Nikos Avlonas

CEO

Nikos Avlonas is a recognized leader who has received multiple awards in Corporate Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship. Nikos is founder and President of the Centre for Sustainability & Excellence (CSE) a global Sustainability Strategic Advisory and Training firm with activities in North America, Europe, MENA and Asia. Nikos has been awarded in 2018 by Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the largest foundation in US, as Practitioner of the year and in 2017 as ’CSR Professional of the Year’’ by PR News for setting new standards of excellence. He was also recognized at one of “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” by Trust Across America and awarded for teaching excellence from AUEB in 2020.

He is a well-known international speaker in topics related to ESG and CSR and has delivered speeches and educated professionals in North America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at University of Illinois (UIC) in Chicago and awarded visiting Professor at Athens University of Economic and Business (AUEB), MBA international program since 2015. Nikos specializes in Sustainability, Corporate Responsibility, Carbon Reduction, and Impact Investment (ESG ratings). During the last 20 years he has carried out numerous projects in leading organizations, including Fortune Global 500 Companies, such as Nestle, Heineken Group, Coca-Cola, ΑΒΜ, Pfizer, Deutsche Post, Under Armor, the European Investment Bank and the Lloyds Banking Group. Additionally, he has extensive international experience in executive training & coaching having trained over 5,000 managers worldwide including executives from NASA, Shell, Walmart, Home Depot.

He is Vice President of the Corporate Responsibility Institute since 2007, a non-for-profit organization for CSR performance evaluation and benchmarking (based on the Business in the Community Index-BITC). Additionally, he was founder and Co-Chair of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Strategy Committee and board member in the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) in Chicago