Our team
Credits: Fill in the Gap / Vasilis Kouroupis
METADRASI'S PRESIDENT
LORA PAPPA
Lora Pappa, President and CEO of METAdrasi, has studied International Relations at the Institut de Hautes Etudes Internationales et du Développement (IHEID). In 2016, she was awarded from IHEID the first ever Alumna of the Year Award.
Since the early 1990s, Lora Pappa’s main interest and focus of work relates to the reception and integration of refugees and migrants. Through all her extensive experience in the field, Lora Pappa was aiming to find the best possible ways for consolidating efforts and facilitating life conditions of refugees and asylum-seekers, and, particularly, unaccompanied minors. In 2010, after seven years as a part of the UNHCR and fifteen years working with NGOs and the National Youth Foundation, Lora Pappa founded NGO METAdrasi – Action for Migration and Development, in order to cover crucial gaps through innovative intervention.
In 2015, Laura Pappa was awarded the “North-South” award of the Council of Europe for her outstanding work in promoting solidarity, democracy and human rights.In 2016, she was honoured by the President of the Republic of Portugal with the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Freedom. In 2017, she was awarded the Medal of the “Legion of Honour” 2017, decoration by the French state.
VICE-PRESIDENT
SASKIA FLOROU-BALKE
Saskia Florou-Balke is METAdrasi’s vice president. She was born in the Netherlands and has been living in Greece since 1989. She has studied history at the American College of Greece and has a Master’s degree in European Studies from the London School of Economics. She has worked for years as a journalist in Athens and since 2014 has been archiving wild flora for the Goulandri Museum of Natural History. She has been part of METAdrasi’s mission since its creation in 2009 and her contribution has been crucial in strengthening safe escorting missions for unaccompanied minors during the years 2012-2013.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MARKOS KOMONDOUROS
Markos Komondouros is METAdrasi’s Treasurer. He is involved with fundraising and advocacy. He holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Imperial College London and master’s degrees in Business Administration and Applied Linguistics from Birkbeck University of London. He is an investment banking professional with a long career at UBS in London, Paris and Istanbul. Since 2006, he has been based in Athens. He speaks Greek, English, French, Italian, Spanish and Turkish.