Andreas Koutsoudakis

Andreas Koutsoudakis learned hospitality in his father's restaurant in Tribeca. His father, Andy, came to New York from Crete at fourteen with no English and no money, and found his way in the diner business. As a boy, Andreas bussed tables, cut fruit, ran deliveries, answered phones and rode along to the Fulton Fish Market. Surrounded by regulars who were treated like family, he learned what generations of Greek Americans learned in family businesses: you take care of whoever walks through the door, and you take care of the neighborhood around it.

He carried that lesson into his career. A partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP and Chair of its Hospitality & Restaurant Law Group, Koutsoudakis represents restaurant owners, operators and entrepreneurs, many of them building what his father built. From his first day in practice, he has treated every client's business as if it were his father's restaurant.

In March 2020, Andy Koutsoudakis died of COVID-19. While he was in the hospital, his family made sure the restaurant's staff were fed every day. After his death, they raised money for protective gear for hospital workers on Staten Island. Two years later, when the Greek America Foundation named Koutsoudakis to its Forty Under 40, the Foundation made his father the face of its tribute to the Greek Americans lost to the pandemic.

By then, Koutsoudakis had started a tradition of his own. Every Thanksgiving since his father's death, he has cooked meals for people in shelters. His daughters, Zoe and Vanna, pack the meals and deliver them by hand. He wanted them to do more than write a check: to meet the people they were serving and understand what it means to go without.

In 2022, he brought that tradition to the Foundation. Together with fellow families, including Kyriakos and Roda Perperidis and their children, it became Project Philotimo. That first year, families prepared meals for The Bowery Mission. By 2024, young volunteers were preparing and delivering more than 100 meals to Project Hospitality on Staten Island. In 2025, they assembled more than 100 Thanksgiving dinners at Carnegie Diner & Café for the Hoboken Shelter. More children take part every year, and this November, during Greek America Honors week, they will gather at Carnegie Diner again.

Philotimo has no exact English translation. Greeks know it when they see it. Do right by others because it is right, whether or not anyone is watching. For the children who give part of their Thanksgiving to cooking, packing and carrying meals to strangers, it becomes a tradition they learn by taking part.

Greek America Honors recognizes Andreas Koutsoudakis for taking what his father passed down and handing it to the next generation, and for showing children that philotimo is something you do with your own hands.

Dr. Margarita Lolis

Dr. Margarita Lolis brings professional excellence and a commitment to creating opportunity to her work as a physician, educator and Greek American community member. A board-certified dermatologist and fellowship-trained Mohs micrographic surgeon, she cares for patients, mentors emerging medical professionals and champions the preparation of young people for leadership through the Greek America Foundation’s Gen G initiative.

A first-generation Greek American, Dr. Lolis was raised in Palisades Park, New Jersey, by parents whose lives taught her the meaning of perseverance, sacrifice and responsibility. Her father is from Teriahi in Epirus, and her mother, Giannoula, is from Malendreni near Tripoli in the Peloponnese. Their belief in education and their determination to create opportunities for their children gave her both the foundation to pursue an ambitious career and a lasting appreciation for the people who make another person’s progress possible.

Dr. Lolis graduated from Yale University and earned her medical degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She completed her dermatology residency and advanced fellowship training in Mohs micrographic surgery, laser surgery and cosmetic dermatology. Today, she practices with Schweiger Dermatology Group in New Jersey, where her work encompasses skin cancer surgery and reconstruction, general dermatology, and advanced cosmetic and laser procedures.

As Associate Director of an ASDS Cosmetic Dermatologic Surgery Fellowship, she also helps prepare the next generation of medical professionals. Her teaching and mentorship extend to fellows, physician assistants, medical students and young physicians. Her commitment to mentorship reflects her belief in helping others develop their abilities and creating opportunities for those who follow.

Her commitment to education and mentorship also informs her vision for Greek America. Preparing future leaders begins well before adulthood, through opportunities to practice responsibility, make thoughtful decisions and serve others. In 2025, she and her husband, Dr. George Stoupakis, made a decade-long sustaining commitment to the Greek America Foundation’s Gen G initiative, helping establish a lasting foundation for teen leadership, philanthropy and service.

Through Gen G, teens take part in hands-on service and help direct philanthropic giving, learning that leadership carries responsibility for the well-being of others. Dr. Lolis’ early belief in the program reflects a vision of young people as capable contributors to community life. Her support helps give them the experience and confidence to become the leaders our community will need in the years ahead.

For Dr. Lolis, this work is closely connected to family and heritage. She and Dr. Stoupakis, an interventional cardiologist from Chios, are raising their two daughters in northern New Jersey. Greek culture, Orthodox faith, education and service remain central to the values she hopes to pass on. The opportunities her parents worked to give her carry a responsibility to create opportunities for others.

Greek America Honors recognizes Dr. Margarita Lolis for her professional excellence, dedication to mentorship and visionary support for preparing young Greek Americans to lead. Through medicine, education and her commitment to Gen G, she is helping turn the opportunities one generation received into possibilities for those who follow—with knowledge, compassion and service at their foundation.

Jimmy “Jimbabway” Panagiotou

For nearly two decades, Jimmy “Jimbabway” Panagiotou has kept Greece present in North American community life through the power of live music. A concert producer whose work reaches across cities and generations, he gives Greek Americans—including those whose families left Greece long before they were born—a way to experience their heritage as something alive, shared and relevant to their own lives.

Bringing some of the biggest names in Greek music to American stages, Panagiotou has produced more than 250 concerts, reaching a combined audience of more than half a million people. Over the years, thousands have traveled from various U.S. states to attend his events. Each gathering creates an opportunity to hear the language, sing the songs and experience the sense of belonging that music can carry across borders and generations.

For those born in Greece, these evenings can renew a connection to home. For their children, grandchildren and later generations, they offer a connection of their own. Familiar songs bring family memories into the room, while contemporary artists connect audiences to the Greece of today. In this way, Panagiotou’s work helps heritage grow with each generation, giving younger Greek Americans new experiences through which to make it their own.

His influence extends beyond the concerts he produces. By sharing his expertise with fellow organizers throughout North America, Panagiotou has helped bring these cultural experiences to other cities and communities. That generosity has extended the reach of his work, helping others create their own opportunities for people to gather around Greek music.

The lasting impact of this work extends beyond the stage. A concert creates a shared experience that can become a family memory, a renewed cultural connection or a reason to gather again. Across nearly two decades, Panagiotou has helped sustain those connections, making Greek culture a continuing presence in North American life.

Greek America Honors recognizes Jimmy “Jimbabway” Panagiotou for his enduring contribution to Greek cultural life in North America. Through the concerts and Greek nights he produces and the expertise he shares, he brings Greece closer, strengthens community through music and helps generations far removed from Greece feel that they belong to its unfolding story.