Nikos Avlonas is Founder and President of the Centre for Sustainability & Excellence (CSE), a global Sustainability Strategic Advisory and Training organization with activities in North America, Europe, MENA and Asia regions. Nikos was distinguished as one of the “Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior” in 2010 by Trust Across America, an organization dedicated to promoting trustworthy business behavior. He was recognized as a CSR Professional of the Year by PR News in 2017.
He is currently an Adjunct Professor in DePaul University (Chicago), one of the 10 largest and most innovative universities in US. Nikos is a well-known international speaker on topics related to Sustainable Development and CSR and has delivered speeches and educated professionals in North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia.
Nikos specializes in Sustainability, Corporate Social Responsibility & Governance, Business Ethics and Performance Management strategies. During the last 15 years, he has carried out numerous projects in leading organizations, including Fortune Global 500 Companies, such as BP, Nestle, Heineken Group, Coca Cola, Blackberry, ΑΒΜ, McCain, DHL, Lafarge, Deutsche Post, Under Armour, the European Investment Bank, Government of Dubai and the Lloyds Banking Group. Additionally, he has extensive international experience in executive training & coaching having trained over 3,000 managers worldwide including executives from NASA, Walmart, Word Bank, Coca Cola.
He was founder and Co-Chair of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Strategy Committee. He is advisory council member of SERF (Society of Environmentally Responsible Facilities) Green Building guidelines in US and one of the founders and Vice President of the Corporate Responsibility Institute since 2007, a non-profit organization for CSR performance evaluation and benchmarking (based on the Business in the Community Index-BITC). He is also a Board Member in the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC) in Chicago. In the past, he was Scientific Advisor to the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), based in Brussels, in the field of Business Excellence and Corporate Social Responsibility. He was project leader for the development of a CSR Framework and relevant tools supported by the UN Global Compact and applied to thousands of companies globally. He is also a member of GACSO (Global Association of Corporate Sustainability Officers).
He has contributed as chairman and advising member in the organization and coordination of workshops and international conferences on a variety of business topics. He is co-author of the books “Practical Sustainability Strategies”, published by Wiley in 2014 which became one of the bestselling books in this field, and ‘’Management Models for the Future’’ published in 2009. He has given many interviews relevant to the above issues to international media including Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, CCTV (China Central TV), Voice of America and many others.
