About

Leading a 15-strong team of legal and non-legal professionals, Stefania Bergamo has spent her three years at the flagship insurance company having joined in 2010. With previous experience in an international law firm she joined fashion group Benetton as an in-house lawyer overseeing commercial and financial agreements, international litigations and competition. Bergamo then joined shoe manufacturer Geox in 2001 to set up the legal department and support the company in its listing process, later becoming the company’s general counsel. After a brief return to private practice Bergamo became Technogym’s Italian general counsel for three years. Bergamo finally joined Assicurazioni Generali in 2010 as chief legal officer mainly covering the Italian business, with the scope of the role widening in 2013 to cover the activities of the whole group. Bergamo has used several tools to steer the strategic direction of Generali while at the same time ensuring the internal legal function could be trusted in giving comprehensive legal support to the group. Methods such as hiring external counsel with specific competencies, new business units and bringing in managerial staff to transform the way legal procurement was conducted. Bergamo also used specialization of resources already in force, in order to enhance the teams’ technical skills and prioritise the most pressing concerns on behalf of the company. Working closely with senior management with which Bergamo states there is a ‘continuous appraisal’ for the teams’ services, the department are able to support Generali in its very ambitious strategic plans. Implementing internal processes covering negotiations and contracts, a litigation supporting process that extends to group-wide activities. Bergamo has a track record of successfully rising to difficult challenges; she cites the successful listing of Geox in 2004 as a particular highlight, as well her involvement in assisting Technogym in a major M&A deal when it sold 40% of its capital to a private equity fund. She can also point to the team she leads as being perceived as ‘outstanding both internally and from the market’, a superb endorsement that speaks to the quality of Bergamo’s legal, organisational and managerial work.