Written by Justine Frangouli-Argyris
The “Alexandrion Foundation” payed homage to individual excellence in the fields of science, culture and society at their annual gala at Gotham Hall last Tuesday night. It was an amazing event with distinguished guests and esteemed personalities.
The Alexandrion Foundation first organized “The Constantin Brâncoveanu Awards” in 2014 to honor the values of Romanian culture and related personalities who have achieved universal recognition. The recipients are selected from the realms of culture, art and science, in general, and, in particular, from the fields of literature, history, music, theatre, film, social science, architecture, medicine, religion, politics and economics.
This year’s winners were: Mariela Shaker (Music), Adriana Călin (Architecture), Alexandra Nechita (Arts), Baroukh El Kodsi (Medicine), Daniela Rus (Science), Archbishop Elpidophoros (Cults) and Carolyn Maloney (Politics).
In his inaugural address, Nawaf Salameh, founder and president of the Alexandrion Foundation and the Alexandrion Group, outlined the reasons for establishing the Constantin Brancoveanu Awards in New York and remarked, "…tonight we honor Syria, we honor Romania, Greece and the USA. We honor their culture and human values…”
Alexandrion Group chief executive, Stelios Savva, cited the group's activities, stressing that it is the largest spirits producer in Romania. Mr. Savva proudly announced that the company is currently in the process of undertaking an investment of $100M in a distillery in Putnam, New York and has plans to expand its production of whiskey, bourbon, gin, brandy and vodka to other parts of the country.
The organizers of this spectacular event were Greta Kamaterou, USA Director, Yannis Horozoglou, Alexandrion Group advisor (Athens) and Angela Giannopoulou, Studio3 NYC. Anthoula Katsimatidis was the mc of the fabulous event.
Among the distinguished guests spotted were Consul General of Greece, Konstantinos Koutras, Metropolitan Joseph of Antiochia, fr. Alex Karloutsos Vicar General of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, archimandrite fr Vassilios Drossos from the GOA, bankers, business people, lawyers and young professionals.
