Dr. George Baourakis is the Director of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh) since June 2012, and the Studies and Research Coordinator of the Business Economics and Management Department of MAICh since 1989. He has more than two decades’ experience in the management and coordination of educational and research activities, including coordination of the MSc Programme of MAICh-CIHEAM, organization of international seminars and training courses both at MAICh and in many other Mediterranean countries, and scientific, economic and administrative management of research projects. He has co-ordinated and participated in a large number of EU (FP 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, INTERREG I, II and III-Archimed, MED, Tempus, Phare, Life, Lifelong Learning, Leonardo Da Vinci, European Social Fund/Operational Sectoral Programme), international and national-regional research projects (Ministry of Rural Development and Food, Ministry of Economy, etc).

He is an Affiliate Professor in Marketing and Supply Chain Management, at the Centre of Entrepreneurship, Nyenrode University, The Netherlands Business School. He has been appointed as Distinguished Research Fellow in Food Marketing-Management at several universities. He has published numerous papers in internationally refereed scientific journals, presented extensively at international conferences, and authored/co-authored several scientific and academic books and special issues which have been distributed by renowned publishing houses. Dr. Baourakis has lectured as an Invited Speaker in many internationally recognized Universities and has served as an OECD Consultant on regionalization and rural governance.

He has organized and implemented international conferences and specialized seminars in cooperation with Universities and Research Institutes of many countries (Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Portugal, etc) and a large number of short courses mainly addressed to executives of the public sector of several countries (Palestine, Romania, Armenia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Iran, Albania, etc), co-organised and financed by the Ministry of Rural Development and Food.

He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Food Products Marketing (Routledge), the Journal of Food Economics (Taylor & Francis), the Journal of Computational Optimization in Economics and Finance (Nova Publishers), and the Journal of Agricultural and Food Economics (Springer). He is also acting as a Referee in various journals concerned with food marketing, management and finance. He has served for many years as President of the Economic Chamber of W. Crete, Executive Member of ANEK LINES, and Secretary General of a large coop retail chain (INKA).