The Greek Australian Society (GAS) recently elected its new board of directors for the period 2025-27.
George Mpliokas was re-elected as President, while the new Board consists of returning members Bill Maloukis, Stella Drivas, and John Georgaklis, as well as newcomers Professor Vasso Apostolopoulos, Paul Kaletsis, Paul Kougias, Mersina Hristeff and Arthur Sarlas.
Mr. Mpliokas spoke to SBS Greek about the election of the new Board of Directors and what he hopes it will accomplish in this new era.
"The election of the new Board of Directors for us is a continuation of our mission to renew our community and prepare the ground for the next generation. We want to continue the progress of the past five years with a number of key priorities, including the continued growth of our membership beyond 500, the expansion of the GAS Mentoring Program, the 'Greek Australian Expressions of Art and Culture' and taking our fight for the Greek language in Australia to the next level through the 'FAROS Alliance'," he said.
People are looking for us because they want to contribute to the future of the Greek-Australian communityGeorge Mpliokas
This year's Annual General Meeting was attended for the first time by candidates from Adelaide and Canberra, consolidating the pan-Australian presence of the Greek Australian Society.
"We launched GAS during the pandemic, which allowed us to connect with our members through technology and we were able to connect with Greek-Australians over long distances, in different states and even overseas. The fact is that we have candidates from cities like Canberra and Adelaide, in addition to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. For us this shows that Greek-Australians want to contribute to the future of our community ties. In this way GAS is not only an organisation, but also serves the wider community element. From now on the goal is to continue to build meaningful relationships between individuals to create good relationships between organisations. People seek us out because they want to contribute to the future of our Greek-Australian community and I think that is very healthy," commented Mr. Mpliokas.
George Mpliokas referred to the challenges facing the Greek Australian community today and how the Greek Australian Society can contribute to addressing them.
"Many of us are aware of the historical divisions in our community for various reasons. But GAS has spent five years creating a new example, a model where we can celebrate our diversity. A major challenge of that old era was fear and mistrust and as GAS we have met that challenge in an open and honest way. Trust takes time and space, and my personal commitment as a president is to empower our people to share their talents for the good of us all," he said.
Listen to the full interview by clicking on the podcast accompanying this article.
