Athanasiadis Running for Medfield Selectman to ‘Make a Difference’

Nikolaos "Nick" Athanasiadis has lived in Medfield for 17 years and never thought about running for a town office – until now.

Inspired to get more involved in the town, Athanasiadis is campaigning against current selectman Osler “Pete” Peterson, a 12-year member of the board who is up for reelection this March.

Meet Athanasiadis: The Candidate

Athanasiadis said his campaign is focused on making a difference in Medfield and getting involved in a town he has called home for nearly two decades.

“It’s no political dreams, I just want to make a difference … just want to help out,” Athanasiadis said.

The longtime Medfield resident owns , a local business aimed at tutoring students and says until recently, it has been hard to be as involved in the town as he would like.

“It has been kind of hard because raising my family and starting a business [demands a lot of time],” Athanasiadis said. “The past year or so, the Math Connection has been doing pretty good and I’m not crazy busy with my regular job. … I now have a lot more free time and I want to get involved. I want to make a difference and I think the Board of Selectmen will offer me the best opportunities for me to make a difference.”

The difference Athanasiadis is campaigning to make centers around teamwork and trust when it comes to addressing issues the town currently faces, such as the state’s and the status of the former. Athanasiadis is looking to bring a sense of teamwork to the town’s selectmen and a renewed sense of trust between the board and residents to collectively address town issues.

“The buzz words are the 40B and Medfield State Hospital,” Athanasiadis said of the important issues in town. “These are all things that have to be addressed and I find that the board [of selectmen] has lost some of its integrity and possibly some of the trust. The people don’t trust the board as much as they used to in the past. Look at what’s going on with 40B. … People are up-roared. I feel like everything that the board does is under the microscope and they cannot do right, so they have lost the trust. I can help bring that back.”

Despite having no political experience, Athanasiadis believes he can bring back that “trust” through his ability to problem solve and work as a team.

“I take a very logical approach in solving problems,” Athanasiadis said. “I look at all the facts and try to come up with the best approach. I work with the people I’m supposed to collaborate with and in my business, I try to do the best for my business and in this [role as selectman] I will do the best for Medfield. … Whatever makes sense for Medfield, I will do it.”

Athanasiadis said he lives by a philosophy called the “Four C Rule” and he believes his experience as a local business owner can serve the Board of Selectmen and the town well moving forward.

“In my job and in my family, I have always followed what is called the ‘Four C Rule’ – communicate, collaborate, cooperate and always be consciousness about it,” Athanasiadis said. … “The other thing that I have learned [from running the Math Connection] is that I have always been a pretty good listener, but working with students, I’m becoming a better listener. I can look at the needs of my students and describe the same thing five different ways just to make sure they understand it. I think that is a very important quality.”

Athanasiadis believes the town is ready for change and is ready to provide a fresh perspective at .

“A lot of times, the town says things and people don’t understand it,” Athanasiadis said. “So maybe there’s a different approach to explaining things. I’m not saying that I can solve all problems but I think my character – being able to work as part of a team, being able to approach problems in a logical fashion, being able to explain things in a clear manner – I think that will definitely be an asset for the board.”

Athanasiadis said he has enjoyed the process of running for selectman and making the effort to get more involved in the town he has lived in since 1995.

“This is my first attempt for a town office and it has been a tremendous experience,” he said. “It’s a lot of work but I have had a lot of support and people have been very helpful. I’ve had the opportunity to meet with different departments, met with a whole bunch of groups of people and it reaffirms my belief that Medfield is a great town. People want Medfield to go ahead. … It’s been a great experience. I think I will make a good selectman. I think I can contribute.”

If elected, Athanasiadis said his goal is to “bring back the concept of ‘we’ to the board.”

“My goal will be to work as a team, proactively to gain the trust of the citizens of Medfield,” he said.

Meet Athanasiadis: The Family Man

Athanasiadis lives on Quarry Road with his wife Reka and three children, who he describes as his "team" and "life’s work."

“Teamwork is really key in my career and family life,” he said. “My whole philosophy is of a team approach. There was a time where I thought my purpose was to provide for my family and make sure I get my business [going].”

Now, with more “free time,” Athanasiadis is ready to take on a larger, more active role in the community – which was not always easy to pursue in the past.

“It’s been very tough,” Athanasiadis said. “I think part of the reason I have not done anything like [run for selectman] is I came here in 1995, I had one daughter, two more kids, [and built a] second home. My son has special needs, which adds tremendous pressure on everything. It has been very tough for me to say I’m going to come and work on something in the town.”

Despite the demands of work and family, Athanasiadis said he always found time to give back to the community in some capacity.

“It’s not like we live like nomads in the middle of nowhere, we get involved,” he said. “Whether it be me or my wife, one of us gets involved. I think it’s important to get involved and it’s tough, when you’re doing the things you’re trying to do, it’s tough to do everything.”

Athanasiadis said he and his wife, Reka, are involved in the Medfield Employers and Merchants Organization (MEMO) and have volunteered at school events and MEMO events like Medfield Day, the Holiday Parade and History Day. The Math Connection is a MEMO member and Reka is the current treasurer of MEMO.

“We try to sponsor as much as we can too,” he said. “The summer concerts, the parades, we try to contribute in that fashion as well.”

Meet Athanasiadis: The Business Owner

Athanasiadis opened The Math Connection in 2003 with a friend of his.

“We wanted to bring quality tutoring to a town like Medfield,” he said. “The school system is great here and we figured it would be a very good business opportunity. … It has turned out to be a very good business for us.”

Athanasiadis said the experience of owning a small business in town has taught him a lot.

“I’ve learned that you can do a lot of things on a shoe-string budget,” he said. “You could do things if you work together as a team – my partner and I work well together. He compliments me and I compliment him. I can do some things; he can do some things and together we make the business work.”

He hopes that type of collaboration and teamwork can exist between the Board of Selectmen and the town's residents.

“I pride myself in being able to work as a team,” Athanasiadis said. “I pride myself in being able to listen to people’s point of views. I don’t have a problem saying I’m wrong. I don’t have a problem taking someone else’s idea. … You will rarely hear me say that I did something. You will hear that we did something and that we work proactively to get things done.”

Medfield’s Town Election will be held on March 26 from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Center at Medfield. To view Medfield Patch’s voter’s guide to the election,

Log on to Medfield Patch Friday, March 23 for a closer look at Athanasiadis’ and Peterson’s take on issues the town is facing and Monday’s election.