Dr Lazaros S SAVVIDES was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, on the 25th July, 1948. He holds a B.Sc. (Eng.) honours degree in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London (1966-1969), a M.Sc. degree in Control Systems from Imperial College, University of London (1969-1970), a Diploma of Imperial College (D.I.C.) in Automatic Control Systems (1969–1970), and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester (Faculty of Technology – UMIST) (1970 – 1972).
He has also completed a part-time course in Accounting and Finance at the Cyprus Productivity Centre, Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance and a Specialized Executive Programme for “Leaders in Development: Managing Political and Economic Reform” at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
After his compulsory military service in the Artillery in the Cypriot National Guard (1973-1974), he was employed as an Electrical Engineer in the Department of Electrical and Mechanical Services of the Ministry of Communications and Works in May 1974. In 1982 he was promoted to the post of Senior Electrical Engineer.
In July 1992, he was seconded to the Ministry of Communications and Works as the Head of Telecommunications. In January 1996, he was promoted to the post of Director of Telecommunications in the newly established Directorate of Telecommunications.
In May 1999, he was promoted to the post of Permanent Secretary (Ministries) and was placed by the Council of Ministers at the Ministry of Justice and Public Order. From 21 January 2004, he was also acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Interior. On 1st December 2004, Dr Savvides took up the duties of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, until his retirement on 1 November 2011.
On the 18th December 2011, Dr Savvides was elected Mayor of Strovolos Municipality, the most populated municipality in the greater Nicosia and the second largest in the whole of Cyprus. In accordance with the present legislation Dr Savvides assumed his duties on the 1st January 2012.
In addition to his other duties, on the 10th March, 2005, Dr Savvides was appointed by the Council of Ministers as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cyprus Airways Public Ltd. (CYPRUS AIRWAYS, EUROCYPRIA AIRLINES LTD etc.) a public company listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange, a post he held until the 31st March 2007. On the same date, he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of EUROCYPRIA Airlines Ltd, which in the meantime separated from the Cyprus Airways Group, a post he held until the 31st December 2008.
Upon a decision of the Council of Ministers Dr Savvides served also as Head of the Negotiating Team for the Development and Management of the Larnaca and Paphos International Airports, the very first BOT project to be carried out in Cyprus, until the signing of the contract on 12 May 2006.
Dr Savvides has served as a Member (1984 – 1992) and later as Chairman (1992 – 1999) of the Principal Advisory Committee on Technical matters of the Main Tender Board, Treasury, Ministry of Finance. From 1992 until 1998 he was also the Secretary of the Advisory Committee for Radio and Television Licensing.
During the Cyprus accession process to the European Union, he was Head of the Cyprus delegation during the multilateral and bilateral meetings with the European Commission on the Chapters on Telecommunications, Audio-Visual Policy and Culture.
While Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order, Dr Savvides was the Permanent Correspondent of the Cyprus Government in the European Committee of Crime Problems (CDPC), and the Co-operation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs (Pompidou Group) of the Council of Europe.
Dr Savvides was also the Representative of the Cyprus Government in the Committee of Article 36, the High Level Group of Gender Equality and in the Strategic Committee of the Council on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum (SCIFA) of the Council of European Union.
Dr Savvides represented Cyprus as head of many delegations in numerous World and European Conferences and Fora on Telecommunications, Crime Prevention and Treatment of Offenders, Gender Equality and Combating of Illicit Drugs and Immigration and Integration of migrants. In June 2000, he was the Head of the Cyprus delegation to the 23rd Special Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”.
Dr Savvides is a Past Chairman of the Cyprus Centre/ Branch of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (UK), now The Institution of Engineering Technology (IET), as well as a Past Member of the International Board and Council and Past International Council Representative of the same Institution. From May 2009 until September 2011 Dr Savvides was the Chairman of the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Regional Board and a member of the Global Operations Board (GOB) of the same Institution. He was Treasurer, Secretary and Vice Chairman of the Cyprus Professional Engineers´ Association (CPEA-ΣΕΜ). He is a Fellow of the IET (UK) (F.I.E.T.), a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (USA) (Senior M.I.E.E.E.), a European Engineer (Eur. Ing.) and a Member of the Cyprus Technical Chamber (ETEK). Dr Savvides was also a Member of the Disciplinary Board of the same Chamber between April 1999 – April 2002.
In December 2008, Dr Savvides was awarded the 2008 Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Alumnus by the University of Manchester Alumni Association.
He has written numerous technical papers and reports on Control Systems, Telecommunications and Biomedical Engineering.
He is married to Tina (née Sheridan) and has twins, a son, Stelios, an Electronic/Telecommunications Engineer and a daughter, Natalie, a practicing lawyer, and three grandchildren, Evelthon, Lazaros Joseph and Carolina Christina.