Michael Psaros, a New York businessman, investor and philanthropist, together with his family, made a $60,000 gift for our Greek America Corps volunteer program and pledged an annual contribution of the same amount to fund our program on the island of Chios in perpetuity.
Since our first Chios campaign took place in summer 2019, dozens of North American young adults have participated in the program serving unaccompanied refugee minors and abandoned and disenfranchised children living on the island. In summer 2022, a dozen more volunteers will travel to Chios to continue these efforts.
Psaros, a West Virginia native with ancestral ties to Chios, is a co-founder and managing partner of KPS Capital Partners, LP, and a member of its investment and management committees. He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Georgetown University and attended Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan.
Psaros, the grandchild of immigrants, attached a personalized letter along with his donation, calling it a “blessing” to be able to give back to his ancestral island.
“This is such a blessing! The grandson of two immigrants from Chios, giving back to Chios! God bless these young people!” he wrote.
His generous donation came with only one request: That our volunteers light a candle in the church of his family’s village, Olympoi, where his great-grandfather Stamatis was the parish priest.
Philanthropy is nothing new to the Psaros family. Most recently, Psaros and his family donated $11 million to create The Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy at Georgetown University. The center will be a free resource for journalists, policymakers, students, businesspeople or anyone seeking unbiased, non-partisan information about complex issues pertaining to the United States.
Psaros serves on the board of directors of Georgetown University and also serves as the vice chairman of the executive board of advisors of the university’s McDonough School of Business.
In 2013, Psaros and his wife Robin created “The Michael and Robin Psaros Endowed Chair in Business Administration” at the McDonough School. The Psaros family also created the “Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Endowed Orthodox Chaplaincy, Endowed by the Michael Psaros Family” in 2021.
Psaros is an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Order of St. Andrew, where he serves on its National Council. He is a founding member of FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism; serves on the board of trustees of The Leadership 100 – Advancing Hellenism and Orthodoxy in America, and the executive board of The Hellenic Initiative.
Psaros is the vice chairman of Friends of St. Nicholas, the organization responsible for constructing the new St. Nicholas National Shrine at Ground Zero. He previously served as the treasurer of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and currently serves on its executive committee. He is the recipient of numerous awards from Greek and Orthodox organizations nationwide.