Founder & CEO - ONEX Shipyards & Technologies Group

Profile
Panos Xenokostas is a founder, entrepreneur, engineer, investor, and a retd Air Force Officer with BA in Aerospace Engineering and MBA in IUKB Swiss University. He is active in the industries of Shipbuilding, Maritime, ICT, Aviation, Defense & Security and Energy.

Vision
The creation of a leading US shipyard, technology and integrated logistics hub in East Med. So far, through his investments, he has contributed to the job creation rate in Greece by directly/ indirectly employing more than 2.000 people.

Main milestones involve:
⁃ Shipbuilding, Energy & Maritime: Elefsina Shipyard acquisition, restructuring & rehabilitation plan (2nd biggest shipyard in Greece) and creation of a Shipyard/Energy/Technology, Maritime hub,
⁃ ICT: In teaming partnership with CISCO and South Aegean Region established the “Aegean Neorion Innovation center” based in Syros Island
⁃ Shipbuilding: Acquisition & rehabilitation of Neorion Syros Shipyards, (3rd largest shipyard in Greece and the oldest Greek heavy industry)
⁃ Technology & AI: Onex LifeBox platform focusing on making people’s life easier, applications such as Vaccine App, COVID Free GR Wallet and more

Notable Achievement
The re-operation of Neorion Shipyards has changed the ship-repairing National Index after decades of decline, with 90% of the National Growth of this sector comes from Neorion Shipyard’s operations.

Awards & Recognition: 
-The Lloyd’s Greek Shipping Awards for the regeneration of shipbuilding/ship repair industry in Greece (for the first time a shipyard was the primary recipient of one of the Greek Shipping Awards)
-Honorary member of the BOD of Piraeus Chamber of Commerce & Industry
-Annual award of Hellenic Institute of Marine Technology
-The Maritime Tradition Museum honorary distinction for his valuable contribution to the rebirth of the Greek Shipbuilding Industry
-Among the 100 most influential Greeks internationally for 2020 (mononews100 | top100listview2020) 
-Twice (2014 & 2015) among the 10 Best European Entrepreneurs in the European Business Awards contest
-Twice (2013 & 2015): participation of his Nanotechnology company in the CleanTech Open Global Ideas Competition; both times among the top 5 contestants who presented the cleanest technologies

Active Citizen 
P. Xenokostas continuously engages in philanthropic activities such as in sports (local teams, athletes with disabilities etc), environmental actions, cultural events and endeavors that promote art and science, or simply and quietly supporting families and people in need, thus aiming for a more fair and sustainable future.