Balkans & Black Sea Forum 2017
Stability | Growth | Cooperation
May 25-26, 2017 | Serres, Greece
Liana is the Energy Policy & International Affairs Director at HELLENIC PETROLEUM, the leading Greek Energy Group, with ample experience in Energy Policy, Change Management & Organisational Design, Operations & Process Design, New Product Development, Industrial Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) and Quality Management.
She also worked as a Parliamentary Advisor in European Parliament issues, on Energy, Environment and Regional Development.
President of Women’s Organization of Managers and Entrepreneurs-Macedonia Section of Hellenic Management Association for the last 6 years, and founding member of the “iforU” initiative on women’s entrepreneurship.
Elected in several decision making positions in professional and social associations while she also served as President of Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy-Thessaloniki Branch.
Invited to represent Greece to the International Visitor Leadership Program of the US State Department on “Development of Green Technologies and Policies in the post-Carbon Age”(2009)
Invited by the US State Department to the “Invest for the Future” initiative on Women’s Leadership and Empowerment, in the region of Eurasia, SE Europe and the Balkans (Istanbul, Jan.2011 and Zagreb, Oct.2011)
Honored to be selected as one of the “Women Changing Greece” in the doc series by US Embassy Athens and Huffington Post (2017)
Invited speaker in numerous conferences, with more than 300 articles and interviews in newspapers, magazines, TV&radio, on Energy, Environment, Growth&Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship, Women’s Empowerment etc (www.lianagouta.gr).
She holds a Chemical Engineering Degree with Honors (valedictorian), while she had many academic distinctions during her studies.
She is married and mother of two children.
Huge steps in women’s education and profession during the last decades. But the last step to the top seems to be the most difficult one. External and internal obstacles for modern women.
- Glass Ceiling, mindsets and stereotypes, culture, 1 digit statistics for women in senior level positions, lack of numerous success stories and role models. High goals seem unachievable in real life.
- Unconscious bias by the decision makers, lack of adequate interpretation of statistics, not realizing the financial incentives to exploit the women's talent and skills.
- Internal obstacles and drawbacks that arise with maternity and constitute a turnover in a woman’s life. The need to redefine the balance between the modern couple and the crucial new role of the partner/husband/father.
- Need for the women to realize their strength, their skills, their high level education and therefore dare to Dream Big, to set high goals, and to even pave the way if necessary.