Dr. Nikos Kontoyannis was born in 1968 in Oklahoma, USA and grew up in Greece until he returned to the States for his college studies.

He obtained a BE in Electrical Engineering with Honors from Stevens Inst. of Technology in 1989, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University in 1991, and a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University in  Biomedical Engineering in 2000.In 1998, Nikos joined Raytheon as a Radar Systems Engineer and over the next years supported ground sensor programs for the US National Missile Defense under the direction of the Missile Defense Agency.

He supported the Ground Based Radar Prototype (GBR-P) as a Requirements Lead on Radar Simulation Software, the X-Band Radar (XBR) and its Sea-based version (SBX) as a Mission Design Lead in charge of mission requirements, and the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) as a Systems Algorithms Lead in charge of system software design, integration, and testing efforts. He became Chief Engineer of the Concurrent Test, Training, & Ops (CTTO) program of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) in 2007 and remained in that post until 2010 when he resigned his position to return to Greece as a Managing Director of APELLA.

He has experience in program management, earned value management, operational organization, and efficiency improvement techniques such as Six Sigma. In APELLA, Nick has the opportunity to grow a well established aviation repair station to the regional aviation and defense solution provider of choice.

He is happily married to Amalia and currently lives in Athens.

Lt General (ret) Sotirios Kontoyannis served in the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) from 1954 until 1985 when he retired as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces (National Def. General Staff - NDGS). During his career he logged more than 4,000 flight hours on most fighter aircraft types of the HAF arsenal combined. He served in a number of operational posts ranging from Director of Operations of the NDGS as a Maj. General, Chief of Operations of HAF as a Brig. General, Wing Commander of 115 Wing (A-7) as a Colonel, to Dep. Wing Commander of 117 Wing (F-4) as a Lt. Colonel. His assignments also included serving as the Chief of Operations in the NATO Combat Readiness Division and leading the Hellenic military mission in SHAPE, Belgium as a Brig. General for two years. He was the first squadron commander of the F-4 mission entering the HAF arsenal in 1975 and was also a NATO Nuclear Strike force team leader. He is credited for the establishment of the first Strike Fighter Tactics and Weapons school in the HAF as well as the establishment of the first Joint Forces Tactics school of the NDGS. Following his retirement, he founded ELVASONIC in 1986 as an aviation spare parts distributor, and APELLA in 1998 as a certified aviation maintenance organization. Both entities are operating today showing steady growth and great promise in the aviation industry. He is married to Vina with 2 children, Nikos and Eleni.

Apella’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Aris Mitsakis, was born in 1972 and joined the company in 2017.Aris holds a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics for Business from Middlesex University, and an MSc in Insurance and Risk Management from City University.

Aris started at BP Oil Hellenic at the Exports Department and then moved to H.J. Heinz Co UK Ltd’s Accounting Department.  In 2000, he then joined the National Bank of Greece where he stayed for 17 years covering a wide range of assignments within the Corporate Finance Division, initially as a Credit Underwriting Officer and then as a Relationship Manager where he was also responsible for Apella’s account.  

He handled loans in excess of a €100M and up to €1B in the Large Corporate Division and loans and bonds of up to €750M in the Structured and International Finance Division.  Aris is also working towards the completion of the Associateship of the Charter Insurance Institute (ACII), and has attended various courses on accounting, risk management, risk assessment, credit risk and financing.

Capt. (ret) Marinos Tzagakis, served in the HAF from 1983 until 2008 when he retired as the Hangar Supervisor of 360 Training Squadron.

Marinos is an EASA Part-66 B1, and B2 Licensed Mechanic, is a graduate of the Hellenic Air Force NCO Technical Academy and has completed multiple training courses including Aircraft Battle Damage Repair Mechanic and Assessor training. Marinos has held multiple posts in his career, ranging from Flight Line Maintenance to Base Maintenance and Maintenance Quality Control. He has also held instructional posts as qualified technical instructor and OJT assessor.

In 2008, following his retirement from the HAF, he joined APELLA as a Component Maintenance Technician and promoted to Component Maintenance IPT Lead 5 years later, identifying new technical capabilities, and optimizing production and throughput flows.

Brig. General (ret) Petros Vagiakakos served in the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) from 1978 until 2010 when he retired as the Director of the Office of HAF’s Chief of Staff.

Petros is an Aeronautical Engineer with a BE from the HAF Academy and has completed multiple engineering training courses on the F-104 and F-16 aircrafts, domestically and abroad, including Aircraft Battle Damage Repair mechanic and assessor training. Petros has held multiple posts in his career ranging from Flight Line Maintenance to Maintenance Quality Control before serving as the F-16 Blk 30 Chief Engineer at 111 Wing in 1993. He was hand-picked to lead the HAF Office for the F-16 Follow-On-Support program at Hill AFB in Utah, USA in 1998 where he stayed until 2000 when he became the Peace Xenia III HAF Program Manager in charge of the acquisition of the F-16 Blk 52+. In 2006 he served as the Maintenance & Support Director at 115 Wing (F-16 Blk 52+).

He has substantial experience in program management, aircraft total lifecycle maintenance, and depot level maintenance activities. In 2010, following his retirement, he joined APELLA as its Technical Director identifying new technical capabilities, and ensuring that all projects are executed according to the highest standards of airworthiness and workmanship. He is currently 55 years of age and happily married to Demetra with 2 sons, Yiorgos and Nikos.

Mr. Yiannis Vasileiou was born in 1964 and after graduating in 1984 with his engineering degree he joined Olympic Airways.

Yiannis joined as an entry level technician but quickly rose to inspector and supervisor roles within the maintenance organization covering multiple line and base maintenance activities. In 2005, Yiannis became the Olympic Airways Base Maintenance Manager often managing three to five production lines of C- and D- level checks of narrow and wide body aircrafts simultaneously.

In addition to those duties, Yiannis was a key stakeholder and contributor to 3rd party maintenance contract negotiations, such as with Iberia and Eurocypria, significantly contributing to the airline’s bottom line. Yiannis, based on his 25 years of experience in the aircraft maintenance industry, brings unique expertise to project management, materiel and human resource management, engineering assessments, and capability development.

In 2014, Yiannis joined APELLA as a Project Manager, responsible for manufacturing project coordination, new capability development, and operational efficiency improvements.

Yiannis is a holder of Part-66 B1, B2, and C licenses in narrow and wide body aircraft types.

He is happily married to Magda with 2 daughters, Christina and Aneza.