Odisseas Athanasiou: LAMDA Development’s visionary CEO
Is one vision enough to change the image of a country? Odisseas Athanasiou, the man behind the largest urban regeneration project in Europe, is showing the way. With The Ellinikon, a global example of urban regeneration and sustainability, LAMDA Development’s CEO is putting Greece on the map “for all the right reasons”. He passionately believes that this innovative project in the Athens Riviera will transform the urban landscape, markedly improve the life of residents and boost Greece's global image.
The genuine trust that people and investors have shown in The Ellinikon is the greatest reward Odisseas Athanasiou could have hoped for, but also the best confirmation that staying true to your values and loving what you do is the key to success. Today, he is one of the most prominent figures in Greek entrepreneurship, the man who succeeded in placing LAMDA Development on the list of the 100 most influential companies worldwide, alongside giants such as Amazon or Google and Aramco.
When Greek values meet American thinking
Born in Piraeus, Odisseas Athanasiou discovered from an early age the values of trust and integrity, and let them be his guide. After graduating from a public high school, he went on to study Economics and Political Science at the University of Athens. At the age of 19, along with his studies, he started working on a cruise ship, travelling around the world. This experience led to his next major step: moving to the US on his own funds and getting an MBA from the University of Texas in Austin.
After his studies, he stayed another 9 years in the US, working for Ernst & Young and Emerson Electric. What did he get out of American thinking? Quite disarmingly, he says that the key thing he learned to do well in the US is to listen. He also learned that service providers should always focus on people.
With the art of listening and a customer-oriented view in his arsenal, Odisseas Athanasiou returned to Europe as Barilla’s CFO for Western Europe, based in Paris. He later moved permanently to Greece, serving as CFO for Greece-Turkey at Diageo Ηub and as CFO for Greece at Titan cement company. He soon realized that there are many highly capable people in Greece who can deliver maximum output under proper management. So, combining the values of his homeland with the American experience, he introduced a management model that focuses on innovation and on trusting people. As he says, “Everything is a matter of mentality, not individual professional movements”.
At the helm of LAMDA Development
In 2009, when Odisseas Athanasiou took over as LAMDA Development’s Managing Director, Greece was already suffering from the first blows of the financial crisis. And while the survival of the LAMDA malls seemed uncertain, he chose to move away from traditional practices.
Guided by the values that defined him, he formed a team of 5 leading local retailers to address this new challenge together. He trusted their experience and listened carefully to their business proposals on how to increase visits to malls. Focusing on the customer yet again, he incorporated new experiences and activities in the malls, such as the Athens Olympic Museum and the XPLORE Entertainment Centre at the Golden Hall.
His approach was remarkably successful. Starting in 2013, the profitability of the LAMDA malls has been breaking one record after the other. In 2019, with Odisseas Athanasiou at the helm, the company proceeded with one of the highest share capital increases ever recorded in Greece, amounting to €650 million. The path to a remarkable new milestone had already been paved.
The Ellinikon: “A vision to create something unique in the world”
The biggest bet for Odisseas Athanasiou was the development of The Ellinikon on the site of the old airport in Athens. Covering a surface area of 6.2 million m2, a 15-minute city will host one of the largest coastal parks in the world, with green housing complexes, a beach complex and marina, malls, tourist facilities, restaurants and entertainment spaces, office buildings, health and educational facilities.
For LAMDA Development’s CEO this is not just a profitable real estate investment. Odisseas Athanasiou envisioned a large urban regeneration project that introduces a new way of living for everyone and promotes the sustainability and well-being of society. His dedication and passion for his work helped him cut through the red tape and make the investment happen. He sees obstacles as steps in a process and believes that when people are working on something they truly love, succeeding is only a matter of time.
The Ellinikon is the largest strategic real estate investment in Europe today. It has a strong social impact, as it is expected to create more than 85,000 new jobs, improve the quality of life in the city and enhance the environment. As Odisseas Athanasiou stated on Bloomberg, “The Ellinikon project symbolizes a new Greece in the process of regeneration”.