ITALIA INNOVATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Architect and Designer, Cibic Workshop
Aldo Cibic was born in Vicenza, Italy in 1955. In 1977 he started to work with Ettore Sottsass, becoming his partner in 1980, the following year marked the creation of Memphis, of which Cibic was one of the founders. In 1989 he founded his own studio and at the same time he started to collaborate with various Universities, in particular, Domus Academy, Politecnico di Milano, IUAV of Venice. He is an Honorary Professor at Tongji University of Shanghai. Based in Milan, operating internationally, he focuses on urban, architecture and interior projects; he has focused his research recently on the continuously evolving investigation into the nature and design of interactive living in the modern world.
Job Titles:
- Correspondent, the Economist
- Economist
Alexandra Fattal is The Economist's Milan correspondent and writes about Italian business and finance. Before moving to Italy she was online editor for the Middle East and Africa, based in London. She previously worked in The Economist's New York office, and for the European Parliament in Brussels. Alexandra studied History at Cambridge University, and International Relations at the London School of Economics.
Job Titles:
- Chairman in Law, Fordham University
Job Titles:
- Director of Design and Innovation at the Thrive Foundation
- Lecturer at Stanford University and Singularity University
Cynthia Benjamin has recently been the Director of Design and Innovation at the Thrive Foundation, with responsibility for developing the Foundation's innovation tools and R&D efforts. Collaborating across grantees, youth, community adults and other networks and partners, she identified and developed high-impact new products, services, and approaches that can help disadvantaged youth to thrive.
Previous roles include Director of Innovation at IMS Health, where she led the creation of their Innovation Labs and initiatives to create major new growth platforms in technology and healthcare analytics. 12 years of Management Consulting experience at Strategic Decisions Group and IMS Health focused on growth and innovation strategy for a wide variety of life science and technology clients such as The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Proctor & Gamble, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, IBM and Federal Express, as well as multiple small biotech companies and pro bono work in Global Health and Diversity Education. Cynthia has also worked as a Design Engineer at IDEO, and founder of Samson-McCann, designing and manufacturing furniture "for kids and those who want to be."
She is currently a Lecturer at Stanford University, teaching Designing for Impact and Forecasting for Innovators and professional education classes such as Strategic Innovation. She is also a guest lecturer at the University of San Francisco and at Singularity University.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University
Daniel G. Van Der Vliet is the Executive Director of the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University. He is a 2010 graduate of the Master of Education Interdisciplinary Studies program at the University of Vermont and a 2001 graduate of the University of Vermont with a B.S. in Natural Resources. As Director of The Family Business Initiative at UVM from 2003 through 2014, Dann worked with owners and their successors to find solutions that worked for both family and business. He designed and developed the Leading and Managing the Family and Closely Held Business course at the University of Vermont. In January of 2013, he was part of the team that launched and funded first ever Global Family Enterprise Case Competition with 16 teams from 9 countries.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University 's Kellogg School of Management
- Associate Professor, Northwestern University 's Kellogg School of Management
- Member of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
David Schonthal is Associate Professor of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management where he teaches courses in new venture creation and creativity, and leads the school's internal startup accelerator - the Zell Fellows program. He is also a Director in the Business Design practice at IDEO, an award-winning innovation consultancy.
David serves as a member of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship council, and is one of the Co-Founders of MATTER, a 25,000 square foot innovation center in downtown Chicago focused on catalyzing and supporting healthcare entrepreneurship. He has been featured as a contributor to Forbes and Inc., writing articles on topics of corporate entrepreneurship and innovation and has received several honors for his work, which recently include a Kellogg Faculty Impact Award for excellence in teaching, as well as being named to Crain's Chicago Business magazine's "40 Under 40" list.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder, Stanford University FEED Collaborative
- Member at Stanford University
Debra Dunn is a faculty member at Stanford University's d.school where she co-founded the FEED (Food Entrepreneurship, Education and Design) Collaborative, a partnership between the d.school and the School of Earth that cultivates radical innovation in the food system through human centered design, project-based, experiential learning and social entrepreneurship.
She also works as an advisor to social ventures around the world. Previously Debra was a business executive at Hewlett Packard where the common threads in her broad, 22-year career were driving large scale change, creating new businesses and producing positive social impact, and good business results concurrently.
