ESA Team
The success of ESA depends on the passion and support of its people. This initiative is a collaboration between Greek and UK thinking, and between sustainability experts and community members, about the importance of sustainability principles and the responsibility of business.
Sharon Jackson MSc. – Director
Sharon is also Director of Carlton CSR -UK, Associate Faculty at Cranfield School of Management, Associate Scholar at University of Cumbria, Institute for Sustainability and Leadership and Visiting Research Fellow at Athens University of Economics and Business. She has held a Non Executive Director role with Global Sustain, Athens, since 2015.
Her work includes L7 Senior Leader Apprenticeship Tutoring, and Masters in Sustainability supervision at Cranfield University.
Through ESA she collaborates with the EU Pact for Skills partnership to develop workplace, VET knowledge, skills and behaviours development for driving the green transition to net-zero by 2050.
Before embarking on a teaching and research career, Sharon was awarded her first board appointment in her 20s and worked for 15 years in senior roles in the electronic component sector, developing international business through global distribution and supply chains.
Email Sharon.Jackson@EuroSustainability.org
Mobile UK.: +44 (7785) 901164
Mobile Greece : +30 (6957) 483886
In 2000, demoralised by the environmental impact of the electronics sector, she gained her 'Certificate in Further and Adult Education Teaching' and left the industry to develop customised executive learning programmes for managing responsible business principles at the core of organisational development. She developed ground-breaking 'Corporate Responsibility Leadership' programmes for directors and senior managers which have been delivered in wilderness and mountainous places of natural beauty in Europe, Australia and China.
Sharon teaches business managers and directors the essential ‘Green Skills’ of leadership, necessary for the future of business in a green economy. Her skills development programmes are designed to stimulate innovative and profitable business through a lens of organisational sensemaking and ‘horizon scanning’ awareness. She also undertakes long term consulting engagements to help businesses embed sustainability principles at the heart of their organisational development and strategy.
Her academic work includes a 2 year empirical study to explore the reasons for disconnect between organisational intentions to embed CSR and actual CSR outcomes. Sharon continued this research through a part time PhD at Cranfield University with a focus on 'The relationship between managers' sensemaking and organisational aspirations to embed sustainability principles'. Her research has revealed how individuals' sensemaking processes can be incongruent with organisationally espoused sustainability intentions and a barrier to enactment. Her research has been applied to sectors including the construction and tourism sectors.
ESA Associates
Prof. Thanasis Spyriadis
Thanasis is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Crete. He holds a PhD in performance evaluation of tourism development organisations (DMOs) and a MSc in Tourism Management and Marketing from Bournemouth University. His research interests focus on strategic management and marketing in tourism; performance evaluation of tourism development organisations and DMOs; project and programme evaluation; tourism policy, planning and development; management and governance of tourist destinations; cultural tourism; adventure tourism.
His research has been published in prestigious international journals and he has been the Leader of research and consulting projects funded by organizations including The Association of British Travel Agencies (ABTA).
At Manchester Metropolitan University, he won the silver award in the category of ‘Learning for a Sustainable Future’, Green Impact 2014.
Thanasis is certified as a UN Evaluator (ILO) and serves on the UoC Department of Economics Erasmus committee.
Thanasis has worked with ESA since 2022 including delivering teaching sessions to the 2023 TransFIRe, Sustainable Materials Workshop and the 2024 ESA Sustainability Activators Workshop. Thanasis led the evaluation of a consulting engagement in 2023 for the UK Chartered Management Institute, and in 2025 he was co-facilitator, assessor and evaluator for the Erasmus+ GenNZ Summer School and also end of project quality evaluation.
Prof. Thanasis Spyriadis at LinkedIn
Dr. Eleanor O’Gorman
Eleanor is Deputy Director of the Intellectual Forum, Jesus College, Cambridge University.
After finishing a PhD at Cambridge focussing on global security from a gender perspective, Eleanor had a passionately engaging international career working on aid, conflict and peacebuilding at the UN, starting in New York and in Brussels working on EU-UN relations.
Her past roles include Director at a peacebuilding NGO in London, and as a freelance adviser to governments, NGOs, and international organisations.
She is a recognised expert on international development and a published author.
Eleanor’s skills come from many years’ experience, working on strategy, evaluation and organisational learning about funding, conflict, gender and peacebuilding. Her core expertise is in supporting multi-stakeholder alliances (public, private, community, social enterprise) at local and regional level, to address present and emerging challenges of community cohesion and sustainability.
With ESA, Eleanor played a fundamental role in co-designing the 2022 pilot workshop for the Sustainability Activators workshop and in 2023 she was the Lead Consultant in the area of policy for a consulting project with the UK, Chartered Management Institute, on the future of Green Management Skills in organisations.
