Dr. Elias A. Iliadis and retired U.S. Army officers Carl Hollister and Nicholas P. Vamvakias will receive honors during the Order of AHEPA’s 104th Supreme Convention in Philadelphia.
Iliadis will receive the AHEPA Hellenism Award at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 29, during “AHEPA Celebrates America 250” at the Liberty View Center near Independence Hall. Hollister and Vamvakias will receive Military Service Awards at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 30, during the AHEPA Veterans’ Salute Bouzoukia aboard the Battleship New Jersey.
The ceremonies are part of AHEPA’s return to Philadelphia from July 26 through 31. The convention will be based at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, with programs also scheduled at sites across Philadelphia and Camden during the country’s 250th anniversary year. Closing activities are planned for August 1.
Iliadis is a cardiologist with Cooper University Health Care, where he directs the interventional cardiology fellowship and serves as associate director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory. He is also medical director of the noninvasive vascular laboratory and an associate professor of medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.
His work outside the hospital has kept him closely involved with Greek-American institutions across the Delaware Valley. Iliadis is president of the Greek American Heritage Society of Philadelphia and a founding board member and past president of the Hellenic Medical Society of Philadelphia. He also serves as vice president of the parish council at St. Thomas Greek Orthodox Church in Cherry Hill.
Iliadis previously led the Hellenic Federation of New Jersey and served as a physician at Ionian Village, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America’s summer program in Greece. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew invested him as an Archon in 2021 with the title Exarchos.
Hollister retired as a major after 21 years in the Army, much of that time in Special Operations. He received the Bronze Star in 2005 and later served as AHEPA supreme president and chairman of AHEPA Housing.
He is now executive director of the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine in St. Augustine, Florida.
Vamvakias began his Army career with the 101st Airborne Division and served two combat tours in Vietnam. His decorations include the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star with Valor and Purple Heart.
He later commanded the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment and the 1st Armor Brigade at Fort Knox, overseeing about 7,000 soldiers. His career also included graduation from the U.S. Army War College, two assignments at the Pentagon and service with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Within AHEPA, Vamvakias served as supreme treasurer from 2009 to 2011 and chaired the organization’s Veterans Affairs Committee.
Individual event tickets, registration information and schedule updates are available through AHEPA’s official Supreme Convention page.