Entrepreneur, Professional Trainer, Author, Award winning training concept developer.
Constantine (Dino) is one of the most versatile professionals in business operating as an entrepreneur & consultant in the Business, HR, training & development industry. He is considered a world-class inspirational trainer / presenter having trained and led diverse events for numerous corporations and associations. He has delivered over 17,000 hours of professional training, hosting & presentations in the last 20 years in more than 45 countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East mainly to corporate clients. 

He is founder of StudySmart.gr®, a company offering consulting, professional qualifications training mainly for corporate clients. He is also a consultant and International Curriculum Development expert for PwC’s Academy in the CEE and the Middle East. Dino has also done work with PwC’s Global Steering Committee for Private Company Services and has developed curriculum, methodology and mapping procedure for PwC’s Mini MBA programme being offered in the CEE region & the Middle East in more than 10 countries. In 2019, he won the Silver medal from the prestigious Boussias Education Awards for his Mini MBA concept based on a Holistic Process Diagram (Flowchart methodology) offered in 12 countries globally through PwC Academies.

He is known for his innovative flowcharting training techniques which have been licensed by a number of organizations and responsible for many of his conference invitations. ACCA named him one of its “tutor gurus’ in 2018, training trainers globally towards their preparation to teach ACCA’s SBL (Strategic Business Leader) exam, while his SBL flowchart has been used by thousands of candidates around the world. Dozens of ACCA students have been regional and world prize winners in the past decade on ACCA P1, ACCA P3 and recently SBL. 

As a mentor on select business start-ups he has donated his services to a significant number of organizations. He is the author of an educational guide offered in Greece from 2004 to 2012 (8th edition), A CIMA Gateway guide (2017) while his new book “Are you serious” was recently published (2019). He has been an active speaker on entrepreneurship, innovation, educational, professional training and business development issues in over 100 events in the past decade. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut (USA), a Masters and a PhD from the University of Surrey (UK), a Diploma in Corporate Governance from the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is an Associate Member (AICA) of the International Compliance Association and a Senior Certified Professional from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM – SCP) USA. 

Dr. Demetrios “Jimmy” Kiritsis was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut USA in 1966. At the age of 11, his parents moved back to Athens Greece where he joined the the American Community Schools of Athens. Jimmy spent 7 years at ACS and graduated in 1984. His interest in English, Communications and Sports led him to the American College of Greece where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a minoring in Communications in 1989.  Feeling not quite complete with his studies, Jimmy decided to apply to King’s College London and complete his Master’s Degree in English Literature. Upon his return in 1990, Jimmy commenced work at the first ever European University branch in Athens as an Assistant Director in charge of logistics (payrolls, recruitment, interviewing prospective teachers, payments, teaching, logistics, orders, etc.) Attaining as much experience as possible, he left after a year to chase one of his dreams, which was sports. 

After 4 aspiring and memorable years, he managed to earn his PhD in Physical Education & Sport Management from the University of Loughborough UK. During his four-year tenure there, Jimmy utilised his time constructively in becoming a licensed soccer coach by the English Football Federation (Preliminary/Preparatory Certificates 1993), taught University level courses to his fellow colleagues, and presented findings of his research at a Sports conference in Komotini Greece, compiled with highly appreciated professionals. Jimmy also played soccer at the highest level for the University making first team selection out of 100 players. 

Upon his final ‘educational’ return to Greece in 1996, he began work at the University of Indianapolis Athens Campus, where he held many positions simultaneously throughout his 4 years there, beginning with Assistant Director of Admissions, Director of Academic Advising, Leader of the MBA Development Project, and finally Sports Director. There he created the first ever Sports Department, organising and coaching three teams, Men’s Soccer, Men’s Basketball, and Woman’s Basketball.  Being an Assistant Professor for the University, Jimmy delivered courses in Public Speaking, English, Business Communications, Sports Management, Radio Broadcasting, Group Dynamics, and Marketing.

Jimmy made his way into the business world in 2000 where he joined Globaltraining Athens as a Deputy Executive Director. He was instrumental in the formation of the company from its establishment to its growth and maturity.  Here Jimmy was mainly occupied with the organisation matters of the business, sales, recruitment, marketing strategy, quality reviews, career consulting to clients, as well as teaching specific courses for the ACCA. At the time, Globaltraining was the first organisation in Greece to offer structured course programs leading to prestigious professional qualifications such as the ACCA, CFA, CIA and DipIFRS. 

In 2008, Jimmy joined PwC and specifically the PwC Academy. He was mainly engaged with the previous descriptions mentioned above, but in reality he was one of the two (the other his brother) who fabricated the Professional Qualifications Department from the beginning. Jimmy carried out his responsibilities as the Business Development & Studies Coordinator in addition to teaching.

Subsequently, and after three very productive years at PwC, the same PQ department was set up at the American College of Greece in 2011, where Jimmy was appointed Director of Professional Qualifications. Once again, the main occupation was the setting up of the PQ department from its inception.

Jimmy involved himself with BCA (Business College of Athens) for 3 years as a Part-time Professor teaching Human Resource Management in Hospitality, Tourism and Creative Industries as well as Global Strategic Issues in Hospitality and Tourism Management to final year students. He was solely responsible in creating the Syllabus/Outline for the ‘People Management’ course regarding the new Master’s program for Plymouth University (collaboration with BCA).

In 2012, Jimmy joined forces with Doukas School (Greek Private High School) where he was employed for close to two years. There he held the positions of G.C.E Director, Higher Education Adviser, and Scholarship Committee Director.

Since 2014 he is the Deputy Executive Director for StudySmart.  StudySmart is a unique educational organization that offers training opportunities, master classes, articles and research findings on professional qualifications, professional designations (“designations” being the term widely used in the USA), certifications and selected expert programmes.

Jimmy has taught various ACCA courses for StudySmart and abroad (Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Qatar) specializing in the areas of Business & Finance in a Digital World (CIMA), and Business & Technology for the ACCA.   

In terms of personal advancement, Jimmy holds a Verified Professional Certificate in Business Communications from the Rochester University of Technology in collaboration with edx. He learned to apply techniques for Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Teamwork & Collaboration, and Leadership Essentials.

Jimmy has developed into a motivational trainer and a charismatic speaker throughout the years, with close to 10.000 hours of teaching, providing educational support and advice to students, as well as career consultation to business professionals. He is considered a “guru” in the procedural aspects of professional qualifications (ACCA, CIMA, CFA, DipIFR, CIA).

Jimmy served as President of the ACS Alumni Association for four years. On his free time, he plays soccer and works as a professional DJ.

Partner, StudySmart

Miro is a partner at StudySmart, located at Belgrade, Serbia. He is a professional with over 25 years of experience in providing services within corporate, private and non-governmental sectors. His current focus is on business development and helping clients in various aspects of people development. Miro is specialized in project management, leadership development and adult learning. 

Prior to this position, Miro spent 13 years at PwC with latest position of Director of PwC’s Academy, responsible for managing PwC’s Academy in in South-East Europe.  

Since 1996, he is working in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe where he has gained a reputation for the quality of his management, organisation and leadership of international, inter-disciplinary project teams on both private sector and donor funded development projects.. He worked with clients in various industry sectors including banking, production, FMCG, public sector etc. 

Miro delivered large number of training and consulting projects in Serbia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Polland and other countries in the region. He’s clients are international and local institutions, corporations and SME’s from various industry sectors.

Miro graduated from City University of Seattle and he is certified PMP (Project Management Professional). He is also certified trainer for PMP PREP by RMC, certified trainers for Daniel H. Pink’s Drive (The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us) and certified trainer for SDI (Strengths Deployment Inventory) and certified coach. 

