Mr. Demetris C. Hadjisofocli is the Co-Founder and the CEO of CSI (The Center for Social Innovation). Prior to CSI, Demetris was the Vice President for Business Development at Worldcom’s Digital Ventures Group, in the United States. At Worldcom DVG, he was responsible for business development, portfolio investment management, start-up support, mentoring, coaching and deal flow management in various high-tech, business, start-ups and life science sectors. He also worked with organizations such as The Ohio Supercomputer Center, UUNET Technologies, Inc., AOL, Inc., MCI Telecommunications, Inc. and Innovade, Ltd. all of them pioneers in developing and adapting new ICT technologies to social science projects.

His expertise evolve around innovation, entrepreneurship, start-ups, operational efficiencies, project planning and management, training and organizational collaboration. He is an innovator, serial entrepreneur and a mentor/coach for youth at various business idea development competitions, schools and youth groups. He raised awareness, drove the initiative, trained educators and had the leading role in the introduction of Entrepreneurship Education in K-12 schools and later in the adoption of the Junior Achievement program by the Ministry of Education in Cyprus. He led an effort, and is a proponent, for the development of strong and substantive links between Businesses and Academia, through the creation and management of a Liaison Office between academic institutions and businesses in Cyprus.

He was also the Managing Director and co-founder of Helix Business Incubator, the first business accelerator in Cyprus with a focus to invest, coach and mentor new start-ups in the areas of ICT and Life Sciences. He is a Martial Arts teacher in Wing Chun Kung Fu, Krav Maga and a BJJ Blue Belt. He is a motorcycle enthusiast, loves kitesurfing, scuba diving and cross fit. He is married and has three daughters and loves to enjoy quality time with family, friends and colleagues. He also loves to share knowledge and experiences. He teaches at various venues the subjects of Entrepreneurship Skills, Intellectual Property Rights, Start-up Development and Business Rationalization and taught at The Ohio State University, Fisher Business School and the University of Nicosia. He holds a BSBA in Marketing and International Business, an MBA in Strategic Planning and Sales Management both from The Ohio State University, an LLM from the University of Salford in Intellectual Property Rights and Commerce and post graduate certificates in Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies from Harvard University and Creativity as Competitive Edge from Northwestern University.