At the end of the ISF in Dijon, George Athanasopoulos stepped down from his role as President of the IIF. George has played such a critical role in the leadership and development of the IIF, that it is hard to imagine the organization without him as President. Of course, he continues on the Board of Directors as the immediate past-President for the time being.
I first met George in 2012 at the ISF in Boston. He was pretty cheeky even then. Little did I know that he’d already gotten involved in the IIF by helping Program Chair, Rob Hyndman, with that year’s program. He was then elected as a Director in 2014, Treasurer in 2016 and President in 2020. Did I mention he was ISF Program Chair in 2017, General Chair in 2019 (in Thessaloniki) and General Chair for our two virtual ISFs in 2020 and 2021.
I have worked with so many IIF directors and presidents over my career with the IIF. I could share amazing stories about the contributions of every one of them. George especially has gone above and beyond, and the results of his efforts are seen throughout the organization. His efforts to make the IIF accessible to everyone is most notable. He has kept membership fees and ISF registration fees the same for years and years so that everyone could participate. He expanded our grants and award programs, most notably for rising PhD students. He kept the IIF on track, whether it was by encouraging his fellow directors to go above and beyond, or to keep his Business Director (me) on track. He brought out the best of me, and I hope that you all have, or will have, the chance for him to do the same for you.
George, on a very personal note, I will miss you very much. You have been a bright star in both my career and my life. And, yes, I will even miss the zoom calls at 8pm on a Friday night.
By Pam Stroud
George was an undergraduate and PhD student in the Department of Econometrics & Business Statistics at Monash University, Australia, where we both still work. For reasons he can’t explain, he chose not to take my forecasting class! I don’t remember when I first noticed him, but it was probably during his PhD when I would see him smoking outside our building. (He wasn’t always so fit and healthy!)
In 2006, he became my post-doctoral research fellow, working on tourism forecasting for the Australian government. Little did I know that he would become my most important collaborator and close friend. Together we organized the ISF in Cairns in 2017; we’ve coauthored the Forecasting: principles and practice book; we’ve written 23 papers together, and co-supervised 7 PhD students; he introduced me to the pleasure of Scotch whisky; and we’ve played on the same soccer and cricket teams.
In 2014 I encouraged him to become a Director of the IIF, a role he has continued to hold since then. I also persuaded him to become the Treasurer a couple of years later, and I was delighted when he became President in 2020, because I knew he would do a fabulous job, bringing his immense organizational and people skills to the role. The IIF is very lucky to have had him on the Board of Directors for so long, and the organization is much better for it.
Now George is my boss (although he hates me calling him that!), and he brings the same commitment and dedication to the department as he has done for the IIF over the past 10 years.
Thanks mate.
By Rob Hyndman