Managing Director, McKinsey & Company Greece
George D. Tsopelas joined McKinsey’s London Office in 1994 and is the managing director of McKinsey & Company Greece.
Mr. Tsopelas has worked extensively in the financial services, public, tourism, infrastructure, energy and industrial sectors across all major areas and functions. During the last five years, he has led numerous efforts in the public, tourism and infrastructure sectors.
For the “Greece 10 Years Ahead” program, he analyzed Greece’s structural economic challenges and barriers to competitiveness and growth, deep-diving into 13 sectors and determining vertical and horizontal reforms, working with the prime minster, core ministers, the European Troika, and major industrial associations.
For “Greece’s Growth Roadmap,” he focused on prioritizing six major investment and infrastructure developments, developing action lists per ministry for the materialization of reforms, and articulating a compelling vision and growth plan for the country. He worked with the prime minister alongside the ministers of development and finance.
Working with the minister of development, the strategic allocation of the 2014-2020 E.U. structural funds totalling €21 billion involved the bottom-up quantification of investment and infrastructure needs per industrial sector to allocate the funds to the most critical investment and infrastructure projects.
Working with the minister of tourism and the Tourism Federation on the Tourism Strategic Plan for 2013-2020 and Action Plan for 2013-2014, he developed a detailed plan for six core tourism ‘products’ covering all major source markets.
He was involved in the design, setup and launch of “Marketing Greece,” a new entity that essentially took over the task of developing the marketing strategy and implementing ‘below the line’ promotion and marketing campaigns for Greek tourism from the state. Financed by the private sector, ‘Discover Greece’ is the distinctive online traveling web portal he helped to establish in 2013.
Alongside the minister of finance and the head of economic policy, he worked on Greece’s fiscal adjustment and public debt in several areas, including pension and taxation reforms. He also worked with the head of the Public Debt Unit to prepare all content materials necessary for the country’s return to the capital markets after a six-year absence.
He also focused on planning and preparing the investment in the largest infrastructure and mixed real estate project ever undertaken in Greece.
Mr. Tsopelas holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, an honors degree in economics and econometrics from the Athens University of Economics and Business, and an honors degree in business administration from the Hellenic American College, where he was the recipient of the President’s Award.
Prior to joining McKinsey, Mr. Tsopelas was an entrepreneur, serving as managing director of Chartographica Hellenica, and managing partner of G.D.T Management Services. He started his career as a financial analyst at Procter & Gamble.
Mr. Tsopelas previously served as president of the Athens Children’s Charity Association.
