People
Practical support for individuals and communities, with attention to dignity, resilience and the opportunity to move forward. The Foundation’s published work includes assistance to vulnerable groups, education and sport.
Central Group/The Foundation
Purpose beyond enterprise
What we build.
What we leave.
The Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation.
A commitment to people, knowledge and the living memory of culture.
The official Foundation website
A wider world
of meaningful action.
Discover the initiatives, the people and the partnerships behind the mission.
Explore the Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation ↗01 / The purpose
Opportunity begins
with someone
who believes.
There are forms of progress that cannot be read on a balance sheet: the confidence of a student, the continuity of research, the dignity of a person facing difficulty. These are the horizons that give philanthropy its human meaning.
The Swiss-registered Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation brings together social support, education and cultural stewardship. Its work connects immediate human needs with the longer life of institutions, scholarship and historical understanding.
Its three fields of action — people, knowledge and culture — share a simple ambition: to make opportunity more durable. A contribution matters most when its value continues to unfold in the lives of others.
Alba Graduate Business School · 2026
02 / The founder
A life of enterprise.
A sense of duty.
Evangelos Pistiolis is a Greek shipowner and entrepreneur whose international career spans more than three decades. His work with Central Group and Top Ships reflects an enduring interest in building, managing and developing enterprises across borders.
Education, mentorship and public service form another thread of that journey. In 2026, Alba Graduate Business School at The American College of Greece recognised his contribution with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
The Foundation gives his philanthropic commitment an institutional form. Personal conviction becomes a framework through which support can continue, partnerships can deepen and ideas can acquire lasting purpose.
His interest in history, particularly the Roman world, also informs a broader appreciation of continuity: how knowledge survives, how cultures speak to one another and how the achievements of the past can illuminate the responsibilities of the present.
03 / Three fields of action
The many forms of a lasting contribution.
Knowledge
Support for learning, scholarship and historical research. The value of education lies in what it sets in motion: questions that travel further, new generations of researchers and opportunities that would otherwise remain out of reach.
Culture
An engagement with heritage as a living resource. Archaeology and historical understanding connect generations, creating a conversation between the worlds we inherit and the worlds we are shaping.
04 / A bridge between countries
A home for research.
A future for shared knowledge.
Greece and Switzerland.
Connected through scholarship.
The Foundation supported the acquisition and preparation of the Swiss School of Archaeology’s new headquarters in Athens, contributing alongside other donors and institutional partners.
The Swiss Centre for Culture, Research and Diplomacy was inaugurated on 22 May 2026, bringing the Swiss Embassy, the School and Flux Laboratory together under one roof. It offers a setting in which cultural exchange, research and diplomacy can meet.
For an archaeological institution, a permanent home means more than space. It creates the conditions for sustained work: a place to ask questions, preserve knowledge and welcome the next generation of scholars.
Discover the initiative ↗05 / Presence & participation
From conviction to human connection.
White Turf · St. Moritz · Official Foundation film
A foundation’s character is revealed through the relationships it sustains. Alongside institutional partnerships, its published activities encompass support for schools, athletes, vulnerable communities and public-service organisations.
These different settings share a common human centre: the belief that attention, continuity and practical help can make a difference.
From Greece to Switzerland and beyond, the Foundation’s official website records its initiatives and the stories behind them. It offers the fullest view of the work, its context and its continuing development.
Explore the impact ↗06 / In his own words
The person behind the purpose.
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Continue the journey
Explore what a commitment
can make possible.
Meet the Foundation through its official stories, initiatives and vision.
Explore the Evangelos Pistiolis Foundation ↗