The Foundation

The development of the organization is to assure the systematic, stable and dully streamlined support for the existing and new pursuits, of Holy Monastery Simonos Petras. The purpose of the organization is to utilize its assets in the realization of Holy Monastery Simonos Petras philanthropic and cultural mission.

We, the Simonopetrite monastics, men and women, on the Holy Mountain Athos, in Greece and France, endeavor to cultivate and share the Greek Orthodox Faith, as nurtured on Mt Athos.

Our vision and mission is to streamline and share with the rest of the world, the very essence of Greek Orthodoxy, and have a fully renovated monastery carrying on with the eternal Greek-Orthodox tradition, always offering to you, a place to visit and enjoy its hospitality and its gratitude.

Quick Glance

Existing pursuits of the Holy Monastery Simonos Petras

Board Of Directors

John P. Tavlarios (Chairman)

USA

John P. Tavlarios is currently the Chief Executive Officer of a family office called LML Maritime Holdings. The company business interests are mainly in environmental technology, construction in West African infrastructure and energy services in the Middle East.

Tavlarios previously held the position of CEO at Gener8 Maritime Inc., an international seaborne crude and petroleum products company with operations around the globe. Gener8 Maritime was listed on the NYSE and was originally known as General Maritime Corporation. Tavlarios co-founded the company in 1997 and was instrumental in taking it public in 2001. He has served as CEO, President, COO and Board Member. The company at its peak was the second largest midsize tanker company in the world with over fifty vessels, eight international offices and over 2,000 land and sea based employees.

Mr. Tavlarios has been actively involved in fund raising for the Ronald McDonald House and the Greek Orthodox church. He currently lives in Darien, CT with his wife and two sons.

Elder Ioannikios
(Christos Antonioudakis)

Holy Monastery of Simonos Petras Mount Athos

Fr Ioannikios is a monk at the Holy Monastery of Simonopetra on Mt. Athos since 1987. He is currently the custodian of the Port of Daphne and member of the Simonopetrite Board of Elders since 2007. He was born to a large family in Athens and studied Mechanical Engineering in New York. He holds BSc and MSc degrees from New York University and worked for ICI Americas and Mobil Oil in the US. While on a short vacation in Greece he changed his life course and decided to follow the monastic route. He went on an extensive pilgrimage to Mt Athos and became a disciple of (now sainted) Elder Ephraim Katounakiotis and the founder of Simonopetra Elder Aemilianos.

Father Alexander Karloutsos

USA

Father Alexander Karloutsos is the Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and Special Assistant to His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. He is the Spiritual Advisor to the Order of Saint Andrew, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America, and to Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy & Hellenism. He also serves as the representative of the Archdiocese to the White House, the Congress, state and local officials, Greek American organizations, political action, religious freedom and human rights groups. Father Alexander is also the pastor of The Dormition of the Virgin Mary Church in the Hamptons and serves as the Orthodox Christian Chaplain for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He was previously Executive Director of Leadership 100, serving from 1986 to 1992 and 1999 to 2004, and was appointed by Archbishop Iakovos as the first Vicar of Public Affairs of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in 1985, holding that position simultaneously until 1992 when he was appointed Special Assistant to His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1994, The Ecumenical Patriarch personally elevated Fr. Karloutsos to the prestigious office of Protopresbyter of the Sacred See of Saint Andrew

Fr. Alexander has been blessed to serve in leadership/fundraising capacities for three unique church building programs: The Saint Nicholas National Shrine at Ground Zero; The Dormition of the Virgin Mary Church in Southampton, NY; and the Interdenominational Chapel at Camp David, Maryland, the country retreat of Presidents. Fr. Karloutsos also served as the principal fundraiser for the restoration of the Holy Sepulcher of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in the Holy City of Jerusalem

John Negroponte

USA

John Dimitri Negroponte (b. July 21, 1939) is an American statesman and diplomat. His father was a Greek shipping magnate and alpine skier who competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics. Negroponte attended the Allen-Stevenson School and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1956 and Yale University in 1960. Negroponte speaks five languages (English, French, Greek, Spanish, and Vietnamese). He is the elder brother of Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab and of the One Laptop per Child project. His brother Michel is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker, and his other brother, George Negroponte, is an artist and was President of the Drawing Center from 2002 to 2007. Negroponte and his wife, Diana Mary Villiers (b. August 14, 1947), have five adopted children.

John Negreponte is currently a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of International Affairs at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Prior to that appointment, he served as a research fellow and lecturer in international affairs at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Negroponte served in the United States Foreign Service from 1960 to 1997. From 1981 to 1996, he had tours of duty as United States ambassador in Honduras, Mexico, and the Philippines. From 1985 to 1989 he served as Assistant Secretary for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries. After leaving the Foreign Service, he served in the Bush Administration as U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2001 to 2004, and was ambassador to Iraq from June 2004 to April 2005. He was the first ever Director of National Intelligence from 2005 to 2007 and the US Deputy Secretary of State from 2007 to 2009. In his later career John Negreponte joined McLarty Associates, an international strategic advisory firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., in 2009. He also serves on the Leadership Council of Concordia, a nonpartisan, nonprofit based in New York City focused on promoting effective public–private collaboration to create a more prosperous and sustainable future.

