HELLENIC SACRED ROOTS
Our story
Learn about our mission and meet the team.
WHO WE ARE
About Hellenic Sacred Roots
About Hellenic Sacred Roots
Hellenic Sacred Roots exists to preserve the spiritual and cultural heritage at the heart of Hellenic identity. We support the traditions of Orthodox monastic life, its prayer, hospitality, disciplines, and timeless rhythms, and work to ensure these practices continue to guide and inspire future generations.
Our mission is to honor and safeguard the wisdom passed down through our monasteries, elders, and ancestral traditions. Our vision is a future where Hellenic faith, culture, and community remain vibrant, understood, and deeply rooted, wherever in the world our people may be.
Hellenic Sacred Roots exists to preserve the spiritual and cultural heritage at the heart of Hellenic identity. We support the traditions of Orthodox monastic life, its prayer, hospitality, disciplines, and timeless rhythms, and work to ensure these practices continue to guide and inspire future generations.
Our mission is to honor and safeguard the wisdom passed down through our monasteries, elders, and ancestral traditions. Our vision is a future where Hellenic faith, culture, and community remain vibrant, understood, and deeply rooted, wherever in the world our people may be.
OUR REACH
Who we serve
From monastic communities in rural Greece to young people across the diaspora, Hellenic Sacred Roots exists to strengthen the bonds of faith, culture, and tradition.
HOW WE STARTED
A Personal Beginning
Our story began with one young man and one small monastery outside Athens. Today, it's a growing movement of people called to protect what is holy, humble, and enduring.
Athanasios (Tommy) Landis
Founder
Tommy Landis is the founder of Hellenic Sacred Roots, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting monastic communities and preserving Hellenic heritage. From childhood, Tommy carried a deep desire to help others, a calling that took shape during three transformative months at the Holy Monastery of the Entrance of the Theotokos at Markopoulo Oropou, north of Athens Greece, where he assisted with the olive harvest and witnessed firsthand the struggles facing monastic life: broken equipment, inadequate facilities, and infrastructure stretched beyond capacity. Moved by this experience, he founded Hellenic Sacred Roots to provide monasteries across Greece and beyond with practical, sustainable support, including equipment, operational funding, and capacity building, built through organic growth and genuine partnerships.
Tommy's vision extends beyond logistics. He sees monasteries as central anchors of Hellenic culture and spiritual life, and through Hellenic Sacred Roots, he works to protect and promote the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual traditions that have sustained Greek communities for centuries.
Hercules (Eric) Landis
Co-Founder
Eric is a strategic leader and entrepreneur with a lifelong commitment to protect, support and grow Hellenic heritage and monastic life.
While he continues his work as an M&A Advisor at M&A Business Advisors, helping business owners navigate their most important financial transitions, Eric has also stepped into a role of deeper personal stewardship by co-founding Hellenic Sacred Roots, Inc. This US-based non-profit is dedicated to protecting, supporting, and growing Hellenic culture and the Orthodox faith through the support of monastic life.
Drawing on decades of experience in high-level negotiation and organizational growth, Eric oversees the strategic direction of the foundation. His professional background provides a unique foundation for non-profit leadership, ensuring that the mission to support monastic life is met with the highest standards of transparency, efficiency, and long-term sustainability.
For years, Eric's career has been built around valuing and selling "Middle Market" businesses. He now applies those same principles of strategic growth and sustainable management to ensure that sacred traditions and monastic institutions have the resources they need to thrive for generations to come.
His mission at M&A Business Advisors remains unchanged by providing expert guidance to California business owners transitioning from their business. Hellenic Sacred Roots allows him to dedicate his strategic vision and his heart to a cause that defines his heritage.
Jeanine Dalis Klima
Co-Founder
Jeanine Dalis Klima is a fundraising and development leader with over 25 years of experience in higher education advancement, banking, and nonprofit consulting. She has served as the Director of Stewardship in UCLA's Office of Gift Planning, where she led Legacy Society stewardship for the university's Centennial Campaign and grown the society's membership from 975 to 2,500 donors. As UCLA's Director of Alumni Scholarships, Jeanine built a $350M portfolio of regional endowment scholarships, and helped launch the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture. Earlier in her career, she spent 15 years as a bank executive at First Interstate Bank and First Federal Bank, led development operations at City of Hope National Medical Center, and ran her own consulting firm, Dalis Development. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from California State University, Fullerton, an Executive MBA from the University of Southern California, and completed the Women in Governance Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Jeanine attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was selected for First Interstate Bank's internship training program.
