LEADERSHIP

The Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Hellenic College / Holy Cross School of Theology was founded in 2022 and opened its doors in 2023 after a generous endowment by Michael Huffington, a film producer, investor, and philanthropist. Huffington was raised Presbyterian, became Episcopalian in 1985, and in 1996 was received into the Orthodox Church through the Sacrament of Chrismation at the Ecumenical Patriarchate (Istanbul). In recent decades, he has substantially supported Orthodox and Roman Catholic monasteries in Greece and the U.S., as well as Orthodox, Catholic, and Episcopal churches throughout the U.S. and Italy. In 2007, he founded the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in an effort to bring Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal, and Lutheran churches into dialogue and ultimately communion. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the congressman representing Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties (1993–1995).  He was the California Republican candidate for the United States Senate (1994). He worked at Huffington Corporation, a Houston-based international family energy company, eventually becoming its Vice Chairman (1976–1990). He obtained a BS in Engineering and a BA in Economics from Stanford University (1970) and an MBA in Finance from Harvard Business School (1972). Michael was married to the former Arianna Stassinopoulos and they have two daughters, Christina Sophia and Isabella Diana. He presently resides in Italy.

Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis, Archdeacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was born in Sydney (Australia) and lives in Harpswell (Maine, USA). Following studies at the Universities of Athens (Greece) and Oxford (UK), he cofounded St. Andrew’s Theological College in Sydney, where he served as Sub-Dean and taught patristics and church history. At the same time, he was an appointed lecturer at the University of Sydney. In 1995, he was invited to teach at Holy Cross School of Theology in Boston (Massachusetts, USA), where he taught until 2002. Since then, he serves as theological advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarch on environmental issues and senior advisor to the Department of Ecumenical Affairs in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. In 2023, he was elected inaugural Executive Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute an appointed as Professor of Theology at Holy Cross School of Theology. His numerous publications have been translated into many languages and focus on the early church and the desert tradition, as well as on the theology of the environment and the role of the church in the world. His latest books include Creation as Sacrament: Reflections on Ecology and Spirituality (Bloomsbury, 2019) and The Letters of Barsanuphius and John: Desert Wisdom for Everyday Life (Bloomsbury, 2022).

Elena Stamatopoulou Kontogli received a Master’s in Business Administration from Simmons University School of Business and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development. Mrs. Kontogli has spent the last twenty years guiding organizations through strategy, planning, and implementation. She has worked with medium and large-size organizations in healthcare and education assuming leadership roles and undertaking major initiatives in marketing, public relations, and partnership development. She has served as an advisor to executives, teams, and organizations developing and launching newly established programs, marketing and digital communication campaigns for impact, and sustainable platforms for mutual understanding and collaboration across entities. Elena enjoys teaching and has been serving as an Adjunct Faculty in Marketing, Economics, and Strategy. She lives in Boston with her family and is a devout member of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Weston.