. Barth three times consecutively - in2016, 2017 and 2018.

A few weeks ago, rumors started to surfacethat French power utility Engie SA had recently ap-proached Ameresco and expressed interest in ac-quiring it. As Reuters said, the approach by Engiewill test the appetite of Mr. Sakellaris (who remainsthe controlling shareholder) to cash out. So, al-though Sakellaris is number 22 on TNH’s 50Wealthiest this year, he may be much higher upnext year.

23DEMOULAS FAMILY -Massachusetts$710 MILLION(The Boston Globe)

SUPERMARKETS

The Demoulas family is one of America’s rich-est families. Their lucrative Market Basket Super-market chain, which celebrated its centennial an-niversary three years ago, has a notable andinteresting history.

The family’s supermarket empire began in 1917,when Greek immigrants Athanasios (Arthur) andEfrosine Demoulas opened a small market sellingfresh lamb in Lowell, MA. In 1950, the original storemodel was revamped and premiered as the De-Moulas Superette. Arthur turned the business overto his two sons, George and Telemachus (Mike) in1954. The following year, the Superette tripled insize and became DeMoulas Super Market. Overthe next 17 years, the two brothers converted thelamb shop into a successful grocery store chain of15 stores. The brothers each signed a will namingthe other as executor of his estate, and reportedlyagreed to divide the business equally between theirtwo families in the event of one of their deaths.Both brothers had four children, and both named ason Arthur, after their father. From their youth, bothcousins (George’s son Arthur S. Demoulas andMike's son Arthur T. Demoulas) followed their fa-thers in the family business.

In 1971, George, then 51, died unexpectedlywhile vacationing in Greece with his family. Mikecontinued to expand the chain and began openingstores under different names, including MarketBasket. Tensions began brewing between the twofamilies and erupted in the 1990s, when it cameto light that Mike had been secretly shifting hisbrother’s half of the company assets into his ownname after George’s death. Two decades of law-suits followed with Mike’s son Arthur T. and hisfamily on one side and Arthur S. on the other. Thefight became extremely bitter; the two Arthursopenly said in court and in public that they hated

each other. In 2013, Arthur S. gained control of theBoard of Directors and proceeded to fire Arthur T.from his position as CEO six months later. As a re-sult, thousands of Market Basket workers and theircustomers took to the streets to protest and boycottthe family-owned supermarket and to demand thatArthur T. be given his job back. According to reports,the company lost around $400 million that summer.After seven weeks of negotiations, Arthur T. wasback as CEO. The settlement included Arthur T.’s$1.6B cash buyout of Arthur S. and the rest ofGeorge’s heirs (according to Forbes).

Despite those difficulties, the business has flour-ished. Over the past decade it added approximately30 new stores and a new perishable/produce dis-tribution center, and doubled sales. Today, theTewskbury-based DeMoulas Market Basket, Inc.owns 79 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,and Maine, employs more than 25,000 people andearns more than $5 billion in annual sales. Thecompany was ranked by Consumer Reports as thesecond-best among all national supermarketchains, behind Wegmans. It was also ranked num-ber 79 on Forbes’ list of America’s largest privatecompanies in 2018.

In October 2014, National Labor SecretaryThomas Perez spoke at the National Press Club ofArthur T. Demoulas that he “maintained a family-friendly work environment, paid his workers well,and contributed generously to their retirement.”MIT wrote an article in 2019 called The High RoadApproach to Worker Compensation which said ofDemoulas and Market Basket: “Despite havingmore than 70 locations throughout New England,and revenue in the billions, Arthur T. had built aculture more like a mom and pop store. The CEOmemorized the names and birthdays of employees.He visited workers when they were sick.”

According to the Lowell Sun, two foundations –the Telemachus and Irene Demoulas Family Foun-dation with $61 million in assets and the DemoulasFoundation with $30 million in assets – have do-nated millions to Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs,

schools, camps, hospitals, the Boston Ballet, andthe Boston Museum of Science, TransfigurationGreek Orthodox Church in Lowell, Mass., BentleyUniversity and Boston College. The greatest bene-ficiary, however, is the Lowell Plan, an economic-development organization for the city, which hasreceived well over $10 million in the last decade.

24 JOHN PAPPAJOHN -Iowa$695 MILLION(TNHE)

VENTURE CAPITALUniversity of Iowa (Business);Married, 1 child

John Pappajohn just celebrated 50 years in theventure capitalist business world and continues tobe a leader in his field as well as keeping up withtechnological advancements (invest in medicaltechnology and health care related products hesays!).

Pappajohn is an entrepreneur, a philanthropist,and at 91 years old, a self-proclaimed workaholic– still working 7 days a week (as reported by IowaInnovation in June of 2019). In an interview withIowa Magazine in 2018, Pappajohn said, “I neveranticipated being 90...I'm in my office every Sat-urday and Sunday. Mary is a very understandingwife, and when she calls, I go home. But I'm veryactive in my venture business, and I'm doing veryexciting things. My incentive isn't to be rich; it's todo what I want in philanthropy. Mary and I feelstrongly that a successful life must include serviceto society and our fellow man. This is how we willbe judged. We must all try to make a difference inthis world.”

Pappajohn emigrated from Evia, Greece to theUnited States with his mother when he was justnine months old to join his father who was a UScitizen. He struggled during kindergarten becausehe spoke limited English. In the early 1930s, rightbefore the Great Depression, Pappajohn’s fatheropened a grocery store (where Pappajohn couldearn 10 cents a day by stocking shelves and per-forming various chores around the store). His fatherprovided for families in the community during thosepressing times, often allowing them to purchaseon credit that he knew they wouldn’t be able to re-pay. The lessons that Pappajohn learned at the gro-cery store guided his eventual business career.

When Pappajohn was older, he had to occasion-ally miss school to sell scrap to help support hisfamily. “I became a scrap junk dealer. The junk yardwas one block from our house. The man there –Harry Wolf – became a friend and a mentor; I wouldsell him something every day,” Pappajohn says.“I’d pick up pennies I found on the street. I still do;habit I guess.”

His father died when he was 16 years of age.

Pappajohn worked his way through college and al-ternated working and attending school with hisbrothers – which is why it took him a few extrayears to graduate. Eventually, Pappajohn earnedhis degree from the University of Iowa’s College ofBusiness Administration in 1952. He did not inter-view for a job after graduation – instead he knewhe wanted to own his own business and thus hedecided to establish an insurance agency. Eventu-ally, in 1969, Pappajohn organized Equity Dynamics,Inc., a financial consulting entity and PappajohnCapital Resources, a venture capital firm in DesMoines, Iowa. He became one of the early venturecapitalists.

Throughout his career as a venture capitalist,he has been an early investor in more than 100companies, most of which are dedicated to health-care and biotechnology industries. He has alsobeen involved with over 100 start ups, over 50IPOs, and has served as Director in over 40 publiccompanies.

Pappajohn serves as director on the boards ofthree publicly traded companies: Cancer Genetics,Inc., American CareSource Inc., and CNS Re-sponse, Inc., a company which uses EEG-gener-ated biomarkers for use in personalized medicinein psychiatry.

Both Pappajohn and his wife, Mary, are avid phi-lanthropists, having gifted more than $100 millionto various causes. They have partnered in numer-ous endeavors, providing millions for scholarships,business opportunities and community enhance-ments. His charitable donations include the John& Mary Pappajohn Clinical Cancer Center, and Pap-pajohn Entrepreneurial Centers at five Iowa uni-versities and colleges (where he has personally do-nated $23M and has committed $10M more). Todate, over 150,000 college students have takenpart in the latter, which have sparked over 1,000new businesses. The Pappajohn Scholarship Foun-




dation has distributed over $4 million in grants tosupport ethnic, disadvantaged, and/or minority stu-dents over the past 10 years.

In September 2009, the Des Moines PappajohnSculpture Park opened, featuring $40 million worthof the avid collector couple’s outdoor sculpturesfrom their personal collection. In December 2010the Pappajohns pledged $26.4 million towards anew University of Iowa biomedical research build-ing. The couple has gifted over $100 million in var-ious philanthropies; in 2017 the Chronicle of Phi-lanthropy identified the biggest donors to charitiesin each of the 50 states and named Pappajohn thetop philanthropist in Iowa.

He has demonstrated a great love for the finearts: Pappajohn was named by Art News Maga-zine as one of the top 200 collectors in the worldfrom 1997-2014. He was appointed to the advi-sory board of the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts in Washington, D.C. by Presi-dents Ronald Reagan and George Bush. He cur-rently serves on the National Committee of thePerforming Arts for the Kennedy Center. He alsoserves as a member of the Trustees Council ofthe National Gallery of Art as well as on their Col-lectors Committee (formerly Chairman). He is avice chairman of the board of trustees of the Hir-shhorn Museum in Washington, DC, a memberof the national committee with the Whitney Mu-seum in New York City, and honorary director atthe Des Moines Art Center.

Pappajohn’s church activities include theGreek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Arch-diocesan Council and executive committee, andLeadership 100 board of directors. He receivedthe title of Archon from the Ecumenical Patriarchof Constantinople in 2000.

Pappajohn is the recipient of many prestigiousawards, including the Horatio Alger Award (1995),the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (2000), and theWoodrow Wilson International Center Award forCorporate Citizenship (2007). He is the first Iowanand the second Greek-American (Pete Petersonwas the first) to receive the Woodrow WilsonAward. He has received four honorary doctoratedegrees and in 2013 he received the GabbyAward for philanthropy from the Greek AmericaFoundation.

The Pappajohns live in Des Moines and haveone daughter, Ann Vassiliou.

25ANGELO K.TSAKOPOULOS -California$600 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

REAL ESTATECalifornia State University (PoliticalScience & Business), Sacramento;Married, 6 children

Born in the village of Rizes in Arcadia, Greece,Tsakopoulos, now 84, came to America along withhundreds of other hopeful immigrants via steamship. On his 15th birthday, he sailed into New YorkCity’s harbor and saw Lady Liberty for the very firsttime. Tsakopoulos moved to Chicago to live withfamily, before eventually continuing west to theSan Joaquin Valley in California. Encouraged by aclose mentor to continue his education, Tsakopou-los studied political science and business at Cali-fornia State University, Sacramento. While attend-ing school, Tsakopoulos supported himself as areal estate salesman, foreshadowing his highly suc-cessful career in real estate development.

Tsakopoulos founded AKT Development Cor-poration in Sacramento, California, which becamea leading real estate development firm in the areaunder his leadership and has built tens of thousandsof homes and more than 30 million square feet ofoffice space. AKT also maintains a large commercialbuilding portfolio and manages approximately20,000 acres of farmland.

Tsakopoulos and his family have also been ded-icated supporters of civic and community causes.Tsakopoulos has lived his life expressing his beliefin the Greek idea of ‘paideia’ – education – andthus has made lasting contributions to the educa-tion and cultural life of the greater community. TheTsakopoulos family has donated land and funds tocultural institutions including the Greek OrthodoxChurch, the Crocker Art Museum, and the Roseville

Arts Center. Tsakopoulos has also had a strongcommitment to supporting education through theAngelo and Sofia Tsakopoulos Endowment Fundand as a co-chair for California State University,Sacramento's Capital Campaign. To support thestudy and celebration of Greek heritage and history,Tsakopoulos served as an instrumental figure inthe creation of the S.B. Vryonis Center for the Studyof Hellenism in Sacramento. In 2018, the Tsakopou-los family donated $1 million to establish the Jus-tice Anthony M. Kennedy Endowed Chair at theUniversity of the Pacific McGeorge School of Lawin Sacramento.

In 2016, Tsakopoulos, on his 80th birthday, washonored as a permanent part of the United StatesCongressional Record for “his legendary career inreal estate development and his long history of phi-lanthropy in California.”

Tsakopoulos has also carved out a niche forhimself as a major player in and fundraiser for theDemocratic Party, and as a standard bearer forGreek political and cultural interests in America.He and his children have raised and contributedmillions to national, state, and local campaigns overthe past decade. Democratic presidential candi-dates aside, a few of the major recipients includeformer California Governor Gray Davis, U.S. Sena-tors Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, and HouseSpeaker Nancy Pelosi. Tsakopoulos is also dedi-cated to advancing the careers of Greek-Americanpoliticians, including former California state treas-urer and once-gubernatorial candidate Phil An-gelides. His daughter, Eleni TsakopoulosKounalakis, was appointed U.S. Ambassador toHungary in 2010 and in 2018 was elected as Cali-fornia’s 50th Lieutenant Governor. Tsakopoulos andhis family have established Hellenic Studies chairsat several major American universities across thecountry: Georgetown, Stanford, and Columbiaamong them.

26MARCUS A.LEMONIS - Illinois$500 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

INVESTMENTSMarquette University (Political Science);Married

Although technically not Greek by blood, MarcusAnthony Lemonis, was raised by a Greek father(Leo) and a Lebanese mother (Sophia) in Miami,Florida. Born in Beirut, Lebanon during a violentcivil war, the Lemonis couple adopted Marcus froma Beirut orphanage where he was abandoned onlyfour days after his birth. The Greek-American cou-ple took him to what became known as home ninemonths later.

Lemonis, now 45, eventually became a busi-nessman, investor, politician, and television per-sonality. He grew up learning about the operationsof the automotive industries as his grandfatherowned two of the largest Chevrolet dealerships inthe country (in Tampa and Miami). At the age of12, he started a lawn-mowing business to raisefunds to open a candy business. During his time atMarquette University, he served as the presidentof the Student Athletic Committee and organizedclothing drives for the homeless in Milwaukee. Atthe young age of 22, he ran for the Florida Houseof Representatives and was endorsed by the Miami

Herald, but ultimately lost the campaign.Lemonis eventually took a job at AutoNation,

the country's largest car dealer, and worked hisway up to regional manager. Then he took someadvice from a family friend, Lee Iacocca (the formerhead of Chrysler Corporation), who told him thepath to long-term success lay in finding an industrythat was ripe for transformation. Iacocca advisedhim to get into the camping and RV business, whichput him on the path to eventual chairmanship atAmerica's #1 source for RV's, camping acces-sories, and RV maintenance and repair.

The entrepreneur is the current CEO of compa-nies like Camping World Holdings, Inc. (which ac-quired FreedomRoads – an American corporationspecializing in selling recreational vehicles, motorparts and motor services), Good Sam Enterprises(a subscription-based products and membershipclubs targeted towards recreational vehicle andother outdoor enthusiasts), and Gander MountainCompany, Inc. (a retail network of stores for hunt-ing, fishing and camping. Apart from these com-panies, Lemonis is probably best known for beingthe presenter of the American reality televisionshow, The Profit which focuses on saving smallbusinesses (like The Simple Greek and Ellison Eye-wear) across the country. The show is currently inits 7th season and has earned Lemonis the nick-name the “Business Turnaround King.”

Lemonis married a fellow entrepreneur namedBobbi Raffelin (more than 20 years his senior) in2018. The couple first met in 2016 when Lemonispurchased a fashion business (Runway) belongingto Raffel.

27JOHN G. RANGOS SR. -Pennsylvania$468 MILLION (TNHE)

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENTHouston School of Business; 3 children

John G. Rangos Sr., 90, a renowned philanthro-pist, made his fortune through the transportation,waste management and disposal, as well as secu-rity services.

Born in Steubenville, OH, Rangos was raised byhis mother and grandfather during the Depressionin the Virginias. He became keenly aware as a childof the changes sweeping through his communityas the hardships of the Depression gave way tothe difficulties of World War II. He watched themen in his community ship off to war, while thewomen worked in factories to support themselvesand their families, so from a young age he devel-oped a deep sense of pride in, and respect for col-lective collaboration and sacrifice for our country.

As a young man, Rangos attended the HoustonSchool of Business. He interrupted his educationto join the Active Air Force Reserve unit in Pitts-burgh. Declining a first lieutenant commission inthe Air Force Reserves, he opted for the Army. Heserved with great distinction in the Army from1951-54, including a stint on a combat signal teamin the Far East.

Rangos returned to civilian life with military hon-ors, including the National Defense Medal, UnitedNations Medal, Korean Campaign Medal, and aPresidential Unit Citation from President Trumanand President Syngman Rhee of South Korea.

Rangos began his career with Rockwell Manu-facturing Company in Pittsburgh, where he distin-

guished himself by becoming the youngest generalagent in company history. He formed several com-panies in the 1960s, and pioneered technologicaladvances in the transportation and disposal of in-dustrial waste. He founded Chambers DevelopmentInc. in 1971, a firm that provided waste treatmentservices, developed commercial recycling pro-grams, and broke ground with specially lined, lay-ered landfills to protect groundwater supplies.

Rangos’ many innovative achievements includeconverting power plant boiler ash into a useful com-ponent of cinder blocks and anti-skid material forhighways. He also played an instrumental role ininventing techniques for recycling bituminousbyproducts and disposing of sewage and sludge.He developed methods for liquid industrial wastedisposal, and created a resource recovery systemthat converts waste-generated methane into usableenergy.

Together with his sons, Alex and John Jr., Ran-gos advocated standards for regional sanitationsites that resolved many environmental concernsnationwide. They initiated present-day environmen-tal protection standards decades ago, to includethe design and strict enforcement of federal lawsforbidding corrupt practices in the transporting ofillegal waste. Across the eastern seaboard and intothe Midwest, they built the largest, most sophisti-cated land disposal facilities in the industry – in-cluding double-composite-lined HDPE (high-densitypolyethylene) facilities to protect groundwater –long before other waste management companiesemerged.

In October 1991, Chambers Developmentowned and operated a number of large regionallandfills, worth a reported market value of $1.7 bil-lion. Chambers went public and, in 1995, wasmerged with USA Waste, then the country’s secondlargest waste management company. Rangosserved as vice chairman of USA Waste, duringwhich time Waste Management Inc., the country’slargest trash hauler, acquired USA Waste. Thatmerger in 1998 has proven to be a major continuingsuccess.

The massive Okeechobee, FL landfill (approvedin 1993, and now operated by Waste Management)is just one example of Rangos’ commitment tosound environmental practices and regional eco-nomic development. That site has a 100-year ca-pacity and receives 7,000 tons of waste daily. Suchmonumental, environmentally friendly disposal siteshave also been an economic boon to the areas inwhich they function. Okeechobee County still re-ceives millions of dollars in royalties from its landfilleach year, boosting the local government’s abilityto finance schools and roads, as well as improvepolice and firefighting services.

