People

His Eminence has served as a guest professor and lecturer of Orthodox Christian Ethics and Bioethics at Fordham University, the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and Saint Vladimir Theological School, and has authored and delivered numerous articles and presentations in theology and bioethics. A fervent advocate of human rights, His Eminence coordinated the Archdiocesan commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Selma in 2015 and represented the Archdiocese on the National Council of Churches (NCC) Special Task Force to End Racism in America. He currently serves as a member of a select non-partisan and interreligious working group in Washington, D.C., which seeks to advance religious freedom and pluralism in the Middle East.

Born Konstantinos Symeonides in Thessaloniki, Greece in 1978, His Eminence is the third child of Irene and Vasilios Symeonides and is of Pontic and Asia-Minor descent. He received his early education from the Greek-American Institute of the Zoodochos Peghe Parish of the Bronx in New York. He graduated from Hellenic College with a BA in religious studies (2000) and from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology with an MDiv (2003). He earned an STM in Christian ethics (2003) and a ThD in bioethics from Boston University (2007). He also studied the history and ethics of public health at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

His Eminence was ordained a deacon in 2003 and a presbyter in 2010 by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America. He also is a brother of the historic monastery of St. George Epanosifis in Crete, Greece. Among his clergy offices, His Eminence served as the presiding priest of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in New York City from 2010 to 2013, and as the interim pastor of the Holy Resurrection Church of Brookville, NY and the Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral of Brooklyn, NY. As a parish priest in Manhattan, His Eminence developed a unique urban ministry, Orthodox Professionals in Action (OPA), which provided more than 400 young professionals the opportunity to minister to the most vulnerable members of society. From 2013-2018, His Eminence served as the Director of the Archdiocese’s Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical, and Interfaith Relations, and also oversaw the work of the Archdiocese at the United Nations. In 2016, His Eminence attended and supported the press office of the Ecumenical Patriarchate concerning the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, the first such meeting of the 14 autocephalous Orthodox churches in 1,200 years.

In September 2018, His Eminence was appointed to the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople for the 2018-2019 ecclesial year. Among the many important decisions taken by the Holy Synod during this period was the granting of Autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Since his enthronement, His Eminence has sought to implement policies and programs that promote greater transparency, accountability, and professionalism in the Metropolis of Chicago. He has launched a strategic planning initiative to encourage transformative action among the Metropolis’ parishes and has pursued efforts to engage young adults more fully, including through the formation of the Metropolis of Chicago Junior Board.

Mr. Koudounis has 33 years of financial services experience including executive leadership in the global securities business and a deep background in global capital markets. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Mizuho Securities USA, Inc. (MSUSA), a subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group, one of the world’s largest full-service financial institutions. During his tenure at Mizuho Securities, he built the firm into a full-service investment bank, expanding its debt and equity capital markets teams. Because of his leadership, the firm also grew in profitability, number of clients, and product diversification, allowing Mizuho to be considered globally as a top tier investment bank. Prior to joining MSUSA in 2008, he was Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income for ABN AMRO Americas where he played a critical role in that firm’s successful growth.

Mr. Koudounis, often sought after for his thought leadership, serves as a speaker at conferences worldwide and appears frequently on financial news programs including CNN, Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, TD Ameritrade Network, Yahoo Finance Live, and others. In addition to his executive career, Mr. Koudounis upholds a dedication to philanthropy through various board positions and community outreach. He is the Founder of the Chicago CEO COVID-19 Coalition, an organization he created in 2020 during the pandemic to provide COVID-19 relief and recovery for the city and bring Chicago’s business leaders together in a time of need. This initiative focused on four critical areas in COVID recovery: food, shelter/homelessness, counseling services, and PPE. The Coalition distributed over $1.5 million in proceeds from its successful telethon.

Mr. Koudounis is a member of the Leadership Council at Concordia and the prestigious Bretton Woods Committee. He is a member of the board of trustees of the National Hellenic Museum, a patron of the Prince’s Trust International, and an executive advisory board member for the SEAL Future Foundation. He is a founding board member and executive committee member of The Hellenic Initiative, a non-profit, non-governmental organization with the aim of supporting Greece and Cyprus in the aftermath of the financial crisis by helping to foster entrepreneurship in both countries. He is also a member of Leadership 100 and the Metropolis of Chicago Foundation. In October 2016 he was inducted as an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Order of St. Andrew, the highest honor bestowed on a layman by the Orthodox Church.

