Board of Directors

The Board of Directors consists of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman and five members, and is appointed by the Council of Ministers following the recommendation by the Minister of Finance. The term of office for the members is six years and may be renewed only for one additional six-year term.

Curriculum Vitae of the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and members of the Board of Directors of the CyPAOB

Andreas Zachariades

Mr. Andreas Zachariades was appointed by the Council of Ministers on June 20, 2017, as Vice-Chairman of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board, and on June 28, 2023, he was appointed by the Council of Ministers as President of the Board.

He graduated from the English School Nicosia (1986) and studied Economics and Accounting at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom (1991). He then worked at an auditing firm in the UK and obtained the professional qualification of a Chartered Accountant-Auditor from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ACA).

He returned to Cyprus in 1994 and worked in an auditing firm until 1997, when he was appointed as an Accountant at the Treasury of the Republic. After serving in various roles and responsibilities at the Treasury and the Internal Audit Service, he was appointed as Deputy Accountant General of the Republic on November 3, 2010, in accordance with Article 126 of the Constitution, by the President of the Republic, a position he held until September 1, 2020, when he was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Labor and Social Insurance. For the period from 27 January 2017 until 27 January 2023 he also served as a Member of the Cyprus Gaming and Casino Supervision Commission. On July 1, 2024, he was appointed Director General of the Directorate General Growth of the Ministry of Finance, until November 1, 2024, when he was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Finance.

Christos Karoulas

Mr. Christos Karoulas was appointed by the Council of Ministers on June 20, 2017, as a member of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board and on June 28, 2023, he was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Board by the Council of Ministers. He was also a member of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Commission. During 2020 and 2021 he served as the Deputy Tax Commissioner at the Tax Department of the Republic of Cyprus.

He is a chartered accountant and a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). He holds a degree in Accounting and Finance and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). In 1994 he worked at the audit firm KPMG, and from 1995 to 2001, he worked at MultiChoice Cyprus Ltd as CFO. In 2001 he was appointed as an Accountant at the Treasury of the Republic of Cyprus and from 2006 until 2023 he held the position of the Internal Audit Officer in the Internal Audit Service. Since November 1, 2023, he is the Deputy Tax Commissioner at the Tax Department.

Vicky Aristidou

Mrs. Vicky Aristidou was appointed by the Council of Ministers on June 20, 2017, as a member of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board, and on June 28, 2023, she was reappointed as a member of the Board by the Council of Ministers.

Mrs. Vicky Aristidou holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (BSc Economics) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Imperial College Business School in the United Kingdom. She also attended a two-month intensive program at Harvard University in the United States, specializing in Investment Appraisal and Management.

She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA), a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus, and holds the professional title of International Tax Affiliate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (ADIT).

On March 15, 2020, she was promoted to the permanent position of Principal Tax Assessor in the Tax Department, and she is currently the head of the Transfer Pricing Unit.

Before being appointed to the Tax Department, she held the permanent position of Senior Internal Auditor from April 1, 2011, in the Internal Audit Service of the Republic of Cyprus. Mrs. Aristidou has extensive experience in matters of direct taxation, international taxation, internal audit, external audit and financial matters, both in the public and private sector where she worked for about 15 years, mainly in audit firms and banking institutions.

Stelios Kountouris

Mr. Stelios Kountouris was appointed as the Deputy Accountant General on September 1, 2020. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He is also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus. After working in the private sector as an auditor in audit firms, he joined the Treasury of the Republic of Cyprus in 1997 as an Accountant. In 2004 he was appointed as the Head of the Public Procurement Directorate of the Treasury of the Republic of Cyprus. In 2015 he was appointed as the Deputy Tax Commissioner where he was responsible for the regional offices of the Tax Department.

On May 14, 2021 he was appointed by the Council of Ministers as a member of the Board of Directors of the CyPAOB and on June 28, 2023, he was reappointed until June 27, 2029.

Ioanna Achilleos

Mrs. Ioanna Achilleos holds a degree in Economics (BSc Economics – Accounting and Finance) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master's degree in Business Administration (MSc Management) from the same university. During her postgraduate studies, she was selected to represent the LSE in the MBA program at the University of Chicago.

Mrs. Achilleos has extensive experience in the banking sector, having worked for a total of 15 years in the Alpha Bank group, six of which were in the United Kingdom. She worked in the Corporate Division as Deputy Director, in the Credit Risk Management Division as Senior Officer, as the Assistant to the General Manager and as the Assistant Secretary to the Board of Directors and its Committees. In 2014, she was entrusted the creation, organization and operation of the newly established Board Secretariat, assuming compliance with the expanded regulatory framework concerning corporate governance matters. In this role she collaborated extensively with the Board of Directors and its Committees, with the group's parent company, all bank divisions including the Audit, Risk Management, Regulatory Compliance, Information Security and Finance divisions, as well as with the relevant supervisory authorities.

Mrs. Achilleos has entrepreneurial experience as well, having co-founded in 2017 a company with a cultural character and environmental sensitivity, whose main objective is the support and promotion of traditional Cypriot craftsmen/artisans.

Since 2019, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Young Volunteers, serving as Secretary. Mrs. Achilleos is also involved in writing, with several of her socio-political articles having been published.

On June 28, 2023, she was appointed by the Council of Ministers as a member of the Board of Directors of the CyPAOB.

Demetris Georgiades

Mr. Demetris Georgiades, originally from Famagusta, holds a degree in Economics, Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. He also holds the professional title of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus.

Mr. Georgiadis worked from 1990 to 1993 at Moore Stephens Chartered Accountants London where he also completed his training to obtain the ICAEW title. He then worked for two years as an Audit Manager at Moore Stephens Chartered Accountants in Limassol. From 1995 to1998 he served as Financial Controller/CFO in the group of shipowner Loucas Hadjioannou (Troodos Shipping/Projective Transmarine Finance Company/WT Ships) with offices in Cyprus, Piraeus, London, Monaco, Singapore, Manila and Mumbai. From 1998 to 2014, he worked as a CFO/Columnist - analyst/Head of the Economic editorial team at the publishing company Arktinos Publications (Politis Newspaper), and from 2014 to 2021, he served as Chairman of the Fiscal Council of Cyprus. From 2021 until 2024, he was the CFO of Kanika Group of Companies, after which he assumed the role of Corporate Manager within the same group.

He is a member of the Cyprus Association of Economists and the Cyprus Economic Society, and until 2014, he was a founding member and Treasurer of Transparency Cyprus.

On June 28, 2023, he was appointed by the Council of Ministers as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Authority (CyPAOB).

Marios Neoptolemou

Mr. Marios Neoptolemou graduated from the Pancyprian Gymnasium in Nicosia and studied Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the UK. Subsequently, he worked at the auditing firm KPMG in its offices in London and Nicosia, and then at the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) until 2023, being responsible for the banking supervision and the operation of the payments systems.

At the CBC, he served as the Head of the Department of Anti-Money Laundering and Financial Ethics, which included overseeing compliance with the framework for preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing, supervising the provision of investment services by credit institutions, financial ethics, and overseeing payment institutions and electronic money institutions.

During his service at the CBC, he has participated in various working groups and committees of the European Central Bank, the European Banking Authority and the Council of Europe's Moneyval Committee. Domestically, he served as the CBC representative on committees and working groups such as the Advisory Authority on Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and ICPAC as well as a CFA® charterholder from the CFA Institute.