NetWorks to connect thought to practice in thefinancial services industry

L iz Georgakopoulos, a well-known andwell-respected executive in the finan-cial services industry, has been named

executive director of NetWorks, an outreachof the Indiana State University School ofBusiness.

Georgakopoulos, who served in leadershiproles with Conseco Insurance Group and theCitigroup enterprise before accepting theNetWorks position, said NetWorks is in aunique position to make a difference in thefinancial services industry.

“There’s a need for someone to step in asa catalyst to bring all the thinking together, tolook longer term at the implications of someof the new policies, some of the newprocesses and so forth that are being put into address today’s issues,” she said. “And weknow that there are going to continue to besignificant issues as technology evolves, asglobalization continues to evolve, as Gramm-Leach-Bliley begins to take hold in the mar-ketplace. There’s a need for someone whohas not only objectivity, which we certainly docoming from an academic perspective, butalso understands the urgency and has theability to think about what some of the longerterm, more appropriate solutions might be tocontinue to evolve and grow this industry intothe future.”

NetWorks was born out of a $20 milliongrant — the largest gift in Indiana State’s his-tory — from Lilly Endowment Inc. in October.The program’s goals include providing newdirections in financial services for Indiana, thenation and the world.

“Liz brings some very, very robust experi-ence precisely in the areas we know we wantto develop programs around,” said IndianaState University President Lloyd W. BenjaminIII. “She comes well prepared and will provideexcellent leadership for NetWorks. She hasworked for a number of very large corpora-tions and she has had a variety of different

responsibilities. She was in a position ofleadership and she had to chart new ter-

ritory. She is very familiar with workinglocally, but thinking globally and that is

what we were looking for in aNetWorks executive director.”

NetWorks is designed to actas a “thought leader” for the

financial services indus-try, explained Ronald

F. Green, dean of the ISU School ofBusiness. It has already sponsored aFinancial Literacy Summit in which Indiana’sK-12 teachers met to discuss ways in whichto better educate students at a young ageabout personal financial issues such as creditcard debt, savings accounts, investmentsand creating personal budgets.

Earlier this week, the first class of

NetWorks Scholars arrived on the ISU cam-pus for orientation activities and to receivelaptop computers, one of the perks of beingpart of the elite group of undergraduates oncampus.

NetWorks will be headquartered inIndianapolis.

Prior to her position with NetWorks,Georgakopoulos served as president and

chairperson of the Conseco Insurance Groupand its seven member companies. Prior tothat, she was an executive within theCitigroup enterprise. She served as seniorvice president of business planning, as wellas leader of the health business lines forTravelers Insurance Companies. She alsoheld positions with Boston Consulting Group,a leading international strategy consultingfirm, and First Interstate Bancorp.

It was recently announced thatGeorgakopoulos is one of five formerConseco executives who have launched theirown financial services consulting firm,Tactegy Consulting Group, of which she willserve as president.

Georgakopoulos earned her Master’s ofBusiness Administration from the HarvardBusiness School and an advanced bache-lor’s degree with honors from OccidentalCollege.

Georgakopoulos named NetWorks executive director

Liz Georgakopoulos, NetWorks executive director, addresses a crowd during a receptionat the Columbia Club in Indianapolis on Tuesday evening (above). Georgakopoulos (bot-tom left) visits with (from left) Gongaware Scholar Krystal Smith, freshman fromValparaiso, and members of the first class of NetWorks Scholars — Danielle Thompson ofTerre Haute, Ashley Cameron of Rushville and Daniel Quintero of Seymour — followingthe presentation of laptop computers to the incoming freshmen scholars. Bruce McLaren,associate dean of the ISU School of Business, (bottom right) displays one of the laptopcomputers to be given to the scholars.

Liz and Nicholas Georgakopoulos (top) visitwith Tony George, president and chiefexecutive officer of the Indianapolis MotorSpeedway, at the Columbia Club inIndianapolis Tuesday evening. Lloyd W.Benjamin III (above), president of IndianaState University, welcomes guests to theNetWorks reception.