Dr. Eleanor O’Gorman at LinkedIn
Michael Spanos
Michael is Managing Director at Softone Global Sustain in Athens. Since 2006, he has been a pioneer of corporate sustainability reporting and ESG auditing in Greece, including creating the ESG reporting platform ‘Metron’ for the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).
There have been multiple ESA collaborations with Michael including his 2021 online talk for TEDx Countdown and his contribution to teaching about ESG and green business transition for Phillips S.p.A Greek Sales team in 2022. Michael has been a contributor to ESA’s flagship Sustainability Activators Workshop where a live debate between Michael and Sharon Jackson about ‘Is ESG reporting a credible force for organisational change?’ was recorded and available on podcast to listen to (link to follow).
Previously, ESA and Global Sustain have co-created executive leadership retreats hosted at ESA and as EU Green Week 2019 partners, co-organized the ‘Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Day’, in Chania, and bamboo bike ride across Crete.
For 2025 Erasmus+ GenNZ Summer School, Michael leads a live discussion about the future of ESG and gives practical tips about how to harness ESG in transition planning towards Net Zero.
Sharon Jackson, Founder of ESA has been a Non- Executive Board member of Global Sustain since 2015, and Softone Global Sustain since 2024.
Michael Spanos at LinkedIn
Andreas Karadakis
Andreas is anInternational Development Advocate with skills and expertise in EU Project Management, based in Athens.
He has a wide experience in international development and policy making, working in initiatives from Germany to Zimbabwe with diverse cultural insights towards changemaking.
With a BSc in Political Science and International Relations, Andreas started working with ESA during 2016 whilst finishing his first MSc in International Development Studies: Sustainability, Participation and Innovation at the Université Grenoble Alpes.
As a young Cretan, with a concern for human rights and environmental protection, who grew up in the area of Kavros, Apokoronas just 20 minutes from ESA, Andreas has been a very helpful and enthusiastic volunteer at several ESA events. Later, after he completed his degree, Adreas has worked with ESA in youth entrepreneurship projects and he organised the Greek Greens summer school at ESA in 2021.
For the Erasmus+ GenNZ Summer School 2025, for developing ‘green skills’ in the tourism sector, Andreas’ live teaching session takes a ‘horizon scan’ and discusses the future of ‘green policy’ in the world and what it means for Greece.
Andreas Karadakisat LinkedIn
Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, Ph.D.
Rosa is recognised as one of the ‘100 Women BBC 2024’. She is a Chemical Biologist, National Geographic Explorer and Founder/Executive Director of Amazon Research Internacional.
Of Peruvian-Andean and Amazonian descent, Rosa grew up learning about traditional medicine from her grandmother in their backyard’s "natural pharmacy". Today, Rosa travels to the most extreme environments of the Amazon Rainforest searching for the tiniest creatures, from microbes to stingless bees, to create big changes in the world.
Focused on Amazonian Stingless Bees, Rosa and her teams have united indigenous communities, local businesses, national government and international institutions leading to enhanced bee-based sustainable tourism and practices with tangible positive impact in Peru’s sustainability goals. Her book ‘The Spirit of the Rainforest’ was published in 2025.
Rosa’s collaboration with ESA includes co-authoring and presenting at conference a research paper on the potential role of bees for bees in learning about Cultural Sustainability Tourism, published in January 2025. See Publications.
At the 2024 Sustainability Activators workshop, Rosa gave a presentation about communication skills for engaging diverse stakeholder groups for creating lasting projects for sustainability. She also gave an engaging fireside chat style, in the ESA gardens and shared her stories from the Amazon.
In her lesson for ‘green skills’ in the tourism sector for the Erasmus+ GenNZ Summer School 2025, Rosa shares her stories from the Amazon region and top tips and tools for engaging diverse people for making change happen… including ‘communication without words’.
Rosa Vásquez Espinoza LinkedIn
Vincent Hoogstad
Vincent is a Veterinary physical therapist, anatomist and behavioural ecologist. He founded the ‘Animal Rehabilitation Crete’, where he works to rehabilitate injured animals (domestic and wild), and as a behavioural ecologist specialising in primates.
From his grounding of a BSc in human physical therapy, he pivoted to re-skill as a researcher and teacher focussing on what can be learned from primates about pain management. He co-authored the book 'Monkey-business, pain in humans and other animals’ (2024), published in Dutch and English.
Vincent has worked with ESA on the Erasmus+ SEC Youth Entrepreneurship and as a guest speaker at ESA’s 2024 Sustainability Activators Workshop.
