Takis Karantonis is a member of the Arlington County Board, first elected in 2020. Takis is also an economist with over 25 years of urban and regional planning experience. He began his professional life in Europe working in municipal procurement, public sanitation contracting, and airport development in Switzerland, the UK, France, and Spain. Living and working in a number of countries has provided Takis with broad experiences from which he draws ideas and solutions. As a result, he can converse in eight languages, including English, Spanish, German, and his native Greek.

Takis is an experienced and inclusive planner. He served as Executive Director for the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization (CPRO) for more than 6 years. In that capacity, he worked closely with Arlington County officials and several advisory commissions, most notably Planning, Housing and Economic Development. He was an integral part of the planning work for the award-winning Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Plan and Form Based Code and has remained engaged in all follow-up planning efforts, including the current Arlington Career Center Expansion BLPC. As a dedicated proponent of public transit, Takis served as a member of the County Manager’s Transit Advisory Commission.

Since arriving in Arlington 14 years ago, Takis has been a civically engaged community leader. He has been involved with a number of local organizations, appointed to advisory commissions, served as a precinct captain, and was campaign manager and political advisor for local, progressive campaigns that changed the Arlington status quo (Erik Gutshall and Parisa Deghani-Tafti).

Among the local organizations that have marked Takis’ civic identity are:

• The Columbia Heights Civic Association, of which he is a member and former president;

• Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment (ACE; now EcoAction Arlington), where he served as Chair of the board;

• The Alliance for Housing Solutions, where he served as Vice Chair;

• The Arlington County Democratic Committee, where he served as precinct captain in Columbia 009 and Fillmore 026.

• Takis is a graduate of Leadership Arlington Class of 2010 and the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership Class of 2017.

Takis Karantonis was born in Athens, Greece. His father was a civil servant at the National Bank of Greece and his mother an office manager. Supported by scholarships from the German Ministry of Education, Takis studied Economics in Berlin, Germany graduating with a Master’s Degree in urban and regional economics with an emphasis on inequality in urban development.

After working in Europe for more than 15 years and a short time in South America, Takis came to the United States to support his partner and future wife, Lida, as she pursued a doctorate in biomedical sciences. Takis and Lida moved to South Arlington in 2007 via Houston, TX and Nashville, TN.