The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Biography
George Kounelakis is Founder and CEO of ENA Investment Capital, a newly formed investment firm to pursue investments, with a value added active approach, across the capital structure, in situations of stress created by transformative events and lack of liquidity in Europe. ENA Capital’s key focus is on cyclical industries and geographies in Europe undergoing a transition or facing structural challenges where the firm has strong industrial and local expertise and access. Prior to this, he served as Managing Director and Head of Morgan Stanley Principal Investments Group in Europe, where he focused on public and private situations, investing and trading across the capital structure.
Mr. Kounelakis has spent most of his career in the principal investment area and has served on the board of a number of portfolio companies in various industries. These include oil and gas, alternative energy, auto suppliers, construction, materials and healthcare. These companies operate in geographies extending from Europe to Asia, to North America. He has also driven a number of turnarounds and restructurings and he has been active in distressed banking committees.
Prior to his role in Morgan Stanley’s Principal Investments Group, Mr. Kounelakis was running the event driven, active value strategy within the Principal Strategies Group, a proprietary investment group in Equities, focusing on both developed and emerging market opportunities. He joined this group after spending time at Morgan Stanley Private Equity, in Europe.
Mr. Kounelakis also worked in the Goldman Sachs Leveraged Finance team in its infancy in Europe and was additionally involved in direct mezzanine and equity investments, as well as in the Investment Banking Telecoms group at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. In addition he has worked briefly in industry at Komatsu in Japan and Shell International in Europe.
Mr. Kounelakis graduated with a M.Eng. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Imperial College of Science and Technology in London.
He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Harvard China Fund, he is in the Dean’s Council at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as well as in the International Council of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Last Updated: