Our Team

Chrysanthos Tsouroullis
CEO of DIAS Media

Chrysanthos Tsouroullis is the CEO of DIAS Media, the largest media group in Cyprus. Chrysanthos is a pioneering news journalist and has more than 20 years of experience in front of camera. He is credited with bringing news broadcasts to a new era and making them more interesting, more vibrant, and more dynamic. Chrysanthos holds degrees in both law and journalism. He also holds a degree from Harvard Kennedy School in crisis management & mass media, and also leadership in development on economic reforms.

Munro Forbes
Director of Cyprus Media Academy

Munro is a highly experienced production consultant and has launched TV channels and run training programmes throughout the world. As a television director in the United Kingdom, he has worked for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and CNN, and received special commendations for documentaries and outside broadcasts. He was also awarded the Royal Television Society’s team award for ITV’s “News at Ten”. Munro was executive producer of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest for the EBU and has been involved in numerous Eurovision national finals and events. Currently, he is special advisor to DIAS Media. He is also a member of the consortium to construct new film stages, and is involved in developing the movie industry in Cyprus.

Christina Kallis
Training Manager

Christina worked as a Television Journalist for London Tonight in the UK for London News Network and Independent Television News. After relocating to Cyprus in 2004 she worked at CyBC and Sigma Television in Cyprus. Christina helped establish the Cyprus Media Academy and she regularly gets involved with the training of the students.

Sakari Laurila
Operations Manager

Our highly-experienced trainer is also a filmmaker, Director of Photography, director and producer. He holds a Master of Arts (in film), Bachelor of Communications and Bachelor of Business Administration, and has lectured at Helsinki Film Academy, Lapland University, Thames Valley University, and Cambridge University.Sakari is an expert in using Premiere Pro & After Effects on his many films, documentaries and music video projects.

OUR INTERNATIONAL TRAINERS

Nick Walshe
Expert trainer in crisis communication, emergency media response & media skills

Nick has worked with many of the corporate world’s best-known names in Crisis, Media and Presentation training. He began with the British Police Federation in 1992 and has since trained senior managers from organisations such as Qatar Airways, JP Morgan, Audi, Emirates Airline, Hay Group, the Dubai Prime Minister’s Office and the British Council. Nick has worked in media for more than 35 years, starting in UK newspapers before joining BBC Radio, BBC TV and ITV as a reporter and presenter. He spent ten years at ITN in London, working in Foreign News, before joining the management team who launched Al Jazeera English in 2006. He now runs media971 in Dubai, producing videos, running corporate training programmes and consulting on TV projects from India to Lebanon. His projects include working with Qatar Airways and MSML Shipping in the Middle East on media training skills and participating in a major crisis exercises in Dubai with DP World. He also acts as a speechwriter to private clients in the region.

Mai Davies
TED public speaking coach and specialist trainer of radio & TV presenters

Mai Davies is a journalist and a radio and TV broadcaster. She is a regular presenter of radio & TV programmes, including “Good Morning Wales” and “Good Evening Wales”. She has also been a daytime news anchor at Sky News and a political correspondent and news presenter at ITV. Mai’s ITV news programme won the United Kingdom’s Royal Television Society award for Best Regional News Magazine Programme.
Mai is also a TED speaker and passes on her expertise as a presentation and media trainer for broadcasters, NGOs, global companies, and international training organisations.
Mai also hosts corporate events, including conferences, concerts, and award ceremonies.

Mr Sohail Rahman

Sohail is a public speaking coach, TV anchor and correspondent for the Aljazeera Network who has been based in Doha, Delhi, and Kuala Lumpur, and has covered general elections in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan. Previously, he worked in the United Kingdom for both ITV and the BBC and presented news, debate programmes, magazine shows, crime series, documentaries and travel series. In 2003 he was awarded Presenter/Reporter of the Year by the UK’s Royal Television Society.

OUR LOCAL TRAINERS

Leonidas Alexandrou
Mentor & Trainer

Leonidas Alexandrou is a self-development mentor and high-performance corporate trainer. He has worked for two decades with leading global organisations in the UK, the Gulf and Cyprus, he has successfully taught public speaking to individuals of all ages and at all levels of communication skills.

Miltos Hadjoulles
www.five.com.cy

Miltos Hadjoulles is a highly experienced TV director who has directed many major international football matches, sports events, concerts and awards shows. He has used CuePilot on all his recent productions and provides participants with practical experience in using this automation system. He uses numerous examples to illustrate the benefits of the CuePilot and each participant has the opportunity to programme the system and view results.

George Papadopoulos

Architect and scenographer George Papadopoulos is the founder of Skinotechniki, the leading set and stage design company of Cyprus. George graduated from the London University’s Bartlet School of Architecture with First Degree Honours. He obtained the Diploma in Architecture and became a Chartered member of RIBA, ARCUK and ETEK. 

OUR GUEST SPEAKERS

Yiannis Kareklas
Special Guest Speaker
Yiannis Kareklas is a renowned journalist with 45 years of experience. Currently, he heads the news team of Sigma Television and has presented countless TV programmes, news bulletins and radio shows. As a journalist, he has covered presidential tours, the most important international news events, and all the key phases of the Cyprus issue.
Yiannis holds a law degree and a master’s in public international law. He is also the acclaimed author of three books which analyse the Cyprus problem.