He graduated from Brown University with a degree in International Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs and Economics.

He has served as president of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society and as president of the medical staffs at Rush Oak Park Hospital and Resurrection-Westlake Hospital. He has been in practice in Chicago’s western suburbs since 1986 and specializes in cataract surgery, advanced technology intraocular lenses, minimally invasive glaucoma surgery, and LASIK.

Dr. Panton is a lifelong member of the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church of Chicago and has served as president of the Parish Council for two terms (total of four years).   Dr. Panton helped establish a capital campaign to renovate the church prior to its 75^th anniversary in 2000.  Shortly thereafter, he helped created the Assumption Church Endowment Fund and served as its first chair for more than a decade. Dr. Panton is a member of Leadership 100 and is a founding member of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Foundation.

In addition to his philanthropic efforts on behalf of the Orthodox Church, Dr. Panton served as chair of the Brown University School of Medicine Annual Fund for six years. Dr. Panton has also chaired capital campaigns for the Brown University School of Medicine and the University of Illinois Department of Ophthalmology.  Dr. Panton and his family have established endowed professorships in memory of their late father, John H. Panton, M.D., at both Brown and the University of Illinois.

Dr. Panton is married to Estelle Patsavos Panton for 38 years.  They reside in River Forest, Illinois and have two daughters—Christina and Connie—both of whom are physicians.

The Law Offices of Peter S. Stamatis – Peter’s love for the law that began back in 1988 when he cross examined his first witness while a founding member of the University of Illinois mock trial team. In 1993, Peter was admitted to practice in the Illinois state and appellate courts and the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. After working with a Chicago litigation firm, Peter founded his own practice in 1996, where he was mentored by the very best, and worked closely with two of Chicago’s most-legendary trial lawyers, Francis A. Nolan and Michael W. Coffield.

Since then, Peter and his trial team have represented individuals and businesses in simple and complex civil trial and appellate litigation and have successfully prosecuted and defended wide ranging matters including: breach of contract, fraud, business torts, copyright/trademark infringement, physician licensing and contractual matters, employment agreements, construction issues, and professional negligence. Peter is a regular at the Cook County Courthouse and the Dirksen Federal Building, and has travelled the country aggressively representing his clients’ interests. He has since been admitted to practice and has represented clients before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar. Most of his cases are resolved confidentially.

Education and Community involvement – Peter graduated from the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1990 with degrees in political science and speech communications. Three years later, he graduated from the Chicago-Kent College of Law where he was a member of the school’s Moot Court Society.

Peter has served as an opinion writer for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin newspaper and has been invited to speak on various legal issues. He is a Master of the Bench in the Chicago Inn of Court, a past President and past Chairman of the Board of the Illinois Hellenic Bar Association, a past president and current board member of his parish, a former elected member of the Illinois School District 31 School Board, and a past member of the Village of Glenview Comprehensive Plan Committee. Peter has served on the Illinois School District 225 Education Foundation Board and on the board of directors of St. John the Baptist Guardian Angel Day School. In the late 1990’s, Peter co-hosted a popular weekly radio sports talk show. He is also a co-author of Dandelions for Dinner, a book that recounts the harrowing story of his father’s survival of World War II. Peter and his wife Kathi live in Glenview with their six children.

He is currently employed as a Trial Attorney for the United States Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the Midwest Regional Counsel’s Office in Chicago, and is a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. His current work involves defensive litigation, prosecuting housing fraud, and ethics work, and he has done transactional closings involving large Multifamily projects. Prior to his employment at HUD, he was an Assistant Public Defender in Dupage County, Illinois; an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois in its Trial Division; and Corporation Counsel for the Chicago Housing Authority. He is a co-founder of Hellenic Legal Assistance Services (Hel.las) which has served 450 families in need in seven years; a past president of the Hellenic Bar Association (HBA); a member of the AHEPA Lakeshore Chapter; a former columnist for the Doings newspapers; and a former member of the Hinsdale, IL Historic Housing Preservation Commission. He has two children, Christen and Evan, a wife Nikki, and resides in Hinsdale, Illinois.