Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is an Olympic organizer, ambassador of the Greek state, lawyer, and former Parliamentarian. In 1986, Ambassador Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was elected to the Athens Municipal Council. In 1989, she was elected to Parliament, and won reelection the following year.
Following her marriage to Theodore Angelopoulos, Gianna resigned her seat in the Parliament to focus on family and business. In 1996, the Prime Minister of Greece appointed her to lead the country's successful campaign to host the 2004 Olympic Games. In 2000, when slow progress and gridlocked bureaucracy put Athens in danger of losing the Games, she was asked to assume the presidency of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee and save the project.
Today, Ambassador Angelopoulos-Daskalaki serves as Vice-Chairman of the Dean's Council of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and is a supporter of the Clinton Global Initiative, a leading philanthropist for projects in Greece and around the globe, and a proud parent of three grown children.
"From her girlhood in Crete to her career in the Greek Parliament
and then the management of the 2004 Athens Olympics, Gianna
Angelopoulos-Daskalaki tells a wonderfully human tale of struggle
and success. It is an engaging read!"
--Joseph S. Nye, Distinguished Service Professor, Harvard
University, and former Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School
"Gianna Angelopoulos has lived a remarkable life of achievement.
Again and again she has demonstrated what one determined person can
do to move the world. Her story should be an inspiration to many.
For those who care about Greece, the Olympics, or the power of a
determined woman, her story is important reading. I have learned
much from Gianna and you can too."
--Lawrence H. Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury
"Gianna Angelopoulos is a force of nature, both in life and in this
book. It is a joy to see her capture her leadership, vivacity, and
wit in these pages. My Greek Drama is more than her personal
journey in turning around the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens--it is
a clarion call for Greeks and others to reach higher, faster,
farther."
--David Gergen, Professor of Public Service and Director of the
Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, CNN
Senior Analyst, and former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford,
Reagan, and Clinton
"In My Greek Drama, Gianna recounts her successes -- as a dedicated
public servant, savior of the 2004 Olympic Games, and devoted
mother of three -- and presents a useful guide for those who seek
to transform lives, organizations, and even nations."
--President Bill Clinton
"The amazing and riveting triumphant insider story of the Olympic
movement's first ever one-woman show. Learn the truths and the
struggles of the larger-than-life Greek woman who twice rescued the
Athens Olympics from ruin to make them Greece's only international
triumph in recent memory."
--Dick Ebersol, former Chairman and Executive Producer, NBC Sports
and Olympics
"With skill, charm, will, and drive--Gianna Angelopoulos led the
effort to bring the Olympics back to Greece. She broke barriers.
Cut through barriers. And modernized a broken system. That success
encapsulates the story of her life--a remarkable rise packed with
lessons on leadership."
--George Stephanopoulos, ABC News Anchor
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