He was born in Kos in 1947. He is Professor Emeritus at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Athens and has been an Ordinary Member of the Academy of Athens since 2016. He studied Business Administration at the Athens School of Economics and Business (1975) and holds a Master’s in Economics from Lakehead University, Canada (1977) and a PhD from Queen’s University, Canada. He was Deputy Governor and Governor of the Mortgage Bank (1995-1998), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (1998-2000), Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (2000-2004), member of the Board of Directors of the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) (2000-2004) as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Greece and of the Hellenic Bank Association (2009-2012, 2021- ). He has been the Chair of the Board of Directors of Alpha Bank since May 2014.