Together with his partner Ian McLennan, a re-spected FBI agent, Rangos co-founded SecurityBureau Inc., one of the most prominent securitycompanies in the country, in the mid-1970s. SBIguarded everything from banks and shopping cen-ters to industrial and atomic energy plants. It grewinto a company with a license in every state in theunion, and was eventually sold for more than $40million.

Rangos has three children and several grand-children. He is founder and director of the John G.Rangos Sr. Family Charitable Foundation, founderand former president of the Congressional Medalof Honor Foundation, founder and chairman emer-itus of International Orthodox Christian Charitiesand former fundraising chairman for UNICEF. He


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sits on numerous boards. The Rangos Foundationsupports medical research at Children's Hospitalof Pittsburgh, one of the world's finest pediatriccare centers, and Johns Hopkins University Schoolof Medicine, where he established an innovativenew program which invites and challenges thebrightest young minds at Johns Hopkins to find acure to metastatic cancer. The Rangos Foundationalso supports programs at Duquesne and CarnegieMellon Universities, and many other programs andorganizations (e.g., the Leukemia & Lymphoma So-ciety). Rangos has recently taken an active interestin helping the country's wounded warriors readaptto civilian life.

In early 2016, he received an honorary doctoratefrom St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminaryin Crestwood, NY. In 2018, Rangos was honoredat Johns Hopkins to celebrate a decade of progressat the highly successful innovation hub that he wasinstrumental in initiating. The John G. Rangos Sr.Life Sciences Building was the first building inJohns Hopkins’ Science + Technology Park, amixed-use redevelopment of 88 acres adjacent tothe Johns Hopkins University medical campus andhospital in East Baltimore. Today, more than 40 lifescience companies and research institutions havelocated there to partner with Johns Hopkins in com-mercializing scientific discovery.

More recently, the Rangos Research Center atUPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh was re-ported to be closing in on a cure for diabetes.

28TOM HANKS & RITAWILSON - California$467 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

ENTERTAINMENTMarried, 4 children

Although he always considered himself a phil-hellene, Tom Hanks may officially call himself a‘Greek’ now – no more ‘acting’! Just before theclose of 2019, Greece’s President ProkopisPavlopoulos signed an honorary naturalization orderallowing the 63-year-old actor to claim Greek citi-zenship. Hanks’ first tweet in 2020 read: “Starting2020 as an honorary citizen of all of Greece! Kroniapola! (more or less, ‘happy year!) Hanx”

Under Greek law, honorary naturalization maybe granted to people “who have provided excep-tional services to the country or whose naturaliza-tion serves the public interest.” The initiative firstcame from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whohad met Hanks and discussed issues of Greek in-terest. The Prime Minister’s proposal to Hanks wasreportedly accepted with enthusiasm, sources said,and was followed by the formal request to Presi-dent Pavlopoulos by Minister of the Interior, TakisTheodorikakos.

Hanks converted to Greek Orthodoxy in 1988prior to marrying Rita Wilson (who’s mother was

an ethnic Greek born in Albania), owns property onAntiparos, and has quietly supported several ini-tiatives for Greece including helping victims of thearea of Mati following the devastating fires outsideof Athens in 2018.

The Guardian reported that Hanks, by his ownadmission, “is an ardent admirer of all things Hel-lenic.” The star has been visiting the country foryears, spending nearly every summer on theAegean island of Antiparos” where he and his wife,Rita Wilson, have a home. Wilson, whose motheris Greek, is believed to have played a crucial role inhis decision to co-produce the romantic comedyMy Big Fat Greek Wedding with her. He also pro-duced Mamma Mia!

In December of 2019, Hanks received the 2020Cecil B DeMille lifetime achievement award at theGolden Globes. During his acceptance speechHanks said: “I’ve been Hellenic now for the betterpart of 32 years. Greece is a haven…the land, thesky, the water, it’s good for the soul. It’s a healingplace, particularly if you get into that fabulous, fab-ulous Greek schedule of sleeping until noon, stayingup until three o’clock in the morning and arguingin a taverna until 3 AM. It’s just the best life onecan have.”

Two weeks after President Pavlopoulos grantedHanks honorary Greek citizenship, his offer wasextended to Wilson and the two children they sharetogether – Chester and Truman (Hanks has twomore children from his previous marriage).

Wilson and Hanks attend St. Sophia’s Greek Or-thodox Church in Los Angeles (photos of Hankshelping with the Epitaphion on Good Friday go viralevery year) and according to John Sanidopoulos’blog, Hanks’ spiritual father was Father RobertStephanopoulos (his son George is the well-knownpolitical commentator and TV host (featured infra)).

29DR. NICHOLASGALAKATOS -Massachusetts$379 MILLION (TNHE)

BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY, VENTURE CAPITALReed College; Married, 2 children

Nicholas Galakatos, 59, is the Global Head ofLife Sciences of Blackstone, having joined the com-pany in 2018 as part of Blackstone's acquisition ofClarus (a company that he co-founded and ran).

Blackstone Life Sciences was formed to be-come a key source of capital for large pharma-ceutical companies that would bring cutting-edgetreatments to patients. It is a private investmentplatform that seeks to invest in companies andproducts within the life science sectors. The com-pany looks to bring the necessary funding re-quired to advance medicines and healthcare tech-nologies to the broader market instead oflanguishing as ideas.

The Greek-born Galakatos has over 30 years ofhealthcare sector industry and investment experi-ence and has led investments in biotechnology,pharmaceutical company partnerships, and diag-nostics, from startup to commercial-stage compa-nies. He was vice president of New Business atMillennium Pharmaceuticals (from 1997 to 2000),a leading biopharmaceuticals company purchasedby the Takeda Oncology Company for $8.8 billionin May 2008, and a member of its managementteam. During that time Galakatos co-founded Mil-lennium Predictive Medicine and TransForm Phar-maceuticals, where he was chairman. Prior to hisstint at Millennium, he was an associate at VenrockAssociates focusing on early stage biotechnologyinvestments. Before Venrock, he was head of Mo-lecular Biology Research at Novartis.

Galakatos was born in Athens and raised inThessaloniki. He earned his undergraduate degreeat Reed College, a doctorate in organic chemistry

at MIT before his post-doctoral studies at HarvardMedical School.

He is director of ophthalmology company Oph-thotech, cardiovascular therapy company Portola,and diagnostics company Nanostring, all of whichhad successful IPOs in 2013. Before that he soldTransForm Pharmaceuticals to Johnson & Johnson,and as the chairman of Hypnion, Galakatos “madeout well with 2007 sale of Hypnion to Eli Lilly for$315 million,” Forbes reported. He is also the Chair-man of Anthos Therapeutics and Praxis PrecisionMedicine and a member of the Board of Directorsof Entasis Therapeutics and Talaris, Inc.

He and his wife, Alice, have two sons. Galakatosis a member of the Director’s Council of the KochInstitute at MIT, and the Genetics Advisory Councilat Harvard Medical School. He is also on AnatoliaCollege’s and Reed College’s board of trustees.

A few months ago, Blackstone said it would in-vest $400M in a joint venture with Swiss drug com-pany Ferring that is working on an experimentalgene therapy for bladder cancer. Galakatos will beoverseeing the project.

30MICHAEL D.CAPELLAS - California $340 MILLION (TNHE)

CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION Kent State University; Married, 2 children

Michael D. Capellas, 65, is a 30-plus year vet-eran of the information technology industry and isviewed as one of the leading technology thoughtleaders of our time.

Capellas developed an interest in computers asan undergraduate at Kent State University. Shortlyafter he graduated, he met his wife, Marie Angelillo,a former nurse. The two married in 1979, and trav-eled the world for two decades as Capellas’ busi-ness reputation grew. He was a senior vice presi-dent of Oracle Corporation from 1997 to 1998.Following Oracle, he went to Compaq where heheld the positions of CIO, COO, and later Chairmanand CEO. In his work with Compaq, he is creditedwith making it Microsoft’s key strategic partner forthe release of its Windows 2000 operating system.Following HewlettPackard’s acquisition of Compaq,he stayed on as president of HP for six months toease the integration of the two companies. He thenleft HP to become chairman and CEO of MCI World-Com between 2002 and 2006, presiding over theeventual Verizon-MCI merger. Worldcom remains,to this day, the largest turnaround story in corporatehistory. After the transfer to Verizon was completed,Capellas received a $40 million severance package.Later, he founded Atlanta-based Capellas StrategicPartners, a strategic technology advisory firm.

Capellas says he inherited his gritty determina-



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tion from his father, a Greek citizen who foughtwith the Greek Army against the Germans in Italyduring World War II. After the war, the elder Capel-las met and married his wife, Juliet, in Italy. Thefamily then immigrated to Ohio, where Capellas’father worked his way up from laborer to superin-tendent at the Republic Steel Corporation. Heworked there for 30 years.

Capellas and his wife have two daughters. Heenjoys golf and rock and roll. He is also actively in-volved in community and charitable work. In 2002,he became the first recipient of the Hope Technol-ogy Award from the Center for Missing & ExploitedChildren. He is a member of the board of governorsof the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Capellas pre-viously served as a member of the American Uni-versity Board of Trustees and recently served asco-chair of the CLOUD Commission, including spe-cialists who offered the Obama Administration rec-ommendations on cloud computing policies. In mid-2015, Capellas was appointed to Tenable NetworkSecurity’s Board of Directors. Capellas also cur-rently serves on the Boards of Cisco and Flextron-ics, and on the Advisory Board of Kony.

31JOHN GEORGES -Louisiana$350 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

FOOD SERVICES, BUSINESS DEVE-LOPMENT, PHILANTHROPY, MEDIATulane University; Married, 3 children

John Georges, 59, is an entrepreneur in multipleindustries, an avowed philanthropist, and a strongsupporter of Hellenic causes. He is Founder andCEO of Georges Enterprises, a company based inElmwood, LA, specializing in acquiring and growing

businesses. It invests in food vending, grocery dis-tribution, video/arcade entertainment, restaurants,and media outlets.

Georges Enterprises began as Imperial Tradingin 1916, a wholesale grocery distribution companyfounded by Georges’ maternal grandfather. The com-pany is now the eighth largest convenience storesupplier in the nation.

Georges started out in the family business at ayoung age, sweeping warehouse floors at age 11and making deliveries by age 15. His father, DennisGeorges, immigrated to the U.S. after serving in theGreek Resistance and the Royal Greek Air Force ata young age during World War II.

In April 2013, Georges Enterprises acquired TheAdvocate – a Baton Rouge daily newspaper with aNew Orleans edition and websites covering nearbytowns Ascension and Acadiana – which is the largestnewspaper in Louisiana.

He completed his studies at Tulane University in1983, turning his attention to Imperial Trading, ex-panding its sales from $29 million to $1 billion today,with 5,000 retailers in 12 states. Recent acquisitionsby Georges Enterprises include: $50 million fooddistributor Clifford D. Fite Company (2011), $100million Union Grocery (2010) and historic BourbonStreet restaurant Galatoire’s (2009). Georges saidin a related press release, “we are looking to makemore acquisitions in the food distribution sector.”

In 2006, Imperial Vending merged with WhitenerSnacks to become Refreshment Solutions, aGeorges Enterprises subsidiary. Georges Enter-prises’ AMA Distributors specializes in entertainmentfrom video games and pool tables to jukeboxes.Among Georges Enterprises’ portfolio of real estateholdings are 25 acres of industrial real estate in thegreater New Orleans area, including the site onceoccupied by Louisiana Film Studios.

Georges Enterprises was previously very involvedwith marine services. However, as Georges con-firmed to the TNH immediately after the BP Oil Spillin January 2010, the company sold its fleet of off-shore tugs under Dolphin Marine International Com-pany to concentrate on its food distribution business.The family of his wife, the former Dathel Coleman,owns cleanup company Oil Mop OMI.

Georges is very involved with both Louisiana pub-lic life and the community of the Greek OrthodoxCathedral of the Holy Trinity. The former church pres-ident hosted Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomewwhen he visited New Orleans in October 2009.

In May 2019, Georges’ New Orleans Advocatepurchased The Times-Picayune and the accompa-nying nola.com website from Advance Local. TheAdvocate will continue to serve as a seven-day,home delivered newspaper in the New Orleansmetro area. The websites have already merged intonola.com.

A notable campaign financier, Georges unsuc-cessfully ran for governor of Louisiana as a democratin 2007 and Mayor of New Orleans in 2010 but fellshort in both efforts.

Georges is a Trustee for the National World War

II Museum, Past President of the Young PresidentsOrganization of Louisiana, past member of the TulaneUniversity President's Council, the University of NewOrleans Foundation, the LSU Medical FoundationBoard, New Orleans and Jefferson Parish BusinessCouncils, World Trade Center and the Chamber ofCommerce. A firm believer in education and entre-preneurship, John founded the Lemonade Day inLouisiana. A community event that gives childrenan opportunity to learn the inner workings of runninga business, Lemonade Day has helped more than5,000 children become entrepreneurs. Georges isalso on the board of The Hellenic Initiative, and heand his wife Dathel are involved in numerous otherphilanthropic endeavors.

The Georges have three children: Zana, Liza, andNike. Georges’ mother, Anita Pelias Georges, passedaway this past January. She was known for her vol-unteer work, sense of humor, and hospitality. Herfather, Constantine Pelias, was the founder of Im-perial Trading.

Georges was instrumental in rebuilding the Greekcommunity in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrinain 2005. Everything was “a wasteland,” he told TNHin 2015, “and we rebuilt everything in 90 days – itwas a miracle.”

32NICHOLAS G.KARABOTS -Pennsylvania $335 MILLION (TNHE)

PUBLISHING, REAL ESTATE, WINERY Married, Children

Nicholas G. Karabots (ne Karabotsios), now 86,has come a long way since his days of shiningshoes. He has since become one of the biggestphilanthropists of his generation – donating millionsof dollars at a time to various causes.

Karabots, the owner of Kappa Publishing Group,Inc. (the largest publisher of puzzle magazines andbooks) as well as companies related to real estateand winemaking, was quoted saying: “The issuehere is not ultimately your net worth, but what youdo with the value you have created.” His parents,Konstantina Hrisomalis and Georgios Karabotsios,hailed from the Peloponnesian villages of Anavritiand Malendreni, respectively. The family name wasshortened when his father arrived on Ellis Island.

Karabots was born in New Jersey and raised inthe South Bronx. His father lost his restaurant busi-ness in the Wall Street crash of 1929 and Karabotsheld his first job at age 9, in 1942, as a shoeshineboy in Manhattan’s Union Square. In 1949, Karabotsenlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve (in which heserved 11 years) and after graduating high schoolin 1951, he entered the printing industry, learningthe ropes at an RCA affiliate on Wall Street beforebecoming a manager of printing operations else-where. Eventually he achieved sales and then man-agement positions, offered by a Hellenophile fromAustria, who was the owner of Polychrome, a man-ufacturer of supplies related to the printing industry.

In 1964, he launched, with a partner, Phota Inc.,a company that manufactured photographic chem-icals specific to the development of X-Ray film andassisted in the development and importation of Fu-jifilm to the United States. In 1970 he acquired aprinting company in Scranton, PA and expanded itvia the printing and binding of TV Guide, amongother nationally known magazines. That company,today known as Kappa Graphics.

Today, Karabots is Chairman of the Board andCEO of The Spartan Organization, a company hefounded that provides management and legal serv-ices to the various Karabots affiliates. He holdssimilar positions in his other privately held compa-nies whose interests include printing, publishing,product fulfillment, land development. He also ownsa country club and a vineyard/winery. He is assistedby his daughters Andrea Duloc and Despina Mc-Nulty, son-in-law Paul Kolkka, and granddaughterAlecia Duloc. Andrea’s husband, Michael, is theowner and president of Kable Distribution and Prod-uct Fulfillment Services, Inc., former subsidiariesof Princeton, NJ-based AMREP Corporation, Inc.(NYSE: AXR), a publicly held company in whichKarabots is a controlling shareholder.

From 1993 to 2013, he was a director of AM-REP Corporation, whose interests rest in the realestate and media-related industries such as productand subscription fulfillment combined with news-stand distribution services. Karabots resigned in2013 from his position as vice chairman of theboard of AMREP in order to devote more time tohis pending acquisitions in the private sector, butretains his significant shareholder interests in AM-REP. The company has developed Rio Rancho, NewMexico’s third-largest city. The Karabotses’ com-bined businesses employ about 2,000 people be-tween their businesses in Indiana, Florida, Wiscon-sin, New York, and Pennsylvania.


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Karabots’ real estate interests began with a1980 purchase of a farm outside of Philadelphia.This led to other land acquisitions, primarily in Penn-sylvania, and eventually to the design and devel-opment of Jericho National Golf Club, Inc. in Wash-ington Crossing, PA. Karabots also owns Krasi, LLC,the operator of Karamoor Estate Vineyards andWinery and producer of Karamoor Estate Wines,which have won many awards in American winecompetitions. The Karamoor Farm is 275 acres intotal, with 27 acres planted with vines. Althoughthe Karabots have called Karamoor ‘home’ sincethe early 1970s, the first vines were planted in2003. According to an interview with Stay AKA,the family has been committed to making the bestwine in the region and have pursued their passionfor wine with a commitment to good farming prac-tices with as minimal intervention in the vineyardas possible. The winery will soon have a secondtasting room open to the public.

Apart from its huge gamut of puzzle magazinesand subscription services, the Kappa group of com-panies also publishes wrestling, astrology, games,children’s activity books, and a wide variety of at-lases and street guides. Its affiliated printing relatedcompanies in Pennsylvania and Indiana offer com-mercial and digital printing, and a variety of productdistribution services.

Together with his wife of 60 years, AthenaDikegoros Karabots, whose parents emigratedfrom the Macedonian village of Rhodohorion, heestablished the Karabots Foundation, Inc. as a re-sult of his experiences as a youth in the SouthBronx. The foundation specializes in expandingopportunities for young people in inner city or oth-erwise underserved communities. He told TNH in2009: “My heart aches for the young children whoare tied to poverty and don’t know that there issomething out there that is better.” In the fall of2012, the foundation gave $7.5 million to TheChildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a new pe-

diatric care facility which opened in February of2013. They also donated $10 million to TheFranklin Institute Museum to expand its class-rooms and exhibition capabilities at its existinglocation, which serves thousands of children eachyear. The foundation has also contributed $15 mil-lion to support the Philadelphia Art Museum’s ed-ucation center by its acquisition of a painting byThomas Eakins, together with a rare 16th centuryhorse and man armor. To date, the foundation hasprovided over $60 million to many organizationsthat focus on its mission. Nicholas and AthenaKarabots have also supported the University ofPennsylvania and currently, the University of Ari-zona in their archaeological excavations on Mt.Lykaion in Arcadia, Greece. He and his wife of al-most 65 years live in Pennsylvania and have threedaughters and 10 grandchildren. Karabots is rou-tinely featured in publications as one of Pennsyl-vania’s most generous philanthropists.

