Michael Herodotou Zampelas (19 March 1937 – 15 May 2019) was a Cypriot businessman, politician and philanthropist.
Career
Michael Zampelas, a Cypriot by birth was educated in the United Kingdom and became a Chartered Accountant in 1965.
In 1970, together with his associates, he established Coopers & Lybrand an accounting and consulting firm in Cyprus and Athens, thus opening new horizons for the development of the accounting profession in Cyprus and Greece. As a result of a merger in 1998 the firm was renamed PricewaterhouseCoopers. He served as an elected member of the board of the European Organisation of Coopers & Lybrand Europe (1991-1999). Michael Zampelas served the firm as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from its establishment in 1970 until 2001 and as a non- Executive Chairman from 2002 until 2005. Today, PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cyprus employs around 1000 partners and staff. It is the leading professional services firm on the island, providing industry-focused assurance, tax, advisory services, global compliance for public and private clients.
He was the Honorary Consul General of Estonia in Cyprus, beginning in 1997. He contributed substantially to the development of the commercial and cultural relations between the two countries. The President of Estonia awarded him the title of the Order of the National Coat of Arms.
As an independent candidate, Zampelas won the municipal elections and took office as the Mayor of Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, on 1 January 2002. He served as Mayor until 31 December 2006. In 2007 he was honored by the next Mayor and the Municipal Council for his services as Mayor and he was awarded the honorary medal of the city of Nicosia.
Parallel with his professional activities, Zampelas developed a very intense activity for the promotion of Cyprus internationally focusing on the financial rebuild and development of the country.
