About us.
At Risk Advis, we focus on precision, expertise, and strengthening organisations—not creating dependence. We provide clear insight, empower your teams, and ensure our impact endures long after our work is done.
Deep Experience & Purpose-Built Teams​
Our consultants bring decades of combined experience across more than 50 financial institutions. With a long history of working together, we form purpose-built teams quickly and precisely—delivering results with exceptional speed, flexibility, and accuracy.
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Continuous Learning & Academic Excellence
We pair strong academic credentials with a commitment to continuous learning. By staying ahead of emerging methodologies and regulatory developments, we provide insights that are current, robust, and aligned with leading industry standards.
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Client Empowerment, Not Dependency
We strengthen organisations by building internal capability, not reliance. When desired, we transfer knowledge, tools, and methods to your teams, ensuring sustained independence and long-term value beyond our engagement.
Zoi Sempou
Founder & Senior Risk Advisor
With more than two decades of experience in financial risk management, Zoi Sempou is a seasoned advisor specialising in Market Risk, Counterparty Credit Risk, Regulatory Reporting, ALM, and Treasury Management. She has built her career across front-to-back risk functions in multiple European countries, integrating quantitative expertise with strategic, regulatory, and governance insight.
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Zoi has led major transformation programmes including regulatory change initiatives, internal model enhancements, risk framework redesigns, and system or software transitions following organisational integrations. She has served as direct HR manager of multidisciplinary risk teams and represented the risk function in executive governance committees across multiple international subsidiaries, ensuring risk perspectives were embedded in strategic decisions.
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She holds an MSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Warwick, a BSc in Theoretical Mathematics from the University of Athens, and an Executive FinTech certification from the University of Oxford. She is certified in Agile Programme Management (AgilePgM®) and Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR), and is an active speaker and tutorial facilitator at professional industry events.
Panos Christakos
Senior Risk Advisor & Quantitative Risk Specialist
Panos is a quantitative risk specialist with extensive experience in market risk, credit risk, model validation, and regulatory oversight. He has supported risk organisations with improving model governance, validating methodologies, strengthening risk reporting, and aligning practices with supervisory expectations across a wide range of risk types and financial instruments.
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His expertise spans PD/LGD/EAD, VaR, sVaR, sensitivities, P&L attribution, and stress testing, as well as scenario analysis and model performance assessment. He has supported remediation programmes, built analytical tools and dashboards, and communicated technical results to senior stakeholders with clarity and structure.
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Panos holds a Certificate in Financial Engineering from Columbia University, an MSc in Business Intelligence & Analytics from the University of Westminster, and an MSc in Mathematics from the University of Athens. His technical toolkit includes Python, VBA, SQL, Matlab, and SAS, along with strong derivatives and structured product knowledge.
Zsuzsanna Tajti
Senior Risk & Regulatory Management Consultant
Zsuzsanna is a senior expert in financial risk, regulatory transformation, quantitative modelling, ESG integration, and internal audit, with nearly 20 years of experience across credit, market, operational, and sustainability risk. She has held senior analytical, managerial, and audit-focused roles across the full risk lifecycle, where she oversaw the development, review, and enhancement of models and regulatory frameworks.
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Her experience includes leading large hybrid modelling and risk teams, delivering programmes across IFRS 9, IRB, ICAAP/ILAAP, stress testing, climate risk, model governance, and supervisory expectations. She works confidently at the intersection of methodology, data, regulation, and decision-making, producing insights and frameworks that support executive and board-level governance.
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Zsuzsanna holds a PhD in Finance and Actuarial Sciences, an MSc in Economics, and a BSc in Finance, and complements her academic background with elite professional certifications including CFA, FRM, PRM, CIA, and GARP SCR. She also contributes globally as a curriculum consultant and exam item writer for professional risk qualifications.
Katerina Kermeli
Senior Industrial Energy & Decarbonization Specialist
Katerina is a specialist in industrial energy systems, long-term decarbonization pathways, and climate-aligned industrial modelling. With more than a decade of experience, she helps organisations understand how energy-intensive sectors can reduce energy demand, improve efficiency, and evaluate greenhouse gas reduction strategies.
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Her expertise includes industrial energy modelling, scenario analysis, stress testing of industrial pathways, electrification and hydrogen technologies, and waste heat recovery. She has contributed to long-term modelling frameworks, technical guides, and research in multiple energy-intensive sectors, helping to improve the representation of industry in complex modelling systems used for policy analysis.
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Katerina holds a PhD in Industrial Energy Demand Modelling from Utrecht University, an MSc in Sustainable Development (Energy & Resources Track) from Utrecht University, and a BSc in Physics from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is also widely published in peer-reviewed journals and technical studies that inform industry and policy stakeholders.
George Papandreou
Senior Risk Management & Banking Professional
George is a senior banking and financial services professional with over 30 years of experience in risk management, financial analysis, regulatory reporting, and leadership roles within systemic banks, leasing companies, and consulting environments. He has an extensive background in market, liquidity, and credit risk, capital adequacy frameworks, and supervisory reporting, combined with hands-on involvement in large-scale transformation and data governance projects across the Greek and European banking sectors.
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He has proven expertise in designing, implementing, and overseeing risk management frameworks, policies, and methodologies in line with Basel II/III, ICAAP/ILAAP, and group-level governance standards. He brings significant experience in market and liquidity risk monitoring, asset and liability management (ALM), stress testing, and capital and liquidity reporting to senior management, the Bank of Greece, and the Single Supervisory Mechanism (ECB). His professional background includes strong involvement in regulatory projects, portfolio due diligence, real estate loan audits, ESG-related initiatives, PMO services, and digital business transformation, as well as the training and mentoring of junior professionals in financial markets and risk-related products.
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George holds an MSc in Banking from the Hellenic Open University and a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Informatics from the Athens University of Economics and Business. He has also engaged in continuous professional development through advanced seminars in asset and liability management, market and credit risk, quantitative risk modeling (VaR), Basel regulatory frameworks, liquidity risk, and leadership, delivered by internationally recognized institutions and industry experts.
Maryam Sharifi
Model Risk & Validation Professional
Maryam is a model risk professional with specialised expertise in validating credit risk, IFRS 9, and stress testing models. She has worked across the full model lifecycle, performing conceptual soundness reviews, data quality checks, quantitative testing, and assessments of regulatory alignment. Her work combines technical precision with strong model governance understanding.
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She has contributed to strengthening validation frameworks, documentation standards, and remediation processes, while working closely with model development, policy, audit, and risk governance teams. Her quantitative strengths support robust evidence-based conclusions and clear communication of model performance and limitations.
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Maryam holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and has taught at university level in subjects related to statistics, organisational behaviour, and quantitative methods. Her academic and professional background together give her a unique ability to translate technical model behaviour into meaningful insights for decision-makers.