SPEAKERS
Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis was born in 1965 in Kastoria. He was admitted in 1983 to the Hellenic Military Academy from which he graduated in 1987 with the rank of Second Lieutenant of the Armoured Forces.
He has attended all Armour courses, as well as the Supreme Army War College and the Hellenic National Defence College.
During his career, he has served in Armour Units and, as a Commander, he has served in the 289th Medium Tank Company (Samothrace), the 6th Medium Tank Battalion (Vyronia), the 212th Medium Tank Battalion (Lagos), and a ΝΑΤΟ Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (Afghanistan).
He has served as staff officer in ISAF-HQ Operations in Afghanistan, Training and Operations Staff Office Director of the 7th Mechanised Brigade, Operations Staff Officer of the South Eastern Europe Brigade, Training and Exercises Section Chief NRDC-GR, Operational Planning Chair Director in the Supreme Joint War College, Deputy Commander of the 34th Mechanised Brigade, and Director of the Operations Directorate of the Hellenic First Field Army/European Union Operations Headquarters.
In 2017, he was promoted to Brigadier General and assumed Command of an Operational Formation abroad.
In 2019, he was promoted to Major General and assigned as Commanding General of the Service Support Division. In March 2020, he was assigned as Deputy Commanding General of D’ Army Corps.
On 09 March 2021, he was assigned as Commandant of the Hellenic Military Academy (Evelpidon).
On 08 March 2022, he was promoted to Lieutenant General and assigned as Commanding General of the Supreme Hellenic Army Support Command.
On 12 January 2024, upon decision of the Governmental National Security Council, he assumed the duties of Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff.
Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis has been awarded all decorations, commendations, and medals provided for his rank.
He holds a Masters Degree in Management of Operational Planning from Nottingham Trent University.
He speaks English fluently.
He is married and has two sons.
Sarah Chapman Trim is a Military Psychologist focused on the readiness to fight.
After commencing her career as an academic psychologist and statistical consultant, Sarah became the first dedicated Submarine Psychologist to serve in uniform in any naval force in the world and the first military psychologist to serve in combat operations in the maritime environment when she served as Maritime Task Group Psychologist during Gulf War II.
Sarah is a keynote speaker and published author of over twenty articles and book chapters on the science of human behaviour, culture change and performance in the military, She specialises in performance optimisation of individuals and teams in Isolated, Confined and Extreme (ICE) environments, with expertise in leadership and influence in multidomain, multiagency and multijurisdictional environments; psychosocial resilience; decision-making; and individual differences predictive of resilience and performance under pressure.
A former Non-Executive Director of Standing Joint Forces Command, Sarah routinely consults to the UK Ministry of Defence, NATO and industry, delivering keynotes, lectures, workshops and providing policy advice on delivering personnel capability at scale. She is a Visiting Lecturer at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Baltic Defence College, the NATO Defense College and a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Army Leadership in the United Kingdom.
Sarah is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Changing Character of War Centre at the University of Oxford where she is researching critical incident and ‘least worst’ decision making in a digital age characterised by autonomy, speed and the use of artificial intelligence, with a particular focus on the nuclear context.
Alexia Panayiotou is the UNESCO Co-Chair on Gender Equality at the University of Cyprus, where she is an Associate Professor in Management and Organization Studies.
With extensive NGO experience, Dr. Panayiotou has a particular interest in how alternative forms of organizing and academia can contribute to social change.
Her research focuses on critical management pedagogy; gender and work; organizational inequalities; and organizational control, power and resistance.
Her work has appeared, amongst others, in the Academy of Management Learning and Education, Management Learning, Strategic Organization, Organization, and the Journal of Management Inquiry.
General Konstantinos Gkinis(Ret.) was admitted to the Hellenic Military Academy (Evelpidon) in 1975 and commissioned into the Field Artillery as a Second Lieutenant in 1979. He completed all Field Artillery professional courses, as well as the Hellenic Army War College and the Hellenic National Defence College.
Throughout his military career, General Gkinis held a wide range of command, staff, and operational assignments at both national and international levels. He served as a Staff Officer at the Hellenic Military Representation to the NATO Military Committee in Brussels, at NATO Headquarters, and as a Monitor with the European Community Monitor Mission in the former Yugoslavia. His command appointments included the 108th Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion, the Artillery Command of the XVI Mechanised Infantry Division, the 80th Infantry Brigade, the XII Mechanised Infantry Division, and the 1st Hellenic Army – EU Operation Headquarters.
In staff roles, he served at the Hellenic Army General Staff Artillery Directorate and at the Hellenic National Defence General Staff Operations Directorate (Current Operations). He also served as Military Assistant to the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, as Deputy Chief of Staff for Current Operations (D3) at the Hellenic Army General Staff, as Director of Staff at the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, and as Director of both the Operations Directorate and the Operations Division of the Hellenic Army General Staff.
In July 2012, by decision of the Governmental Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA), he was appointed Chief of the Hellenic Army General Staff, the position from which he subsequently retired.
He is a member of the Institute of International Relations at Panteion University. His academic work centres on the Theory of War and Strategy, areas in which he has contributed chapters to edited volumes and published numerous articles.
Thanos Dokos received his Ph.D. in International Relations from Cambridge University andIhas held research posts at the Peace Research Institute of Frankfurt (1989-90) and the Center for Science and International Affairs (CSIA) at Harvard University (1990-91).
He served as the Director for Research, Strategic Studies Division, Hellenic Ministry of National Defence (1996-98) and as an Advisor on NATO issues to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1998-1999). He was also a NATO research fellow for 1996-98. He was the Director of Research (1999-2006) and then the Director-General of the Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) [2006-2019].
He has taught at the Universities of Athens and Piraeus, the Hellenic National Defence College, the Diplomatic Academy and the Hellenic National Security Academy. Since October 2020, he is the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Greece. In October 2023, he was appointed by the Secretary General of NATO to the Expert Group in support of the comprehensive and deep reflection on NATO’s southern neighbourhood. In May 2025, he was appointed Secretary General for National Security.
Colonel Kate Conkey is an Academy Professor at the U.S. Military Academy, specializing in military leadership.
A former battalion commander, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Professor of Military Science (PMS), and combat leader, she holds a PhD in Industrial–Organizational Psychology with specific interest in leadership, character, and team effectiveness.