33PETER J. BARRIS -Virginia$315 MILLION (TNHE)

VENTURE CAPITALNorthwestern University (ElectricalEngineering); Married, 2 children

Peter J. Barris, 68, is a venture capitalist knownfor helping to launch companies including Groupon,CareerBuilder, SalesForce, TiVo, Jet.com and Dia-pers.com. Forbes included him on its Midas List ofthe world’s best venture capitalists and technologyinvestors for several years between 2007 and2014. He was managing general partner of leadingventure capital investor New Enterprise Associates,Inc. (NEA) from 1999 to 2017, having joined thecompany in 1992.

At NEA, he led investments in over 25 compa-nies that have gone public or had successful ac-quisitions. NEA invested $14.8 million in Grouponearly on and received $70 million back in 2011.That year, Groupon went public, reaping one of thegreatest venture returns ever with an initial publicoffering value of $12.8 billion. He is currently theChairman and General Partner of NEA.

According to the NEA website, the company’sassets grew from $1 billion to over $20 billion andthe organization scaled its operations to becomeone of the world’s largest venture capital firms un-der Barris’ leadership. The company, which startedwith offices in Maryland and California’s Silicon Val-ley, now has branches in India, China – and mostrecently – New York City. NEA, founded more than35 years ago, has seen 200+ portfolio companiesgoing public and 320+ acquisitions.

Barris grew up in Chicago, IL. His father, James,was an engineer, and his grandparents were fromGreece. His father encouraged Barris to follow thesame career path that he did – but Barris had hiseyes set on the law – more specifically, patent law

– which he had heard required an engineering de-gree. Northwestern had excellent law and engi-neering schools, so he enrolled as an electrical en-gineering major. Eventually, he realized that patentlaw wasn’t where his passion lay but continuedhis studies of electrical engineering and then wenton to earn his MBA from Dartmouth College. Heeventually started his career in various manage-ment positions at General Electric Company.

At NEA, Barris took $570-million company Neu-

tral Tandem public in 2007 and $590-million EchoGlobal public in 2009. He is involved with NEA af-filiates, including Groupon, TV software/hardwarecompany Hillcrest Laboratories, Internet serviceprovider Boingo Wireless, online job recruitmentsite CareerBuilder, digital distribution companySnagFilms (whose founder, Ted Leonsis, is also onthis list), and social media management companySprout Social. He is on the board of directors ofpublic companies including Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN), Goji Food Solutions Ltd., Benchprep, Hill-crest Laboratories, Inc., MediaOcean, SnagFilms,and Sprout Social.

He is Vice-Chair of the Northwestern UniversityBoard of Trustees and serves on the Board of theTuck School Private Equity and Entrepreneur Cen-ter. He also launched the Barris Incubator Series atDartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, which seeksto encourage student start-ups. He previouslyserved on the executive committee of the board ofthe National Venture Capital Association and wasalso a founding member of Venture PhilanthropyPartners, a philanthropic organization in the Wash-ington, D.C. area.

Barris, a member of Leadership 100 and an Ar-chon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, lives inMcLean, VA. with his wife, Adrienne. They havetwo daughters. His interests include traveling, ski-ing, “any and all Greek food,” boating, and spendingtime with his family.

34MICHAEL G. PSAROS -New York $300 MILLION (TNHE)

INVESTMENTS Georgetown University (Business);Married, 3 children

Michael Psaros, 52, is a co-founder and co-man-aging partner of private equity fund, KPS CapitalPartners, LP, and a member of its investment com-mittee. KPS Capital Partners, LP is one of theworld’s leading private equity firms, with approxi-mately $11.5 billion of assets under management.KPS acquires and then turns around, non-core, un-derperforming, or distressed manufacturing andindustrial companies on a global basis. KPS’ uniqueinvestment strategy has resulted in the creation ofworld-class, industry leading companies.

KPS Portfolio companies currently have aggre-gate revenues of approximately $8.4 billion, operate142 manufacturing facilities in 26 countries, andemploy approximately 28,000 associates, directlyand through joint ventures.

Psaros is the son of George and Mary AnnPsaros and grandson of four Greek immigrantsfrom Chios and Halicarnassus (Bodrum) in Asia Mi-nor. He grew up in Weirton, WV, where the lifebloodof the town was the Weirton Steel Division of Na-




tional Steel. Psaros' father was a senior executivein the steel mill, and his great-grandfather workedin the open hearth furnaces. In 1983, union steel-workers voted to purchase the company with thehelp of investment banker Eugene Keilin, renamingit Weirton Steel. The buyout saved the town, andinspired Psaros to think about how managementand labor could work together to revitalize manu-facturing in America. Psaros subsequently co-founded his own private equity firm, KPS CapitalPartners, LP, in partnership with Keilin and DavidShapiro.

Psaros is the former Treasurer of the Greek Or-thodox Archdiocese of North America and servedon its Executive Committee. During his two-yeartenure in office, he led the successful financial andorganizational restructuring of the Archdiocese.The changes Psaros implemented were transfor-mative, resulting in a balanced budget and accom-panied by new practices to promote accountability,responsibility, and transparency.

Psaros is an Archon, Ostiarios, of the Ecumeni-cal Patriarch, Order of St. Andrew the Apostle,where he serves on its National Council. He cur-rently serves as Vice Chairman of Friends of St.

Nicholas and as Treasurer of the St. Andrew Ecu-menical Patriarch Fund. He is also a founding mem-ber of FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy andHellenism, and serves on the Board of Trustees ofLeadership 100 – Advancing Hellenism and Ortho-doxy in America, the Executive Board of The Hel-lenic Initiative, and is a proud member of AHEPA.

Psaros received Archbishop Iakovos Leadership100 Award for Excellence, the Homeric Award fromthe Chian Association, the Socrates Award fromAHEPA, the Humanitarian Award from the HellenicTimes Scholarship Fund, the Executive of the YearAward from the Hellenic American Bankers Asso-ciation, the Hellenic Heritage Award from the ThreeHierarchs Greek Orthodox Church, the PhidippidesAward from Hellenic Public Radio (Cosmos FM),and the Inspiration Award from the Loukoumi Foun-dation. He was recognized by the ArchdiocesanCathedral of the Holy Trinity and gave the keynoteaddress at the Centennial Gala of the All SaintsGreek Orthodox Church of Weirton, West Virginia.

Psaros supports the Washington ‘Oxi’ Day Foun-dation, and delivered the ‘Oxi’ Day speech in theArmed Services Committee Chamber of the U.S.Senate in 2015.

Psaros serves on the Board of Directors ofGeorgetown University and he and his wife created

The Michael and Robin Psaros Endowed Chair inBusiness Administration at Georgetown Univer-sity's McDonough School of Business where healso serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Advi-sors. Psaros was honored by the Georgetown Uni-versity Wall Street Alliance at its gala at Cipriani inNew York City.

Psaros is also the Executive Producer and un-derwriter of the documentary short film, PISTEVO,about the centrality of Iconography in the OrthodoxChristian Faith, which may be viewed atwww.theartofbelief.org. The film has been viewedin over 20 countries by tens of thousands of thefaithful. PISTEVO won The Award of Excellence atthe IndieFEST Film Awards.

34JENNIFER ANISTON -California $300 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

TELEVISION AND FILM New York's School of Performing Arts

It’s official (and hard to believe), the U.S.’s Greek-American sweetheart, Jennifer Aniston, just cele-brated her 51st birthday.


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Born in Sherman Oaks, CA, Aniston spent abouta year of her childhood in Greece known as JenniferJoanna Anastassakis. The daughter of Nancy Dow(a direct descendant of the royal House of Stuartof Scotland – making Aniston a royal) and daytimesoap opera star John Aniston (Days of Our Lives),she eclipsed her father’s television fame and suc-cess with her own role as Rachel Green on theeternally popular sitcom, Friends (1994-2004). Anis-ton and her five castmates struck what was arecord payday at the time – $1 million each perepisode for the last three seasons of the show –and she still collects sizeable residuals from thestill-wildly popular sitcom’s syndication ($20 mil-lion/year as per USA Today’s calculation in 2015).Thanks to her portrayal, Rachel Green, the characterAniston played on the show, became so popularthat the hairstyle she wore in the sitcom began tobe known as The Rachel. In February of 2020 itwas announced that the original Friends cast wouldreunite for an HBO Max Special (a new streamingservice) in May of the same year.

Aniston has continued to appear in featurefilms and is often cast as the ‘girl-next-door’ type,but sometimes as a quirky villain. In 2018, Anistonmade her Netflix debut with the musical comedyDumplin. In 2019, she was seen alongside ReeseWitherspoon and Steve Carell in the Apple TV anddrama series The Morning Show (earning $2Mper episode) as well as Adam Sandler in MurderMystery. Her success has propelled her to evengreater fortunes, topping $300 million in net worththis year.

Aniston began her professional training as adrama student at New York's School of PerformingArts – a division of Fiorello H. LaGuardia HighSchool of Music and the Arts. In 2015, Aniston toldCollider that although she had a love for the theatergrowing up in New York City, her parents werepretty strict on her time in front of the television. "Iwas hell-bent because my dad was just beggingme not to be in the industry. He said, 'I do not wantyour heart broken. The rejection is brutal. Please,please, please don't do that. Become a lawyer.'"she said. "That was my one rebellion. I was hopingthat I was going to make it so that I could provehim wrong.”

While she was at school, Aniston thought therewas something wrong with her – she thought shewas ‘stupid’ – but was later diagnosed as dyslexic.She went on to appear in various off-Broadwayproductions, television series and films, until 1994when Friends came along.

Besides her lucrative acting career, Aniston isin demand as a spokeswoman for brands such asAveeno and Vitamin Water. In 2011, she reportedlymade over $20 million selling her Beverly Hillshome for $35 million, twice the price at which shebought it for.

The actress has also been a director and pro-ducer in recent years. She directed one of five seg-ments that made up the cable TV movie Five(2011), which focused on women living with breastcancer and was one of 100 artists and other publicfigures to narrate the documentary film Unity(2015), which “investigates human existence andinterconnectivity.” She received her own HollywoodWalk of Fame Star in February 2013 – the firstactor from Friends to be honored with a star. Someof her other awards include the Screen Actors Guild(1996), Emmy (2002), Golden Globe (2003), andPeople’s Choice (four times) awards, and has as-sisted and worked with many charities like Rain(an anti-sexual assault organization), St. Jude’s,and various cancer-fighting organizations. She wasalso named GQ magazine’s first ever Woman ofthe Year in 2005 and was Ellen Degeneres’ veryfirst guest for the very first episode of The EllenShow in 2003.

Aniston’s personal life is often a source of mediaattention, especially her relationships with actorsBrad Pitt, whom she first met on a blind date andlater married from 2000 to 2005, and Justin Ther-oux, whom she wed in 2015; the couple announcedin 2018 that they were divorcing.

Aniston is a well-known activist and a philan-thropist. She has donated generously to differentphilanthropic organizations such as Doctors withoutBorders, AmeriCares, Feeding America, ClothesOff Our Back, EB Medical Research Foundation,OmniPeace, Project A.L.S., Friends of Al Faro, andmany others. Aniston has also contributed appre-ciably to the cause of lesbian, gay, bisexual, andtransgender (LGBT) rights, and has hosted showslike Stand Up For Cancer and It Can’t Wait.

36D. JAMES BIDZOS -Virginia$290 MILLION (TNHE)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

D. James Bidzos, 64, is another Greek-Americanwho prospered in the information technology rev-olution. Founder, Chairman of the Board, President,and CEO of Verisign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), whichprovides domain name registry services and Inter-net security worldwide, Bidzos’ company offers arange of security services, including cyber-threatreporting. Verisign currently manages $21 billionworth of .com domains, with each domain sellingfor $7.85 annually.

Bidzos served as Verisign’s first CEO from 1995to 2001. In 2010 the company’s authenticationservices were purchased by Symantec for $1.28billion. Bidzos returned to the CEO job in 2011. Thefollowing year, he was named Fortune’s 2012 Busi-nessperson of the year for reviving Verisign’s in-come, growth, and stock performance, which pre-viously had flagged. His compensation increasedby 46% in 2013 to $8.5 million, including his bonusand stock awards.

Born in Greece, Bidzos came to the UnitedStates as a boy. His father worked as a barber, andhis mother managed a restaurant.

A former computer programmer, he is creditedwith foreseeing the need for online security in theearly 1990s. Bidzos is an Internet and security in-dustry pioneer, whose accomplishments includebuilding RSA Security, an Internet identity and ac-cess management solution provider, into the earlystandard-bearer for authentication and encryption,and launching Verisign as a spin-off in 1995 to de-velop the digital certificate infrastructure for Internetcommerce. Verisign operates infrastructure serv-ices that enable and protect billions of interactions

every day across the world’s voice, video and datanetworks. The Virginia-based Verisign offered a va-riety of Internet and communications-related serv-ices in its global affiliate network. Verisign managedtwo of the world’s 13 Internet root servers, a.root-servers.net and j.root-servers.net, considered na-tional IT assets by the U.S. Federal government.

Since 2007, the company has been focusing onits core business and whittling away less profitableside projects. In 2009, it sold its security servicebusiness to SecureWorks and its security consult-ing business to AT&T. Verisign now focuses on itsInternet infrastructure services. Among the com-pany’s services are providing .com, .net, .cc, .tv,.name, and .jobs domain names for websites. Ac-cording to Simply Wall Street, over the last threeyears Verisign has grown its earnings per share byan average of 9.9% per year, achieved revenuegrowth of 3% over the last year, and has providedfor a total return of 147% over three years.

Bidzos has been named one of Time magazine’sDigital 50, and is in CRN’s Computer Industry Hallof Fame. In September 2013, the Federal AviationAdministration named Bidzos, who is a certified pi-lot, to the FAA Airmen Certification Database. Inlate 2016, the National Cyber Security Hall of Famehonored Bidzos, who is an inductee, by naminghim keynote speaker at its fifth annual award cer-emony in October in Baltimore, MD, for his “keyrole in the creation of the cyber security industry.”

37CONSTANTINEIORDANOU$270 MILLION(WallMine)

INSURANCE New York University; Married, 3 children

Constantine ‘Dinos’ Iordanou, 69, was president,CEO and Chairman of the Board of Arch CapitalGroup, Ltd, a Bermuda-based insurance/reinsur-ance global entity until 2018.

Born in Cyprus, Iordanou was the eldest of sixchildren with a father who was a policeman. In aninterview with Risk & Insurance, Iordanou recallsthat in the house of his father “you were expectedto work hard and make something of yourself. Allof the kids had jobs after school. The money theyearned was theirs for pocket money – but some-times it was needed to help the family cover itsgrocery bills.”

When Iordanou was 17, he boarded the SSQueen Anna Maria to the United States and jour-neyed by himself for 17 days. After he arrived inAmerica, he called his father, who asked himwhether he had gotten a job already and whetherhe had registered for school – not whether he wasOK. Iordanou settled in Astoria, NY with one of hisuncles. His first job was pumping gas at a Shellstation; he also washed dishes in a nursing home,drove a cab, and worked as a cook. Iordanou endedup working his way through New York University,earning a BS in aerospace engineering before en-tering the insurance industry as a trainee at Amer-ican International Group (AIG). He started workingupwards of 80 hours a week – not because it wasasked of him, but because he wanted to.

According to Risk & Insurance, Iordanou’s bigbreak came after the passage of the Resource Con-servation and Recovery Act in 1976, which calledfor closer governance of hazardous waste disposal.Iordanou was given the responsibility of creatingan environmental liability group at AIG. It was afterthis that Hank Greenberg, then AIG chairman, no-ticed him.

In 1987 he moved on to Berkshire Hathaway,where he worked his way up to heading their com-mercial casualty operations. From March 1992through December 2001, Iordanou served in vari-ous capacities for Zurich Financial Services and itsaffiliates, including senior executive vice presidentof group operations and business development ofZurich Financial Services, president of Zurich Amer-ican Specialties Division, chief operating officer andchief executive officer of Zurich American, and chiefexecutive officer of Zurich North America.

He joined Bermuda-based Arch (NASDAQ:ACGL) in December 2001 as its president andmember of its board of directors. In 2003, Iordanouwas appointed president and CEO of Arch CapitalGroup, Ltd. In November 2008, he was appointedchairman of the board. He retired from the companyin March 2018. His stated reasons for retiring areto spend more time with his grandchildren, focuson philanthropy, play golf, travel for leisure, andmany other activities. He is also a director at VeriskAnalytics, Inc. of Jersey City, N.J., the AmericanInsurance Association (AIA), and the Associationof Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR).

He is a founding member and lifetime trusteeof the Pancyprian Association of America whichwas established in 1975. He is also a foundingmember of Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy

and Hellenism. Iordanou has previously served asa trustee of Roosevelt University and the Collegeof Insurance and Risk Management. His awardsinclude the Ellis Island Medal of Honor (1999). Heis married to Marianne Iordanou and they havethree children. In May of 2018, Iordanou and Mar-ianne received a Lifetime Achievement Award fromOur Lady of Mercy Academy for his philanthropicefforts. “For the past fifteen years, Dinos and Mar-ianne have been actively involved with Mercy: Asparents of Mercy graduates, they spearheaded thecampaign to build a turf field ten years ago. Theyhave continued to work tirelessly on many projectsto benefit Mercy students now and into the future.”Iordanou was honored in May, 2016 by the Pan-Cyprian Association, whose president, PhilipChristopher, said that they were honoring him inparticular because he never forgot his roots.Christopher said, “he has been a trustee of our as-sociation from day one and as CEO of Arch, hewent to Cyprus and opened an office there em-ploying 20 Greek Cypriots. Hopefully other com-panies will follow.”

38THEODOREANTHONYSARANDOS JR.