Beyond her career, Jeanine is deeply rooted in Los Angeles's Greek Orthodox community as a descendant of some of the city's first Greek families and a lifelong member of St. Sophia Cathedral, where she has served in leadership roles with Philoptochos and chaired events including the Debutante Presentation and the Greek Heritage Society's 30th Anniversary. She has volunteered extensively across Southern California, including with the Assistance League of Los Angeles, the UCLA Parents Council, the West Point Parents Council, Kidspace Children's Museum, and as the first woman in 41 years to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the City of Santa Monica. Named Mother of the Year in 2023, she credits her Christian faith and her family as her greatest source of joy and the inspiration behind her lifelong commitment to service.
HOW WE STARTED
A Personal Beginning
Our story began with one young man and one small monastery outside Athens. Today, it's a growing movement of people called to protect what is holy, humble, and enduring.
Athanasios (Tommy) Landis
Founder
Tommy Landis is the founder of Hellenic Sacred Roots, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting monastic communities and preserving Hellenic heritage. From childhood, Tommy carried a deep desire to help others, a calling that took shape during three transformative months at the Holy Monastery of the Entrance of the Theotokos at Markopoulo Oropou, north of Athens Greece, where he assisted with the olive harvest and witnessed firsthand the struggles facing monastic life: broken equipment, inadequate facilities, and infrastructure stretched beyond capacity. Moved by this experience, he founded Hellenic Sacred Roots to provide monasteries across Greece and beyond with practical, sustainable support, including equipment, operational funding, and capacity building, built through organic growth and genuine partnerships.
Tommy's vision extends beyond logistics. He sees monasteries as central anchors of Hellenic culture and spiritual life, and through Hellenic Sacred Roots, he works to protect and promote the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual traditions that have sustained Greek communities for centuries.
Hercules (Eric) Landis
Co-Founder
Eric is a strategic leader and entrepreneur with a lifelong commitment to protect, support and grow Hellenic heritage and monastic life.
While he continues his work as an M&A Advisor at M&A Business Advisors, helping business owners navigate their most important financial transitions, Eric has also stepped into a role of deeper personal stewardship by co-founding Hellenic Sacred Roots, Inc. This US-based non-profit is dedicated to protecting, supporting, and growing Hellenic culture and the Orthodox faith through the support of monastic life.
Drawing on decades of experience in high-level negotiation and organizational growth, Eric oversees the strategic direction of the foundation. His professional background provides a unique foundation for non-profit leadership, ensuring that the mission to support monastic life is met with the highest standards of transparency, efficiency, and long-term sustainability.
For years, Eric's career has been built around valuing and selling "Middle Market" businesses. He now applies those same principles of strategic growth and sustainable management to ensure that sacred traditions and monastic institutions have the resources they need to thrive for generations to come.
His mission at M&A Business Advisors remains unchanged by providing expert guidance to California business owners transitioning from their business. Hellenic Sacred Roots allows him to dedicate his strategic vision and his heart to a cause that defines his heritage.
Jeanine Dalis Klima
Co-Founder
Jeanine Dalis Klima is a fundraising and development leader with over 25 years of experience in higher education advancement, banking, and nonprofit consulting. She has served as the Director of Stewardship in UCLA's Office of Gift Planning, where she led Legacy Society stewardship for the university's Centennial Campaign and grown the society's membership from 975 to 2,500 donors. As UCLA's Director of Alumni Scholarships, Jeanine built a $350M portfolio of regional endowment scholarships, and helped launch the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture. Earlier in her career, she spent 15 years as a bank executive at First Interstate Bank and First Federal Bank, led development operations at City of Hope National Medical Center, and ran her own consulting firm, Dalis Development. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from California State University, Fullerton, an Executive MBA from the University of Southern California, and completed the Women in Governance Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Jeanine attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was selected for First Interstate Bank's internship training program.
Beyond her career, Jeanine is deeply rooted in Los Angeles's Greek Orthodox community as a descendant of some of the city's first Greek families and a lifelong member of St. Sophia Cathedral, where she has served in leadership roles with Philoptochos and chaired events including the Debutante Presentation and the Greek Heritage Society's 30th Anniversary. She has volunteered extensively across Southern California, including with the Assistance League of Los Angeles, the UCLA Parents Council, the West Point Parents Council, Kidspace Children's Museum, and as the first woman in 41 years to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the City of Santa Monica. Named Mother of the Year in 2023, she credits her Christian faith and her family as her greatest source of joy and the inspiration behind her lifelong commitment to service.
