Mrs Avra Lyraki is a visiting lecturer in Organizational Communication, Public Relations and Management at the ECMU, Brussels, where she also earned her PhD in Strategic Corporate Communication with the research topic: “Application of Strategic Corporate Communication Processes to Internal and External Problems associated with Mergers and Acquisitions in the Greek Banking Environment”.

She also holds a Master’s degree with specialization in International Management from the University of La Verne California and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences, Department of International & European Studies.

For the past eleven years she has been working in the banking sector, currently working at Piraeus’ Bank Headquarters, Group Corporate Communication’s Division and is responsible for the event management projects of the Group such as the coordination of exhibitions and relevant events, planning and organizing sponsorships that add positive publicity to the Group, capitalize on opportunities regarding the publicity, for the Group and its subsidiaries through special events, handling crisis management issues, monitoring competition and evaluating its publicity activities such as advertisements and sponsorships, organising the corporate gifts procedure by choosing the appropriate external partner.

Previously she had worked in various positions at EFG Eurobank, as a New Business Development Officer at the Quality Control Unit of the bank as well as a Competition & Marketing Research Officer at the Savings & Investment Unit.

She is also a well experienced business seminar instructor in numerous topics such as: Public Relations & Event Management, Communication Skills, Crisis Management, Advertising, Branding, Time Management, Interview Techniques, Initiative, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Judgment & Decisiveness, Leadership, Problem Analysis, Stress Tolerance, Planning & Organizing, Commercial Awareness, Teamwork, Networking, Listening Skills, Effective Meetings, Presentation Skills, Personal – Assistant Manager, Manage your Boss, Creativity, Empowerment, Persuasive Oral Communication, Achieving What I Want, Customer Service, Quality Service Skills, Sales Skills.

She is an academic member of the Athens Institute for Education and Research and member of the Institute of Communication (E.D.E.E), the Hellenic Public Relations Association and the Alumni MBA’s of La Verne University.