Basil Gavalas is Co-Founder of the Athens Defence Summit and a Forbes 30U30 geopolitical entrepreneur with a record in bridging capital, technology and governments. 

He is a member of the Leadership Council of the New York Times–affiliated Democracy & Culture Foundation, whose 25 members include CNN CEO Mark Thompson and Sheikha Al-Mayassa Al-Thani of Qatar. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Platform for African Democrats, whose 20 members include Nobel Laureate President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and President Ian Khama of Botswana, and on the Strategic Council of DIKTIO – Network for Reform, one of Greece’s leading think tanks. He is also an elected member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Also, Basil is founding Vice President of the Hellenic Iraqi Business Council, emphasising on the Kurdistan Region whose top leadership has a record of working with. As part of his bridge-building endeavours in the region, he was instrumental in securing government support and private financing for Delphi Forum Slemani, a top business diplomacy platform, held Under the High Patronage of Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.

He is the founder of several ventures, including Milhous Associates, a geopolitical advisory firm active in high-level business diplomacy across the Middle East and Africa.

Previously, he served as a senior political advisor with the Government of the Hellenic Republic and worked with leading think tanks including the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Konstantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy.

He has published commentary with institutions such as RUSI – the Royal United Services Institute and Kathimerini / International New York Times, and has shared the stage as speaker with figures including Deputy Prime Minister Talabani of the Kurdistan Region, General Sir Nick Carter, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, the Finance Ministers of Zambia and Somaliland, various European sitting and former Ministers, the Deputy Director of the International Energy Agency as well as major industrialists.

He co-authored the first Greek-language study on Artificial Intelligence and National Security in 2018 with Yannis Mastrogeorgiou, now Secretary for Strategic Foresight to the Greek Prime Minister. He is the author of two books and holds an LL.M. from the University of Paris.