American Hellenic Council to honor Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic Ceremony takes place in Los Angeles on March 30, 2013

LOS ANGELES – February 6, 2013 - For Immediate Release

The Board of Directors of the American Hellenic Council (AHC) has announced its decision to honor Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic, Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki with the 2013 Aristeio Award. Gianna Angelopoulos is well known for winning and saving the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Each year, the AHC celebrates the achievements of dedicated leaders in the field of politics, business and the arts who have excelled in their field of expertise and/or have made major contributions to Hellenic causes. Mrs. Angelopoulos will be presented with the same honor previously awarded to billionaire real-estate investor and philanthropist George Argyros (2009), Mr. George Marcus, CEO of Marcus and Millichap (2010), Mr. Van Vlahakis, Founder and CEO of Earthy Friendly Products (2011) and Mr. Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Co . (2012)

“We decided to honor Mrs. Angelopoulos i n recognition of her exemplary and dedicated work in successfully leading the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens and her devotion to education and philanthropy in Greece as well as in the USA” stated Alexander Mizan, Executive Director of the American Hellenic Council.

In 2000, when slow progress and gridlocked bureaucracy put Athens in danger of losing the Olympic Games, she was asked to assume the presidency of the ATHENS 2004 Organizing Committee for the Olympics . Under her leadership, Athens made up for lost time and gave the world what IOC President Jacques Rogge called: "an unforgettable, dream Games."

Today, Ambassador Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is an active member of the Clinton Global Initiative . She continues to serve as Vice-Chairperson of the Dean's Council for Harvard's John. F. Kennedy School of Government.

Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki is an Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic, a lawyer by training and a former Member of Parliament in Greece. She has previously been named one of the 50 most powerful women by Forbes magazine. She is a mother of three grown children; she lives with her husband, Theodore, in Athens.

Her new book, MY GREEK DRAMA: Life, Love and One Woman's Olympic Effort to Bring Glory to Her Country will be published by Greenleaf Book Group Press in May, 2013.

The award ceremony will take place at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, March 30, 2013 and is part of the AHC's Annual Awards Gala. The other honorees at the event will be Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL) receiving the Pericles Award and Professor, Thanasis Maskaleris receiving the Saloutos Award. Michael Dukakis, Former Governor of Massachusetts and US Presidential Candidate will be Master of Ceremonies.