Alumnus Profiled: Ioannis Lantouris
Graduated: Deree 2004
Lives in: Athens, Greece
Current Role: Head of Operations (Greece) OroraTech IKE
Ioannis Lantouris is an accomplished operations leader and program manager with extensive experience building organizations from the ground up and leading cross-functional teams in high-tech environments. He has a proven track record of scaling business operations, securing funding, and navigating complex governmental frameworks. Ioannis also brings expertise in project recovery, strategic stakeholder management at the C-suite and ministerial levels, and ITSM process optimization for global enterprises.
Q&A
Q: What are three enduring values Deree has taught you?
1. Question everything – Not everything is what it looks like
2. Keep an open mind and respect other people’s opinions even when you don’t share them
3. Give second chances to things you don’t like
Q: Describe Deree in three words.
- Openness
- Progress
- Consideration
Q: Which is your fondest memory from your time at Deree? What do you miss most from your days at Deree?
When I subscribed to my first club – Environmental club and got to know everyone. That year, we managed to have a great team, and we genuinely did a lot of things for the club and for the college. That’s what I miss from Deree, the sense of belonging to a team that accepts you as you are and tries to bring out the best in you.
Q: If you could go back in time, is there anything that you would do differently?
To be honest, no, I don’t want to change anything. I am also the kind of person who does not like to look back in time and think how things could be done if…. They belong to the past and we cannot change them; what you can do is learn from them and see how you can improve and become a better person. Learn from mistakes and become a better you.
Q: Where was your favorite spot on campus?
I have two: The library at Agia Paraskevi’s campus and the entrance at Downtown Campus, where we were chilling with my friends before class.
Q: Who was your favorite teacher and why?
I don’t remember her name, but she was the calculus teacher; she was the only person who made me understand math and love it. To this day, I am grateful to her because without math, my career probably would have taken a different turn.
Q: After graduation, have you maintained a relationship with your school and classmates?
I didn’t, mostly because a few years after my graduation, I left Greece to work abroad. I kept in touch with one person, though, and we have become best friends, and now she is working with me.
Q: Looking back, how did your time at Deree help you become the person you are today?
In one sentence, it helped me develop my critical thinking, opened my horizons to new experiences, and of course, it advanced my education, which is invaluable on its own.
Q: What advice would you give a new Deree student?
Be patient, don’t give up on the first difficulty and persist. Always have goals and try to fulfill them as best you can. Make sure that these goals are your own goals and that you set them. When other people set goals for you, it’s a given that you will never reach them.
Q: Where do you get your inspiration from?
My inspiration comes from my family and the people that love me. It’s my urge to support them, assist them and make sure that they have the best in life that drives me. Also, my drive to become the best to what I do is another source of motivation for me.
Q: What is your motto in life?
Sky is not the limit – there so much space beyond that 😊
ACG Alumni: We Stay Connected!
