Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense? 

Notwithstanding the dimension reached by the company (over €2.1bn turnover in 2022), when I reached Interpump there wasn’t a group legal department nor a group corporate function. With over 110 legal entities spread worldwide, it was essential to uniform and digitalise the gathering of all the information. I, therefore, introduced a digitalised system to manage the HQ board and all the intra-board committees, as well as all the corporate management and compliance tools (for example, whistleblowing, register of insider dealings, related party transaction). 

At the same time, having the responsibility to predispose and implement our first ESG plan in 2022, I have had the opportunity to play a pivotal role in defining the targets (particularly the ones related to the social and governance pillars) and guarantee that all of them were really embedded into our core industrial and business day by day operations. This has been possible by involving, from the very beginning, all the group companies’ employees, gathering all data and the best practices already in place down-up, sowing the first common cultural sustainable practice. 

Moreover, we are implementing an evaluation and due diligence system on sustainability topics to be used in all the evaluation processes of possible targets to be acquired (Interpump has acquired over 90 companies worldwide in the last 20 years) 

Can you foresee any key developments to the way general counsel work over the next five years?   

I  believe that in the next few years, a general counsel will not be able to avoid being more and more deeply involved with new technologies, including artificial intelligence (both in the legal landscape and in the business area), and, in such a sense, it will be essential to always remain informed and updated, and to be brave enough to experiment with new solutions, all while always ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations.