He was born in 1955 in Athens. He studied Economics at the University of Athens, and obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at INSEAD University in France. He is fluent in English, French and Italian.

He has been President of the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC) since 2009. In 2021 he was elected President of the European Olympic Committees and in 2019 he was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee.

As an athlete, he participated with the National Water Polo Team in the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and was Greek and Balkan swimming champion from 1969 to 1975.

He served as President of the Coordinating Committee for the European Games in Baku (2015) and Minsk (2019), was a member of the EOC Plenary Assembly (1992-1996) and served as Head of the Greek Delegation to the Atlanta Olympics. In addition, he was a Member of the Board and Executive Advisor of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, while he also held the position of Deputy Head of Games Operations. In March 2004 he was appointed Secretary General of the Olympic Games of the Ministry of Culture by decision of the Prime Minister and was appointed City Manager during the Olympic Games.

In addition, he is Chairman of the Star Bulk Carriers Shipping Company, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Euroclinic and a member of the Board of Directors of GEK TERNA.

He has served as Chairman of the Athens Stock Exchange and CEO of the companies of the Hellenic Financial Markets Group, Chairman of the Association of European Stock Exchanges, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Greece, Vice Chairman of the Bankers Trust Company, Chairman of H.T.E.B.A., Astir Insurance Company, CEO of OceanBulk Containers, HPEIROS S.A., and Bank of Athens.