Emergence in tech teams with women and men
The gender opportunity

Join us for a fireside chat with 10 diverse voices in tech to share stories, learn from each other, and discover how gender diversity can unlock a team's true potential.

Register now
Emergence
Opportunity

About the event

Fireflies are something that we have all loved as kids, right? Catching them in the backyard, putting them in a jar and watching them glow. We don't tend to think of them as anything all that mysterious. They do one thing very nicely, which is flash on and off.

But what interests scientists is that there are places in the world where fireflies don't just flash randomly like we're used to, they somehow flash together.

Tens of thousands of fireflies gather along riverbanks and, tree after tree, extending for literally miles, all flash in sync like a Christmas tree. Rows and rows of Christmas trees all wired together going off.

One of the most hypnotic and spellbinding spectacles in nature.

This phenomenon is called "emergence". Emergence highlights the idea that complex systems exhibit properties and behaviors that cannot be fully explained or predicted by analyzing their individual components in isolation, emphasizing the importance of understanding the interactions and relationships within the system as a whole.

The system, is something beside, and not the same, as its elements.

— Aristotle

Join Event

Apr 17
7pm EET

Location:

Hellenic IT Museum, Moschato, Greece

Doors open at 6:30 PM

If all of us, women and men, are elements of tech organizations, how do we nurture an environment where everyone thrives so that we can collectively reach a state of emergence?

Get your ticket By booking a ticket you confirm that you have read, understood and agree with the privacy policy statement. 100% of the proceeds will go towards supporting the Hellenic IT Museum and its educational activities. Tickets are €4 each. A limited number of sponsored tickets will be given to students and people who are unemployed - please get in touch with us to claim a free ticket.

Speakers

Lilian Balatsou
Lilian Balatsou
Conversational Intelligence Chapter Lead at Vodafone

Dr. Lilian Balatsou is a Language AI Expert. She holds a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Bangor University, UK and a MSc in Psychology of Language by the University of Edinburgh.

She has thoroughly investigated the intersection between the language and the human brain in her academic research. After transitioning into industry, she has worked in the Conversational AI field in significant projects in telco, banking and digital transformation in general.

She helps companies create the best tools and strategies to use AI and language in order to serve their customers better. She is also an award-winning activist for Women in Science and Technology in Greece, a frequent keynote speaker and the founder of the digital campaign Greek Girls Code.

Athena Dova
Athena Dova
COO and co-founder of Owiwi, a leading HR tech platform

Athena is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She leverages her diverse academic background, including a Law School specialization in Labor Relations and Mergers & Acquisitions, an MSc in International Business and Management, and a diploma in Inclusion Management, to transform talent acquisition and management through game-based assessments.

As a proud Lean In Organization Ambassador, Athina's commitment to her values has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Fortune Magazine 40 Under 40 list, the International Women Entrepreneur Award (2017), the Greek International Women Awards (Entrepreneurship Category, 2018), and the Female Role Model of the Year (2019 Global Startup Awards).

Beyond her work at Owiwi, Athina dedicates her free time to pro bono mentoring services and collaborates with the Mum Institute Initiative to create vocational guidance, employment, and empowerment programs within child protection institutions.

Maria Karanasou
Maria Karanasou
Senior Backend Engineer at DuckDuckGo

Maria holds a BSc and MSc in Computer Science from the University of Piraeus. With over 15 years of experience as a Software Developer, she has spent the past eight years focused on preventing online Fraud and Abuse.

Maria has found purpose and satisfaction in using her technical skills to solve challenging problems with real-world impact. She's been doing remote work since 2018, collaborating with global teams across multiple time zones. This experience strengthened her ability to work effectively in diverse virtual environments. It also deepened Maria's understanding of digital rights and the unique challenges faced by individuals in different regions.

Through her work, Maria is continually expanding her knowledge, while helping address issues with a global scope.

Tonia Konsolaki
Tonia Konsolaki
Senior Frontend Developer at ARHS Developments Hellas

Tonia is a skilled senior front-end developer with a passion for innovation, mentorship, and making a meaningful impact in the tech community. Beyond her expertise in coding, Tonia possesses a unique ability to recognize and cultivate potential in others, leading her to take on multiple leadership and mentorship roles within her technical teams.

Outside of her professional endeavors, Tonia is dedicated to empowering young girls and introducing them to the world of technology through programming. She actively engages in initiatives aimed at promoting inclusivity and diversity, ensuring that every young mind has the opportunity to thrive in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

Notably, Tonia contributes her talents to the Mataroa project, playing a pivotal role in creating a more supportive and diverse environment for all.

Goga Lampropoulou
Goga Lampropoulou
Senior Director, QA Engineering at Persado

Over 20 years of experience in the defense/security, telecommunications, and software industries. Leading and motivating remote teams and stakeholders for over 13 years, while driving impactful results. Passionate about cultivating future leaders and building high-performing global teams that deliver strategic initiatives for innovative products and solutions.

