September, 2026
Event Details
ACG in Conversation
“The Human Advantage: Learning, Creating and Leading in the Age of AI”
Venue:
Sandbox 1, 39th floor, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf Estate, London E14 5AB, United Kingdom
When:
Thursday, September 24, 2026 | 6:00 PM
Organized by:
The American College of Greece
Event Agenda
Welcome Remarks
Part I – Fireside Chat (approximately 15 minutes)
A focused conversation between the President of The American College of Greece, Dr. Edward Wingenbach, and the Dean of Alba Graduate Business School, Dr. Danae Manika.
Ed Wingenbach
President, The American College of Greece
Edward Wingenbach became the eighth President of The American College of Greece in 2025 following more than three decades of academic leadership at innovative liberal arts institutions. Previously, he served as President of Hampshire College (2019–2025), where he led a major institutional transformation, driving significant enrollment growth, strengthening financial sustainability through record fundraising, launching a new academic model, and achieving full carbon neutrality. Earlier leadership roles include Vice President and Dean of Faculty, Acting President, and Professor at Ripon College, as well as senior academic and administrative positions at the University of Redlands, where he advanced curriculum innovation, internationalization, research, and institutional development.
A scholar of democratic theory and political philosophy, Wingenbach is the author of Institutionalizing Agonistic Democracy and has published extensively in leading academic journals. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Lake Forest College and master’s and PhD degrees in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame. His career reflects a commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and education that prepares students to address complex global challenges.
Danae Manika
Danae is Executive Dean of ALBA Graduate Business School, The American College of Greece, where she also serves as Professor of Marketing. She provides strategic leadership across academic excellence, research, executive education, international partnerships, and organisational development. Before joining ALBA, she held senior leadership and academic roles at Brunel University of London, Newcastle University, Queen Mary University of London, Durham University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to academia, she gained industry experience in strategic advertising and brand planning with Latinworks and DDB. Danae’s research integrates marketing, behavioural science, psychology, and strategic communication to examine trust, decision-making, digital transformation, sustainability, and responsible leadership. Her work has secured over €560,000 in competitive research funding and has been published in leading international journals. She has served in editorial leadership roles for top academic journals and collaborates closely with businesses, public-sector organisations, and policymakers to translate research into practical, evidence-based strategies that drive organisational performance and positive societal impact.
Part II – Panel Discussion (approximately 30 minutes)
The panel will explore the scale of the AI skills gap, how employers, governments, and educational institutions are responding, and the role of institutions such as The American College of Greece in preparing students and alumni for an AI-driven future.
Speakers
Alexandros Fragkos, Senior Business Strategy & Analytics Lead, Gemini EMEA Marketing, GOOGLE , Alba Alumnus
Theo Michalopoulos
General Manager, Enterprise Commercial, Microsoft UK & Ireland, Alba Alumnus
Theo Michalopoulos is the Enterprise Commercial Lead for Microsoft UK, a role he took on in July 2025. In this position, he leads Microsoft’s engagement with some of the UK’s largest organisations across multiple industries, helping them transform through technology, drive sustainable growth, empower their people and unlock long-term value.
Before taking on this role, Theo was the Financial Services Lead for Microsoft UK, where he partnered with major banks, insurers and capital market firms to accelerate digital transformation and innovation. Prior to that, he served as General Manager for Greece, Cyprus and Malta, delivering significant achievements including securing investment in a new Microsoft data centre region, launching an ambitious digital skills training programme and leading the digital restoration of Ancient Olympia, a pioneering cultural heritage project. Theo is an Alba alumnus.
Ioulia Bessa
Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School and a visiting professor at Alba Graduate Business School
Her research focuses on non-standard forms of employment and their connection to precarity, underemployment/unemployment, as well as the use of quantitative instruments and methods to measure and understand precarity across different recessionary contexts, including the post-BREXIT and post-COVID-19 periods, and in the platform economy. Ioulia is very interested in looking at how precarious and uncertain periods affect mental health, wellbeing, life and job satisfaction. She has used a range of secondary datasets (UK national and international) and has published in a number of different journals in the area of Industrial Relations and Sociology of work, such as Work, Employment and Society, British Journal of Industrial Relations and Human Relations Management. She is currently Editor at Work, Employment and Society.
Moderator
Othon Anastasakis
Director, SEESOX & Senior Research Fellow, St Antony’s College, Oxford
Expert in European & Global Geopolitics
Othon Anastasakis is the Director of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX), Senior Research Fellow at St Antony’s College, and Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, having also previously served as Director of the European Studies Centre in Oxford. At Oxford, he teaches South East European politics, global geopolitics, and EU politics. He is currently the Principal Investigator for three major research projects: Greek Diaspora, Migration Diplomacy and Turkey–EU Relations, and The Eastern Mediterranean.
Alongside his positions at Oxford, he is a Visiting Professor at the Prague University of Economics and Business and Region Head of Europe at Oxford Analytica. His past academic and advisory appointments include Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE), and expert on EU affairs at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has lectured at universities across Europe, North America, and Australia, including an appointment as an Onassis Fellow in autumn 2014, during which he delivered lectures at CUNY and Queens College, New York.
He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Athens, an MA in Comparative Politics and International Relations from Columbia University, New York, and a PhD in Comparative Government from the London School of Economics.
His extensive published work covers populism, illiberalism, and Euroscepticism; comparative European politics; migration and diaspora; Balkan party politics; South East European geopolitical challenges; Greek and Turkish foreign policies; and Russia and the Balkans. His recent books include Homeland-Diaspora Engagement in Times of Severe Economic Crisis: The Case of Greece; Revisiting a Contested Past: The Greek Military Dictatorship; The Legacy of Yugoslavia: Politics, Economy and Society; and Balkan Legacies of the Great War: The Past Is Never Dead.
Part III – Networking Reception (approximately 1 hour)