For Immediate Release
GARP WELCOMES 3 REGIONAL DIRECTORS TO ITS EUROPEAN CHAPTERS
New York, London, Beijing, August 4, 2008 — The Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP: www.garp.org), the leading professional association dedicated to the advancement of the risk profession, welcomes back Gert-Jan Sikking, FRM®, Regional Director of GARP’s Chapter in The Netherlands and congratulates Co-Directors Athanasios Papanikolaou and Fotios Tsiamas on their appointment to GARP’s newly formed Chapter in Athens, Greece.
Gert-Jan Sikking, FRM®, Senior Project Manager at PGGM Investments has been reinstated Regional Director of the GARP Chapter in The Netherlands. Mr. Sikking was appointed GARP Regional Director in August 2002 and is happy to reclaim his post after a brief relocation.
Athanasios Papanikolaou, Risk Advisor, Risk Advisory Services, Ernst & Young Southeast Europe and Fotios Tsiamas, Head of Credit Scoring/MIS, Consumer Lending Business, Eurobank have been appointed Co-Directors of the Regional Chapter in Athens, Greece.
Newly appointed Co-Director Tsiamas commented, “We aim at fostering communication among professionals that share an interest in Risk Management, in order to raise awareness. We believe that everyone will benefit and it will guarantee the creation of a more active forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences between members.”
Co-Director Papanikolaou added, “Our first target will be the expansion of the member base. A larger Greek association will allow us to promote the importance of Risk Management more energetically.”
To network with Gert-Jan Sikking, Athanasios Papanikolaou, Fotios Tsiamas, and local GARP members, join a Chapter Group on GARP’s On-line Community.
Click here to join the Athens, Greece Chapter Group.
Click here to join The Netherlands Chapter Group.
GARP currently has a total of 70 Regional Directors representing 50 regions in 35 countries around the world.
About Gert-Jan Sikking
Gert-Jan Sikking, FRM®, received an MBA in Business Economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 1989. He began working in the Treasury Department at Banque Indosuez in the Netherlands and later became the Head of Treasury Trading and Sales.
In 1997, Gert-Jan began working in the Treasury Department at NIB (The Hague) where he was responsible for cash management, interest rate management of the loan and mortgage portfolios and managing the proprietary investment portfolio of the bank. Gert-Jan later became a Project Manager responsible for building an internal credit rating system for and the bank. In 2002, Gert-Jan became the Head of Research and of Risk Management Financial Markets at NIB.
That same year, Mr. Sikking created a GARP Chapter in the Netherlands where he served as Regional Director and organized meetings with speakers from Holland and the GARP network.
In 2004, Gert-Jan relocated to the United States to take on the role of Chief Operating Officer of the Asset Management division within the NIBC group. He moved back to NIB headquarters in the Netherlands in 2007 where he became the Program Manager for Basel II, coord.
In July 2008, Gert-Jan left NIB and is currently a Senior Project Manager at PGGM Investments.
About Athanasios Papanikolaou
Athanasios is a Risk Advisor in Ernst & Young Southeast Europe in Risk Advisory Services based in Athens. He has recently participated in the Basel II Project Management Office of Piraeus Bank where he was responsible for assessing Basel II compliance of Bank’s credit models. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, he was a credit risk analyst in Eurobank Cards, where he developed solid knowledge regarding PD, LGD and EAD scorecard development and validation techniques for the retail portfolio. In Eurobank Bank, Athanasios participated in the AIRB implementation project for 2 years.
Athanasios is an experienced user of SPSS, Answer Tree, Clementine 10.0, Forecast Pro, Microsaint and Crystal Ball software and has VBA programming skills. He received his MSc degree in Management Science – Operational Research from Lancaster University, UK as well as “Strategic Decision and Risk Management” certificate from Stanford University, USA. He has published various articles related to Risk Management and served as the main speaker in international Risk Conferences in Hungary and Denmark.
About Fotios Tsiamas
An Australian native, Fotios received his Bachelor of Economics majoring in International Trade from Victoria University in 2000 during which he worked in Telstra (Telecommunication Company) and Karaco Accountants. After completing his Bachelors degree, he received his Masters for Business Economics with First Class Honors in 2002. He also was awarded a certificate in excellence in a few subjects of his Masters degree.
Following the completion of his Greek army obligations, Fotios joined Eurobank- Consumer lending Business, where he currently holds a position as the Head of Credit Scoring/ MIS; which is responsible of Credit Application/Behavioral Scoring Models & Basel II models (PD,LGD & EAD models) for Greece & supports all Scoring Models for the International Division. He has completed seminars in the field of Risk Management in Greece & England. Fotios is experienced in SPSS, Clementine & Forecast Pro software.
About GARP
The Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) is a not-for-profit independent association of over 78,000 risk management practitioners and researchers representing banks, investment management firms, government agencies, academic institutions, and corporations from more than 167 countries worldwide. It also administers the Financial Risk Manager (FRM®), the certification recognized by financial risk professionals worldwide. GARP’s mission is to be the leading professional association for risk managers, managed by and for its members dedicated to the advancement of the risk profession through education, training and the promotion of best practices globally. www.garp.org.
Contact
Greg Winsper
Global Association of Risk Professionals
Phone 201.719.7240
Fax 201.222.5022
111 Town Square
Suite 1215
Jersey City, NJ 07310
