After finishing my education at a classical high school, I went on to earn a law degree from the University of Turin, completing my studies in the summer of 1991 with a final score of 110/110. 

I undertook my professional internship at a law firm in Turin that specialised in commercial law, where I had already worked part-time during my university studies. I passed the State exam for legal practice (1993/1994) at the Court of Appeal in Turin on my first attempt. 

As a lawyer, I continued working with the same law firm until March 1996 when I joined the legal department of Lavazza. At that time, the department was just beginning to take shape and grow. 

From the outset, I was entrusted with handling commercial contracts and providing advice to internal clients, with a particular focus on distribution issues for the international sales network. 

In January 2001, I took over the legal department and expanded it to four units under my leadership. Over the years, I have managed legal issues related to various areas of the company’s operations, from purchasing to distribution, advertising communication, food law issues, intellectual property management, R&D, and operations. I gained a strong expertise in managing real estate and construction projects, including the new headquarters building. My team and I relied on our own expertise to handle legal matters, minimising the need for external lawyers (and the relevant costs). 

Since 2014, I have also been responsible for corporate matters, acting as the group general counsel and secretary of the board of directors of the group’s Italian companies. 

Over the years, I have acquired new skills, thanks to the company’s transformation. Since 2010, Lavazza has been pursuing a strategy of inorganic growth, through numerous and complex acquisitions of mainly foreign companies. My team and I have completed over 45 acquisitions of coffee companies in numerous geographies, including India, United States, Bulgaria, Argentina, Brazil, France, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, Australia, Canada, and Germany. I have been actively involved in negotiating and contracting some significant joint venture transactions in the UK, USA, and China. 

I have had the privilege of taking part in the substantial transformation of the company, witnessing and actively participating in its metamorphosis process. The company has evolved from a reality typically focused on the Italian market to a true multinational enterprise operating in over 90 countries, with 13 foreign subsidiaries. 

This transformation has required me to constantly increase my professional skills, both in terms of expertise in M&A and in terms of the set of corporate processes required by a multinational group structure. I have also been responsible for managing corporate governance issues for the parent company and both Italian and foreign subsidiaries. 

The company’s configuration of control is still entirely family-owned, in the hands of the Lavazza family. This has resulted in the need to develop and nurture specific managerial skills. Currently, I manage the corporate issues of the family holding company, of which I am also secretary of the board of directors. I keep a close relationship with the shareholders who are members of the Lavazza family, with whom I have developed a solid relationship of trust over the years. 

I lead a team of 25 professionals, with 17 working in the group’s headquarters in Turin, and 8 located in the group’s primary foreign subsidiaries, including France, USA, UK, Germany, and Canada. The Italian team includes 12 professionals and 5 paralegals, with 4 sub-teams organised by areas of specialisation (business Italia, business international, corporate affairs and compliance, IP food law and tech) with an inter-functional approach to ensure everyone is aligned on relevant issues. 

I have been reporting to the CEO of the Group for more than 14 years, and as part of the executive sounding board, I work with the other 8 C-level executives to support business decisions. 

As the chief compliance officer and a member of the supervisory body, I am actively involved in identifying and mitigating risk factors for the company and the group in collaboration with the enterprise risk management and internal audit teams. 

Starting from 2017, I have been a visiting professor of International Business Law and Food Regulations at ESCP, which is considered to be the number one Master’s programme in International Food and Beverage Management worldwide. In addition, since 2018, I have been collaborating with the University Institute of European Studies (IUSE) in Turin to organise the summer school for corporate lawyers, which focuses on developing legal skills for Europe. I am also frequently invited to participate in seminars and panels where I discuss legal issues as a speaker at industry conferences. 

I have been a proud member of AIGI (Italian Association of Corporate Lawyers) for many years, and I am also a member of AISCA (Italian Association of Secretaries of the Board of Directors). 

I have actively participated in several business projects in the last three years that are worth mentioning. These include: 

2020-21: joint venture with a Chinese company (listed in the USA), which is a market leader in managing restaurant chains. The project involved creating a chain of Lavazza-branded coffee shops in China. I was involved in the negotiation of agreements from the early stages, both from a corporate point of view and from a commercial and distribution point of view. The project took place from 2020-2021. 

In 2021, I contracted all aspects related to the ATP Finals sponsorship by Lavazza. 

In 2022, I was part of a financing operation with a pool of banks, which had a value of €500 million. 

In 2023, I engaged in a vertical integration project through the acquisition of a French company. The French company operates in the OCS/Vending distribution sector and ECommerce and has a platform dedicated to coffee, which is the market leader in France. The transaction was valued at EUR 250 m. 

2024: preparation and launch of a totalitarian voluntary offer aimed at the acquisition of 49% of IVS listed on the Euronext market in Milan (EV 183 million Euro, Ebitda 30 million Euro); 

Change management projects that I led, which were related to the legal department, included the following: 

In 2021-22, we completed the organisation of the global legal team by appointing legal managers in the main subsidiaries (France, US, UK, Germany, and Canada), directly reporting to me. Previously, all legal functions were concentrated in HQ. 

In 2022-23, we worked on a project to complete the digitalisation of the function, which involved the improvement of archiving and contract management tools, and the adoption of a fully digitised corporate secretariat model. 

In 2023, we launched the integrated compliance project, which involved the implementation of a transversal coordination process between all the functions involved in corporate compliance, including risk management, tax, audit, antitrust compliance officer, and DPO. 

I am a committed, principled, and enthusiastic legal expert who believes in the crucial role of legal in partnering with the Business while also safeguarding and advocating for the rights of shareholders. 

My inherent inclination towards innovation and technological advancements drives me to continuously explore novel ways to enhance legal consulting services to optimise business productivity. 

I consider my empathetic leadership style as one of my key strengths, prioritizing collaboration and building strong interpersonal relationships. I have developed excellent people management skills, which helped me create a highly respected legal team, recognised as a valuable business partner: I consider this accomplishment as one of the most significant achievements in my professional career.