Theofanis V. Economides of St. Nicholas Church in San Jose, CA was invested as Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1996 and conferred with the offikion Ekdikos. He is the regional Commander of the Archons of the Metropolis of San Francisco, and since 2006 he is also a member of the National Council of the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle. In November of 2006 with the blessing of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, he served as one of the two main ushers during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey. From 2008 – 2013, he was assigned by the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle to represent the Ecumenical Patriarchate and defend its Religious and Human Rights at the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) comprised of 54 European nations, the US, Canada and 15 other nations around the world in Warsaw, Poland. In November of 2009 he presented the problems facing the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the annual meeting of the European Parliament in Venice, Italy.

Archon Economides is a member of Leadership 100 and a member of the Executive Committee of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He has also been a member of the Metropolitan Council of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco for over thirty years, where he has been serving as Vice President since 1996, and a member of the Board and Managing Director of St. Nicholas Ranch and Retreat Center in Squaw Valley, CA.

Archon Economides graduated from the Greek Military Cadet Academy (Scholi Evelpidon) in 1958 and served as an artillery officer of the Greek Army until 1968. He subsequently earned a BS in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and pursued postgraduate studies at Stanford in Management Systems. He has lectured occasionally at Stanford and authored several publications in the computer field. From 1971 to 1982 Economidis served at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he was a key contributor to the Space Shuttle and several other programs of national importance. In 1986 he joined TRW Inc. (now known as Northrop-Grumman) in Sunnyvale, California where he served as an executive specializing in national security electronic systems. He retired from TRW in 2001.

Archon Economidis is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and past Chairman of the Computer Society of Northern California. He has also served as President of the United Hellenic Societies Federation of Northern California, as Founding member and Chairman of the Board of the Elios Society since its inception for sixteen years, and as President of the Board of the Hellenic Journal, the only Greek American newspaper west of Chicago.

Archon Economidis is the recipient of numerous citations and awards for church and community contributions including: the Cross of Axum (Patriarchate of Ethiopia) for leading the effort to raise funds (over $75,000) and personally delivering this aid to the starving people of Ethiopia in 1985 and for arranging, during the famine, the delivery of 4,500 metric tons of food supplies to the Church of Ethiopia; the Pope Paul VI and Metropolitan Meliton Medallion for his efforts to promote and protect the rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to function as a free institution; two citations by the Senate of the State of California for his exemplary record of civic leadership; and many distinctions from local and national Greek American organizations for his philanthropic accomplishments and commitment to Hellenic ideals including the AXION Award from the Hellenic American Professional Society in 1985. He is the 1999 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor Award and has also been featured in Public Broadcasting Corporations (PBS) 1999 documentary “The Greek Americans II, Passing the Torch.” In December of 2006 he was elected to serve as the General Chairman of the “International Convention of Hellenes Abroad (SAE)” in Thessaloniki, Greece, and in the same year he received the highest honor by the Organization of the Retired Greek Artillery General Officers in Athens, Greece. In March 2013, he was honored with the inaugural Theofanis Economidis Award by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco for his extraordinary leadership at a Gala event attended by Governor Jerry Brown, Congresswoman and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. In July 2015, the Order of AHEPA, during its Supreme Convention in San Francisco and in the presence of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Geron of America, bestowed upon Archon Economidis the Aristotle Award for his leadership and work for the preservation of our faith and perpetuation of Hellenism.

In 1968 Archon Economides married Cynthia (Efstathia) Bagles from Sheboygan, Wisconsin and they enjoyed 46 years of marriage until her passing in 2014. Cynthia had a prestigious 34-year tenure of service at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee where she was a professor in The Helen Bader School of Social Welfare. They have one daughter, Roberta (Hariklia), who is a prominent attorney in San Francisco.