HOW WE STARTED
A Personal Beginning
Our story began with one young man and one small monastery outside Athens. Today, it's a growing movement of people called to protect what is holy, humble, and enduring.
Athanasios (Tommy) Landis
Founder
Tommy Landis is the founder of Hellenic Sacred Roots, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting monastic communities and preserving Hellenic heritage. From childhood, Tommy carried a deep desire to help others, a calling that took shape during three transformative months at the Holy Monastery of the Entrance of the Theotokos at Markopoulo Oropou, north of Athens Greece, where he assisted with the olive harvest and witnessed firsthand the struggles facing monastic life: broken equipment, inadequate facilities, and infrastructure stretched beyond capacity. Moved by this experience, he founded Hellenic Sacred Roots to provide monasteries across Greece and beyond with practical, sustainable support, including equipment, operational funding, and capacity building, built through organic growth and genuine partnerships.
Tommy's vision extends beyond logistics. He sees monasteries as central anchors of Hellenic culture and spiritual life, and through Hellenic Sacred Roots, he works to protect and promote the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual traditions that have sustained Greek communities for centuries.
Hercules (Eric) Landis
Co-Founder
Eric is a strategic leader and entrepreneur with a lifelong commitment to protect, support and grow Hellenic heritage and monastic life.
While he continues his work as an M&A Advisor at M&A Business Advisors, helping business owners navigate their most important financial transitions, Eric has also stepped into a role of deeper personal stewardship by co-founding Hellenic Sacred Roots, Inc. This US-based non-profit is dedicated to protecting, supporting, and growing Hellenic culture and the Orthodox faith through the support of monastic life.
Drawing on decades of experience in high-level negotiation and organizational growth, Eric oversees the strategic direction of the foundation. His professional background provides a unique foundation for non-profit leadership, ensuring that the mission to support monastic life is met with the highest standards of transparency, efficiency, and long-term sustainability.
For years, Eric's career has been built around valuing and selling "Middle Market" businesses. He now applies those same principles of strategic growth and sustainable management to ensure that sacred traditions and monastic institutions have the resources they need to thrive for generations to come.
His mission at M&A Business Advisors remains unchanged by providing expert guidance to California business owners transitioning from their business. Hellenic Sacred Roots allows him to dedicate his strategic vision and his heart to a cause that defines his heritage.
Jeanine Dalis Klima
Co-Founder
Jeanine Dalis Klima is a fundraising and development leader with over 25 years of experience in higher education advancement, banking, and nonprofit consulting. She has served as the Director of Stewardship in UCLA's Office of Gift Planning, where she led Legacy Society stewardship for the university's Centennial Campaign and grown the society's membership from 975 to 2,500 donors. As UCLA's Director of Alumni Scholarships, Jeanine built a $350M portfolio of regional endowment scholarships, and helped launch the UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture. Earlier in her career, she spent 15 years as a bank executive at First Interstate Bank and First Federal Bank, led development operations at City of Hope National Medical Center, and ran her own consulting firm, Dalis Development. She holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from California State University, Fullerton, an Executive MBA from the University of Southern California, and completed the Women in Governance Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management. Jeanine attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was selected for First Interstate Bank's internship training program.
Beyond her career, Jeanine is deeply rooted in Los Angeles's Greek Orthodox community as a descendant of some of the city's first Greek families and a lifelong member of St. Sophia Cathedral, where she has served in leadership roles with Philoptochos and chaired events including the Debutante Presentation and the Greek Heritage Society's 30th Anniversary. She has volunteered extensively across Southern California, including with the Assistance League of Los Angeles, the UCLA Parents Council, the West Point Parents Council, Kidspace Children's Museum, and as the first woman in 41 years to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the City of Santa Monica. Named Mother of the Year in 2023, she credits her Christian faith and her family as her greatest source of joy and the inspiration behind her lifelong commitment to service.
Keep the roots alive
Your gift helps monasteries survive and thrive, allows traditions to endure, and ensures future generations stay rooted in faith and culture. Every donation makes a lasting impact.
Keep the roots alive
Your gift helps monasteries survive and thrive, allows traditions to endure, and ensures future generations stay rooted in faith and culture. Every donation makes a lasting impact.
Keep the roots alive
Your gift helps monasteries survive and thrive, allows traditions to endure, and ensures future generations stay rooted in faith and culture. Every donation makes a lasting impact.