Sixth annual Hellenic Initiative honors Diamantopoulos and Polman

Honored persons were the Greek-French winegrower and founding member of the "Greek Initiative" Korina Mentzelopoulos, as well as Unilever's philhellene CEO Paul Polman, who were honored for their business as well as their charitable activity.

The "Hellenic Initiative" was established in 2012 by prominent executives of the Greek-American community, having two goals: To relieve those affected by the crisis and to boost growth in Greek entrepreneurship, in a very difficult period, in order to stimulate market and systematically open new jobs in key sectors.

"It is important not only to feed the poor, but also to create the conditions for boosting entrepreneurship," said Andreas Liveris, on behalf of Greek Initiative.

Greek-Canadian actror, Chris Diamantopoulos, who is the contemporary voice of "Mickey Mouse", and is also known for television series such as "Sillicon Valley" presented this year's event.

"We are here today for our homeland. I feel very nice to be here again to reward two very important people, such as Korina Mentzelopoulos and Paul Polman, " said Diamantopoulos, who stressed that he considered himself "the ambassador of Greece" regardless of his professional status.

Paul Polman, for his part, welcomed his award, stating that Unilever would continue to support its investment activities in Greece.

"The distinction is very important to me. I may not be a Greek, nor have I any Greek background, yet I am close to the Greeks and, because I am in Europe, I see Greece's daily struggle to overcome the crisis. Unilever, for its part, is investing steadily."

Korina Mentzelopoulos, who expressed her love for Greece as well as for the US, even though she has no direct connection with the country, appeared particularly excited.

"I am proud of my Greek origins and I love America, and I do not feel as active as I should in the" Greek Initiative" as I am not here nor in Greece.

The event announced that there will be a change in the position of the Executive Director of the Organization, after Mark Arey handed over the baton to Greek-American, Peter Poulos.