In House

HDN had the opportunity to speak with the distinguished Greek expatriate Lou Katsos. The man who came from Georgitsi, a village in Laconia to ... link his name with the skyscrapers in the Center of the World.

 

What connects the "balcony of Taygetos" & the village of Georgitsi, with “beast” enormous steel buildings in Manhattan, New York? One man: Elias (Lou) Katsos. A major manufacturer, who left Laconia at the age of five, went with his family to New York and managed, through hard work, to succeed in any field, whether it was studies, business or social contribution.

He lived the "American dream", without forgetting the land where he was born, its history and culture. A benefactor every time he was called by "Mother- Greece”. Now, he is ready to offer even more through the position of vice-president of AHEPA, which he is claiming.

Lou Katsos was born in Georgitsi in 1951 and after five years he moved with his family to the bustling New York, in a ghetto area, in Brooklyn. "My first memory is an incident when an older child hit me. I went to my father crying and told him what had happened. He, as a genuine Lacon, answered to me: “Do not let them hit you again without hitting back.”

“That time was the last time in my life something like that happened ", he stated to the Hellenic Daily News NY, and continued to unravel the tangle of his memories:" My father had a cart trailer and I was helping him. For each spot we had to pay $ 4,000 In rent. With that money you could buy an apartment at the time ".

Nurtured by the air of Taygetos in a traditional family, young Lou Katsos slowly began his journey in order to conquer the peaks of his dreams. An excellent student, he studied Civil Engineering in New York University (NYU) and then pursued an MBA at the Graduate Business School of the same University.

From a young age he was fascinated by Greek ancient history. He read about the ancient Spartans, his ancestors and their achievements. On the other hand, he saw his father living a Spartan life, with a lot of hard work. Like the ancient Spartans he always aimed for more and every day he was striving for the best. For little Elias, the imaginary world of Ancient Sparta had become one with the world and everyday life of the Greek immigrant in New York.

 

All this until the age of seventeen. Then, he made his first trip to Laconia and suffered a similar shock to what European travelers who came to Greece during the Ottoman Empire suffered and instead of finding people who embraced the spirit and philosophy of Aristotle, Plato, etc. he found people without spiritual cultivation.

Thus, when Lou Katsos went to Laconia, he did not meet people who exercised, studied and worked according to the standards of the ancient Spartans and in what he learned from his father. He met young Greeks who loved the cafe and did not work part-time compared to those in New York. As a modern traveler he wanted to study all Greek  modern history in order to find out what contributed to this change.

"I like to view our history from different angles and perspectives. I want to know how others think of us. I have a huge library with books even 300 years old. I have also read many publications of Greek professors, which may be in the purgatory but because I have studied the same periods of history and through English books I can understand what they say. "My favorite period in the modern history of Greece is the pre-revolutionary period", Mr. Katsos underlines.

 

 

Lou Katsos became famous in the field of construction. He has more than 40 years of experience and his name has been associated with major construction projects in Real Estate Development & Design in New York, but also in the field of Construction Management. He is one of the leaders in the industrial circle of the "Big Apple" and holds management positions in construction companies in New York.

 

All these years he undertakes and manages construction projects, which in total exceed 15 million sf., including marinas, hospitals, shops, retail stores, biological centers and educational institutions, that have contributed to the transformation of the building environment of New York.

In 1984 he became an official member of the well-known American construction group "Tishman Realty & Construction Co.", which is now a member of AECOM- Vice President and a later on he was assigned with the position of COO. This group, among others, has undertaken major hotel projects such as the famous PLAZA Hotel.

In the early 1990s, Lou Katsos decided that was time to start his own company. He founded the "Jekmar Associates" in which he still holds the position of President. Among the company's projects are hotels and residential projects. At the same time, he undertook the implementation of the expansion of other construction companies.

"Whoever I worked with knew that I have my own company. Yet, he knew that I had the experience and the enthusiasm for work in order to grow his." he underlines in "HDN NY". Among the people he worked with are manufacturers who are currently leading the global construction industry.