She serves on the Boards of the Skoll Foundation and B Lab, and on the global advisory board of the African Leadership University. She is dedicated to food system transformation, social entrepreneurship, and sustainable business.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director at the Center for Responsible Business, UC Berkeley
- Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business
Dr. Robert Strand is the Executive Director of the Center for Responsible Business and member of faculty at the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business. He is also Assistant Professor of Leadership & Sustainability with the Copenhagen Business School Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. His research and teaching focuses on the strategic aspects of sustainability that includes the role of the Chief Sustainability Officer, comparing global approaches to sustainability with particular focus on the U.S. and Scandinavia, and theory of the firm with a focus on ethics of the corporation and considering the role of corporations in society.
Prior to joining academia, Robert spent a decade in industry with IBM and Boston Scientific in a range of roles in manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, strategy, and investor relations. Robert holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Wisconsin, MBA in international business from the University of Minnesota completed at HEC-Paris, and a Ph.D. in Corporate Social Responsibility from the Copenhagen Business School. He was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Norway where he explored sustainability and CSR across Scandinavia. With his wife Sarah, Robert is the proud parent of two wonderful little boys, Mikkel and Jonas.
Job Titles:
- Staff Writer at Fast Company
Elizabeth Segran is a staff writer at Fast Company, whose work has appeared in a range of publications including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The Nation, The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education and Salon. Her book, The River Speaks, was published in 2012 by Penguin Books.
She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in the field of South and Southeast Asian Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality. She is an expert on India, having devoted a decade to studying its history, literature, culture and gender dynamics.
She is a global nomad who grew up in Brussels, Paris, Singapore, Jakarta and London before moving to New York to attend Columbia University. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA with her books, her husband and her baby girl.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Wolverine Venture Fund
Erik Gordon's interests focus on entrepreneurship and technology commercialization, including strategy, marketing, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and venture finance. His expertise also includes alliances and joint ventures, intellectual-property strategy and licensing, and the roles and operations of boards of directors, particularly in the biomedical, energy and green-technology fields. Mr. Gordon is the managing director of the Wolverine Venture Fund and teaches a foundation course on how to prepare business plans for new ventures in the life sciences, biotechnology and other industries and another course on how to market start-up businesses to potential funders, customers and other key influencers. Previously, Mr. Gordon was the Shulman Family Chair in Technology and Business Innovation and associate dean at Stevens Institute of Technology. He also served on the faculty and as associate dean/director of the graduate division of business and management (Carey Business School) at Johns Hopkins University. During his career, Mr. Gordon has co-founded or advised numerous companies. Gordon holds a B.A. in economics from Bucknell University and a J.D. from The Albany Law School of Union University.
Job Titles:
- Global Strategy Advisor for the Woolmark Company
Fabrizio Servente is currently the Global Strategy Advisor for The Woolmark Company and is a permanent jury member of the Mittelmoda Fashion Award.
For 10 years Mr Servente served as the Marketing Director of high-end retailer Ermenegildo Zegna, followed by two decades as Marketing and Product Development Director at Benetton Group. Today, he remains an influential leader in the fashion and textile industry. He has been instrumental in the creation of The Wool Lab and continues to play a vital role in strengthening the wool industry and fostering the education of tomorrow's tastemakers.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Editor in Chief, Il Corriere Della Sera
For the last twenty years Federico Fubini has been journalist and editor of publications such as La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera where he wrote about the economy. He also is the author of many books such as, Noi Siano La Rivoluzione (We Are the Revolution) which won the Premio Estense prize.