Christos (“Chris”) Ragkavas is native Greek and a Dutch national. He holds an MA in management from Bournemouth University, is a chartered accountant (ACCA), and a chartered management accountant (CGMA). His employer portfolio in the Netherlands and in Greece, comprise Aiwa Europe Ltd. (member of the Sony Corporation), Trust computer products BV, Cushman and Wakefield real estate agents and surveyors S.A. Throughout his career, he has been leading departments responsible for the financial reporting function on a separate and consolidation basis, acting as a key agent in contacts with external auditors, initiating change in transaction management and personnel reporting structures, setting up and executing business plans including funding arrangements, and designing and performing business restructuring. Mr. Ragkavas teaches papers related to IFRS and finance, at management and strategic level, to candidates of professional qualifications, across Europe and the Middle East, and is StudySmart’s IFRS technical expert. StudySmart’s key clients are some of the big 10 global accounting firms, and other well-known listed and private entities as the Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, Piraeus Bank, and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. He also performs tailor made teaching sessions on IFRS updates, business valuations, performance management, corporate finance, practices management consulting, and generates material and articles in his fields of interest. He is the main contributor of the https://ifrsboutique.com/ website and co-author of various publications related to  accounting professional qualifications.

Vassilis has worked in the areas of Finance and Audit for 12 years and has been member of ACCA since 2004. He has worked for PwC for 7 years in the Business Consulting Services where he participated or headed multiple projects for clients in various industries. These projects, that were held both in Greece and abroad, mainly dealt with the development of strategic/business plans, the design of business & accounting procedures and internal controls, due diligence studies for potential M&As especially for the banking sector, the redesign of organizational structures etc.

In 2007, he moved to the National Bank of Greece as a management consultant in the Finance Division, where he led the implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX 404) framework for the IFRS Reporting and the Deposits Cycle for the bank as well as its subsidiaries in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia. Currently, he is the CFO of Travelplanet24, an Online Travel Agency (OTA) with presence (web sites) in Greece and 12 countries in the area of Central and SE Europe.

Colin is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Economics. For more than 25 years, he has provided management consultancy, non-executive director services and general business advice to small and medium sized businesses throughout the UK via his own consultancy company, Square 1 Consultants. He also designs and delivers training courses to private and public sector organisations in the UK, US, Hong Kong and Europe. The non-executive directorship specific duties include 'sounding board' on strategic matters and acting in an FD capacity when required. Colin has also been retained by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland for the last 20 years to design and deliver commercial, financial, and non-financial training material for its business courses and to design/present training material for final year CA trainees. He is extensively involved in examination question setting and marking and providing syllabus input and advice at all levels within the CA qualification programme. For ACCA, Colin teaches many papers, specifically in the areas of performance measurement and financial management [papers F5, P5 and F9]. He currently teaches for StudySmart in Athens, PwC Academy in many Eastern European countries and BPP in the UK.

Dr. Antony Michail is the Marketing Director and Senior Marketing Trainer of StudySmart and has 20 years of progressively responsible experience in consulting and advising both small and large corporations in relation to their business and marketing strategy, implementation, and company growth. Anthony has led these companies through start-up, survival, turnaround and growth modes.
Antony has acted as a consultant and senior marketing director in a variety of industries, including food and beverage, fashion, IT, heating, consumer durables, building products and construction, and environmental services (in UK, South Africa, and Greece). He has over 1200 hours of lecturing and tutoring acquired as a tutor at StudySmart, University of Central Lancashire (UK), EEDE (Hellenic Management Association), and in Anacalypsis Strategy & Marketing Consultants (South Africa).  He has experience in auditing the marketing function, strategy, and tactics; develop and execute marketing strategies (both online and offline); provide direction for future growth and development; new product development; brand storytelling; CRM strategy; media relations; effective budgeting; forecasting; and measurement. Antony has also experience in integrated marketing communications involving both offline and online marketing strategies and tactics. He has also been involved in designing growth strategies in all business functions. He has published a number of articles on Marketing Audit and Strategy and currently are suggested by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) as a recommended study resource to CIM students. He has also published two books regarding the GDPR, and Digital Marketing Strategies for the Hotel industry. Antony holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Economics from the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (Greece), a Master of Arts (MA) degree in International Business from the University of Central Lancashire, a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Business Competitive Strategies from the University of Central Lancashire.

tratos has more than 10 years of experience in the fields of Internal Auditing, Business and Corporate Finance and Financial Planning and Analysis.  He has been actively involved in the set up of a major international company in Greece and acted as a key player in setting up their processes. He has worked in Germany and has undertook projects in Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium. Stratos has an M.B.A. and an MSc in Banking and Finance from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, is a CFA Charterholder and holds the CertIFR from ACCA.

Today Stratos works for a Fortune 500 US company based in Zurich as a Finance Manager.

Robert (Bob) Souster is a Partner in Spruce Lodge Training, a consultancy firm based in Northampton, England.  He lectures on economics, corporate and business law, management, corporate governance and ethics.  He is the Module Director for ‘Professionalism, Regulation and Ethics’, a core module of the Chartered Banker MBA programme at Bangor University, Wales.

Bob’s previous career was in banking, having served as a divisional manager for EBS, then Ireland’s second largest mutual financial institution (and now part of AIB Group) in Dublin.  

He has been a lecturer for London Metropolitan University in marketing, law and economics and has also worked with the College of Commerce, Dublin, Sheffield Hallam University and Jiao Tong University and SUFE in Shanghai.  He has run ACCA and CIMA examination and revision courses in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Syria and Ukraine.

Bob is an examiner and verifier for the Chartered Banker Institute in the UK, the Institute of Bankers in Ireland and a major accountancy body.  He was previously an examiner for the Institute of Financial Services.

Bob has written several textbooks, including ‘Money Laundering’ and ‘Professionalism, Ethics and Regulation’, published by BPP for the Chartered Banker Institute, and various books for mortgage compliance examinations offered by the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Bob served as an unpaid non-executive director for 15 years of the trading company of a sports charity for disabled persons in Northampton and continues to act as a Trustee of the charity.  He is currently a non-executive director of NTFC Supporters Limited, a company affiliated with, and equity holder in, Northampton Town Football Club.

Spyros is seasoned professional operating in the professional training industry as a Business Coach and a Certified Learning Professional with over 10 years of training experience (6,000 training hours in classroom). He specializes in the fields of Train the Trainer training, Coaching skills and soft skills training and also Entrepreneurship, Management and Finance using blended interactive learning methods. He served as the Project Leader and Trainer of the Internal Certification of Trainers of the largest bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank. He has also worked as a Learning Consultant, a University Lecturer and a Trainer on Lifelong Learning Programs and Workshops. He is a training Associate with StudySmart in Greece & abroad.

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He has 16 years of practical professional experience in Greek Groups of Companies and Banks. His academic background includes his MBA, a forthcoming Master's degree in Adult Education (MEd) of the Open University and an Advanced Diploma in Personal and Executive Coaching of Kingstown College (ICF and EMCC certified). His certifications and publications reinforce and enhance his scientific and professional track record.

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He is interested in the design and implementation of innovative Life Long Learning methods for Human Resource development and Entrepreneurship sustainability.

Dr. Andreas G. Koutoupis BSc (Honors), MSc, PhD, CMIIA, CIA, CICA, CCSA, CRMA, CCS

Dr. Andreas G. Koutoupis is currently the Head of Governance, Risk & Internal Audit Services (Director) of Mazars, Athens – Greece. Before join Mazars he served as a Senior Manager within the Internal Audit Services department of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Athens – Greece responsible for the Financial Services (mainly banking) Internal Audit Assurance & Consulting Services for more than ten years. He was involved in Governance, Risk & Internal Audit related assignments in more than 150 organizations the last 17 years in all industries (Banking, Manufacturing, Retail, Insurance, Services, publicly listed enterprises, etc.) in 19 countries (Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Turkey, FYROM, Great Britain, Ukraine, Poland, The Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone & Guinea). He is also acting as a Professional Trainer for more than ten years presented Corporate Governance, Business Risk Management and Internal Audit related topics in 23 countries including Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Albania, Turkey, FYROM, Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Malaysia, China, Pakistan, Thailand, Singapore, Egypt and Nigeria.

Andreas Koutoupis is an Adjunct Lecturer of Accounting and Auditing in the University of the Aegean. He is also lecturing Internal Auditing in the MSc of Taxation and Auditing in the Panteion University of Athens, as well as in the Greek Open University, IESEG University, Paris-France & the National Centre of Public Administration in Athens, Greece. He has been awarded a BSc in Public Administration with a distinction (Panteion University, Athens, Greece), an MSc in Internal Auditing and Management (Cass Business School, City University, London-UK) and a PhD in Corporate Governance and Internal Controls with a distinction (Panteion University, Athens, Greece). He is a Chartered Internal Auditor(CMIIA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Internal Controls Auditor (CICA), Certified in Control Self Assessment (CCSA), Certified in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA) and Certified Controls Specialist (CCS). Andreas Koutoupis is an Internal Quality Assessment validator of the International Institute of Internal Auditors. He holds an ‘A’ class Greek Accounting & Tax License (being able to sign Financial Statements for any type of organization) by the Economic Chamber of Greece.

In 2005, he received the Michael J. Barett award by the International Institute of Internal Auditors, while in April 2006 he received a PhD Colloquium award (Cass Business School) for distinctive performance by the IIA-Italy. He was nominated for several other awards for his academic performance and professional work. His academic work includes publications of papers and articles with respect to Corporate Governance, Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Controls and Internal Auditing in well known journals (three of them are ABS rating Grade 1: Governance & Ethics), conferences, professional magazines and economic newspapers. He is an Editorial Review Board Member of the International Journal of Organizational Analysis (Emerald) and the Journal of Business and Finance (ISSN: 2305 - 1825). In 2014 The IIA Research Foundation published an Academic Research (Koutoupis et al.) entitled Internal Audit Around the World: A perspective on Global Regions.

He is a member of the International Institute of Internal Auditors (serving as a member of the Academic Relations Committee), The Institute of Internal Auditors – UK and Ireland (serving as an APL Examiner), The Greek Institute of Internal Auditors (served as a member of the Board of Directors for eight years), The Institute for Internal Controls (acting as the contact person in charge in Greece and Cyprus responsible for CICA & CCS Professional Qualifications), The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), The Association of Greek Fraud Examiners (HACFE) and the Economic Chamber of Greece (serving as a member of the General Assembly). He is also the General Secretary of the Board of Directors of Greek Investors, a member of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Athens Stock Exchange, as well as a team member for the Greek Council of Corporate Governance, a member in the Greek – Cyprus Investment Cooperation Committee. He has also served as a member of the Professional Skills Recognition Committee of the Greek Ministry of Education (2011-2014). Andreas Koutoupis is a member in several Greek Hospital Audit Committees according to the Greek Law 4025 / 2011.

Panagiotis is an officially certified ACCA Professional Qualification holder, and specialises in the Audit field. He works as a Senior Auditor at Audit Services SA and is responsible for the planning and execution of all stages of the statutory audits. His experience varies in a number of industries, something which has given him the opportunity to deliver trainings to auditors internally on areas related to audit process, audit automation and control and tax audits. In addition, he plans and oversees the whole spectrum of Tax Audits as well as plans the special audits of financial statements and financial reporting packages for companies based on the International Accounting Standards and the International Financial Reporting Standards. Panagiotis is also an Accounting and Finance University holder from the Athens University of Economics and Business (BSc), and a  lecturer/tutor for Audit and Assurance (AA) in the ACCA curriculum.