Elena Panaritis Social Entrepreneur, Economist, Policy Innovator presents at SRI Conference, USA

Sept. 27, 2012 - PRLog -- September 27, 2012
Contact: Laura Maratou-Kolias, Lmaratou@arec.umd.edu Mobiles +30 6977 90 61 35, +1 240 997 0460

Elena Panaritis
            Social Entrepreneur, Economist, Policy Innovator
Speaks at the SRI –Conference on October 3, 2012 (3pm-4pm), Connecticut, USA
“Sustainable Investing: Performance & Impact” - Panel: Making Real Change

Elena will present her innovative method to make real change. Elena will share her experiences on how she successfully helped transform millions of people out of poverty into the middle class in countries around the world – from Bulgaria to Peru at a short time and with market returns. She focuses on the importance of visionary leadership, in personal commitment, and investment. Elena Panaritis joins a panel of thought leaders who are guiding the evolution of impact investing.

SRI Conference (formerly SRI in the Rockies) is the premier annual gathering of investors and investment professionals working to make money and enhance the common good. The session titled “Making Real Change” is designed to stretch our thinking on how capitalism interacts with democracy. This session features thought leaders of various disciplines. Elena Panaritis, is an economist who has worked for the World Bank and served in Greek Parliament, will be joined by other experts to address the problems of creating a suitable legal framework, a viable economic system and a social contract that promotes social and environmental sustainability.

About Elena Panaritis
Elena Panaritis is an institutional economist, social entrepreneur, and policy innovator. Until recently ago she served as a special advisor to the Greek Prime Minister and as a Member of Parliament of Greece. In more than a decade as an economist at the World Bank, Elena spearheaded several institutional/structural reforms including property rights reform in Peru that received International Best Practice and Innovation awards (10Million benefited while the return was over 150 multiple). Elena’s reform methods have revolutionized and forever changed the way people and policymakers think about them; and specifically about property rights’ reforms. As an institutional economist she pioneered social entrepreneurship, she is renowned for her success in transforming informal markets (by changing property rights) into vibrant, growing formal economic and social entities. Her book Prosperity Unbound: Building Property Markets with Trust (Palgrave Macmillan) recounts her experience and expands on her methodology- “Reality Check Analysis”, which is considered one of the best practical applications of institutional economics to property rights issues. Robert Litan, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and Vice President for Research and Policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Entrepreneurship calls her work “a real contribution.”

She is the founder of Panel Group (www.panelgroup.com), a triple-bottom-line business that focuses in distressed cities and markets with high level of informality, transforming the wealth base of poor property holders, to proud middle class owners. Panel Group also provides counsel to governments and private sector on how to apply structural reforms and changes to transform illiquid assets (property) and turn markets more efficient and productive.  Elena Panaritis has taught economic development, housing finance and property markets reform courses at the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, INSEAD, and the Johns Hopkins University- School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).  She is fluent in Spanish, English, French, Italian, and has basic knowledge of German. She blogs at: www.prosperityunbound.com/blog  

Key articles at Huffington post: ‘What Does a France Downgrade Mean for Europe’ (13/1/2012) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elena-panaritis/france-down...) ‘Institutional Reforms Can Lead Greece Out of the Crisis’ (13/12/2011) (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elena-panaritis/greece-econ...)
Registration & Information about SRI Conference October 2-4, 2012: Connecticut http://www.sriconference.com or contact Krystala@SRIConference.com , +1.888.774.2663.