Demetrios “Jim” Logothetis, Chairman of the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Fund, has had a notable career spanning four decades at Ernst & Young, with leadership roles in Chicago, New York, London, and Frankfurt. Immigrating from Greece to the United States at 13, he earned an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in Accountancy from DePaul University. Logothetis has served on boards including the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, the National Hellenic Museum, and DePaul University. In 2019 and Chair of the Board of Trustees at The American College of Greece. He is married to Marianthe Analitis; they have three children and nine grandchildren. He spoke to the Orthodox Observer and Dr. Stratos Safioleas just before the 34th Annual Leadership 100 Conference in Orlando, Florida.
Demetri, as President of Leadership 100, how do you envision the organization’s evolution in the coming years?
I believe that the natural evolution of the organization is to expand beyond the membership concept and introduce unrestricted giving targeted to the priorities of our national church and community. These funds should focus on the clergy, Hellenic and Orthodox education and networking of our young professionals. Our goal should be to double the value of the fund to $250 million in ten years and $1billion as soon as possible. Without funding at those levels, we can never meet the growing challenges and take advantage of opportunities on the horizon. If we don’t step up now, we may become a footnote in the history of immigration to the United States.
Arriving for the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Fund conference, in Orlando. From right to left: Jim Logothetis, His Eminence Metropolitan of Atlanta Sevastianos, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, Marianthe Analytis, Paulette Poulos.
Orthodox Observer/Marissa Costidis
Reflecting on your journey with Leadership 100, could you share a pivotal experience that reshaped your approach to leadership, and the key lessons it imparted?
I was inspired by the vision of the founders including of course the late Archbishop Iakovos of blessed memory and the hard work and dedication of our board and the entire organization. I feel the blessing for the opportunity to lead one of the most important organizations in our Greek American community in the United States. I felt from the time I was nominated for the Chairmanship a great deal of gratitude but also, a high sense of responsibility to work with the entire board to set the course for the next ten years and beyond.
Jim Logothetis’s family and His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America at the 2024 Leadership 100 Conference in Naples.
Orthodox Observer/Dimitrios Panagos
How has your close relationship with His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America informed your leadership philosophy and commitment to the Church community?
For various reasons I had concluded in my mind that serving the Church and our community for forty years (ever since I graduated from college) was sufficient and that I should devote more time to my family especially as I retired from Ernst & Young after forty years in 2019. However, I changed my mind as I got to know Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. I appreciated his sense of urgency to address major challenges facing our Church and community in America and his dedication to our people and future generations while at the same time staying close to our Mother Church of Constantinople. I concluded that I had to stay on and try to help in any way I can.
Your tenure at Ernst & Young provided a rigorous foundation in strategy and management. What lessons from that experience have you adapted to guide your leadership at Leadership 100?
My forty years at Ernst & Young (EY) a global professional services firm while also serving our Church at all levels provided me with a deep understanding of how a professional services firm can grow and achieve its goal. I led various leadership teams and reached the level of vice chairman and senior partner responsible for some of the largest clients of the firm including the Coca Cola Company. There are many similarities between EY and our Church. In both the critical success factors are hiring, training and retaining the best and brightest. In our case of course the clergy. Without them there is no church. Second, a unified vision and mission. We always said at EY “we are as strong as our weakest link.” That is in our case the experience of the parishioner should be at the highest levels whether they are attending the smallest parish in a rural remote area or the Cathedral of New York. This is what drives the brand, that in turn drives engagement leading into financial support. And finally, the firm or in our case the Church must be unified under a common vision and mission. I believe that everything we do at L100, the national and local ministries and indeed in every parish, is help each person achieve spirituality in every sense of the word.
In an evolving philanthropic landscape, which emerging trends do you believe Leadership 100 should embrace to enhance its impact, and how might these innovations transform the way we support our community?
I think the most important trend is for organizations to continue to strive for efficiency and effectiveness as well as transparency. That means to always challenge itself in terms of governance which I think we do very well at L100, and use the donors contributions wisely by prioritizing support of needs. Here again I think our grant approval process is exemplary. Finally, accountability and clear demonstration of impact. Donors want to understand the impact of their dollars and how each grantee is held accountable to demonstrate results. The best way to gain additional funding is to be clear about results. In our case of course it is demonstrated every day through our outstanding clergy most of whom benefited by the tuition scholarships granted by our L100.
Jim Logothetis’s family in front of his house in the village of Karatoula Kynourias, Arkadia Greece. “This is the place I was born and raised,” he said.
Orthodox Observer/Courtesy of Demetrios Logothetis
With the upcoming conference in Orlando, what central message or vision do you plan to share with emerging leaders, and how do you intend to mobilize them to help build a robust future for our community?
The central message has to continue to be that our Church and the broader Greek American community needs everyone’s input, sponsorship and ongoing support in terms of time, talent and treasure. Without the ongoing success of L100 we cannot survive. We have made nearly $80 million grants over the last forty years. We probably would not have had the existing Church and perhaps our entire Greek American community would be relatively insignificant in so many ways.
With family at Christmas: ten grandchildren.
Orthodox Observer/Courtesy of Demetrios Logothetis
Education is a significant focus for Leadership 100. What challenges lie ahead, and how do you plan to address them?
Hellenic and Orthodox education is critical for the future of our Church and community. There is no question that education has been at best significantly underfunded and perhaps at worse neglected considering other needs. As Greek Americans we cherish education and in fact, are considered as one of the most educated ethnic groups in America but yet HC-HC has a minor endowment fund which really should be at a level of hundreds of millions and the Greek day and even evening schools are struggling. In many cases non-Greeks know more about our history and even our religion than we do. Why have we given up on our cherished language that is such a big part of our identity? I heard a non-Greek professor from the University of Montreal recently while talking about the Hellenic language to accuse the Greek Parents of “depriving their children and future generations of the most important treasure their Hellenic language.” The Trump administration is promoting educational choice across America. Let’s use this opportunity to rejuvenate our schools, and build new ones; parochial, independent and charter schools.
Can you identify a particular contribution of Leadership 100 that, while perhaps not widely recognized, has significantly advanced your organization’s mission? What makes this contribution so impactful?
There is no question the most significant contribution of L100 has been the support of seminarians and clergy at every level. Much more needs to be done to support HCHC and our clergy. Unfortunately, most of our Greek American community is not aware of this incredible contribution as we don’t have enough finding to advertise, our L100 members don’t always take the opportunity to inform their friends and parish stewards and in many cases our clergy limit the related discussion to the L100 Sunday. I do understand and appreciate that in many cases they are trying to raise funds for their local parish needs.
Finally, how do you believe the principles and practices of Leadership 100 can contribute to the broader civic discourse in America, serving as a model for how cultural heritage and ethical leadership can shape our national conversation?
I believe that the opportunity exists but first we must make this organization and the entire Greek American Community much more powerful and influential. The reality is that our numbers in terms of citizens and voters are quite small, the funding of our institutions minuscule, we are not united and whatever support is provided to politicians is done mostly on an individual level and not as a group as a result we are not recognized or appreciated to the degree we should. We need to unite, eliminate unproductive organizations and initiatives, significantly increase giving to our institutions and most importantly inspire our young people while enabling them to get engaged and take on the torch of Orthodoxy and Hellenism!
In closing I heard this past Sunday at a memorial for the late Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and all of Albania what he uses to preach. I am paraphrasing here: “We need to deplore mediocrity and strive for excellence in our church and community.” The pursuit of excellence and priority for the common good versus the individual is what the ancient Greeks and the Fathers of our church taught us. The slogan of L100 is advancing Orthodoxy and Hellenism. Let’s always focus on that mission!
