John Jossifakis’ CSEP portfolio includes a long list of corporate and organization events, playing crucial roles - from executive producer to segment project director. To date, Jossifakis has delivered more than 5,000 events in more than 100 countries. With an achievement like that, Jossifakis’ influence is undoubtedly far-reaching.
His impressive credentials began in his adolescence. When he attended the Northern Secondary School in Toronto, Canada, he was immediately drawn to events and became an active member of the Stage Crew and Set Crew.
Following his secondary education, he studied journalism at the University of Indianapolis and proceeded to earn a Masters of Science in Event Management from Leeds Beckett University. He also studied at Harvard Business School and earned a diploma in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports. He further enriched his education by earning a Digital Strategy and Marketing Diploma from MIT Sloan School of Management.
If his education is already stellar, his professional background is all the more impressive. After more than 20 years of working in the event industry, he has already organized some of the most notable events in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
A year after finishing his secondary education, Jossifakis founded J.J. Productions in 1999. While he was the owner, he also took the responsibility of an events manager and production director. Jossifakis has always been hands-on. He would design and implement all aspects of his events, from arranging worldwide logistics and freight of equipment to designing the lighting of shows to show calling and providing stage management cues.
One of his most memorable endeavors involved working as the Venue Project Manager for the 2004 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies in Athens. This was followed by a consultancy with the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as the closing ceremonies handover segment project manager and a study on how medal ceremonies need to operate during games time delivery.
After his back-to-back projects with the Olympic Games, he worked on several sports events like the 2005 West Asian Games and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. He was the designated venue production coordinator in the 2006 Asian Games Opening & Closing Ceremonies and the celebrations manager and Production Director of Flame Lighting Ceremony prior to producing most of the celebrations on the Doha 2006 Asian Game Torch Relay tour in 15 Asian Countries over a span of 55 days.
From 2007 to 2009, Jossifakis worked as the production manager and assistant technical director at the ECA2 production company in Paris, France. After this role, he went back to organizing large sporting events when he became the local ceremonies manager for the AFC Asian Cup 2011 in Doha, Qatar.
From 2011 to 2015, he was the director of events for Innovations Unlimited ME. After which, he moved on as the regional production director and managing director of Blink Experience from 2015 to mid 2018.
Right after that, he became the local ceremonies manager for FIFA 2018 and the AFC Asian Cup 2019 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. In the middle of 2019 he was appointed as the Project Director for the Formula E ADR EPrix that took place in Saudi Arabia.
Recently, he was appointed as executive producer for large-scale events such as the DAKAR 2022 Opening and Closing Ceremonies. He’s also serving as Large Scale Events Consultant for several government entities, including the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. And his credentials go on.
Jossifakis’ theoretical and operational background in event planning has earned him a name in the industry with multiple accolades and awards. His more than 20 years of experience in planning and organizing major events, fulfilling multiple roles at times, have made him versatile and a highly valuable professional and mentor in the event industry.
Jennyfer Smith
Senior Journalist
https://www.afp.com
