Our People

Niko Drakoulis

Founder, Chairman & CEO

Niko founded SurePeople on the belief that people are the most important factor of success - that the quality of our companies, careers and personal lives are determined by the quality of our relationships.

Niko's ability to bring people together and create a strong culture is based on more than 25 years' experience as an accomplished executive leader, serial entrepreneur and five-time patent holder. He is a member of the University of Illinois Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

Prior to founding SurePeople, Niko was Chairman and CEO of Akoo International, named one of Advertising Age's "Best Places to Work."

Demetra Anagnostopoulos

Co-CEO

Demetra has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of leadership training and organizational development. Over the years, she has spearheaded programs for companies such as Capital One, F. Hoffman-La Roche, Facebook, GE and PepsiCo.

Before joining SurePeople, Demetra spent over two decades with Interaction Associates, a global consulting firm that is routinely named one of the "Top 20 Leadership Training Companies" by Training Industry magazine.

Paul Tsagaroulis Ph.D.

EVP, Chief Scientist

Paul has more than 20 years’ experience in people analytics, with an expertise in data visualization and optimizing workforce performance. At SurePeople, Paul oversees the company’s growing people science team. He has a Ph.D. in Business Psychology (Industrial-Organizational) from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.

Prior to joining SurePeople, Paul was Director, Analytics at Carrier Corporation. He previously served as Director, Human Capital Analytics at U.S. General Services Administration in Washington D.C. and as an HR analyst for UBS Global Asset Management and Allstate Insurance. 

Adam Schneider

SVP, Content

Adam is an experienced digital strategist with a passion for developing and curating content that people find inspiring, useful and worth sharing. At SurePeople, he leads the overall development and implementation of the company’s growing content ecosystem, consisting of world-class learning programs designed to elevate individual, team and organizational performance.

Prior to joining SurePeople, Adam spearheaded innovative content and marketing communications initiatives as a Senior Content Strategist for SapientNitro and as a Senior Coordinator, Integrated Marketing Communications for Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

Mariane Mac Kinnon

SVP, Client Success

Mariane has more than 15 years’ customer service experience, with an expertise in training, team management, employee development, process improvement and quality assurance. She leads all client implementations and supports the company’s renewal activity, helping achieve a near 100 percent renewal rate for the previous two years.

Prior to joining SurePeople, Mariane was a senior manager at DentalPlans.com, where she ensured the high-quality service delivery and successfully promoted customer renewal and retention rates. 

Ambarish Chaudhari

SVP, Engineering

Ambarish is an accomplished software architect with more than 25 years’ experience developing rapid, robust and innovative solutions to complex problems for enterprise SaaS companies. His expertise includes software architecture, solution framework development and component development.

Prior to joining SurePeople, Ambarish was founder of the technology consulting firm, Challenge Handshake Inc. He also served in diverse technology roles during his career, including Engineering, Product Management and Solution Design; Principal Technical Architect; Technology Advisor; and, Product Development Lead. He received his B.E. in Computer Engineering from Pune Institute of Computer Technology in India.   

Andy Stankiewicz

EVP, Marketing & Communications

Andy has more than 25 years experience as a strategic marketing and communications professional. He has held leadership roles across in-house, senior consulting and global agency environments, including at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, where he served in the Corporate Communications Practice.

Andy began his career as a journalist for the Voice of America, where he reported on science, technology and international affairs. He has a BA in Communications from the University of Illinois.

Dax Abraham

EVP, Technology

Dax is an accomplished enterprise architect who knows how to align a big picture vision and strategy with technology and software. As our EVP of Technology, he is responsible for the innovative platform that brings SurePeople’s customer experience to life.

For over 20 years, his passion for coding and technology has translated into large-scale enterprise solutions with Fortune 500 companies and global businesses across industries. Prior to joining SurePeople, Dax served as the Director of Technology for Sapient Corporation.

Yanni Lolis

President, Product

Yanni has been managing cross-functional teams and bringing digital products to life for over a decade. As our President, Product, he leads our UX and UI designers and collaborates with our technology team to provide SurePeople's partners with innovative solutions that exceed their expectations.

In addition to his expertise in product development, Yanni has more than 20 years of experience in digital media, creative direction and deploying enterprise websites across industries. Prior to joining SurePeople, he served as the Chief Creative Officer at Akoo International. And before that, Yanni was the Senior Art Director at Orbitz Worldwide.