Dear colleagues & friends,

We are very pleased to invite you to the first CEO Summit which will take place on the 1st of October 2007 at the Athens Concert Hall, as part of a three-day event dedicated to Business Excellence. The CEO Summit is an initiative of the Hellenic Management Association. The event is co-organized with the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, the Foundation of Industrial and Economic Research and the Entrepreneurship Club of Greece. The CEO Summit will be conducted in parallel with the EFQM Athens Forum 2007.

This will be the first time where more than 300 CEOs from Greece and around the world will have the chance to meet and exchange their opinions and visions about the future importance of two very crucial topics: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics are terms often used interchangeably. But do they entail the same concepts?

Too many people, especially in Greece, believe that Ethics and Business seem to be rather contradictory terms; Business leaders increasingly recognize the direct relationship between fulfilling a company’s responsibilities and corporate survival. But do Ethics ensure a Marketplace Advantage? Does it lead to Superior Employee Performance? On the other hand how does business today achieve a balance or integration of economic, environmental, and social imperatives while at the same time addressing shareholder and stakeholder expectations? Which are the benefits for a company choosing to be socially responsible? Is that an option or a “must”? In the CEO Summit 2007 we will have the chance to discuss the threats and the opportunities that lay in these two very important topics.

The quality of the speakers, their deep knowledge sharing, along with the interactivity of the event (i.e. the ability of the attendees to express their opinions and experiences), are the main ingredients of a practical, resultive and very useful meeting, which we hope that it will be established as the annual Business meeting of the CEOs in Greece for the future. More than that, we truly believe that such an event gives the opportunity for an open, clear and honest discussion for the development of the business environment in Greece which is highly needed. We are looking forward to welcome you in the CEO Summit 2007.

Konstantinos Lambrinopoulos
President of the Organising Committee

Spyros Dessyllas
President of the Steering Committee