Dimitrios Alexopoulos and Cathy Alexopoulos received The Spiros Stamoulis Award for Lifetime Achievement, at this years HACCI Excellence Awards.
Born in Greece but hailing from Asia Minor, Cathy Alexopoulos (nee Hatjiandreou) migrated to Australia with her family in 1957. She completed her tertiary studies at Melbourne University and began her teaching career. Cathy returned to Athens in 1971, where she married Dimitris Alexopoulos and started teaching English for the British Embassy and the Greek Department of Education.
She relocated with Dimitris and their children to Australia in 1984 where she began advanced studies in the Education area, Administration and Management and Special Education for children with special needs. During this time, she also worked as Head of the Primary at the Oakleigh Greek Orthodox College (currently known as Oakleigh Grammar), setting the sound foundations of the school. In 1998 she was elected President of the Greek-Australian Cultural League (GACL).
She has ever since been at the helm of this vibrant organisation focusing on the advancement and pursuit of the Greek letters, history and culture. Cathy has managed to spread GALC’s reputation across Australia and around the world, offering the Greek-Australian community events that promote the Greek language and culture and advancing philhellenism in the Diaspora. During her leadership GALC not only became a well-known brand but also became financially sustainable sourcing various avenues of revenue. Cathy has an extensive list of achievements that showcase advocacy, financial support, initiatives and innovative activities that are interesting, current and stimulating. She was awarded the Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia for her service to the Greek -community of Melbourne in 2016.
Born in Greece in a village in Arcadia, Dimitris studied Economics & Accounting and completed postgraduate studies in Business Administration at the University of Piraeus. He migrated to Australia in 1964 and continued his studies at RMIT while working for Massey Ferguson and Dunlop. During this time he became involved with the Greek Community of St. Albans by establishing the Greek school as well as teaching the Greek language from 1967-1970. He repatriated to Greece in 1970 and was employed by Kodak Near East Inc. in Greece and was also appointed to set up the Kodak operations in Ireland. In 1984 he was transferred to Kodak Australasia in Melbourne in the role of Assistant Finance Director. Dimitris worked for Kodak until 1999. During this time he worked tirelessly, diligently and enthusiastically within various key areas of the company and gained the respect, admiration and praise of his superiors and colleagues in significant roles. In every one of them, he demonstrated commitment and passion in providing innovative projects and reaching excellent targets contributing to the overall performance of the company.
Dimitris has served for over 20 years the Panarcadian Association of Melbourne and Victoria “O Kolokotronis” as Treasurer & Secretary and President, offering the Arcadians and their descendants a plethora of events promoting the Greek language & culture. He has helped shape the migration history of Hellenes in Australia and has undertaken his role as President with zeal, commitment and integrity. Dimitris has also held the position of President of the Panarcadian Federation of Victoria for the last 14 years ( and of the President of Australia, every second year) serving the Arcadian community positively and harmoniously and helping the newly arrived migrants from Arcadia. He has been also actively involved in the organisation of the World Wide Panarcadian Conference (WWPC) held in Tripolis, Greece, every 4 years, representing the Panarcadian Federation of Australia.