California$250 MILLION (Celebrity Net Worth)ENTERTAINMENTMarried, 2 children

Theodore (“Ted”) Anthony Sarandos Jr. is aGreek-American businessman. The fourth of fivechildren, Sarandos’ father was an electrician. In arecent interview, Sarandos revealed his Greek her-itage detailing how his paternal grandfather camefrom the Greek island of Samos to the US as ayoung boy. Their original family name was Kario-takis, which his grandfather later changed toSarandos.

In the same interview with The Standard, Saran-dos described his first visit to Samos with his chil-dren: “My father described it: ‘You get into the port.Make a left. Look up the hill. There’s a yellow housewith goats in the yard.’ I’m like, ‘it can’t be thatsimple.’ But it was. My kids were excited to meettheir family. We knock on the door but they don’tspeak English, and I don’t speak Greek, so I amtrying to explain who I am, and finally they closethe door on us.

“Sarah [his daughter] starts crying, ‘I thoughtwe were going to see our family.’ I go, ‘Sarah,

imagine if someone came to the door and startedscreaming at you in Chinese.’ But back at the hotelthe manager wrote them a letter. So I handed it tothem and five minutes later we are eating togetherand drinking together.”

Born in Phoenix, AZ, Sarandos is best knownfor being the Chief Content Officer of Netflix. He is

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responsible for overseeing the company’s annualbudget of more than $15 billion (gross) as well asthe teams responsible for the acquisition and cre-ation of all Netflix content.

Sarandos has been responsible for all contentoperations since 2000, and led the company’s tran-sition into original content production that beganin 2013. . Before that, Sarandos was an executiveat video distributor ETD and Video City/West CoastVideo.

He oversaw the production of series such as'House of Cards', 'Arrested Development', 'Orangeis the New Black', 'Stranger Things', 'Dark' (Ger-many), 'La Casa De Papel' (Spain), and 'SacredGames' (India), as well as original films like ‘TheIrishman’, 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before','Bright', 'Bird Box', and the 3-time Academy Awardwinning film 'ROMA'.

Sarandos is also responsible for the company'smassive investment in the UK, which resulted inover 40 shows including global hits like 'Our Planet'and 'The Crown'. More recently, Sarandos haslanded big-ticket production deals with ShondaRhimes, Ryan Murphy, Kenya Barris, Marti Noxonand the Obamas.

Sarandos is married to Nicole Avant, the formerUnited States Ambassador to the Bahamas from2009-2011 who was appointed to the post by for-mer President Barack Obama.

Sarandos landed among the 100 most influentialpeople in the world in the ‘Titans’ list of Time mag-azine (a/k/a TIME 100). He is also a member of theTribeca Festival and the Los Angeles Film Festivalboards and he has been named Consultant of theDigital Entertainment Group. He has served on Spo-tify’s board since 2016. In June 2020, Sarandos isheading to Canada’s Banff World Media Festival togive a keynote address.

39DR. WILLIAM S.STAVROPOULOS -Michigan $235 MILLION (TNHE)

CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION Fordham University (PharmaceuticalChemistry); Married, 2 children

William S. Stavropoulos was born in 1939 inSouthampton, New York. The son of Greek immi-grants, he grew up in the nearby town of Bridge-hampton, where his family owned and operated avery popular ice cream parlor and eatery – TheBridgehampton Candy Kitchen. He attended Bridge-hampton School, where he excelled both academ-ically and athletically. One of the sixteen studentsin his high school graduating class was his closechildhood friend Carl Yaztrzemski, the beloved fu-ture Hall of Fame baseball star who played for theBoston Red Sox for 23 years. Stavropoulos holds abachelor of science degree in pharmaceuticalchemistry from Fordham University and a doctoratein medicinal chemistry from the University of Wash-ington.

After a long and distinguished career at the DowChemical Company, where among other capacitieshe served as Chairman and CEO, Stavropoulosmoved in a different direction: to president andfounder of a minor league baseball team – TheGreat Lakes Loons. In 2005, he was inducted intothe Midland County Sports Hall of Fame as a Pro-fessional Baseball Visionary for his work, which in-cludes founding the Michigan Baseball Foundation.The Loons are affiliated with Major League Base-ball’s Los Angeles Dodgers. MBF’s mission, ac-cording to its website, is “to bring affordable, fam-ily-friendly entertainment to Mid-Michigan. Throughthe Great Lakes Loons MBF hopes to revitalize andreinvigorate the region and promote greater eco-nomic and civic prosperity.” In 2019, Brad Tammenwas named the new President and General Man-ager of the Great Lakes Loons after whatStavropoulos called a “nationwide search.”

Stavropoulos was a director at Tyco InternationalLimited from 2007 to 2012. A major diversified,multinational company, Tyco is a leading providerof security products and services, fire protectionand detection products and services, valves andcontrols, and other industrial products. In May2007, just two months after Stavropoulos becamea board member, Tyco agreed to pay almost $3 bil-lion to defrauded investors, the largest such pay-ment ever made by a single company. He retiredat the end of 2012.

Prior to joining Tyco, Stavropoulos spent 39years at Dow. In addition to leading the company,he held various positions in research, marketing,and general management. He also served in a va-riety of research and business positions in phar-maceuticals and diagnostics. Stavropoulos wasnamed president of Dow USA in 1990, and waselected vice president of Dow Chemical Company.He was then elected a senior vice president of Dowin May 1991, and became chief operating officerin 1993. He served as CEO from 1995 to 2000 andagain from 2002 to 2004, and was a member ofDow’s board of directors from July 1990 to March2006 (he was succeeded by Andrew Liveris, aGreek-Australian, who is also featured infra). AsStavropoulos was a chemist before he became anexecutive, he was ambitious for Dow to becomean industry leader with a commitment to ethicalpractices. According to Reference for Business, hefocused research and development on bringingnew products to market using the chemical-indus-try standards of Responsible Care and strived toadhere to sustainable development – that is, theuse of raw material and energy obtained from bio-mass rather than petroleum. Stavropoulos receivedthe prestigious American Section Award from theSociety of the Chemical Industry in 2001, not onlyfor his role in making Dow a global leader in thechemical industry but also for the high standardshe imposed on the industry in the process.

Stavropoulos is a director of Teradata Corpora-tion, and on the advisory boards for MetalmarkCapital LLC and Maersk Inc. In May 2019, it was

announced that Stavropoulos would be replacedby Christopher D. Pappas as Independent Lead Di-rector of Univar, the largest chemical distributor inthe United States. Stavropoulos will continue toserve on the Board.

Stavropoulos is a past chairman of the AmericanChemistry Council, Society of Chemical Industry,and American Plastics Council. He served on theboard of trustees at the American Enterprise Insti-tute for Public Policy Research. Among his awardsand honors are AHEPA’s Man of the Year (1995),the Hellenic American Bankers Association Man ofthe Year (1997), an honorary Doctor of Laws Degreefrom Northwood University (1998), the Ellis IslandMedal of Honor (1998), and induction into JuniorAchievement of Central Michigan’s Business Hallof Fame (2005). Institutional Investor magazinenamed him one of America’s best CEOs three times(1998, 2003 and 2004). In 2010, he received thetitle of Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.Stavropoulos and his wife, Linda, have two children,Bill and Angela, and several grandchildren. In 2016,the Bill and Linda Stavropoulos Family Foundationmade a $10 million gift to the University of NotreDame for the creation of a center specializing inbiophysical research in the College of Science.

40CHRIS & HARRISPAPPAS - Texas$220 MILLION (TNHE)

FOOD SERVICE

Brothers Christopher J. and Harris Pappas – 72and 75 years of age, respectively, and still verymuch involved in their thriving family business –opened the first Pappas Restaurant in 1976. Today,the privately owned Pappas Restaurants, Inc. op-erate more than 100 restaurants in eight states.More recently, Chris’ and Harris’ children, all intheir 20s and 30s, have taken on more prominentroles in the business, including marketing, real es-tate, culinary research and development, and con-struction.

Pappas Restaurants grew from the work of thebrothers’ father, Jim, and his brothers at PappasRefrigeration, which they opened in 1945. Pappas'nine unique brands include Pappas Seafood House,Pappasito's Cantina, Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen,Pappas Bar-B-Q, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse (whichmade the list of the 100 most romantic restaurantsin America this year - the only Houston restaurantwhich made the cut), Pappas Grill Steakhouse, Pap-pas Burger, Yia Yia Mary's Pappas Greek Kitchen,the original Dot Coffee Shop, which was estab-lished by their father Jim and his three brothers in1967, and, most recently Pappas Delta BluesSmokehouse. Each company has its own specialty,with Yia Yia Mary’s, for instance, specializing inGreek food, fish and mezedes (Greek, with a hintof Texas). The family-owned restaurant group willadd another new concept restaurant to its empire:Pappas Shrimp Shack – as a pop-up for now, butone that will hopefully transition to its own perma-nent restaurant. Pappas Restaurants also has twofood catering businesses and a food delivery busi-ness as well.

Chris and Harris Pappas serve as CEO and pres-ident, respectively, of Luby's Inc., a publicly tradedcafeteria chain founded more than 50 years ago.The brothers became majority shareholders in thecompany in 2001. Since 2018, Luby’s has beenstruggling and has had to close several locationsafter less-than-ideal performance. However, thePappas brothers aren’t ready to give up on it yet.

Chris Pappas serves on the board of directorsfor the Greater Houston Partnership and is also amember of the Dean's advisory board at the ConradN. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Manage-ment at the University of Houston. He was inductedinto the college’s Hospitality Industry Hall of Honorin 2009. Chris is a member of the board of directorsfor the National Restaurant Association, the TexasRestaurant Association, and the Greater HoustonRestaurant Association and is an advisory boardmember of Amegy Bank. In 2001, he was inductedinto the Texas Restaurant Association Hall of Honor.He is also a member of the Houston Food Bank’sCapital Campaign Committee and he has assistedin raising over $50 million for the organization. Chrisreceived his bachelor's degree in mechanical en-

gineering from the University of Texas at Austin.He and his wife, Maria, have been married 30+years and have five children. One of their daughters,Victoria, married chef Aaron Bludorn (who workedat Cafe Boulud in New York for more than 10 years)who has decided to open up his own restaurantsometime in the summer of 2020 in Houston.

A graduate of Texas A&M, Harris Pappas wascommissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S.Army, serving one year in Thailand and one year inVietnam, earning two Bronze Stars and three ArmyCommendation medals. He is a member of theboard of directors of Oceaneering International,Inc., a publicly held oil and gas operations firm, andalso served a ten-year term on the board of trusteesof Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Hous-ton. He is an advisory director of the Boys & GirlsClubs of Greater Houston and of Bank-Frost Na-tional Houston. He is a member of the Texas A&MFoundation Development Advisory Committee andserves on the Education Development Council Ad-visory Committee. He has received awards fromboth Texas A&M University and the school’s MaysCollege of Business. Harris is a member of theWorld President’s Organization and on SchreinerUniversity’s advisory board. He is a founder of theHellenic Foundation, which endeavors to raisescholarship money for seminary students attendingHoly Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Anavid boater and fisherman, he and his wife, VickyMarinos Pappas, have children and grandchildren.

The brothers’ grandfather, H.D., arrived in theU.S. in 1897 and became a restaurateur. Chris andHarris were encouraged to avoid the restaurant in-dustry and given warnings about its long hours andunpredictable schedules. The brothers managedto stay away – for a little while. But the lure of therestaurant biz proved too strong for both brothers.Soon, Harris found himself managing his fatherJim's first restaurant, the Dot Coffee Shop, only tobe followed shortly by Chris who stepped in at hisbrother's request.

The Pappas Brothers often help nonprofit groupsand churches renovate their kitchens. Highly in-volved in the Annunciation Cathedral of Houston,both brothers were granted the title of Archon of

the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2008. In 2016, Pap-pas Restaurants donated $500,000 to Texas South-ern University which, in its newspaper, quoted ChrisPappas on that occasion: “on behalf of PappasRestaurants, my brother Harris and I are proud topartner with Texas Southern University with thisdonation of more than a half a million dollars. Thework that TSU does enriches not only the lives ofthe students on their campus, but also the entireHouston community. As native Houstonians, westrongly believe in supporting higher education inour hometown, and we are excited that our contri-bution will provide a place for students to live, studyand support one another while pursuing a collegedegree.”

41SAM GORES -California$150 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

ENTERTAINMENTAmerican Academy of Dramatic Arts; 3 children

Sam Gores, brother to Alec and Tom Gores (alsofeatured on this list), founded the entertainmenttalent Agency Paradigm in 1992 and has becomeone of the top agents in Hollywood. After arrivingin the United States with his family from Israel,Gores worked as a butcher and as a grocer. Goresnow oversees Paradigm’s 700 employees out ofits Beverly Hills headquarters, in addition to officesin almost a dozen other cities. Over the years, hehas grown his company by wisely acquiring niche

agencies and diversifying Paradigm’s client base.Paradigm remains privately owned, although in2019 it discussed (and ultimately declined) mergingwith rival UTA. Earlier this year, Paradigm madesignificant cuts to its staff (about 4%) – laying offabout 30 agents and support staff and reshufflingits executive suite. This lead to rumors that livegiant CAA was considering an acquisition bid forParadigm but Gores shut down those rumors bysaying: “let me state emphatically – we are not forsale, nor are we selling the agency.”

Gores worked his way up the Hollywood foodchain. He studied acting at the American Academyof Dramatic Arts and was part of the first graduatingclass of the original California campus. In 1977 hetook a job at The Gage Group, a talent agency

headed by well-known industry player Martin Gage.In 1986, he founded his own shop, SGA Repre-sentation, and after a series of mergers and acqui-sitions, the Paradigm Agency was born.

In 2014, he acquired a 50% stake in London-based CODA Music. Gores further expanded thefirm’s European reach by partnering with X-rayTouring and Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa in 2017. And justa few short weeks ago, it was announced that Par-adigm was investing in and expanding into the syncworld via a strategic investment in UK sync andsound branding agency, Pitch & Sync.

Paradigm first became a player in the music in-dustry by purchasing Monterey Peninsula Artists(Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Aerosmith, TobyKeith) in 2004 and Little Big Man (Coldplay, TheFray) in 2006. Other noteworthy names in Para-digm’s repertoire include: Kacey Musgraves, ShawnMendes, Tiesto, Imagine Dragons, Janet Jackson,Zoe Kravitz, Halsey, Diplo, Gucci Mane, AntonioBanderas, Neil Patrick Harris, Kenny Chesney, EdSheeran, The Black Eyed Peas – as well as teenphenom Billie Eilish, who swept the Grammys lastmonth, winning all four top awards. Paradigm’sdominance in the festival space was underscoredrecently by a much-shared Rostr infographic show-ing the agency breakdown at Coachella, whichgives Paradigm 35% of all acts. For comparison,the aforementioned CAA has 13%.

Gores has donated to the Children’s Hospital ofLos Angeles. He is also an active participant in Con-servation International and Hand in Hand: Centerfor Jewish Arab Education in Israel which buildsschools in Israel for both Jewish and Arab children.He is a member of the Academy of Motion PictureArts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Artsand Sciences and the Recording Academy. He alsoserves as a Trustee at the American Academy ofDramatic Arts and is on the board of Geffen Play-house.

42ANDREW N. LIVERIS -Michigan$138 MILLION (TNHE)

CHEMICALS, PLASTICS, MANAGEMENTUniversity of Queensland (ChemicalEngineering); Married, 3 children

Andrew Liveris, 65, is the former chairman andCEO of the international chemical, materials, agro-science, and plastics global giant, Dow ChemicalCompany, based in Midland, MI. The Australian-born Liveris succeeded Dr. William Stavropoulos,a friend and mentor (also listed supra), in 2004 andbecame Chairman of the Board in 2006. Liveris, a40-year industry veteran, left Dow after piloting themerger of the United States’ two largest chemicalproducers – Dupont and Dow – in a $130 billiondeal in 2017. According to Bloomberg, Liveris re-ceived $65.7M in pay for his last year at the com-pany. Liveris spent a total of 42 years at Dow andwas the company’s longest-serving CEO. As perthe American Chemical Society, Liveris transformedDow from a cyclical chemicals manufacturing com-pany into one powered by science, driven by inno-vation, and delivering solutions to the world.

Liveris first started working at Dow Australia in1976 and spent time in their manufacturing, engi-neering, sales, marketing, business, and generalmanagement departments. During much of thistime he worked in Asia, including 14 years in HongKong. He served as general manager for Dow inThailand, and president of all Asia-Pacific opera-tions. He joined Dow's board of directors in Febru-ary 2004, and was named CEO in November 2004.He was elected chairman of the board, taking overon April 1, 2006.

In 2012 he helped spearhead the founding ofThe Hellenic Initiative (THI), a global, nonprofit, sec-ular institution whose vision is to mobilize the Greekdiaspora and philhellene community to invest inthe future of Greece through programs focused oncrisis relief, entrepreneurship, and economic de-velopment.

Liveris is a firm believer in incentives for in-creasing manufacturing in the United States. Hewrote and frequently speaks on his book Make itin America (2011) on that topic. Under his leader-ship, he wanted the ‘new’ Dow to make new prod-ucts in America, often with an environmentallyfriendly or research-based core, such as solar shin-gles for homes.

He was tapped by the Trump Administration tohelp identify new ways to spur innovation and re-vitalize the U.S. manufacturing sector, and servedas Co-Chair of U.S. President Obama's AdvancedManufacturing Partnership steering committee(which aims to pool the efforts of industry, schools,and the government for innovation in fields like in-formation technology, biotechnology, and nanotech-nology) and as a member of the U.S. President’sExport Council.

With roots in Kastellorizo, Greece, Liveris wasborn in Darwin, Australia. As he told students in alecture in 2005, his grandfather was a Greek sailorwho made the impromptu decision to stay in Dar-win after traveling there on a merchant ship at thestart of the 20th century. He has been quoted say-ing: “I am a proud Greek. Though I was not born onthe banks of the Aegean or on the shores of theMediterranean, I come from a country that enjoysits beaches and likes its meat on a skewer – thatcountry is Australia. There are millions of Greekslike me around the world, born overseas but drawnto our homeland. We grew up hearing stories fromour parents and grandparents about our heroesand our history. And no matter our heritage, ouraccent, or our current address, we feel a specialconnection to Greece.”

Liveris attended the University of Queenslandin Brisbane, graduating with a bachelor's degree(first-class honors) in chemical engineering, andwas awarded the University Medal for that year. In2005, he received an honorary doctorate in sciencefrom the school. Within a week of stepping downfrom his position as CEO of Dow Chemical, he re-vealed that he was donating $13.5 million to the



university to be used to establish an endowmentfor what will be called the Liveris Academy for In-novation and Leadership.

Liveris sits on the Board of Directors of IBM,The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Novonix, andhe is a member of the Concordia Leadership Coun-cil and the Australian government’s Industry GrowthCentres Advisory Committee. He serves as atrustee of Saudi Aramco, The King Abdullah Uni-versity of Science and Technology (KAUST), theCalifornia Institute of Technology, and the UnitedStates Council for International Business. He is alsoon the board of the U.S.-India Strategic PartnershipForum (USISPF), serves as Co-Chair of the Saudi-U.S. CEO Forum, and was appointed deputy chair-man of Worley, a global engineering company. Re-cently, Liveris was named Senior Advisor to theSaudi Arabian Government’s Sovereign WealthFund, PIF.

Liveris is a chartered engineer and a fellow ofthe Institute of Chemical Engineers, as well as afellow of the Australian Academy of TechnologicalSciences and Engineering. In 2011 alone he re-ceived awards from the Committee for EconomicDevelopment, the U.S. Council for InternationalBusiness (USCIB), and the Yale Chief ExecutiveLeadership Institute. He was awarded the Orderof Australia, the nation’s highest recognition foroutstanding achievement and service, in 2014. In2019, the Greek community of Melbourne alsohonored Liveris.

Liveris and his wife Paula, also a native of Aus-tralian, have three adult children: Nicholas, Alexan-dra and Anthony.

43JOHN VARVATOS -New York$120 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

FASHIONEastern Michigan University &University of Michigan (Pre-Med &Education); Married, 3 children

Born in 1954 in a suburb of Detroit, John Var-vatos, now 54, is a Greek-American contemporaryfashion designer known around the world. His par-ents were both Greek. His father worked as an ac-countant in Michigan, and according to varioussources, Varvatos has roots in Cephalonia.

In 1982, Varvatos entered the design industryat 17, joining Polo Ralph Lauren, and in 1990 movedover to Calvin Klein (CK), where he was in chargeof menswear design and pioneered the concept of“boxer briefs,” which are men’s underpants thatare a hybrid between boxers and briefs. That inno-vation propelled Varvatos to the top-tier of the de-sign industry, as boxer briefs were highly toutedas one of the greatest apparel revolutions of the20th century after being made famous by a seriesof 1992 print ads featuring Mark Wahlberg.

Varvatos, later asked about what gave him theidea, said: “we just cut off a pair of longjohns and

thought, this could be cool.”Varvatos returned to Lauren in 1995, as head

of all Polo menswear design, and he created thePolo Jeans Company.

Just at the turn of the century, in late 1999, Var-vatos started his own company, debuting his firstclothing line a year later, and opened a boutique inNew York City’s SoHo neighborhood. The brandnow includes belts, handbags, footwear, eyewear,and fragrances and is available at retail stores aswell as his own stores. A few years later, Varvatosalso signed a new deal with Converse, the athleticfootwear manufacturer, to design a line of clothingunder the Chuck Taylor label. For several years, hehad designed his own version of classic shoes in

the Converse line. The designs were so popularthat they have continued to this day.

Varvatos joined the cast of NBC’s Fashion Starin 2012. One year later he saw the release of alimited edition Chrysler 300 in his name. In 2014,he partnered with a music label to launch JohnVarvatos Records, initially signing the Zac BrownBand.

Varvatos attributes his early interest in fashionto his love for rock and roll, observing the fashionstatements of various rock musicians, from AliceCooper to Green Day. Music, he says, also inspiredhis philanthropic causes, and he was influencedparticularly by Beatles legend Ringo Starr’s involve-ment in “inner peace and global peace, both ofwhich are important to me.”

Varvatos was named Gentleman Quarterly’s(GQ) Designer of the Year in 2007.

In 2015, Varvatos melded his three worlds: fash-ion, rock music, and Detroit, into the John VarvatosDetroit fashion line. An avid hockey fan, Varvatoshad the privilege of creating custom-blazers for theNational Hockey League’s top all-time 100 playersat an event in early 2017 during the League’s All-Star Weekend.

In March 2019 Varvatos and HBO launchedGame of Thrones upscale merchandise clothing –marking Varvatos’ first partnership with a televisionseries. The line includes 11 menswear pieces in-cluding a hand-dyed leather jacket, cross-over Hen-ley shirts, pants, a textured messenger bag andgraphic prints over spray dyed t-shirts that featureemblems such as the ‘iron-throne’ motif.

A few months later, in September, the bandBadflower were chosen as the cover artists for thelatest John Varvatos Star USA campaign for thefall/winter of 2019. In that same month, Varvatosand singer Nick Jonas announced that they will bejoining the celebrity tequila market with a brandcalled Villa One, created by the Stoli Group.

In a fascinating 2019 interview with the Un-touchable Blog, Varvatos said the following whenasked about whether his Greek roots come throughin any of his collections: “I don’t know if they comethrough in my collections, but they definitely comethrough in my passion for what I do and my humilityfor what I do. I grew up in a 100% Greek familythat was very humble – seven people in an 800square foot house with one bathroom – and familywas very important, relatives were important, theheritage was important. And now, I am very true tothe heritage of my brand and have a respect forthe heritage of menswear.”

44JASON CALACANIS$100 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

INTERNET ENTREPRENEURSHIP,BLOGGINGFordham University (Psychology);Married, 3 children

Jason McCabe Calacanis, 49, is an Americanentrepreneur, noted angel investor, and author who

hails from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Calacanis started his professional career in

earnest in the 1990s, as one of a handful of peoplewho went “all-in” on the internet from its outset.He created a highly successful monthly magazinecalled Silicon Alley Reporter to keep readers up todate on the happenings in the newly created mass-tech sector of the economy during the dot-comera.

Learning from the fickle nature of the internet,Calcanis didn’t waver in his pursuit of total immer-sion into the newly created web-based world andco-founded Weblogs, Inc. in September 2003 alongwith Brian Alvey. Weblogs, Inc. was a blog net-worked platform that featured entries of a varietyof different interests, primarily tech news but alsohad video game, automobile and cultural features.About 18 months after its founding, Calcanis soldWeblogs, Inc. to AOL for $30 million.

Since the sale of Weblogs, Inc. to AOL, Calacanishas amassed the majority of his fortune by beingan angel investor. Most notably, he was one of thefirst investors in tech behemoth Uber that was re-cently valued at more than $100 billion. He has re-portedly invested in over 70 startups and is cur-rently investing $15 million a year in 30 promisingstartups through the LAUNCH Fund and his Angel-List Syndicate, which has 400 members. In 2018,Calacanis invested in Calm, a meditation app thatis valued at $1 billion.

After three years of hosting TechCrunch50, hefounded LAUNCH Media, which publishes theLAUNCH Ticker and produces a number of events,including the annual LAUNCH Festival, the largeststartup conference in the world with over 9,000attendees last year. The Festival features 50+ start-ups that launch in front of 5,000+ industry leaders.Previous graduates include Mint, Dropbox, Yammer,Fitbit, and Room 77.

Since 2009, Calacanis has been the host of pop-ular podcast This Week in Startups, the largest talkshow about technology and startups in the world.Past guests on the show include Mark Cuban, Twit-ter founder Evan Williams, Paul Graham of Y Com-

binator, and angel investor Chris Sacca.Calacanis is also the founder and CEO of

Inside.com, a real-time mobile news app with themission of being the world’s best news product.He also authored a book in 2017 titled Angel: Howto Invest in Technology Startups – Timeless Advicefrom an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into$100,000,000. He is expected to be among thespeakers at the first Philippine Fintech Festival inManila this coming May.

Calacanis graduated from Xaverian High Schoolin 1988 and earned his B.A. in psychology fromFordham University.

45JAMES T.DEMETRIADES -California$95 MILLION

COMPUTER SOFTWARELoyola Marymount University(Computer Science, Economics andBusiness Marketing; Married, 6 children

James (‘Jim’) Demetriades, 57, was last on ourlist in 2011. Raised in a family of scientists, Deme-triadis began playing with computers at the age ofnine at the California Institute of Technology, wherehis father would drop him off at the computer labswhile he was visiting friends. A child prodigy, hebegan his scientific career at Caltech when he wasjust 11 years old, and is a 1980 graduate of theWebb School (which now has a James T. Demetri-ades ’80 Endowed Prize for Unbounded Teaching).

After graduating from Webb, he attended LoyolaMarymount University where he took a computerprogramming course which changed his life. There,under Professor Phil Dorin, he became passionateabout computers and would frequently sneak intothe locked computer labs late at night to play andwork on the computers there. He knew that com-puters would one day change the world.

After graduating from Loyola Marymount,Demetriades worked for two companies designingsoftware for insurance companies and hospitals.When he noticed that work being repeated up to70 percent of the time, he created a product whichwould reduce the cost and time necessary to inte-grate applications. “I took the idea to my boss, andhe said he didn’t want to focus on that aspect ofthe job, so I said, ‘Do you mind if I quit and work onthis?’” In less than a decade, Demetriades foundhimself at the helm of a multi-million dollar, pub-licly-traded company.

At the age of 26 he started his own softwarecompany, SeeBeyond, that invented and patentednumerous technologies in the software industry,including composite, client server based integrationtechnology, distributed integration technologies,and cloud based integration and development prod-ucts. These integration products were ranked num-ber one in the world by the Gartner Group. Deme-triades grew SeeBeyond, which he started with5,000 dollars, into the world’s largest organicallygrown and self-funded integration software com-pany with products used in dozens of companiesaround the world, including GM, Porsche, BMW,Pepsi, NY Columbia Presbyterian, JPMorgan Chase,Unilever, Air Liquide, the British NHS, Aetna, theCleveland Clinic, and about another 10,000 cus-tomers. Demetriades ended up taking the companypublic and then successfully sold it to Sun Mi-crosystems (now part of Oracle) for $387M cashin June of 2005.

Demetriades also founded and manages hisown groundbreaking venture capital investmentcompany, Kairos, real estate development and man-agement company, Multiversal, and his own uniquechildren’s internet education media company, thathe created called Inspero.net. Through Kairos Ven-tures Demetriades hopes to turn more scientificbreakthroughs into successful businesses, raising$50 million for research at Caltech in 2015. Deme-triades also serves on boards of numerous tech-nology companies in a variety of industries. Hehas devoted the last few years to raising (andhomeschooling) his six children, with his wifeNancy. He has invested in a hotel (The Landing),and a bar and two restaurants on six acres in Mam-moth Lakes, California. An avid yachtsman, he haswon both California’s Big Boat Series and LongBeach Race week.

46TINA FEY - New York$70 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

ENTERTAINMENTUniversity of Virginia (Drama); Married,2 children

With a celebrity star continuing to rise with nopeak yet in sight, Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, knownto the world as Tina, added to her net worth in 2019-

20 to finish higher than last year in our top 50. Fey’s maternal grandmother, Vasiliki Kourelakou,

emigrated to the United States by herself in 1921from the village of Petrina. Although Fey’s fatherwas not Greek, Zenobia (nee Xenakis), her mother,spoke Greek at home with her children and tookthem to church every Sunday.

Knowing from an early age that she was des-tined for a career in comedy, the native Pennsyl-vanian (from the predominantly Greek suburb ofUpper Darby), now 49, joined the cast of SaturdayNight Live (SNL) more than twenty years ago. Aftera successful stint on the show’s consistently pop-ular Weekend Update mock news segment, Feyshined even brighter in 2008 with her spot-on im-personation of Republican Vice Presidential nomi-nee Sarah Palin. She also became the first femalehead writer in SNL history.

Fey reprised the role several times during thatcampaign season (and did so again around thetime of the 2012 and 2016 elections). In one bitcharacterizing Palin’s attestation that she is fa-miliar with world affairs because as Governor ofAlaska, she had to deal with fly-over zones of air-planes from neighboring Russia, Fey blurted outin a comically ditzy manner: “I can see Russiafrom my house.” In a classic example of how com-edy bits can influence public thinking, many Amer-icans polled have since then attributed that lineto Palin, not realizing it was Fey who had actuallysaid it.

Fey and her SNL sidekick, cohost for numerousaward shows, and ‘BFF’, Amy Poehler, starred inthe comedy film Sisters in 2015. Poehler joinedFey to cohost SNL in December 2015, reprisingher own signature role as Hillary Clinton.

Also a writer and producer, Fey has won nineEmmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, fiveScreen Actors Guild Awards, three Producers GuildAwards, and seven Writers Guild of AmericaAwards. In 2010, she was awarded the Mark TwainPrize for American Humor, becoming the youngest-ever recipient of the award.

Fey created, wrote for, and starred in the multi-award-winning sitcom 30 Rock (it received 112Emmy nominations in total). Fey also co-createdthe Netflix comedy series Unbreakable KimmySchmidt. She has appeared in numerous featurefilms including Martin & Orloff (2002), Mean Girls(2004), Baby Mama (2008), The Invention of Lying(2009), and Date Night (2010), Whiskey Tango Fox-trot (2016), and most recently, Wine Country (2019).In August 2019, it was announced that Fey wouldvoice the co-lead role in the Pixar fantasy comedyadventure film Soul, which is scheduled to be re-leased in June 2020. Maybe surprisingly, Fey’shighest grossing film was the 2010 animated movieMegamind.

In 2011, she released her memoir, Bossypants,which topped The New York Times Best Seller listfor five weeks and garnered her a Grammy Awardnomination. Fey also created the musical adaptationMean Girls, which premiered on Broadway in 2018,and earned her a Tony Award nomination. About amonth ago, Fey took the stage at NBCUniversal’s30 Rock headquarters to announce that she is ex-

ecutive producing one of the first original seriesfor NBCU’s upcoming streaming platform, Peacock.Girls5Eva is a comedy about a one-hit-wonder girlgroup from the ’90s that reunites to give their popstar dreams one more shot.

Fey takes on many causes, including havingdone benefits and fundraisers for various charitiesincluding Autism Speaks and Mercy Corps, a globalrelief and development organization trying to endworld hunger. She is also vocal about gender rolesin America, having told Town & Country magazinein 2016 that, when hearing that this must be agreat time for women in comedy, she responds:“No, it's a terrible time. If you were to really look atit, the boys are still getting more money for a lot ofgarbage, while the ladies are hustling and doingamazing work for less."

In 1994 Fey began dating Jeff Richmond, a pi-anist who later became a composer on 30 Rock.They married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony onJune 3, 2001. They have two daughters, Alice, bornSeptember 2005, and Penelope Athena, August2011.

47GIANNISANTETOKOUNMPO -Wisconsin$60 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE1 Child

Giannis Sina Ougko Antetokounmpo, 25, is aGreek professional basketball player for the NBAteam, the Milwaukee Bucks.

A bonafide NBA superstar, and the NBA's reign-ing Most Valuable Player, whose fame has reachedmost corners of the world, Antetokounmpo was

AP PHOTO/JULIE JACOBSON FILE



born in Athens, Greece to Nigerian immigrants fromLagos. He grew up in the Sepolia neighborhood inAthens and due to harsh working conditions forimmigrants in Greece, Giannis and his brothershelped his parents financially by hawking items onthe street. Giannis’ basketball journey began in2007 as he was introduced to the sport then andwithin three years was playing on local club Filath-litikos’ youth squad. In 2011, he was called up tothe senior squad of Filathilitikos which competed

in the Greek Basket League (Third Division) beforethe team was promoted to the Greek A2 League(Second Division) for the 2012-2013 season, In2013, Antetokounmpo declared himself eligible forthat year’s NBA draft where he was selected in thefirst round with the 15th overall pick by the Mil-waukee Bucks. At the conclusion of his rookie sea-son, Giannis was named to the NBA All-Rookiesecond team. After continuing to impress despitehis young age, on September 19, 2016 GiannisAntetokounmpo signed a four-year $100 millioncontract extension with Milwaukee. The contractreflected the superstar that Giannis had becomeand the faith that the Bucks had that he would onlyget better. In his seven NBA seasons to date, An-tetokounmpo has been selected four times as anNBA All-Star (2017-2020), All-NBA First Team(2019), NBA All-Defensive First Team (2019), twotimes to the All-NBA Second Team (2017,2018),selected to the NBA All-Defensive Team (2017),NBA Most Improved Player (2017), NBA All-RookieSecond Team (2014).

In addition to his exploits at the club level withthe Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, Giannis is a proudmember of the Greek Men’s National BasketballTeam and has represented his country 38 times todate. Giannis is one of four brothers born to Charlesand Veronica Antetokounmpo. His father Charlespassed away following a heart attack at the age of54 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Giannis is an active member in the Milwaukeemetro-area philanthropic community and has neverforgotten his Greek roots. He gives back to Greecewhenever possible and is the poster-child of Greektourism, Aegean Airlines, and recycling initiativesin Greece. It was announced that he will be fundingan indoor basketball court near Mati, east of Athenswhere 100 people lost their lives a year ago so thatthe community can continue to heal following thelosses sustained. Giannis is currently unmarried,though he is in a relationship of two years with for-

mer Rice University volleyball standout Mariah Rid-dlesprigger who on February 10, 2020 gave birthto Antetokounmpo's son, Liam Charles.

48CRISS ANGELNew York$50 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

ENTERTAINMENTMarried; 2 Children

Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos was born onDecember 19, 1967 in the Town of North Hemp-stead, New York, to Dimitra and John Sarantakos.His father owned and ran a successful restaurantand doughnut shop.

Angel became interested in magic around theage of seven after his aunt Stella showed him acard trick. After graduating from high school, Angelopted not to go to college. Instead, he chose tofollow the path of being a professional magician.He educated himself by going to public librariesfrequently where he studied magic, music, mysti-cism, and even martial arts.

He practiced his trade in relative obscurity untilhe caught a big break in 1994 – appearing in a ma-jor prime time television special titled Secrets.Eventually, his popularity grew so much he venturedto the A&E Network to launch a reality show. CrissAngel: Mindfreak debuted on the A&E Network in2005 and stayed on the air until 2011. The showswere shot in Las Vegas and featured Angel per-forming a number of mesmerizing illusions. The il-lusions often gave off a sense of danger and thiscontributed to the popularity of the program. Hislive performance illusion show titled Criss AngelBelieve at Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas gen-erated $150 million dollars in tourist revenue forthe city in 2010. In 2018 he was ranked numberthree on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest paidmagicians.