Job Titles:
- Founder, Arabeschi Di Latte
Francesca Sarti, born in Florence and based in London, is an architect with an interdisciplinary attitude, who has always combined fields of interest, experiences and research, focusing on the world around us through a critic and creative filter. After working in the contemporary art world, in 2001 she founded the food design studio Arabeschi di Latte. Blurring the boundaries between food and design, Arabeschi di Latte has created and exhibited a variety of food-related projects such as a pop-up café, special dinners, performances, installations and workshops around the world. Arabeschi di Latte uses food as an angle to investigate and communicate cultural conditions, traditions and rituals. Arabeschi di Latte creates events and projects for brands and institutions including Selfridges, Marni, Fendi, Kenzo, Zegna, Molteni, Boffi, Bitossi, Pitti Immagine, The New York Times, RCS, San Pellegrino, MAXXI, Fiorucci Art Trust and the London Fashion College.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Honorary Chairman of Simon - Kucher & Partners
- Professor
Hermann Simon is the Founder and Honorary Chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners. He is an expert in strategy, marketing and pricing. He has an extensive global range of clients. He is the only German in the Thinkers50 list of the most influential international management thinkers in the world. In German-speaking countries he has been continuously voted the most influential living management thinker since 2005. In China, a business school has been named after him.
Before committing himself entirely to management consulting, Simon was a professor of business administration and marketing at the Universities of Mainz (1989-1995) and Bielefeld (1979-1989). He was also a visiting professor at Harvard Business School, Stanford, London Business School, INSEAD, Keio University in Tokyo and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1995 to 2009 he was CEO of Simon-Kucher & Partners. His Hirsch-Index is 49.
Professor Simon has published over 35 books in 26 languages, including the worldwide bestsellers Hidden Champions (Boston 1996, cover story of BusinessWeek in 2004) and Power Pricing (New York 1997), as well as Manage for Profit, Not for Market Share (Boston 2006). His book Hidden Champions of the 21st Century, Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders (New York 2009) investigates the strategies of little known market leaders. His book Confessions of the Pricing Man was published by Springer, New York in October 2015. Price Management, the US version of his leading German textbook, will be published in 2018.
Simon was and is a member of the editorial boards of numerous business journals, including the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Management Science, Recherche et Applications en Marketing, Décisions Marketing, European Management Journal as well as several German journals. For several decades he regularly wrote columns for the German business monthly Manager Magazin. As a board member of numerous foundations and corporations, Professor Simon has gained substantial experience in corporate governance. From 1984 to 1986 he was the president of the European Marketing Academy (EMAC). Simon is co-founder of the first Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) listed on the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt, which acquired Exceet Group S.E. in July 2011.
A native of Germany, he studied economics and business administration at the universities of Bonn and Cologne. He received his diploma (1973) and his doctorate (1976) from the University of Bonn. Simon has received numerous international awards and holds honorary doctorates from IEDC Business School of Bled (Slovenia), from the University of Siegen (Germany) and from Kozminski University Warsaw (Poland). He is a honorary professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
Jake Knapp is best known as the New York Times bestselling author of Sprint. As a design partner at Google Ventures, he has worked with over 100 startups including Nest, Slack, 23andMe, and Flatiron Health. Previously, Jake worked at Google (where he co-created Hangouts) and Microsoft (where he led design on Encarta). He is currently among the world's tallest designers.
John A. Bruce is a design strategist, educator, and filmmaker. He is Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design, and Director of the Design Strategy program. He is also co-founder of the strategy firm Forward Mapworks, as well as the architecture and design firm super-interesting! He earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, and an MBA in Sustainable Systems from Pinchot University. He is President of the Board of Trustees at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. John was a Fellow (2015/16) at the Graduate Institute for Design, Ethnography, and Social Thought at The New School. He serves as lead strategist for the tech start-up the Light Phone. An installation of his project End of Life, with collaborator Paweł Wojtasik, was exhibited in September 2016 in Los Angeles by Equitable Vitrines; and the feature film End of Life will premiere in 2017. End of Life is the product of four years spent by Wojtasik and Bruce with five individuals at various stages in the process of dying.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Zell Entrepreneurship Program at the Interdisciplinary Center
- Director of StartUp Seeds
- Partner, Marker LLC
Liat Aaronson is the Chairwoman of the Zell Entrepreneurship Program at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, a leading private university in Israel. For a decade she has been serving as Executive Director, helping grow the program and the startups that came out of it. She leads the curriculum development and teaches at MEET (Middle East Education through Technology) an organization that brings together outstanding Israeli and Palestinian high school students for shared learning experiences in technology and entrepreneurship.
She is now a Venture Partner at Marker LLC, a leading venture capital and growth equity firm, based in New York City and Herzliya.