Another "child" of Mr. Katsos, EMBCA (East Mediterranean Business Cultural Alliance), the non-profit organization that he has founded and leads in collaboration with extinguishing researchers, professors, marketers, etc.. This initiative aims to organize and promote the professional and educational interests of Americans from the Eastern Mediterranean.

It is an organization with a multicultural and multinational character, which aims to organize and finance seminars, exhibitions, concerts, performances, activities, cultural and educational programs but also help to improve social ties.

A few weeks ago, Lou Katsos was the honored person at the "Sail to Freedom" event for the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution that took place in New York.

 

Lou Katsos, along with his business life, never neglected his intellectual cultivation. As a professor of Construction Management at New York University (NYU) and the Cooper Union School of Architecture, a renowned University of Architecture and Engineering, he carries in his resume thousands of hours of lectures and teaching.

His family environment, however, is full of people with academic careers. He is married to Barbara Spili Katsu, a Distinguished Doctor of Education, who served as Principal at the Holy Trinity Cathedral School in Manhattan and later studied Law, became a lawyer in New York, with an academic career.

His son Ioannis Katsos is a professor of Law at the American University of Sharjah in Dubai, School of Business Administration where he teaches Business Law and Ethics, his Cypriot wife Christina teaches at the same University and is a Gas and Energy Consultant. His daughter Dr. Mara Karamitopoulos specializes in orthopedic pediatrics and is a surgeon at "NYU Langone".

 

 

And as you read his career portfolio, and you realize there is time not even for a lunch in the schedule of such a businessman, Lou Katsos, through his love for Greece and the Greeks, managed to find time to stand out in another area: that of social contribution.

"I joined AHEPA six years ago. Argyris Argetakos knew me from my contribution in other organizations and asked for my help. I studied the history of the Organization and I was fascinated. "From the first moment I decided to help with all my heart and strength", he tells us.

Through hard work he managed to chair the AHI (American Hellenic Institute) New York Chapter. Guided by the support of all the actions that were carried out in favor of Hellenism and with the enthusiasm of a small child, she helped and sill helping when  "Motherland" and her children need support. He served as Vice President and then President of the AHEPA Department, Delphi Chapter 25, which covers New York.

With the assistance  of the other members and through hard work, he managed to increase the number of members of the Chapter from 15 to 300. Today, the AHEPA section, Delphi Chapter 25 is the largest section of AHEPA worldwide. He later served, for two years, as Governor of AHEPA District 6 of the largest AHEPA District. Today, armed with his wide circle of acquaintances, he continues to help promote AHEPA and the ideals of Hellenism.

The supreme conference of AHEPA is being held in Athens these days, where Mr. Katsos will claim the position of VP with a vision to help the Organization grow. "I want to help THE organisation grow and regain its former glory. I have proved from my tenure so far in the Chapter that I can achieve it. We need to revitalize the Organization. I know what it takes to do that. I want to help the one who will become president, Mr. Jimmy Kokotas. I am not a beggar for votes. I am here with the aim of helping ", underlines the proud Lakonas.

 

 

As you talk to Lou Katsos a poem written by Nikiforos Vretakos in 1947 comes to your mind:

 

This is how Taygetos stood for me: like my mother's peak.

He watered me blue, blood, sun and green

to bind my soul like his stone

to carve in my heart its deep ravines

to form in my life twelve peaks

to go out with my only dream the sun.

With my thirst the sun is unique.

Thirst deep as an ocean,

taller as the moon.

Thirst for God to pity her.

All around my heart are the geranium crowns of its cliffs,

cracks for animals, water wires, firs and wild pigeons.

And a goat above me to wield the clouds.

And a goat above me to dig the thunder

asking to find a spark in them! So

Taygetos stood by me until they were born

the two children of God within me: poetry and love!

 

You think of the poem and you see in front of you a real child of Taygetos. Perhaps if the great Laconian poet lived, he would dedicate his literary work to him, yet in the last verse he would replace the word “poetry” with the word “offer”, because the "child of God" that Lou Katsos has is “givimg".