The new Board of Directors of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum was formed – Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas was unanimously elected as the new President

With the unanimous election of Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas as the new President, the new Board of Directors of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum was formed, following the appointment of the new members by the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Archanes-Asterousia, in accordance with its 254/2024 decision.

The new composition of the Board is as follows:
Andreas N. Metaxas, President
Georgia Milaki, Vice President
Evangelos Dermitzakis, Secretary General
Zacharias Tsakountakis, Treasurer
Marina Detoraki, Manolis Kokosalis and Michalis Krasakis, Members

The Board of Directors meeting was held in a festive atmosphere on Friday, November 29, in the presence of the outgoing Chairman of the Board, Professor Michalis Taroudakis, whose term of office expired without the possibility of renewal, and of the outgoing Board Member, Mrs. Marilena Milathianakis, who remains at the Museum as Director after being appointed to this position by the previous Board of Directors.
Succeeding Mr. Taroudakis, Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas is the fourth President of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum after the amendment of the Foundation's statutes in 2017, while the first President was the late Professor Giorgos Grammatikakis and the second was Mr. Stelios Matzapetakis.

The composition of the Board of Directors, according to the Statute of the Museum

According to the Statute of the Museum, the Board of Directors is seven-member and consists of the Mayor of Archanes-Asterousia and the President of the Local Community of Myrtia, who are appointed ex-officio, a representative of the Region of Crete appointed by the respective Regional Governor, a lecturer of the University of Crete appointed by the respective Rector, a member of the educational community of the Municipality of Archanes-Asterousia, and two personalities who are deemed to be able to assist in the work of the Museum. The lecturer and both personalities are appointed by the Municipal Council.
The Regional Governor of Crete had already appointed the Deputy Regional Governor Mrs. Georgia Milaki as the representative of the Region and the Rector of the University of Crete, Professor Mrs. Marina Detoraki as the representative of the University. For the other three positions, the Municipal Council appointed Mr. Evangelos Dermitzakis, member of the educational community of the Municipality of Archanes-Asterousia, Mr. Michalis Krasakis, Art Historian, and Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas, entrepreneur in the field of Tourism.

Statements of the outgoing and new President

The outgoing President of the Board, Professor Michalis Taroudakis, welcoming the newly elected President and the new members of the Board, stated:
“It is a great emotion for me to leave the Administration of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum after 12 years of presence, having served this very important Institution for almost 8 years from the position of President. Feeling the heavy responsibility of presiding over an organization that aims to preserve the work and thought of the great Nikos Kazantzakis, I made every effort to appear worthy of his memory by following in the footsteps of the late Giorgos Grammatikakis and Stelios Matzapetakis, whom I succeeded as president of the Foundation, and to contribute to the extroversion and development of the Museum. All these years, I have experienced the love of the public, the unwavering support of the Former Director Varvara Tsaka and the current Director Marilena Milathianaki, as well as the inexhaustible energy of all the Museum's executives who have given and are giving their best and everything they can to advance the Foundation on the creative path it has set out. I thank them from the bottom of my heart, as I also thank all the former members of the Board for their excellent cooperation.
I welcome the new members of the Board, whom I have known for many years and I am sure that they will contribute to the continued development of the Foundation. I particularly welcome the new President Andreas Metaxas, with whom I have been associated for more than 30 years with a warm friendly relationship and with whom we have collaborated at times with passion and, I would say, with considerable success, for the cultural development of our country. His love for Nikos Kazantzakis, his sensitivities and his administrative skills presage a bright future for the Museum. I wish the new Board every success in its work and I declare that I will be there for them in whatever they need.”

The New President of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum, Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas, stated:

“With a high sense of responsibility, enthusiasm and emotion, I assume my new duties as President of the Board of Directors of the Nikos Kazantzakis Museum. I would like to thank the members of the Board of Directors for their unanimous election to this honorary position. I will do my best to live up to their trust.
I would particularly like to thank the outgoing President of the Board, Professor Michalis Taroudakis, with whom we share a long-standing friendship and appreciation. The important legacy he leaves behind for the Museum increases the weight of the responsibility I assume and my determination to lead the Museum on an even more extroverted and dynamic path, in which the knowledge and experience from his eight-year tenure will be invaluable to us. I also warmly thank the Director of the Museum, Mrs. Marilena Milathianaki, as well as all the Museum Executives for their warm welcome and support.
The Nikos Kazantzakis Museum, from 1983 when it was founded by the late Giorgos Anemoyannis until today, is a beacon of culture that "illuminates" the life and work of the leading Greek thinker. We will continue the work of the Museum in the coming years, working with vision, design and scientific competence. And above all, with love for our land, passion for cultural contribution and immense respect for the great intellectual man who made Crete known to the ends of the earth. Our goal is for more and more people, of all ages, from Greece and abroad to get to know Nikos Kazantzakis even better, through the unique experience of visiting the exceptional space of the Museum in beautiful Myrtia, which is also his birthplace.”

Brief biography of Andreas N. Metaxas

Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas was born and raised in Heraklion, Crete and is an internationally recognized personality in the tourism industry.
Since 1999, he has been the CEO of Metaxa Hospitality Group, one of the leading Greek hotel groups, headquartered in Heraklion, which operates in Crete and Santorini. He has deep knowledge and experience in business administration, as he began working for the Group in 1983, having passed through all departments of the company and stages of the hierarchy.
Under the management of Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas, the Group has been internationally recognized for its commitment to the principles of Sustainable Development, having received dozens of awards and certifications. With his personal vision of the gradual transition to sustainable-regenerative hospitality, he created the innovative program “Regenerative Agriculture for the Lassithi Plateau and its People - Towards a Sustainable Food Destination” which has been successfully underway for the last two years or so.
He was also the initiator and founding member of “We Do Local”, a pioneering initiative aimed at promoting Cretan products, introducing sustainability criteria in local production and connecting them with the hospitality industry.
Particularly important is his contribution to the field of Culture, where, continuing the long-standing tradition of the family of the late Nikolaos Metaxas and the Group - for which he has been awarded the Gold Medal of the Academy of Athens -, he has contributed with various initiatives to the preservation of cultural heritage. Indicatively mentioned are the donation of 2,229 ancient objects to the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, the financing of the unveiling of the hagiographies of the Byzantine Church of Panagia Kera in Pediada, Heraklion, the donation of 273 old Cretan woven embroideries to the Society of Cretan Historical Studies and the donation of rare objects to the Historical Museum of Crete, enriching the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Collection as well as the World War II Collection.
Mr. Andreas N. Metaxas is a graduate of the David Speiser’s Hotelberufsfachschule School of Tourism in Germany and the School of Social Sciences of the Hellenic Open University of Patras with a degree in Business and Organizational Management, while he has completed the Master’s Program “Environmental, Disaster & Crisis Management Strategies” of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
He is a founding member of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) and has served as Vice President of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (XEE) and President of the Heraklion Hotel Association (EXI).
He is also Honorary Consul of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland in Eastern Crete.