The Maximos Mansion announced on Thursday, 9 July 2026, the appointment of Daphne-Eleni Nikolakou as Secretary-General for Strategic Planning at the Ministry of Health, and Spyridon Papageorgiou as Secretary-General for Critical Entities Protection at the Ministry of Citizen Protection.
Daphne-Eleni Nikolakou: Legal Expert with Public Sector Experience
Nikolakou is an Athens-based lawyer and graduate of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens’ Law School. Her professional background spans commercial, tax, and criminal law—with a specialisation in economic crime. Since 2019, she served in the legal team of Nikos Papathanasis, and in 2023 took charge of the legal department in Adonis Georgiadis’ office at the Ministry of Labour. From January 2024, she acted as Chief Legal Advisor to the Minister of Health, overseeing, among other responsibilities, legislative initiatives.
She has also participated in advisory boards and governing bodies of health-sector institutions—including the National Organ Transplantation Organisation and the EOPYY Drug Pricing Negotiation Committee.
Spyridon Papageorgiou: Cybersecurity Leader with Military and Industry Background
Papageorgiou joins the Ministry of Citizen Protection following his role as Partner for Cyber Security in Technology and Transformation at KPMG Greece. With over 25 years of experience in cybersecurity and cyber operations, he is a retired Hellenic Navy officer holding the rank of Captain (Archiploiarchos), having served more than 12 years in the Cyber Defence Directorate of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (GEETHA).
He previously led the Inter-Service Cyber Operations Centre and the national incident response team for cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure. He has contributed to PESCO projects and played a central role in organising the annual inter-agency cyber defence exercise ‘PANOPTIS’.
A university and military academy lecturer on information systems security, cyberattack response, and digital forensics, Papageorgiou has received honours from both Greek and international institutions. He is also an alumnus of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).