Charles S. Theofilos, M.D.

USA

Accomplished physician who has achieved numerous professional appointments, faculty positions and awards. Founder of a highly-successful, multidisciplinary spine organization, leading and managing both medical and corporate teams. Highly skilled and accomplished in both neurological surgery and business management earned Wharton Executive Education general management program degree, May 2023. Inventor and creator of over 20 US patents, including those related to medical devices.

George Tsougarakis
(General Counsel)

USA

George A. Tsougarakis is the general counsel of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in the US and works out of New York. Prior to joining the Archdiocese, Mr. Tsougarakis was a partner in the law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed, where he spent more than 34 years as a commercial litigator. At the Archdiocese he is responsible for all legal matters pertaining to the Archdiocese and its associated entities. He holds degrees from Bucknell University (1983) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1986).

George Gabritsos

Greece

George Gabritsos is since 2019 the CEO of the Greek State Radio & Television Network [ERT S.A. HELLENIC BROADCASTING CORP], where he also served in 2010 as CEO and President of the BoD. Throughout the 1980’s he worked for CBS in the USA. He started as research and development engineer at the CBS Technology Center in Stamford CT and later was Associate Director for Advanced Development at the CBS television network in New York.

He was a member of the management team that founded and put into operation the first Greek private TV Channel, MEGA in 1989, where he served as Chief Technology and Operations Director. Since 1996 he made major contributions in establishing pay-tv in Greece from several leadership positions, including as General Manager and Managing Director of the NETMED Subscription group (NOVA-TV) and subsequently as Chief Officer of BU COSMOTE-TV. He has also served as CEO of the Greek digital transmission network operator DIGEA and has been on the BoD of OLYMPIC AIRWAYS.

Mr. Gabritsos holds a BSc from the New York Institute of Technology and an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic School of New York University. He holds a US patent on printed sound.

Stathis Loizos

Greece

Efstathios (Stathis) Loizos is currently the Executive Vice President of the ION group of companies, a leading Greek chocolate and cocoa group of companies. Since March 2014, Mr. Loizos also serves as the CEO of the affiliated company INTERION S.A., which operates in Bulgaria.

Prior to joining the ION group in 2008, he was General Manager at ELSA SA, a steel packaging company in Greece ( 2002 – 2007 ). Between 1989 -2001 he had held various executive positions at ELSA SA. He served as President of the International Packaging Association ( IPA ) between 2005–2007. He is also a Non Executive Director at the Board of Directors of Navios Maritime Holdings and Head of its Audit Committee.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of IOBE [the highly respected Research Institute of the Greek Industrial Community] and also of the Federation of Hellenic Food Industries ( SEVT ). He holds a Maitrise en Sciences Economiques from the University of Strasbourg, France, and an MBA in Finance from Stern Business School, New York University ( NYU ). He holds degrees from Bucknell University (1983) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (1986).

Dean Poll

USA

Dean Poll, a career restaurateur, is, among other things, the proprietor, of the Loeb Boathouse, the renowned event hall in Central Park, New York. He is a native Long Islander who grew up in the restaurant industry. Traveling to Brooklyn on weekends with his father to work at the family owned Pappas Restaurant, Dean learned the business from the ground up… literally. From sweeping floors to cleaning shrimp; no job was too menial for this 8 year old. At the age of 11 he was promoted to water boy on the dining room floor. The thrill of long lines on summer weekends was a tremendous influence on Dean’s decision to pursue the hospitality industry.

In the mid 70’s, while working full-time with his father and brothers in a midtown Manhattan restaurant, Dean recognized the influence purchasing had on the quality and profitability in any fine restaurant. This learning experience has helped grow his businesses throughout his career. In 1980 Dean and his brothers came back to Long Island and purchased a defunct property, renaming it Pappas after his father’s restaurant in Brooklyn. In the mid 80’s Dean and his brothers purchased Manero’s in Roslyn, turning it into a prime steakhouse and adjacent butcher shop that is now known as Bryant & Cooper. These were the first of what was to become many Long Island restaurants owned by the Poll brothers.

In 2000 Mr. Poll sought out the contract for the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park. After seeing it for the very first time, he recognized the potential that this somewhat decrepit venue had to offer. Having been awarded the property by the NYC Parks Department, he became the proprietor of the Boathouse and painstakingly converted it into a beloved and respected icon in the heart of Central Park; the only lakeside restaurant in all of New York City.

The vendor relationships that Dean developed early on in his career are still very important to him and ensure the quality of the Boathouse. He is still known to wake at 2AM and visit the market to touch base with his suppliers and keep current with their offerings. Dean is proud of his strong management team and is grateful for the dedication of his entire staff. Together they have enabled the restaurant to achieve the success it enjoys today. The Boathouse truly represents the very best of NY.

The Foundation

Quick Glance