Michael Zampelas

Michael Zampelas, a Cypriot by birth was educated in the UK and became a Chartered Accountant in 1965.

In 1970, together with his associates, he established Coopers & Lybrand an accounting and consulting firm in Cyprus and Athens, thus opening new horizons for the development of the accounting profession in Cyprus and Greece. As a result of a merger in 1998 the firm was renamed PricewaterhouseCoopers. He served as an elected member of the board of the European Organisation of Coopers & Lybrand Europe (1991-1999). Michael Zampelas served the firm as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from its establishment in 1970 until 2001 and as a non- Executive Chairman from 2002 until 2005. Today, PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cyprus employs around 1000 partners and staff. It is the leading professional services firm on the island, providing industry-focused assurance, tax, advisory services, global compliance for public and private clients.

He was the Honorary Consul General of Estonia in Cyprus, beginning in 1997. He contributed substantially to the development of the commercial and cultural relations between the two countries. The President of Estonia awarded him the title of the Order of the National Coat of Arms.

As an independent candidate, Zampelas won the municipal elections and took office as the Mayor of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, on 1 January 2002. He served as Mayor until 31 December 2006. In 2007 he was honored by the next Mayor and the Municipal Council for his services as Mayor and he was awarded the honorary medal of the city of Nicosia.

Parallel with his professional activities, Zampelas developed a very intense activity for the promotion of Cyprus internationally focusing on the financial rebuild and development of the country.

Zampelas was actively promoting Cyprus through the extensive network of PricewaterhouseCoopers worldwide and through his connections with large banking and financial organisations, law firms and other offices abroad by delivering presentations at seminars and meetings in various countries and by giving interviews in the international media. A count of around 160 such presentations all over the world was recorded in a period of 20 years.

He was one of the initiators who contributed greatly to the enhancement of the image of the accounting profession in Cyprus which is now considered by international experts as equal to that of UK, USA and other developed countries. In 2007 he was honored by the board of The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus for his visionary services to the accounting and auditing profession in Cyprus and in 2010 he was awarded by the same Institute the first prize for his contribution in the development of the accounting and auditing profession and the economy of Cyprus.

His social contribution to the educational, cultural, community and business levels has been continuous. He was honoured and decorated by a number of social and business institutions. He served as President or member of the board of many social institutions and business organisations. A number of positions in such institutions and organisations are shown below:

He was married to Loukia, and they had three daughters. Loukia Zampelas is also very actively involved in the community and with public issues.

They were also great lovers and collectors of art and played a very important role in promoting Cypriot Art. In 1999, Michael Zampelas founded the company Zampelas Art with the purpose of establishing a complete Art Centre for the promotion of art and culture in Cyprus and abroad.

The company has created the Loukia and Michael Zampelas Art Museum, a non-profit private organisation, which houses the permanent collection of the Zampelas family and also organises temporary exhibitions of artists from Cyprus and abroad. Furthermore, other art-related ventures were created, under the brand name Zmart. These are: Zmart Education, Zmart Gallery, Zmart Shop, Zmart Café and Zmart Framing.

• Loukia & Michael Art Museum (in English)