Team size: 43      

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?  

Q8 from April 2023 decided to implement a reorganisation of the legal team, which I am honored to lead as director of human resources, legal and corporate affairs, and to revise the structure of the office in a way that was more consonant and responsive to the changing needs of the business and corporate strategies, in a market that has become extremely uncertain and volatile. The old organisational model forced the legal function into the restricted perimeter of staff functions with duties to advise and legally safeguard the interests of the company and the business, but did not allow it to affect the company’s strategic decisions with the right level of influence. With this in view, the revision of the legal organisational model, centered on the strengthening of the governance function and the creation of an integrated legal risk management and compliance function, as well as a dedicated labour and legal compliance function, opens to a totally new approach that could be called legal transformation and that allows us – in addition to increasing the levels of interaction and qualified sharing of governance and compliance objectives – to intervene with greater strength and voice in the assessment of legal and business risks and opportunities, thus contributing to the realization of industrial strategy and the achievement of corporate and financial objectives – with a direct contribution to the company’s performance and operating margin – limiting potential periods of instability or risk. 

What are the main cases or transactions that you have been involved in recently?  

Recently, thanks to a share purchase agreement with Fox Petroli, Q8 acquired 50% of the shares of Eco Fox, a pioneer operator within the market of organic fuels since the 90s. In this transaction, the legal department not only played a key role in drafting an agreement that was mutually satisfactory for the two companies, but also played a key role in obtaining legal approvals from the Competition Authority and the Golden Power regulations (Law 21/2012 as amended). This acquisition is of significant value to the Group because on the one hand it is fully in line with the primary role played by the company in favor of environmentally and socially sustainable mobility, and on the other hand it will allow Q8 to enter directly into the production chain of sustainable liquid biofuels, which already make a concrete contribution to the decarbonisation of the transport sector, pretermitting Q8 to increase its contribution to the energy transition process. So this is one of the most recently significant transition cases I have been involved in together with my team, but it is of great value in absolute terms because it represents an important building block for the broader evolution of our business: in fact, it is an investment that is in line with the future sustainable energy scenario in which we believe that there should be a mix of energy sources and vectors all capable of making their own contribution to CO2 reduction, while ensuring the country’s energy security and avoiding dependence on a single technology or resource. 

How do you measure the impact of ESG initiatives on the company’s overall performance and reputation?  

Every year Q8 prepares a Sustainability Report, in accordance with the “GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards” and the oil and gas sector standard, in order to describe Q8’s economic, social and environmental achievements, describing the company’s commitment to creating value not only for itself but also for its stakeholders. In addition, since 2023, the Human Foundation, a research center accredited by the Ministry of Education, has been involved to independently analyse the social value generated by some of the initiatives implemented by Q8. The evaluation of the activities was conducted by the foundation using the SROI (Social Return on Investment) methodology, which, starting from the Theory of Change, allows for the monetisation of the complexity of social change achieved through specific interventions. 

What role does the legal department play in promoting and ensuring corporate social responsibility in your organisation?    

The adequacy of the organizational, also in terms of social responsibility, is a fundamental criterion of conduct for the management of companies, a principle of correct administration that constitutes a general clause of primary rank. Q8, through its legal department, ensures the adequacy of its arrangements to the nature and size of the business, supplementing compliance with regulations with the adoption of effective policies and procedures, as well as established guidelines and best practices. In addition, Q8 has adopted an Organization, Management and Control Model – entrusted to a supervisory board appointed by the board of directors – that defines the framework of rules of behavior and organization as indispensable strategic elements.