Empower teams to be agents of change, fostering a culture of improvement in productivity, efficiency, and quality. Cultivating strong relationships with executive leadership to influence top level change.

Sharpen team focus on customer satisfaction, prioritizing the removal of impediments and embracing automation and data-driven approaches. Agile enthusiast with a keen eye for identifying risks and proactively solving problems early in the product development cycle.

Dimitris Aivatoglou
Dimitris Aivatoglou
Head of Research & Development at Nokia

Dimitris has been working in software & telecoms industry for more than 20 years, starting as a software engineer building VoIP applications. Since 2016 he is the Head of Research & Development in NOKIA's Core Networks division, leading an organization of more than 200 people in Athens and focusing on building software for network elements powering the core of 4G/5G networks globally.

Through his role, he has been actively engaging in meaningful discussions with CTOs from some of the world's leading telecom operators, trying to solve problems like intelligent network scaling and automated deployment and provisioning of network functions.

He is a hands-on technology leader, focusing on results and operational efficiency. However, his priority is always to foster the right entrepreneurial culture that would inspire collaboration and innovative problem solving.

Dimitris holds an Electronic and Computer Engineering degree from Sheffield Hallam university, MSc in Networks and software engineering from Surrey university and the International MBA from AUEB.

Thanos Gkanas
Thanos Gkanas
Software Architect & Founder of Sonaht Tech

Thanos participated in more than 30 software projects over the last 20 years. For the last 6 years he has been leading multiple teams and projects. Always remains as much hands on as he can. Worked on several occasions with diverse and distributed teams. Even though he has experience in multiple tech stacks, he does not evangelise any, as there is always the right tool for the right job. He never stops learning and gets familiarised with recent software trends. He is currently working as a contractor tech lead for European companies.

Ion Petropoulos
Ion Petropoulos
Head of Technology and Pedagogy at Zone01 Athens

Over the years, Ion has been deeply immersed in the world of Software Development, accumulating a wealth of experiences that have both challenged and enriched my professional journey. However, throughout this time, he has always felt a strong yearning for something more — the human connection and the joy of sharing knowledge.

Graduated from Athens University of Economics and Business with a major in Software Engineering and Data Science and worked for 3 years at various companies and startups as a Software Engineer, specializing in front-end development.

For the past year, shifted his focus to Tech Education and mentoring, serving as the Head of Tech for Zone01 Athens, a peer-to-peer coding school.

Vasilis Skourtis
Vasilis Skourtis
Software Engineer, Public Sector

Vasilis Skourtis is an engineer who delves into the world's source code through constant reverse engineering. A firm believer in grasping the core principles, he avoids empty jargon and champions clear communication. He likes the Feynman Technique and was a fan of the Human Library movement long before it was cool.

For over a decade, he has been developing web applications across diverse industries, from betting to hospitality, insurance, and European Union projects. A new challenge emerged, demanding the protection of human rights and critical infrastructure in an undeclared CyberWar. He then provided his services as an Information Security Officer for the Hellenic Electricity Distribution Network Operator (HEDNO). Currently, he operates in a Stealth Mode for the Public Sector.

He believes that stagnation brings mistakes, like a driver stuck in a routine for decades, one risks repeating errors without being aware of them. In contrast, a driver that races learns from the competition and evolves. Therefore, he joins competitions occasionally to improve himself. During that romantic journey, he found himself lucky enough to be part of the winning team of the Threat Modeling Connect Spring 2023 Hackathon.

Yiorgos Tzirtzilakis
Yiorgos Tzirtzilakis
Director of Engineering at FlexCar, Enterprise Architect, Career and Leadership Coaching

Yiorgos builds products that make a difference for customers and society. Combining business acumen with full-stack software skills, he tackles projects from strategy to code. A strong communicator with a technical brain, he understands the big picture without losing sight of the nuts and bolts of each solution.

Passionate about empowering others, he mentors founders and shares leadership & self-development insights online.

He is also a learning enthusiast - painting, physics, and the list goes on!

Moderators

Georgios Diamantopoulos
Georgios Diamantopoulos
Fullstack Engineer

Georgios went straight from PhD to startup. For about 10 years, he was involved in four startups, where he had to develop the product, sometimes alone and sometimes with a team. He is proud of having built with RavenDB and AngularJS in 2012, when there were only two articles on the internet about building SPAs. At heart, Georgios is a pragmatist. He often asks “why?” and draws insightful diagrams on the Zero to MVP blackboard.

Manos Theodorou
Manos Theodorou
Fullstack Engineer

Manos fundamentally loves a good challenge; titles are of no importance to him and he enjoys asking, "What do we need to do to get this done?" He has led a team at a big corporation and embraced the startup attitude. At Zero to MVP, he is leading the effort for team workflow processes and writing code across the stack.

Register now