Cass alumnus Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou delivers City’s 125th Anniversary Lecture

Cass Business School was delighted to welcome Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou (MSc Shipping, Trade and Finance, 1987) to give its 125th Anniversary Lecture on the topic of ‘Entrepreneurship and Giving Back’.

Sir Stelios spoke about his time at Cass and his career to date, focusing particularly on his philanthropic work in the UK, Greece, Cyprus and Monaco.  He also took part in a Q&A session with Professor Costas Andriopoulos, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Sir Stelios is a hugely valued member of our Cass alumni community which encompasses 48,000+ alumni across more than 160 countries.  He is best known for creating easyJet.com - the low cost airline that revolutionised European air travel - in 1995 when he was just 28 years old.  Easyjet now carries over 100 million passengers p.a. with a fleet of c. 350 Airbus aircraft flying to more than 30 countries.

In 2000 Sir Stelios floated easyJet on the London Stock Exchange in order to fund growth but he and his family are still the largest shareholders holding about a third of all the shares. He successfully campaigned to set a dividend policy that pays 50 per cent of profits as a dividend.

Stelios started giving back to society when he turned 40 years old and has since formalised his charitable giving by creating the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, which now takes up about a third of his time. The Foundation generously funds Stelios Scholarships for Cass students.

Speaking at the event, Professor Paolo Volpin, Interim Dean, Cass Business School said:

“Sir Stelios has helped many of our students through his Stelios Scholarships at Cass and has been key to shaping and achieving our collective ambitions for the future.  We are very grateful to him for his consistently loyal support of Cass, particularly through his role on our Global Advisory Board.

“We are proud that Sir Stelios is delivering the 125^th Anniversary Lecture for Cass - he represents the best of Cass students and alumni – he is hardworking and entrepreneurial and is an innovative, trailblazing leader.

“But as well as being a distinguished global business leader, he has also used his considerable talents to give back to the community and help others, as exemplified by the Stelios Scholarship and his other significant philanthropic work.”

To find out more about City's 125th Anniversary and the activities that have been taking place to mark this milestone year, visit the City 125 website.