ESA has been very pleased to sponsor Vincents’ training in primate healthcare at the Centre De Réhabilitation Des Primates(CRPL), LWIRO, Congo in 2024.
For the Erasmus+ GenNZ Summer School 2025, developing ‘green skills’ in the tourism sector, Vincent presents his experiences from his citizen- science style travel experience to Congo and a thought provoking, future model of ‘One Health; environmental health, human health and animal health’, how these 3 are inextricably linked and the role tourism can play in the future.
Vincent Hoogstad at LinkedIn
Stella Diomantaraki - Sustainable Cretan Gastronomy Expert
Stella is a Sommelier, Founder Nakara Catering and Co-founder of Sterja Net Zero restaurant in Chania, Crete.
Stella has been ESA’s resident fine dining catering manager and sommelier since 2014.
Born in Crete and living close to ESA with her husband and business partner (Chef), Stella works with ESA to recreate traditional Cretan food with a contemporary twist for our guests and to educate people about the health benefits and exquisite taste of local Cretan food and wine. She ensures zero waste from ESA event catering and sources all fresh ingredients from the villages within 5km radius of ESA.Stella has a special interest in the edible flora of Crete (horta) and ancient Cretan recipes and wines.
In 2014 at the ESA Global Women Empowerment Summit, Stella was given a ‘WE – Women Empowerment’ Award in recognition of her professionalism and tenacity in building a successful sustainable enterprise in Crete and for her inspiration as a role model for other Cretan women.
Because of Stella’s wide knowledge about beekeeping and honey production in Crete, Stella was invited as a co-author of a research paper about the role of bees in learning about Cultural Sustainability Tourism, published in January 2025. See Publications.
For the Erasmus+ GenNZ Summer School 2025, developing ‘green skills’ in the tourism sector, in her live presentation, Stella shares her real life experience of building a Net Zero restaurant, the challenges, how to overcome them and how to be successful and profitable.
Stella Diomantaraki at LinkedIn
Nina Willems
Nina is a Dutch National who has worked in project management and event management roles in Greece over many years. These days she lives part time in Crete. Nina joined the GenNZ team to support learners, and guest speakers through the 8 weeks Summer School and to help with arranging the dissemination and end of project events. Nina’s tasks also include managing some of the project evaluation of quality and impact stages. Nina’s role is to help us to ensure the programme runs smoothly and on time!
Nina Willems at LinkedIn
Christos Sotiropoulos - Astronomer
Christos Sotiropoulos has been our resident Astronomer at ESA since opening in 2012.
He lives in Chania, Crete and is also an English teacher, Salsa teacher and certified ‘online learning’ teacher
Christos is National Co-ordinator for the amazing group ‘Sidewalk Astronomers’ which is a voluntary group to encourage every person to look up to the sky and make their own personal connection between this earth and our universe. He is also the National Co-ordinator for the globally inspirational organisation ‘Astronomers without Borders’, the not for profit organisation which aims to create a more connected world by giving people insight to the sky where conflict and nationalistic boundaries do not exist.
Christos has taken our guests, including African Princesses, on an amazing journey from Crete to the edge of the Universe. He has the skill to take people back in time to Ancient Greece to learn about the Myths hidden behind the constellations.
Shibu Cheruvelil PhD - Director AIDI
Shibu Cheruvelil PhD, is the Founder & Executive Director of Agency for Integrated Development Initiatives (AIDI) in Delhi. Shibu provides his expertise to ESA in the Women (and Men) Innovators for Sustainable Enterprise programme (W/MISE) Greece and India. He is also a core member of the ESA India project team.
Over 18 years, he has had considerable experience with NGOs in India, Asia -Pacific countries, Europe and USA, managing International Public Health, Women Empowerment, Child Education, Gender Discrimination, Sustainable Development, global and national policy advocacy initiatives and multi developmental programs. He gained his extensive leadership management skills in the international development sector. In his ‘Country Leadership’ roles he has been responsible for oversight of country operations, liaising with National and International Government Agencies, CSR & Bilateral Organisations, Financial Planning and Budget Management, Multi-Partner Management, Global Advocacy Management, National and International Key Staff Management. Prior to this, he introduced a leading AIDS Healthcare Foundation (USA) in to India for HIV Testing & Treatment and setting up the Global Fund (GFATM)’s largest HIV/AIDS programs for India.
Shibu played a key role in the success of the historic International Congress on Education and Child Labour at New Delhi in September 2005. Also, he worked for international policy advocacy programs based at Washington, D.C during 2012.
Email dr.cheruvelil@gmail.com
Tel. India: +91 (8826) 852199
