Speaker

Maria Philippou is the "Chief People Officer" at PwC Greece, where she leads the firm’s people strategy and is actively working on reinventing the organization’s workforce model in response to ongoing disruption, technological change, and shifting expectations of work. Her focus is on enabling long term performance, leadership capability, and organizational resilience.

With close to three decades of experience, Maria has worked with leadership teams across industries and geographies, advising on transformation, talent strategy, and executive leadership development at scale. She previously served as a trusted advisor at Egon Zehnder, supporting CEOs and Boards on executive search, leadership assessment, succession planning, and Board effectiveness.

Earlier in her career, Maria spent 15 years with The Coca Cola Company in senior HR leadership roles, including Global Talent Strategy Director at the company’s Atlanta headquarters and HR Director for the Central and Eastern Europe Business Unit, overseeing 26 markets. During this time, she made a significant contribution to the design and implementation of global leadership and culture platforms, as well as succession planning for the company’s global leadership population.

Maria has also served as a Non-Executive Board Member of the Bank of Cyprus, where she chaired the Remuneration Committee.

She is deeply committed to adult development and leadership growth, is a certified Immunity to Change facilitator, and holds an Executive Coaching Certificate from Georgetown University.