The Employers and Industrialists Federation, OEB, has elected Vassiliko Cement’s executive chairman Antonis Antoniou as its new leader for the next 28 months, replacing veteran energy expert George Petrou of Staroil and PETA Brush Co. who steps down on December 31.
Facing the challenges ahead, Antoniou said in his first statement: “Businesses, workers and the state expect a lot from OEB, the biggest employer organisation. I assure them that we will do our utmost to meet these challenges.”
“The true strength of our great organisation is in the unity of its leadership which I intend to maintain.”
He said OEB would be “joining forces with sister organisation KEBE (Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry) to multiply the effectiveness of our parallel efforts.”
On the labour issue, the employers’ new chairman said, “together with our social partners and the trade unions, we will consult further to achieve the modernisation of our work practices.”
He also praised the outgoing chairman, who remains on the board for another term, “so as to collectively work to exit this (COVID) crisis and return the economy to conditions of growth.”
Antoniou, 66, has had a diverse career history, starting as a biochemist at the University of London, then worked at British Gas, joined market research company AMER and was a senior vice president at Nielsen Europe.
In 2008, he became Executive Chairman of Vassiliko Cement Works Plc and was Vice Chairman of OEB since January 2019.
In all, 124 of the 126 members took part in the AGM that elected 10 new people to the board while 10 members remain on the board and are up for re-election at the next members’ meeting in 2023.
The new members are:
Demetris Aletraris (Managing Director of OPAP), Demetris Vakis (Senior Partner at KPMG), Demetris Zorpas (Zorpas Bakeries), Yiorgos Theodotou (Papaellinas Group), Thomas Kazakos (Director General of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber), Louis Loizou (Louis Tours and Celestyal Cruises), lawyer Andreas Mylonas (AMG Mylonas and Associates), Despina Panayiotou Theodosiou (co-CEO of Tototheo Maritime and Chair of WISTA International), Ioannis Pantazis (Leptos Group), Anthoulis Papachristoforou (Logicom).
The incumbent board members are:
Tasos Anastasiou (Spyros Anastasiou Packing), Michalis Antoniou (ex-officio OEB Director-General), George Georghiou (CEO Green Energy Group), Lyssandros Ioannou (PHC Franchised Restaurants), Antonis Kountouris (Nicolaides & Kountouris Metal Co.), Yiorgos Pantelides (Partner, Deloitte), George Petrou (Immediate Past Chairman), Lakis Tofarides (Tofarco Construction and Developers), Pavlos Photiades (Managing Director, Photos Photiades Group).
