EXECUTIVE BIO

Nikos Giannakakis

TITLE: GROUP CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

INDUSTRY:

LOCATION: UNITED KINGDOM

Nikos Giannakakis holds a degree in Physics, a Master of Science (MSc) in Industrial Systems Management and Administration and is a graduate of the International Institute for Management Development - IMD (Lausanne, Switzerland).

He has 18 years of international experience in the positions of Director and General Manager of Informatics in distinguished Multinational Clubs.

He is also awarded as one of the top 100 Chief Information Officers for 2019.

He is eager on using technology to drive Digital transformation which he believes has brought tremendous cost savings and process improvement to companies across the world.

He has worked as CTO to globally distinguished brands such as British American Tobacco, CocaCola HBC, Richemont Int’l (Cartier, Montblanc, Van Cleef & Arpels, Piaget, SAP etc.

NIKOS GIANNAKAKIS GROUP CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, MOTOR OIL

Greece Small Cap Index, and the FTSE4Good Index Series.

The company operates a refinery, ancillary plants, and fuel distribution facilities that form the largest, privately-owned industrial complex in Greece and are considered among the most modern in Europe.

Motor Oil primarily exports its products, which are made with advanced technology that allows the company to adjust the final product mix to market needs and achieve higher refining margins than other Mediterranean refineries.

Subsidiaries of the company, Avin Oil and Coral (formerly Shell Hellas) also have a significant presence in the liquid fuel retail sector, with Coral operating in several countries besides Greece.

The company's subsidiary LPC is involved in the industrial production and trade of basic and packaged lubricants and acts as the agent for Valvoline lubricants in Greece. Coral Gas – another subsidiary – is involved in storing, packaging, and marketing bottled and bulk liquified gas, as well as liquified gas for vehicles.

In 2017, Motor Oil established a subsidiary in Cyprus to expand its activities. The company's subsidiary NRG Trading House Energy is involved in the power and natural gas market, offering electricity and natural gas programmes, in addition to comprehensive services for residential and commercial customers.

Motor Oil’s €2.5bn investment in growth and energy transition

In the face of global challenges, Motor Oil is making significant investments in the energy transition in Southeastern Europe as part of its efforts to transition to a new energy environment.

These investments reflect the company's commitment to securing energy supply, promoting the energy transition, and generating sustainable returns for shareholders, while also aligning with the company's strategic priorities. The plan is being implemented in the context of geopolitical and economic instability, as well as significant environmental challenges.

• Commitment to acting responsibly

• Enhancement of energy efficiency

• Acceleration of the renewable energy penetration

• Investment in new sustainable technologies

• Provision of energy & mobility solutions to customers

Motor Oil plans to invest more than €2.5bn in growth and energy transition projects, including renewable energy sources (RES), petrochemical products, natural gas, biofuels, hydrogen, and decarbonisation.

Additionally, the company will invest over €1.5bn to improve infrastructure and increase resilience through facility maintenance, logistical improvements, digitalisation, and projects related to efficiency, health, safety, and the environment.

These investments are part of a plan to create jobs, growth, and value for stakeholders, while simultaneously being environmentally and socially responsible and contributing to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Four strategic pillars form the basis of this plan: the first is expanding the company's renewable energy portfolio through its subsidiary, MORE; the second is building an electromobility network through investments in e-mobility, strategic partnerships and installing charging points at gas stations. The goal is to have over 1,000 charging points by 2023, with a target of 4,000 by 2030.

The third pillar focuses on the circular economy and alternative fuels, including the production of green hydrogen through a joint venture with PPC, the construction of a natural gas-fuelled power plant with GEK TERNA, and investment in solids and waste management.

The fourth pillar involves improving the resiliency and sustainability of Motor Oil's Corinth refinery, including the construction of a Naphtha Treatment Complex and the investment in a new propylene unit, as well as energy upgrades and infrastructure optimisation at the refinery.

A combined community of partners

Motor Oil works with a range of partners and service providers, all of which it sees as a combined community dedicated to improving and refining the company's business. It is a high priority for Motor Oil.

This community includes VMWare, which Nick describes as one of the company's most innovative partners. Motor Oil has worked closely with VMWare on the company's transition to cloud technologies.

VMWare's work with Motor Oil has become a reference case for other companies, due to its success. This makes Giannakakis proud. "VMWare is one of the partners that contributed significantly towards our expansion strategy execution," enthuses Giannakakis.

Other key partners include a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, Fortinet, which works with Motor Oil on security regarding the company’s retail outlets. “To give you some context, we are one of the biggest retailers in this part of the world, with approximately

1,500 outlets,” says Giannakakis. “We’ve been focused on expanding the services and goods in this area, and this involves scalability and, of course, security aspects, which are a key element of everything we do. And Fortinet is exactly the partner we need to allow us to do that.”

As result of an RFP process during 2022 and a technical evaluation of the best available technologies and vendors globally, MOH decided to strategically be partnered with Fortinet for the implementation of a wide-range SD-Branch project at MOH, taking advantage of Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution, multi-factor authentication (MFA) & WiFi technologies. There are many benefits for MOH from this project and Fortinet; however, some of the most prominent ones are the increased availability and performance of their branches’ communication paths & interaction with their central datacentres & applications, increased security at their Edge infrastructure, significant reduction at future OpEx and being able to cover the IoT challenges by dynamic detection, segmentation, and protection! Last but not least, all provided edge solutions are future-proof ready and easily expandable and adjustable for zero trust network access (ZTNA) & secure access service edge (SASE).

Motor Oil also lists Microsoft as a key partner, providing a wide range of services including machine learning and cloud infrastructure, in addition to the Greek telecoms company Nova, with which Motor Oil has a strategic alliance.

“I truly believe that telco companies with large ICT programs are key partners that will enable us to achieve our ambitious goals,” says Giannakakis.