Angel and his brothers J.D. and Costa foundedthe BELIEVE Charitable Foundation in 2007 in theloving memory of their father John who passedaway in 1998. The foundation works for the benefitof children, especially those suffering from debili-tating illnesses and diseases. He also actively sup-ports the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and theMake-A-Wish Foundation.

Angel won the International Magician Society'sMagician of the Decade title in 2009 and Magicianof the Century title in 2010. He is the only magician

to have won the Merlin Magician of the Year twice.He holds the records for longest time submergedunderwater (24 hours), the longest body suspen-sion (5 hours, 42 minutes), and the fastest straight-jacket escape (2 minutes, 30 seconds).

Angel has two children, Johnny Crisstopher(2014) and Xristos Yannis (2019). His first born wasdiagnosed with lymphoblastic leukemia – a formof cancer. After 18 months of chemotherapy,Johnny was in remission. However, just a fewmonths ago, Angel announced that his son’s cancerhad tragically returned.

49GEORGESTEPHANOPOULOS$44 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

MEDIAColumbia University (Political Science);Married, 2 children

George Stephanopoulos was born to first-gen-eration Greek-American parents, Nickolitsa andRobert George, in Massachusetts and grew up inCleveland, OH. He attended Columbia Universityand in 1983 won a Rhodes Scholarship to OxfordUniversity, where he received a master’s degree intheology. Stephanopoulos’ father is a Greek-Ortho-dox priest and dean emeritus of the ArchdiocesanCathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York City. His

mother was the director of the Greek OrthodoxArchdiocese of America National News Service formany years. Stephanopoulos reportedly long con-sidered entering priesthood but ended up in politicsand media.

After beginning his career in Washington, D.C.he worked on the unsuccessful presidential cam-paign of Michael Dukakis in 1988 and then servedas an aide to an Ohio Congressman. Stephanopou-los later helped with Bill Clinton’s 1991 presidentialcampaign, becoming the Senior Advisor to thePresident for Policy and Strategy post-election. In1999, he published his memoir which became aNew York Times best-selling book, All Too Human:A Political Education, an account of the 1992 and1996 Clinton campaigns and of Clinton’s first termin office.

Stephanopoulos joined ABC News in 1997 asan analyst for This Week. Today, he serves asABC’s News’ Chief anchor as well as an anchor ofGood Morning America and This Week with GeorgeStephanopoulos.

For more than a decade, his range and expertisehave played a pivotal role at the network – garneringhim three Emmys, a DuPont, three Murrows, andtwo Cronkite Awards.

Stephanopoulos married Alexandra Wentworth,an actress, comedian, and writer in 2001 at theArchdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. The cou-ple has two daughters: Elliott Anastasia and HarperAndrea.

50NICK MARKAKIS40 MILLION(Celebrity Net Worth)

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETEYoung Harris College; Married, 3children

Nicholas William Markakis, 36, or more com-monly known as Nick Markakis, with a net worthof approximately $40 million is a newcomer toTNH'S 50 Wealthiest Greeks in America List.

The Glen Cove, New York native is the startingright fielder for the Atlanta Braves. Markakis andfamily moved to Woodstock, Georgia from GlenCove when Nick was still just a boy. It's at Wood-stock that he developed his passion for baseballand was drafted out of high school in 2001 by theCincinnati Reds and again in 2002 but Markakisdeclined both advances and opted to attend YoungHarris College.

Following his collegiate career, in 2003,Markakis represented Greece in the European Na-tional Championships where the Greek nationalbaseball team won the silver medal. He impressedenough in the games that the Baltimore Oriolesselected Markakis with the 7th overall pick in the2003 MLB Draft, originally more as a pitchingprospect, but wisely subsequently focused moreon his hitting.

Following the draft, Markakis representedGreece again, this time at the Athens 2004Olympics. Nick Markakis was drafted as a firstrounder in 2003 by the Baltimore Orioles and wouldbe promoted to the major leagues from the minorleagues in 2006. His Orioles tenure ended in 2014and following the 2014 season, Markakis returnedto Georgia as an Atlanta Brave and he remainsthere to this day.

Nick Markakis is an all-star (2018), Silver SluggerAward Winner (2018), and a 3-time Gold GloveAward Winner (2011, 2014, 2018).


By TNH Staff

NORTH PORT, FL – Greek-Ame-rican Atlanta Braves outfielderNick Markakis on February 18commented on the HoustonAstros' cheating scandal, notingthat "to see something like that,it's damaging to baseball. It's an-ger. I feel like every single guyover there needs a beating. It'swrong. They're messing with pe-ople’s careers," USA Today re-ported.

Markakis at age 36 is startinghis 15th year in Major League Ba-seball and as USA Today reported,“ranks fourth among activeplayers with 2,355 career hits.”

Asked about Markakis' com-ments, Astros manager DustyBaker said, "That's cool. I ain'tcommenting on everybody'scomments. Go ahead. You wantto beat on us, go ahead," ESPNreported.

Markakis also said that "the-re's right ways to do it and wrongways to do it…I 100% disagreewith way they did it. There's a lotof people that were hurt by it,and it was wrong," ESPN repor-ted.

There is also the feeling that“the Astros players got off ‘scot-free,’” ESPN reported, addingthat Markakis “also pointed a fin-ger at MLB commissioner RobManfred.”

"The way he handled the si-tuation, he should be embarras-sed of himself," Markakis said,ESPN reported.

In recent days, the idea thatsome players may “seek retribu-

tion against the Astros” led Bakerto ask MLB to “protect his team’splayers,” USA Today reported.

Baker said, USA Today repor-ted, "I'm depending on the lea-gue to try to put a stop to thisseemingly premeditated retalia-tion that I'm hearing about, and

in most instances in life, you getkind of reprimanded when youhave premeditated anything. I'mjust hoping that the league putsa stop to this before somebodygets hurt."

Commissioner Manfred also“voiced his concerns about the

potential for retaliation,” USA To-day reported.

Manfred said, “I hope I madeit extremely clear that retaliationwill not be tolerated. It is dange-rous and it is not helpful to thecurrent situation,” USA Today re-ported.

By Rich Dubroff

SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) – A yearago, Mike Elias and BrandonHyde were in their first springtraining together as BaltimoreOrioles general manager andmanager. After a season of 108losses, they're back for Year 2.

The Orioles have 67 playerson their spring roster, and Eliassaid that he likes the group thatthe Orioles have.

"Going over the 40-man ros-ter and looking at the players thatare here, we've got hopes for allof them, and they're all talented,and they have things to likeabout them, so we definitely feellike it's coming together," Eliassaid. "It's a part of a longerprocess, but it's moving in theright direction."

Baltimore's biggest issue istrying to construct a starting ro-tation. Last season, 18 pitchersstarted for the Orioles, and theyhad a horrifying 5.57 ERA.

In December, Baltimoretraded right-hander Dylan Bundyto the Los Angeles Angels forfour minor league pitchers.Bundy was one of the Orioles'most accomplished starters.

In the rotation so far, Balti-more has left-hander JohnMeans, who finished second inthe American League Rookie ofthe Year voting, and Alex Cobb,who started just three times ayear ago before undergoing sea-son-ending hip surgery. Cobb isin the third year of a four-year,$57 million contract.

Other candidates to start in-

clude right-hander Asher Woj-ciechowski, who was 4-8 with a4.92 ERA in 17 games in thesecond half; veteran left-handerWade LeBlanc, who was signedto a minor league contract earlierthis month; and right-handerKohl Stewart, who was the over-all No. 4 draft pick by the Min-nesota Twins in 2013. Stewartwas signed as a free agent inDecember. David Hess, who was1-10 with a 7.09 ERA and Rule5 draftees Brandon Bailey andMichael Rucker are also possi-bilities.

Elias said the team could signanother free agent starter.

"We're working on it," Eliassaid. "I can't really handicap itright now. There are players outthere. There are free agents outthere that are good pitchers thatwould either be upgrades for us.Guys that can come in and com-pete for depth purposes, sowe're working on it. We'll justsee."

Hyde said at the winter meet-ings he wanted at least eightcandidates for the rotation.

"The amount of really goodarms we have in camp is impres-sive," Hyde said. "We want thoseguys to take some valuable ex-periences they had last year andbuild off them and roll it into thisyear."

Reliever Miguel Castro, whowas the victim of an armed rob-bery in the Dominican Republiclast month, reported on Tuesday.Hyde said, "we feel real fortunatethat things worked out real wellfor him."

Orioles Begin HopefulSpring Training in Year

2 of Rebuild

Markakis on Astros Scandal: 'Every Guy over there Needs a Beating’

Atlanta Braves' Nick Markakis hits a home run during the tenth inning of a baseball game againstthe New York Mets Aug. 5, 2018, in New York.

AP PHOTO/FRANK FRANKLIN II

PHOTO BY RICHARD SHOTWELL/INVISION/AP

CURTIS COMPTON/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION VIA AP

PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS


SIX ALPHA CORP.

INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE

A WISE DECISIONHAS ALWAYS BEEN PROVEN TO BE

By CHARLES ODUM AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - The Atlanta Braves found theirnew cleanup hitter when then reached an agree-ment with free agent out-fielder Marcell Ozuna onan $18 million, one-yeardeal Tuesday.

The addition of Ozunacreates a logjam in theAtlanta outfield. RonaldAcu a Jr, Ender In-ciarte, and Nick Markakiswere expected to be thestarters. Markakis couldhave been targeted toshare the left field jobwith Adam Duvall.

Anthopoulos saidAcu a and Ozuna are"projected as everybodyplayers." He said the full field with Inciarte, Marka-kis, and Duvall "will be worked out over the courseof the spring."

Atlanta also has re-signed four players: Marka-kis, catcher Tyler Flowers and relievers DarrenO'Day and Chris Martin.

Ozuna joins the team he helped beat in theplayoffs last October, increasing the odds Markakiswill see a World Series.

Ozuna hit .429 with two home runs for the St.Louis Cardinals in their five-game win over the Bra-ves in the NL Division Series and .241 with 29

home runs and 89 RBIs during the regular season.His low batting average was something on an od-dity because he ranked among the major leagueleaders in the highest percentage of hard-hit balls,

according to Statcast.Ozuna will be the pro-

bable choice to fill the fo-urth spot in the Braves li-neup that was left vacantwhen third basemanJosh Donaldson signed a$92 million, four-yeardeal with Minnesota.

"The projection is hewill bat cleanup for us,but our focus was just ongetting good players,"Anthopoulos said.

Anthopoulos said hebelieves Ozuna can re-turn to the form he sho-

wed while with Miami in 2017, when he hit .312with 37 homers and 124 RBIs – all career highs.

"We liked our outfield but we really feel stronglyabout Ozuna's bat and we think there's a lot moreupside than what he showed last year," Anthopou-los said. "We just thought it would be a really goodfit for us and the deal made sense for both sides."

Ozuna is a two-time All-Star who spent his firstfive seasons with the Marlins, then was traded andplayed two years in St. Louis.

The Braves have been busy this offseason, alsoacquiring several pitchers.

Braves’ Deal with Ozuna CrowdsMarkakis’ Outfield

CURTIS OMPTON/ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION VIA AP

Wordsof Wisdom

the Keys to Success

and

Have mutual respect within the organization.

Make certain that everybody feels comfortable and that the person on the factory floor is no different

from the person occupying an office in the executive wing.

Jim Davis

Lemonis is famous for his 3P principle, People-Process-Product,

a method by which he analyzes the quality of a business' people,

their product and the best possibleprocess for creating, delivering

and selling that product.

Marcus Lemonis

The key to success: “I don’t know anyone who has

a really nice, buttoned-down job who can just work seven or eight hours [per day]. I was working probably six days a week,

10 to 15 hours a day. And that’s the only way it works. It’s not going

to work any other way.”

The key to success is to be prepared for rejection.

As a lifelong salesman, he has faced more than his share. Remembering his three-year stint selling Collier’s

encyclopedias door-to-door, he said: “doors literally slam in your

face – maybe 30, 40 doors before the first customer will actually talk to you.”

But, he advised would-be entrepreneurs,no matter how many rejections you get,

go to the next door with the same enthusiasm as you had at the first,

with a smile on your face.

I tell kids if they want to be successful once they graduate, don’t go into businesses that have

no future. Go into a business where there is a future, and look for opportunity.

Everybody in their lifetime has opportunities, but many times they don’t

recognize those opportunities, or they don’t have enough gumption

to move ahead and take the risk. I’m a risk-taker, and I’ve done

well because I take risks.

George Marcus

Jim John Pappajohn

John Paul Dejoria

What have you learned from the highs and lows

of your entrepreneurial journey?

“You can’t run a business by the seat of your pants,

it has to be based on a view of the facts that guides your decision.

Even in large corporations, decisions aren’t always made

on wonderfully clear facts. As for wrong turns, I’ve learned that when something isn’t clear, don’t get involved. You struggle

for too long and as an entrepreneur, you don’t have the time.”

Dean Metropoulos

Leonsis abides by the so-called double bottom line.

It’s a belief that the most successful companies do more

than turn a profit, but also accomplish social good.

Ted Leonsis

Education is at the center of goal setting for an education

can never be taken away from youand failure is not an option.

Constantine Iordanou

Success begins with integrity and ends with accountability.

There are no shortcuts.

John Payiavlas

Being in the service business 'you are

as good as your people.' We always strive to hire and retain

the best in our field.

George Sakellaris

One should never forget where they came from and never fail to extend

a hand by opening the eyes of our youth to the different life

that exists beyond what some of our youth see today

in most of our underserved communities.

Nicholas Karabots

I believe with all my heart that my pursuit of happiness

has made me a betterbusinessman.

Ted Leonsis

I’m not a dictator. I want to be a good leader,

not a good boss, necessarily. Sometimes a boss creates fear and

a leader brings confidence. A boss sometimespoints fingers or blames, where a leader triesto fix mistakes. A boss will come at you withall the answers, but a leader asks questions.

Bosses can make drudgery, and leaders makethings interesting. Bosses are interested in themselves, and leaders are interested in the group. I always try to err on the side

of being more of a leader.

Sam Gores


The 10 Wealthiest Greeks in Greece

1SPIROSJ. LATSIS $2.7 BILLION (Forbes)INVESTMENTS SHIPPING London School of Economics; Married, 2 children

Spiros J. Latsis, 73, is aGreek billionaire and busi-ness magnate and the#838 wealthiest person inthe world, according to For-bes. He is one of three si-blings (Marianna and Mar-garita) and is the son ofErietta Tsoukala and JohnLatsis, who started buildingthe family fortune in the1930s as a trader and later,as a ship owner.

Born on New Year’s Dayin 1946, Latsis spent muchof his childhood in Athensbefore attending the Lon-don School of Economicswhere he earned his bach-elor’s degree in Economics,his master’s degree in Lo-gic and Scientific Method,and his doctorate in Philosophy.

He has been managing the family fortune since his father, Greekshipping tycoon John S. Latsis, passed away in 2003.

The Latsis family still has a foot in the shipping business throughLatsco Shipping (which owns a fleet of more than a dozen oil tankersand liquefied petroleum gas carriers), though they are now also in-vested in banking, real estate, and oil.

The Latsis family owns stakes in oil company Hellenic Petroleumand Lambda Development (whose projects include The Mall Athensand Golden Hall Mall), a publicly traded real estate developer in sou-theastern Europe. They also have a stake in EFG International, a Zu-rich-based private banking group of which Latsis is a board director.EFG is reportedly the family’s largest holding. Latsis also started Pri-vateAir, a jet charter service with over 50 planes in its repertoire ser-ving affluent European and American travelers, which he has sincesold. He also owns a 300-passenger private cruise ship that is char-tered through his yacht services company called PrivatSea.

In 2019 it was announced that Lambda Development, the com-pany that is leading the international consortium planning the $8.85billion development of the abandoned Hellenikon International Airport,would buy out its two partners. The consortium’s plans are to turnthe former airport into a complex of luxury residences, hotels, yachtingmarina, and casino after the original plans to create the largest urbanpark in Europe were set aside during an economic crisis.

Latsis is a board trustee of Princeton’s Institute for AdvancedStudy and has been a visiting professor at Harvard University GraduateSchool of Education and Boston University.

3ARISTOTELIS MISTAKIDIS$2.1 BILLION (Forbes)COMMODITIESLondon School of Economics

Aristotelis Mistakidis, 57, was described by The Financial Timesas one of the most powerful figures in the global copper market. Heis known to everyone simply as ‘Telis’ or the “King of Copper.” Blo-omberg news said that Mistakidis ruled the copper market; he boughtand sold “enough of the red metal to supply every factory in the U.S.twice over.”

A native of Thessaloniki, Mistakidis spent his early childhood inRome, where his marine biologist father worked for the United Na-tions. He eventually moved to England to attend a boarding school inEssex before studying at the London School of Economics.

Mistakidis got his start in commodities at Cargill where he tradednon-ferrous metals and joined March Rich & Co. in 1993. Later, thefirm was bought by management and renamed Glencore where hemoved up to manage both copper trading and mining.

He first became a billionaire in 2011 when Glencore went public,and currently owns more than 3% of the company’s stock (one ofGlencore’s largest stakeholders).

Mistakidis stepped down from his role as the director of Glencore’scopper business at the end of 2018 – after more than two decadesat the company. In 2018, Canadian regulators fined and banned himfrom serving as a director due to compliance violations. He was re-placed by another Greek, Nico Paraskevas. A few days ago it wasannounced that the “billionaire boys’ club” behind Glencore (whichincludes Mistakidis) would reap more than 400 million GBP in divi-dends. According to the Daily Mail former executive Mistakidis whoowns 3.36% of the overall shares will get 67.5 million GBP.

In a Bloomberg News profile of Mistakidis in October of 2018, hiscurrent and former colleagues, clients, and competitors describedhim as energetic, cheerful and charming, but a sharp and ruthlessnegotiator. He speaks five languages and according to various reports,Mistakidis is still a workaholic with an endless appetite for information,whose first passion is for markets and the political and economic sh-ifts that move them.

4VARDIS VARDINOYANNIS$1.7 BILLION (Forbes)OIL/SHIPPINGGreek Naval Academy; Married, 5 children

Vardis Vardinoyannis was born in 1933 on the island of Crete –the son of poor farmers. The family had 8 children – six boys andtwo girls – who all helped out on the fields and farm. Following hisgraduation from the Greek Naval Academy, he served for a numberof years in the Greek Naval Forces before being discharged withthe rank of Vice-Admiral.

Vardis J. Vardinoyannis co-founded Motor Oil Hellas, a petroleumcompany based in Greece, with his late brother in 1970. The com-pany refines crude oil as well as produces and offers petroleumproducts and lubricants through its network of gas stations. ITalso sells fuel for airplanes. Vardinoyannis currently serves as ch-airman and managing director of the company which went publicon the Athens stock exchange in August 2001. Saudi Arabia’sAramco was a major investor before divesting in 2005.

Vardis’ oldest son, John, is vice chairman of Motor Oil, whilehis nephew, Nikos, also a major shareholder, is on the board.

Apart from Motor Oil, the family also invests in shipping, finance,media, soccer teams, and an array of other entrepreneurial ende-avors in Greece and abroad. They also manage a ferry companythat serves Crete among other islands in Greece. On November20, 1990, the Greek terrorist group, 17 November, attempted to

murder Vardinoyannis. He was saved thanks to his bullet-proofMercedes which was armored according to the specifications ofEngland and France.

Vardinoyannis and his wife, Marianna, are reportedly goodfriends with the Kennedys and are among the founding membersof the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Leadership Council alongwith Bill Clinton and other world leaders. According to the NewYork Post, the wedding of Rory Kennedy, daughter of Robert andEthel Kennedy, with Mark Bailey was celebrated in the Vardinoyan-nis villa in the summer of 1999. Vardinoyannis was included inLloyd’s List of Most Influential People in Shipping.

5PETER LIVANOS$1.7 BILLION (BLOOMBERG) SHIPPINGColumbia University; Married

Peter Livanos is the son of George P. Livanos who built up Gre-ece’s largest merchant fleet in the 1980s and 1990s. Hoping hisson would follow his footsteps, George gave Peter the capital tobuy his first ships. Instead, Peter used the money to buy luxurycar manufacturer Aston Martin which Peter later called one of hisearly mistakes.

Peter eventually inherited the privately held Ceres Shippingafter his father passed away in 1997.

Today, Peter and three others (John Angelicoussis, George Pro-kopiou, and George Economou) are considered Greece’s largest

shipowners by tonnage. He is also the chairman and the biggestshareholder of the publicly listed liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship-ping company GasLog Ltd. and tanker owner Euronav NV. Livanosreportedly operates over 80 vessels (including 35 GasLog vessels)and serves as chairman of several Ceres subsidiaries, includingDryLog Ltd., a company engaged in dry bulk shipping investments.He also owns a smaller ferry line of Russian-made hydrofoils thatserve the Greek Islands.

Livanos is one of the original backers of the Global MaritimeForum which is committed to realizing shipping’s potential to in-crease sustainable economic development and “human well-being.” According to Lloyds List, Livanos’ father is rememberedas an innovator and an environmentalist before climate changewas widely acknowledged.

Livanos lives between Switzerland, Greece, and England withhis family. He is a graduate of The Buckley School in New York, LeRosey in Switzerland, and Columbia University in New York.

2JOHN ANGELICOUSSISFLEET VALUATION: $7.6 BILLION (VesselsValue) SHIPPINGMarried, 1 child

Although John Anthony Angelicoussis doesnot appear individually on an internationalwealth ranking, as Greece’s largest shipowner, TNH thought Angelicoussis is de-finitely worth mentioning.

Born in 1948, Angelicoussis is theowner of the Angelicoussis ShippingGroup.

His father bought the family’s firstship in 1953 and in 1968 he and hispartner, Dimitris Efthymiou, establi-shed the Agelef Shipping Company.John Angelicoussis joined his father’scompany in 1973.

In 1987, Anangel-American Shiphol-dings was floated on the Luxembourg stockmarket. Two years later the company listed inNasdaq, where it remained until it was delisted in2001.

As of 2018, Angelicoussis’ companies own 126 active vesselswith a capacity of more than 18 million deadweight tons (the indu-

stry’s measurement for how much ships carry, according to datacompiled by maritime newspaper Shipping Finance). His family’sstake in the fleet is valued at $2.4 billion, according to data compiledby Bloomberg. He remains Greece’s largest shipowner both interms of value and tonnage of the fleet owned in 2019.

VesselsValue said that Greece remained the World’s largestshipowning nation by value with the fleet worth $99.82B,

followed by China with a fleet valued at $91.7B andJapan at $89.27B.

Harry Fafalios, the chairman of the GreekShipping Cooperation Committee said of

Angelicoussis: “he’s one of the great menof our industry.”

Angelicoussis is married to Eliza-beth Angelicoussis. Their only daugh-ter, Dr. Maria Angelicoussis, has trai-ned as a doctor and has worked forthe Angelicoussis Group since 2009.She is involved in all major investmentdecision making and in the daily ope-

rations of the company. In Decemberof 2015, she was awarded the Lloyd’s

List Next Generation Greek ShippingAward for “successfully taking on the chal-

lenge of managing one of the world’s largestand most respected family-controlled shipping gro-

ups.” She graduated from Cambridge University andworked as a hospital doctor in the UK before joining the Angelico-ussis Shipping Group in 2008.

He remains

Greece’s largest

shipowner both in terms

of value and tonnage

of the fleet owned

in 2019


6GEORGE ECONOMOU$1.5 BILLION (GCaptain) SHIPPING/ARTMassachusetts Institute of Technology; 5 children

George Economou, once known as the “Golden Greek” is a self-made Greek shipping magnate. Born in Athens, his father owned asmall paper-products company.

Economou has over 40 years of experience in the maritime indu-stry and has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dry-ships, Inc. since its incorporation in 2004. Economou took the com-pany public in 2005 on NASDAQ. Dryships owns and operates afleet of deep-water drilling units, dry bulk carriers and tankers.

The company subsequently invested and developed Ocean RigUDW Inc., an owner of rigs and ships involved in ultra-deep waterdrilling. Economou was the chairman of Ocean Rig until December2018 when it merged with Transocean.

After what Lloyds called “a tumultuous 14 years,” Economou de-cided to take the company private again. Already an 83% majorityshareholder, Economou paid $5.25 per share to outside investorsfor the remainder of the company (about $75M total). This meansthat the 32 vessels of the former public company joined Economou’sprivate group fleet, bringing it to a total of 50 tankers, 57 bulk carriers,1 containership and 6 offshore support vessels. In addition, TMSCardiff Gas, helmed by Economou’s son Christos, manages an exi-sting fleet of 5 liquefied natural gas carriers with 11 LNG new buil-dings on the way.

Economou is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology and holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Sciencedegree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering as well as aMaster of Science in Shipping and Shipbuilding Management.

Economou is a renowned art collector and in 2012, he opened apublic exhibition space for his private collection in the suburbs ofAthens. The collection has a focus on early 20th century Europeanart but has expanded to include an important holding of postwar andcontemporary pieces. His collecting activity began in the 1990s.

Economou is a member of ABS Council, Intertanko Hellenic Ship-ping Forum, and Lloyds Register Hellenic Advisory Committees. Heis also a non-executive trustee for the Tate Foundation, on the boardof Trustees of the Dia Art Foundation, and a benefactor to the Metro-politan Museum of Art.

7SOCRATES KOKKALIS$1.2 BILLION (Business Insider)TELECOMMUNICATIONS/SPORTS

Socrates Kokkalis is a Greek entrepreneur and businessman. Hisfather, Petros Kokkalis, was a communist politician and Greek Resi-stance member, living in exile in East Germany after the end of theGreek Civil War.

Kokkalis is the founder and majority shareholder of Intracom Hol-dings, one of the largest multinational technology groups in SouthernEurope. He is also the chairman, majority shareholder and chief exe-cutive officer of Intralot, a gaming technology supplier and licensedlottery operator. He is also chairman at Vodafone-Panafon HellenicTelecommunications Co. SA. For many years Kokkalis was the presi-dent and major shareholder of Olympiacos FC, Greece’s leading fo-otball club. His tenure saw Piraeus club conquer 12 top division titles,five Greek Cups, and one Greek Super Cup.

In 1997 Kokkalis became a John Harvard Fellow after establishingthe Kokkalis Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Go-vernment. He also established and presides over the Kokkalis Foun-dation, a non-profit organization that promotes “education and trai-ning, culture and social welfare, medical research and informationtechnology, and athletics,” both in Greece and abroad.

A fluent speaker of English, German and Russian, Kokkalis alsospeaks Romanian, Italian, Bulgarian and conversational Serbian andFrench.

Sokratis S. Kokkalis Jr., the son of Kokkalis, died unexpectedlyduring a business trip to Cleveland, OH from a drug overdose at theyoung age of 34. He was found dead in his hotel room in July 2018after having ingested cocaine laced with heroin and fentanyl. TheOhio drug dealer who sold the young Kokkalis the drugs was sen-tenced in February of 2020 to 15 years in federal prison.

8THEODORE & GIANNA ANGELOPOULOS$819 MILLION (Forbes)STEEL/SHIPPINGMarried, 3 children

Theodore Angelopoulos, is a Greek shipping and steelmagnate. He lived in Switzerland for many years wh-ere he received his BSc in Business Administra-tion from Zurich University.

Theodore’s family developed the steelindustry in Greece and began dealing inthe dry cargo sector of the shipping in-dustry in the early 1950s. Angelopou-los evolved to become a shipping ma-gnate, acquiring the Dutchshipbuilding company Oceanco andtransforming it as a leading shipbuil-der of custom-built luxury mega-ya-chts. He also has invested heavily inreal estate and private equities, as wellas other financial entities worldwide.

In 1996, Angelopoulos established Me-trostar Management in Athens, and enteredthe oil tanker market in the same year, withhis company going on to become one of theworld’s leading oil tanker operators.

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is a Greek businesswoman.She is best known as being at the helm of organizing the 2004Olympics in Athens. She was named one of the 50 most powerfulwomen by Forbes.

Born to a middle-class family in Crete, she distinguished herself

academically (she studied law at the Aristotle University of Thes-saloniki) and politically (she was appointed Ambassador at Largeby the Greek government).

Gianna has served at Harvard University, as vice-chairman ofthe Dean's Council of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Governmentsince 1994, and now also serves as a member of the Advisory Bo-

ard of the Center for Business and Government. In 2011,she established the Angelopoulos Global Public Le-

aders Program at the HKS to bring distinguishedleaders to Harvard in order to interact with

students, share lessons learned, and re-flect upon the next phase of their public

service.In October 2019, she established

the Gianna Angelopoulos Programmefor Science Technology and Innovation(GAPSTI) at Cambridge University,which nurtures exceptionally talentedearly-career scientists, from postgra-duate study and research to the suc-

cessful commercialization of their ideas,through a structured training and rese-

arch program enhanced by industrial col-laboration and entrepreneurial activities.In 2019, Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos

Mitsotakis, appointed her as President of the Gre-ece 2021 committee for the celebrations of the bicen-

tennial anniversary of the commencement of the Greek Revolutionin 1821. Gianna is the founder and sponsor of the AngelopoulosCGIU Fellowship Program, through which 100 young Greek entre-preneurs have benefited, and is also a leading philanthropist forprojects in Greece and around the globe.

Angelopoulos

evolved to become

a shipping magnate

acquiring the Dutch

shipbuilding company

Oceanco

9CANELLOPOULOS & PAPALEXOPOULOSFAMILIES

$800 MILLION (TNHE)MANUFACTURING

The Canellopoulos and Papalexopoulos families have ownedthe Titan Cement Company, an international cement and buildingmaterials producer, since 1902. Together, they have run the com-pany for almost 120 years and own 40% of the company. Titanhas production facilities in 10 countries and a presence in morethan 15 countries. With an annual capacity of 27 million metrictons of cement and cementitious materials, it employs about 5,500people worldwide. The company’s activities include the production,transportation, and distribution of cement, concrete, aggregates,fly ash, mortars and other building materials.

Dimitrios Papalexopoulos is executive director of the GroupExecutive Committee of Titan. Born in Athens, Greece, Papalexo-poulos started his career as a business consultant for McKinsey &Company Inc. in the United States and Germany. He then joinedTitan in 1989. He is Vice Chairman of the Board of the Hellenic Fe-deration of Enterprises (SEV), and Vice-Chairman of the EuropeanRound Table for Industry (ERT), while he is a member of the Boardof the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE)and the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIA-MEP). He holds a MSc in Electrical Engineering from the SwissFederal Institute of Technology (ETHZ-1985) and an MBA fromHarvard Business School (1987).

Also born in Athens, Greece, Takis Canellopoulos started hiscareer as financial analyst in AIG and later in the Financing Divisionof EFG Eurobank. He was Investor Relations Director of the TitanGroup from 2001 until May 2016. Before that (1995–2001) hehad worked in various positions in the Finance Department of the

Group. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors of Ca-nellopoulos Adamantiadis S.A. and he is a Founding Partner of 3KInvestment Partners. He is also a member of the Board of Directorsof the Union of Listed Companies (ENEISET). He studied Economics(BA) at Brown University and Business Administration (MBA) atNew York University/Stern School of Business.

True to form, members of both families are linked to a host ofother businesses in Greece through cross-holdings and director-ships.

10STASINOPOULOS FAMILY$600 MILLION (TNHE)MANUFACTURING

Viohalco (Viomichania Chalkou kai Alouminiou Company), oneof the world’s biggest metals mining and trading businesses, isrun by brothers Nikolaos and Evangelos Stasinopoulos. Originallyfounded in 1937 as Hellenic Copper Industry, Viohalco engagesin the metal processing of aluminum, copper, and steel. Its sub-

sidiaries focus on technological advancement and R&D and spe-cialize in the manufacture of cables and pipes product solutions.

The company employs more than 8,000 people worldwideand has seen its revenues rise in recent years. A few years ago,Viohalco decided to shift its headquarters and stock market listaway from Athens to Brussels over concerns about the local eco-nomy.

Viohalco has heavily invested in Romania, Bulgaria, and theUK and achieved a major deal in steel manufacturing with a US-based company.

PHOTO BY EUROKINISSI




By Josh Funk

OMAHA, NE (AP) – Billionaire Warren Buffett saysthe viral outbreak in China has slowed economicgrowth, but he remains confident in the long-termfuture of American business.

Buffett appeared on CNBC Monday after releas-ing his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway share-holders over the weekend. Buffett said the reportshe gets from Berkshire's assortment of more than90 businesses and stock investments show thatbusiness is a little softer now than it was six monthsago, but he remains optimistic.

"Twenty or 30 years from now, American busi-ness – and probably all over the world – will be farbetter than it is today," Buffett said.

Many of Berkshire's roughly 1,000 Dairy Queenstores in China are closed and many of Berkshire'sother companies are suffering supply chain prob-lems.

The company remains a net buyer of stocks overtime, and Buffett doesn't expect that to change be-cause of the coronavirus outbreak.

"This is scary stuff. I don't think it should affectwhat you do in stocks," Buffett said. "In terms of thehuman race, it's scary stuff when you have a pan-demic."

The new virus took aim at a broadening swath ofthe globe Monday. Europe and the Middle East scram-bled to limit the spread of an outbreak that showedsigns of stabilizing at its Chinese epicenter.

Worldwide, the number of people sickened by

the coronavirus topped 79,000.Buffett touched on politics during the interview.

The long-time Democrat said he would support MikeBloomberg over the current front runner in the Dem-ocratic race, Bernie Sanders, but he didn't discussall the top candidates.

"I would have no trouble voting for MikeBloomberg," Buffett said.

In terms of his own company, Buffett said he re-mains confident in the future of Berkshire Hathawayafter he is gone. Investors speculate about Buffett'ssuccessor because he is 89 although he has noplans to retire. Buffett said Berkshire's board talksabout succession at every meeting and knows whichcompany manager it would pick as Berkshire's nextCEO.

"We're well prepared on succession," Buffettsaid.

Buffett defended the company's conglomeratestructure because it allows him to move moneyaround between Berkshire's different companieswithout tax consequences. He said it doesn't makesense to consider splitting Berkshire up.

"You cannot dispose of the entire business – busi-ness by business – without having very substantialtax liability. It would not produce a gain," Buffett said."On the other hand, having them together producessome very valuable synergies."

Berkshire owns roughly 10% of the four largestairlines, but Buffett said it's very unlikely that Berk-shire would ever buy any airline outright becauseairlines are a regulated business, so owning one

would likely bring complications with Berkshire'sother investments.

Berkshire continues to hold roughly $128 billionin cash and short-term investments because Buffettsaid it is difficult to find acquisitions at reasonableprices. He said businesses are selling at a premiumpartly because it is so easy to borrow money for ac-

quisitions. "We want to be prepared for anything," he said.Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns more than 90

companies, including BNSF railroad, Geico insur-ance, and utilities. The company also has major in-vestments in such companies as Apple, AmericanExpress, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America.

By Srdjan Nedeljkovic

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — French Finance MinisterBruno Le Maire said his government is backingGreece's request to make emergency spending onthe migrant crisis exempt from official fiscal calcu-lations.

He also pledged Tuesday to help boost invest-ment by French firms in energy and defense ven-tures in Greece.

"Greece is clearly on the right (path) and that'sgood news for everybody," Le Maire said after talksin Athens with his Greek counterpart, ChristosStaikouras.

Greece emerged from eight years of interna-tional bailouts in 2018 and is scrambling to rebuildpublic services, its military, and major infrastructureprojects after years of funding cuts.

Le Maire, whose country is credited with helpingkeep Greece in the 19-country eurozone duringthe crisis years, said France and keen to invest.

"There is cooperation and friendship – a friend-ship between the heads of state, at the level ofministers, and there is a friendship between our

peoples," Le Maire said. Greece wants to redirect returned bond profits

from European central banks to public investmentprograms and wants to make 280 million euros($305 million) in emergency spending on the mi-grant crisis exempt from calculations for budgettargets set by bailout lenders. Le Maire said hebacked both requests.

His visit came a day after France's minister ofdefense, Florence Parly, visited Athens and saidthe two countries were on track to finalizing a majordefense cooperation agreement in June – involvingan increased number of joint exercises in theAegean Sea and assistance in upgrading French-made military equipment, including fighters, heli-copters, and navy frigates.

Greece, wary of neighbor Turkey over oil-and-gas drilling rights in the region, recently concludeda similar agreement with the United States.

In unusually blunt remarks, Parly accused Turkeyof "calling the stability and security of the regioninto question."

Derek Gatopoulos contributed in Athens.

By Andrew Gordon Sutherland

THE CONVERSATION – Testing investment advisers on their knowl-edge of ethics can lead to better behavior, new research shows.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, 630,000financial representatives and investment advisers provide financialservices to half of all American households. Together, these individualsexecute nearly US$40 trillion worth of transactions each year.

About 8% of these employees – or one in 12 – have some form offinancial misconduct on their records, according to data from Bro-kerCheck, an online database on the background and experience ofbrokers, advisers and firms. Financial misconduct ranges from simpleoversights, such as the failure to inform customers of the risk of theirinvestments, to more serious incidents, such as forging customersignatures or outright theft and fraud.

I collected the data in 2018 as part of my research on financial in-stitutions with co-authors at Notre Dame and the London School ofEconomics.

RULES AND ETHICS TRAINING IN FINANCIAL MARKETS

Investor protection has been a priority for federal and state regu-lators since the Great Depression. For example, financial representa-tives seeking to sell investment advice at broker-dealer firms – thatis, businesses that buy and sell securities on behalf of customers –must first become registered investment advisers, which involvespassing a set of exams.

One such exam is the Series 66, which covers two broad topics:First, investment vehicle characteristics and capital market theory, or"technical material"; and, second, securities laws and prohibitions onunethical business practices, or "rules and ethics."

On average, those passing the investment adviser exam have fiveyears of industry experience working as financial representatives.

The rules section of the Series 66 exam covers record-keeping re-quirements, allowable forms of adviser compensation and guidelinesabout when an investment adviser is permitted to take possession ofinvestor funds.

The ethics section focuses on an adviser's fiduciary duty to in-vestors – that is, their obligation to act in the investor's interest ratherthan their own.

CAN ETHICS BE TAUGHT?While such licensing requirements have existed for decades, there

is a longstanding debate about the effectiveness of ethics training. Advocates for ethics testing argue that financial crises and corpo-

rate scandals, from the 2001 Enron scandal to the Great Recessionof 2007 to 2010, can often be traced back to poor conduct trainingand a lack of social norms.

Critics, such as the management guru Peter Drucker, questionwhether ethics can or even should be taught. In their view, businessethics courses were created "largely for the sake of appearances."

After all, this line of thinking goes, personal beliefs guide behavior– and such beliefs can be difficult to shape in the classroom.

TEACHING GOOD BEHVIORSo, can ethics be taught? According to our new research the evi-

dence points to "yes."

We studied nearly 1.2 million financial representatives and invest-ment advisers working at U.S. broker-dealers between 2007 and2017, with a focus on the consequences of a 2010 change to the Se-ries 66 exam. This is the first large-scale analysis of how rules andethics training affects behavior in the financial sector.

Prior to 2010, 80% of the exam's questions covered rules andethics and 20% covered technical material. In response to calls formore training in technical areas, the exam was changed in 2010 togive equal weight to technical material and rules and ethics.

Our results, which will soon be published in the Journal of FinancialEconomics, show that investment advisers who passed the old examwith more ethics coverage were one-fourth less likely to engage inmisconduct in any given year after passing.

We designed our tests to control for other factors that could relateto financial misconduct, such as investment adviser experience andfirm reputation.

EXAM HAS A ‘PRIMING EFFECT’The effects of the exam change vary based on industry experience

and firm culture. We found that the least experienced investment advisers are most

impacted by the exam's reduction in rules and ethics-related content.The reduction in ethics content had little to no effect on those alreadyengaging in misconduct in their prior role as financial representatives.

These results suggest the exam plays what's called a "priming"role, meaning early exposure to rules and ethics material preparesthe individual to behave appropriately later.

We also studied what happens when broker-dealer firms experi-ence ethical turmoil, such as major sanctions or a wave of misconduct.

Take Wells Fargo, for example, which faced fines and lawsuits fol-

lowing the 2016 revelation that it opened millions of fake accounts togenerate fees and meet sales targets.

As the bank's rule-breaking began to make headlines, many in-vestment advisers left the firm in protest. When we looked at WellsFargo investment advisers, we found that those who'd passed theold exam with more ethics coverage were the most likely to leaveafter the scandal broke.

Employees often observe the early warning signs of corporatewrongdoing, including aggressive sales practices, failure to disciplinetransgressions, and hiring individuals with a history of misconduct.When we examined major scandals at all broker-dealer firms, anotherinteresting pattern emerged: Departures of advisers with more rulesand ethics one year indicate a greater likelihood of a scandal breakingat the firm next year.

ETHICS MATTERThere may very well be benefits to having increased testing on

technical material. Investment advisers may, for example, give theirclients better recommendations – an outcome our study did not as-sess.

What we can say, however, is that those who were tested morerigorously on questions of ethics ended up having fewer episodes ofmisconduct. They are also less likely to tolerate scandals at theirfirms.

This article was written by Andrew Gordon Sutherland, Massa-chusetts Institute of Technology and supplied by The Conversationfor The Associated Press.

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news,analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversationis wholly responsible for the content.

Buffett Says Economy is Slowing Amid Virus Fears

Study Finds Ethics Can Be Taught – In Finance, At Least

Greece Looks to France for Post-Bailout Investment Drive

Investor

protection

has been

a priority for

federal and state

regulators

since the

Great

Depression

AP PHOTO/PETROS GIANNAKOURIS

AP PHOTO/NATI HARNIK, FILE

By Tim Reynolds

CHICAGO (AP) – Giannis Antetokounmpo is passionate abouthelping children in Greece and Africa. Kevin Love is trying to shinethe brightest light he can on mental health by sharing his own strug-gles. Chris Paul is aiming to ensure that technology comes to schoolswhere it hasn't been affordable.

Former President Barack Obama is aware of all those endeavors.And he's trying to make sure plenty of other people find out as well.That's why Obama invited that trio of NBA stars to sit alongside

him for a panel discussion hosted by his foundation on Saturday,saying he invited that trio of basketball stars to laud what he calledtheir "extraordinary leadership" when it comes to their off-court work.

"It's so much bigger than basketball," Love said.Obama clearly agrees. The foundation that was created in 2014

has championed causes like the ones that are near and dear to An-tetokounmpo, Paul, and Love, which is why the 44th President deci-ded to invite them to sit for what was called a "fireside chat."

Most of the conversation had nothing to do with basketball, whichis exactly the way it was planned.

"Part of the reason I wanted to convene these three, in additionto being amazing athletes, they're good people and each of themare at different stages in their careers," Obama said. "You've got oldChris Paul down at the end, the young guy (Antetokounmpo) hereand Kevin somewhere in the middle. But each of them has showncharacter on the court but also off the court. And the work I'm doingafter the presidency is entirely focused on how do we lift up andidentify and amplify and support the amazing next generation of lea-ders that are coming up."

Obama is a longtime and passionate basketball fan – this event,in his hometown of Chicago, was his second official event duringNBA All-Star weekend in the Windy City after one with children andfirst- and second-year players Friday – and he has aligned with NBAplayers many times before to highlight certain messages.

In February 2019, Obama sat with Golden State Warriors starStephen Curry to mark the fifth anniversary of My Brother's Keeper– an initiative he launched after the 2012 shooting death of unarmed

Florida teen Trayvon Martin. The death of Martin, a 17-year-old Afri-can-American, sparked protests over racial profiling.

This time, it was for other issues, all important as well. Love toldthe story of why he decided to take his long struggle with mentalhealth and battle against depression public. Paul talked about why itwas important for him to make sure schools in poorer neighborhoodsaren't left behind. Antetokounmpo told the story of how neighbors –in a predominantly white neighborhood – helped make sure that hisparents, who moved to Greece from Nigeria in search of a betterlife, thrived.

"All I know is, people gave to me," Antetokounmpo said. "I've gotto give back."


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To donate money please visit our website

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St. Christopher HOC (write Building Fund as the memo)

Any questions please call

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* NOTE:

Please note that the numbers listed are sometimes, but not always, drawnfrom the individuals themselves. They are estimated figures, mostly drawnfrom public sources. That said, here is how we arrived at our numbers:the three categories are Primary (the person or his/her representative of-ficially and publicly gave us the figure), Source (a particular source such asForbes) is named, or TNH Estimate (TNHE). The TNHE is based on unofficialand/or unconfirmed sources, or previous TNH figures adjusted for the av-erage gain/loss of the total Primary or Source individuals from last year tothis year. We use the same ranking method as Forbes: rather than listingthem 1 through 50, we rank them according to their estimated wealth.That is why, for example, you will find that the two people on our listeach worth $1.5 billion, are ranked 13th.

The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.

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Former president Barack Obama, second from right, talks as NBA players Chris Paul, Kevin Love, and Giannis Antetokounmpo andsports analyst Michael Wilbon, from left, listen in Chicago.

AP PHOTO/NAM Y. HUH

Giannis Antetokounmpo on Obama PanelCelebrates Off-Court Work of NBA Stars

By Walter V. Wendler

THE CONVERSATION – Back in 2017, I started re-gularly leaving my office at West Texas A&M Universityin Canyon, Texas, to speak to high school students inthe Texas Panhandle. This past fall, I did the samething in the South Plains. These two areas are thenorthernmost 46 counties in the state of Texas.

Driving a silver SUV owned by the university, I log-

ged a total of 14,000 miles throughout these two re-gions over a total of 10 months. I visited 132 highschools with student populations of all sizes.

For instance, in the South Plains tour this past fall,I visited 66 schools that ranged in size from LubbockHigh School, where I spoke to 975 juniors and seniors,to Dawson High School, where I spoke with all 12high school students in ninth through 12th grades.

No matter where I went – and no matter if I spoke

with students and families that had a concrete planfor college and others that were less certain – I heardconcerns about the cost of higher education.

And my message and response was always thesame: "Do not borrow money to attend West TexasA&M University (or any university) for the first twoyears. If you must borrow, attend community college,but don't borrow a penny for community college ei-ther. Pay as you go." And I should have added: Livewith your parents rent-free as long as possible.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTUREYou might think I was simply on a recruiting tour

for the university where I serve as president. Yes, ofcourse, I hoped that my visits helped make the uni-versity more appealing. My primary purpose, howe-ver, was not recruiting students, but helping themdetermine a long-range plan to enable them to be-come what I call "noble citizens" ready to work, en-gage, think, and vote.

Of course, you can still be a noble citizen andhave a lot of debt. It's just a lot more difficult. If youare saddled with debt, you're less able to contributeto the community, at least financially, or purchase ahome. As I spoke with students, I shared a few sta-tistics to help illustrate the point.

Seventy percent of college students graduatedwith debt in 2019 – on average, $30,000.

Some of those graduates will still be paying offtheir student loans decades later, when they get So-cial Security checks – either voluntarily or by havingthose checks garnished. Of Americans over 60, 2.8million have student loans. While 73% of those arecosigners paying for children or grandchildren, therest are students paying off their own education lo-ans.

Additionally, a growing number of aging Ameri-cans have college debt that they will not pay backbefore dying.

Default rates for borrowers over 65 are nearly40%, according to the Consumer Financial ProtectionBureau.

Pell Grants, which are federal grants to help low-income students to pay for college, once covered79% of tuition and fees in 1975 but only covered29% by 2017 – a downhill slide caused by escalatingcosts and easy loans.

MIXED RESULTS ON BORROWINGSome studies suggest borrowing yields an incre-

ase in credits earned and academic performance.Despite those benefits, other research shows thatstudent loan debt can have a negative, long-term ef-fect on people financially and emotionally.

I told the students if they must borrow, to neverborrow more than 60% of their anticipated startingsalary of the first job. This is consistent with what Icall the ‘60% Rule’, which a state higher educationagency developed to make sure students don't bor-row more than their degree is worth.

For example, if someone wanted to teach in asmall Texas community with a $40,000 starting sa-lary, they should not borrow more than $24,000 toattain a bachelor's degree. Similar – although morelenient – advice can be found in Forbes, which urgedborrowers to never borrow more than their expectedfirst year salary. (For information about the expectedsalary for a particular job, check the U.S. Bureau ofLabor Statistics.)

In urging students not to take on too much studentdebt, I also highlighted other paths – aside from col-lege – to noble citizenship: military service, certifica-tion programs, or family businesses.

A DUTY TO INFORMI recognize the responsibility of university leader-

ship to point out the challenges for students and fa-milies when borrowing for education. It is difficult formiddle-income families to pay the increasing costsof a college education. Informed borrowing is the keyissue for students. The need is highlighted for studentswho are first in their family to attend college and mayaccept the advice that any college degree is worthwhatever it costs. It is not true. And, it is an unfairburden for university leadership to place on students.

But if students borrow for college, in my view,they should be aware that they are possibly beingsucked into what I like to call a troubling triangle oftreachery.

One side of the triangle is represented by electedofficials who encourage everyone to go to college.

The second side is represented by lenders, who– in my view – do little to assess an individual's abilityto repay a student loan. If a student borrows to enrollin a program, limits placed on amounts borrowedare quite high when federal and private loans arecombined. And they tend to treat all college degrees,and by inference, employment opportunities as equal.Yet, the employment marketplace reveals that is notthe case.

The third side is represented by university lea-dership, which – in my view – has not done enoughto let students know the pitfalls of borrowing.

A student's indebtedness is eventually their ownresponsibility. Debt responsibility will not disappearfor the student – or for parents who are helping them.It's their responsibility too.

Just ask the 44 million Americans, many of whomdid not graduate, who owe $1.5 trillion in studentloan debt.

The tour was a learning experience. The valueproposition of American higher education is changing.I saw it in the eyes of 20,000 students across 14,000miles.

This article was written by Walter V. Wendler,West Texas A&M University and is republished from

The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit

source of news, analysis and commentary fromacademic experts.


A College President's Advice to College Students of the Future

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By TNH Staff

AUSTIN, TX – Greek-American business mogul and The Profit hostMarcus Lemonis is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the 11thAnnual Traffic & Conversion Summit (TCS) in San Diego, Yahoo Fi-nance reported on February 19.

The conference, March 31-April 2 at the San Diego ConventionCenter, is expected to draw ten thousand marketers, according tothe host company, DigitalMarketer, Yahoo Finance reported.

Ryan Deiss, CEO of DigitalMarketer said, “We are honored to wel-come Marcus Lemonis to the TCS stage. Lemonis is a master ofleveraging personal and professional talent and I am confident thathis keynote will motivate and inspire,” Yahoo Finance reported.

Lemonis was born in Lebanon and adopted by Leo and SophiaLemonis who resided in Miami, FL. His adoptive father was Greekand adoptive mother Lebanese.

Lemonis is perhaps best known for his CNBC reality series, TheProfit, “where he helps struggling businesses recover and scale,”Yahoo Finance reported. Lemonis is also known for “his 3P principle,People-Process-Product, a method by which he analyzes the qualityof a business' people, their product, and the best possible process

for creating, delivering, and selling that product,” and he is often re-ferred to as the Business Turnaround King, Yahoo Finance reported.

TCS is the largest gathering of digital marketers in North America.In 2019, six thousand people attended the event and past speakersinclude Richard Branson, Gary Vaynerchuk, Rachel Hollis, and Day-mond John.

This year's speakers also include: Marie Forleo, web televisionhost of Marie TV; Mark Roberge, Senior Lecturer, Harvard BusinessSchool; Tricia Gellman, CMO, Drift; Kristen Bryant, Strategic Part-nerships, Wistia, Jay Abraham, Founder & CEO, The Abraham Group;and Daniel Harmon, Author of From Poop to Gold.

Ticket prices start at $1,995 and will go up to $2,595 in earlyMarch. More information and registration for TCS is available online:https://trafficandconversionsummit.com/.

Launched in 2009, the Traffic & Conversion Summit has growninto the largest digital marketing event in North America. For the lastten years, thousands of the world's smartest marketers have de-scended upon San Diego, CA to learn what's new, what's hot, andwhat's actually working right now in digital marketing. In 2019, TCSwas acquired by Clarion Events. The goal of the acquisition is to ex-pand the event domestically and internationally.

By TNH Staff

NEW YORK – George Sakellaris may “cash out”as Chairman, President, and CEO of the companyhe founded, Ameresco Inc., following reports thatFrench multinational power utility EngieSA has shown interest in takingover the U.S.-based energyservice firm, both Reutersand Financial World re-ported, adding thatsources spoke to themedia outlets on condi-tion of anonymity sincetalks are “in an earlystage.”

Born in Laconia,Greece, Sakellaris, 72,founded Ameresco in2000 in Framingham, MA,taking it public 10 years later,and since then, it has become oneof the largest energy solutions com-panies in North America.

Today, it has dozens of offices throughout NorthAmerica and Europe and over a thousand employ-ees providing strong local operations. Amerescospecializes in providing comprehensive services,

energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, assetsustainability, renewable energy, and energy infor-mation management solutions. “Green. Clean. Sus-tainable” is the motto of the company that in-creases energy efficiency for federal, state and

local governments, healthcare and ed-ucational institutions, housing au-

thorities, and commercial andindustrial customers.

When headlines on Feb-ruary 20 hinted at a possi-ble acquisition of the U.S.company by Engie,Ameresco’s sharesjumped as much as15% in New York and bythe end of the day were

trading up 5% at $23.94,valuing the company at

$1.1 billion. “Engie sharesended trading in Paris down

1% at 16.48 euros, giving it a mar-ket value of 40.1 billion euros ($43.3

billion),” Reuters reported. Engie’s “takeover bid would likely test…Sakel-

laris’ resistance against the lucrative Engie buyoutoffer, suggested industry analysts,” Financial Worldreported.

Marcus Lemonis. SAMDPARK, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

Marcus Lemonis to Deliver Keynote Speechat 11th Traffic & Conversion Summit

French Power Utility Engie EyeingGeorge Sakellaris’ Ameresco

George Sakellaris, Chairman, President, and CEO of Ameresco. AMERESCO.COM

Born in Laconia,

Greece, Sakellaris,

founded Ameresco

in 2000

in Framingham,

MA


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SPECIAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2020 50 Wealthiest · SPECIAL EDITION FEBRUARY 2020 GREEKS IN AMERICA An Annual Edition of our Community's Top Achievers ... pleted the $2.7B acquisition