Chair of the Board of Trustees
Jimmy Athanasopoulos is currently representing several ultra high net worth individuals and their respective organizations and is serving them as a Special Advisor in areas such as Energy, Real Estate, Startups, Shipping and others. Previously, Jimmy was Greece Representative of Libra Group in the area of Social Responsibility and was responsible for the Libra Social programs in Greece. Jimmy was also responsible for the public relations and liaison with partners, trustees and beneficiaries of Libra’s social responsibility activities. Following an MBA from Northeastern Illinois University, Jimmy began his career in Chicago, Illinois as a provider of financial and investment services across various asset classes. He later undertook a variety of management roles at multinational corporations including DNV, Tyco Healthcare, and TetraPak before entering ship management as Chief Financial Controller with FreeSeas Inc. preparing statutory reports towards the SEC. He later joined G. Bros Maritime S.A. where he was responsible for financial reporting to the Board of Directors. Jimmy joined the Libra Group, in 2012, as Director of the Hellenic Entrepreneurship Award (rebranded in to Envolve Entrepreneurship), an initiative aiming to support Greek start-up businesses, funded and operated by the Libra Group. In 2015, he joined Libra’s Executive Team as Head of Social Responsibility, providing strategic oversight of the group’s global responsibility and education programs. In 2016, Jimmy completed the Executive Education Program for Corporate Social Responsibility at Harvard Business School. In 2019, he served as Interim Chief Financial Officer of EuroEnergy, Libra Group’s energy company in Europe. At EuroEnergy, Jimmy managed the company’s economic strategy and was responsible for financial reporting to partners. Additionally, he was Chairman of Envolve Entrepreneurship. He has been sitting on the Advisory Council of The American Community School in Athens since 2016. He has previously been a member of Board of Directors of the HOME Project, an initiative founded in Greece to provide a safe haven for refugees, with a special focus on unaccompanied children.
Acting President, Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Themis Kaniklidou is Acting President, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Hellenic American University. In this role, Dr. Kaniklidou is responsible for the academic enterprise of the University, across the Athens and Nashua instructional locations. She is also Associate Professor in Translation and Communication and Associate Director of the Ph.D. program at Hellenic American University.
Before assuming this role, she served as Associate Provost and Director of the Master of Arts in Translation She completed her Ph.D. (Language and Communication) working on Media Discourse and Translation at the University of Athens where she wrote her thesis on Narrative Theory and News Translation. She also holds an M.A. in Specialized Translation from the University of Surrey (2004) and a B.A. in Translation (2002) from the Ionian University of Foreign Languages – Department of Translation and Interpreting. Themis has been involved in various projects that link academia with the translation industry and EU institutions, and since 2015, is an active member of EURASHE. She has organized international conferences, has given keynote addresses and has participated in panel discussions as a discussant. Since 2008, Themis has been teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in Translation Studies, Terminology, EU Translation, and Language and Communication, Greek culture and ethics and western culture. She has been visiting scholar at the communications department at Rollins College, USA and a part-time lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has supervised M.A. dissertations and has been mentoring graduate and Ph.D. students. Themis Kaniklidou has chaired the steering committee of International Conferences Europe in Discourse. Themis has published her work in peer-reviewed journals and has written chapters for edited textbooks. She has refereed articles for Rodopi and TEXT and TALK. Dr. Kaniklidou is the founder and co-coach of the HAU debate team.
Dean of Digital Learning and Education innovation
Dimitris Tolias holds a B.A. in Literature and Linguistics from the University of Athens, an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Exeter, UK, and a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Hellenic American University, USA. From 1991 to 2001, he taught writing and research courses at the American College of Greece (Deree College). Between 1995 and 1999, he also taught writing and methodology courses in the English Department of the University of Athens.
Dr. Tolias is the author and co-author of several course books on teaching Greek as a Foreign/Second Language and co-author and editor-in-chief of a handbook for teachers of Greek as a Foreign Language. At Hellenic American University, he has served as Head Librarian and currently teaches courses in academic writing, communication, critical thinking, second language acquisition, critical discourse analysis, intercultural communication, and the application of artificial intelligence in education and professional settings.
He serves as the Director of the M.A. in Applied Linguistics/TESOL Program and the Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence. Since September 1, 2021, he has held the position of Dean for Digital Learning and Education Innovation. In this role, he oversees the university's digital transformation initiatives and provides strategic direction for integrating innovative technologies into teaching and learning.
Dr. Tolias is deeply involved in training academics and professionals in artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), focusing on their pedagogical and practical applications in various professional domains. His research interests include e-learning, the design of virtual learning environments, and understanding and leveraging AI tools to enhance teaching, learning, and professional practices.
Dean and Executive Director of the Nashua Campus
Marieke Martin received her Bachelor of Science in BioScience and Technology from the University of New Hampshire, and her Masters in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University. Currently, she is working toward completing her Ph.D. dissertation in International Business Strategy, from Southern of New Hampshire University. Her area of research focused, under the tutelage of the former chief economist for OPEC, on Emerging Capital Markets, (specifically Eastern European Market nations such as Russia and Turkey), innovation and international new ventures. Ms. Martin has worked in the private sector participating in many government-funded research projects focused both in finance and biotechnology. Prior to her recruitment at CitiGroup as a Wealth Manager, she worked as the Northeast Technical Specialist for the German biotech firm Machery-Nagel, a worldwide maker of medical research chemicals and filters, where she worked on corporate and government research project implementation and management, and U.S. and international business development.
11/26/2025