Liat is also a director of StartUp Seeds, a young technology entrepreneurship incubator in Israel. She holds numerous advisory board positions, amongst them are: SeedIL, Cockpit Innovation Hub, Taglit Excel Ventures, Ramle Innovation Hub and Scola.
Job Titles:
- Allen & Overy Professor of Corporate Law
- Professor, Oxford Law School
Luca Enriques is the Allen & Overy Professor of Corporate Law, in association with Jesus College. He studied law at the University of Bologna before completing his LLM at Harvard Law School and working at the Bank of Italy while at the same time earning a Doctorate degree in Business Law at Bocconi University. He then became a member of the University of Bologna Faculty of Law (1999-2012). During that period, he was a consultant to Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and an adviser to the Italian Ministry of the Economy and Finance on matters relating to corporate, banking and securities law with a special focus on European Union policy initiatives. He was a Commissioner at Consob, the Italian Securities and Exchange Commission between 2007 and 2012 and Professor of Business Law at LUISS University, Department of Law, in Rome in 2013-14.
He has held visiting posts at various academic institutions including Harvard Law School, where he was Nomura Visiting Professor of International Financial Systems (2012-13), Cornell Law School (1999 and 2000), the Instituto de Impresa in Madrid (2005), the Radzyner School of Law at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (2013-14) and the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law (2014-15).
He has published widely in the fields of company law, corporate governance and financial regulation. He is the Editor of the ECGI Working Paper Series in Law, an ECGI Research Fellow, and one of the founding academic editors of the Oxford Business Law Blog.
Job Titles:
- Distinguished Professor in Corporate & Business Law, Cornell University
- Professor
Professor Stout was an internationally recognized expert in the fields of corporate governance, securities regulation, financial derivatives, moral behavior, and law and economics. She was the author of numerous articles and books on these topics. Her last book was The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations and the Public (Berrerr Koehler 2012), which was named 2012 Governance Book of the Year.
Professor Stout served on the Board of Governors of the CFA Institute and the Financial Research Advisory Committee to the U.S. Treasury. Additionally, she was a member of the Board of Advisors for the Aspen Institute's Business & Society Program, an Executive Advisor to the Brookings Institution Project on Corporate Purpose, and a Research Fellow for the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research.
She held a B.A. summa cum laude and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University and a J.D. from the Yale Law School.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Legal Design Lab and a Lecturer at Stanford Institute of Design
- Director, Stanford Legal Design Lab
Margaret Hagan is the Director of the Legal Design Lab and a lecturer at Stanford Institute of Design (the d.school). She was a fellow at the d.school from 2013-2014, where she launched the Program for Legal Tech & Design, experimenting in how design can make legal services more usable, useful & engaging. She teaches a series of project-based classes, with interdisciplinary student groups tackling legal challenges through user-focused research and design of new legal products and services. She also leads workshops to train legal professionals in the design process, to produce client-focused innovation. Margaret graduated from Stanford Law School in June 2013. She served as a student fellow at the Center for Internet & Society and president of the Stanford Law and Technology Association. While a student, she built the game app Law Dojo to make studying for law school classes more interactive & engaging. She also started the blog Open Law Labto document legal innovation and design work. Margaret holds an AB from the University of Chicago, an MA from Central European University in Budapest, and a PhD from Queen's University Belfast in International Politics. She is originally from Pittsburgh.
Job Titles:
- Professor
- Senior Professor at Università Bocconi, Scuola Di Direzione Aziendale
Marina Puricelli is a professor in the Department of Management and Technology at Bocconi University where she teaches Organizational Theory. She has won the Bocconi Teaching Award every year since 2005. Her research focuses on the Italian small and medium enterprises (SME) that represent an economic model in which she passionately trusts. At Bocconi Business School she coordinates training projects, research, and custom programs for entrepreneurs and for Italian business associations. She was a visiting Professor at the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (Chile), and a visiting Ph.D. student at the London Business School. She also took part in a doctoral studies workshop at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of numerous books and articles on Italian SMEs. She is also a management consultant for organizational check-ups in family-owned companies, growing businesses, and succession planning.
Marina earned a Degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University in 1992 and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Bologna in 2000. She is married with two children and she balances her working life with happy moments with family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Director, Transactional Law Clinic at University of Michigan
Michael L. Bloom teaches contracts, business, and transactional law classes and directs the Transactional Lab & Clinic. Prior to joining the Law School faculty, he was a lecturer in law and the executive director of the Corporate Lab Transactional Clinic, which he co-founded, at the University of Chicago Law School. Additionally, he practiced corporate and transactional law at Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago, with a focus on technology transactions and mergers and acquisitions. In 2017, he served as secretary of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Teaching Methods as a chair-elect of the AALS Section on Technology, Law, and Legal Education. Additionally, he is on the Faculty Advisory Board of the University's Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning and the Technology Law and Training Advisory Board of the Institute for Continuing Legal Education.
Job Titles:
- Design Director at the IDEO Cambridge
- Design Director, IDEO
Mitch is a Design Director at the IDEO Cambridge studio, where she works with teams to bring to life the emotional core and psychological underpinnings of our designs. At the heart of her craft is the ability to concept and design cross-platform experiences that drive behavioral impact. With a background in cognitive and behavioral psychology and sociology, her passions are grounded in Social Dynamics, Artificial Intelligence, and design for the subconscious and conscious mind.
During her time at IDEO, Mitch has led projects as varied as redesigning the digital citizenship and immigration experience for the U.S. Government, crafting behavior change initiatives for large players in the healthcare industry, and designing new brand and customer experience strategies for companies in consumer goods, financial services, fashion, entertainment, and education.
Before joining IDEO, Mitch was the Creative Director and a Partner at the agency Hunt&Gather, leading the design of digital and physical experiences for brands like MTV, Puma, Bravo, ESPN, Harvard, Keds, Scholastic, and Nickelodeon.
Job Titles:
- CEO, Zignago Holding
- Chief Executive Officer of Industrie Zignago Santa Margherita SpA
Mr. Luca Marzotto has been the Chief Executive Officer of Industrie Zignago Santa Margherita SpA (Zignago Holding SpA) since September 27, 2005. Mr. Marzotto served as the Chief Executive Officer of Santa Margherita SpA since September 30, 2005. He served as Vice-Chairman of Santa Margherita SpA since September 30, 2005. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Zignago Holding S.p.A. since May 10, 2007. Since 1995, he has worked in companies belonging to the Marzotto family. He has been the Chairman of Zignago Power Srl and Bagnolo Power Srl since 2008. In his role of Chairman of Zignago Power Srl, he has been promoting the realization of a biomass power plant, conceived in compliance with the most advanced technologies aimed at the production of green energy based on renewable sources. He has been the Chairman of Federvini since June 2008. Mr. Marzotto serves as the Chairman of SM Tenimenti Srl. He serves as a Vice Chairman of Kettmeir SpA, New High Glass Inc. and Cantine Torresella Srl. He serves as the Sole Director of Zignago Servizi Srl and a Director of Ca' del Bosco Srl, Valentino Fashion Group, Hugo Boss AG and of Vetri Speciali SpA. He serves as a Director of Zignago Immobiliare SRL. Mr. Marzotto has been a Member of Supervisory Board of Hugo Boss AG since February 21, 2010. He has been a Non-Executive Director at Zignago Vetro S.p.A. since March 22, 2007 and served as a Director at Banca Popolare Friuladria SpA since March 2007. Mr. Marzotto served as a Director of Marlboro Classics Division since 2003. He served as a Director at H-Farm S.p.A. He served as an Independent Director of Telecom Italia S.p.A. from April 2014 to May 4, 2017. Since 2000, he has focused his activities on the Asian markets and the development of the Valentino Fashion Group SpA in Asia. Since 1997, he has developed a notable degree of experience in the textile and clothing market and in particular in the production, management control and marketing sectors. From 1997 to 2003 he gained experience on the Asian market. His on-site experience covers the whole textile chain, from production to management control and marketing. He is an engaged upholder of the environmental policies, paying a particular attention to the energy issue. Mr. Marzotto graduated in Law in 1995.
Job Titles:
- Environmental Strategist and Writer for Patagonia
Nora Gallagher works for Patagonia, Inc., as a writer, editor and environmental strategist. Her books include a novel- Changing Light (Pantheon 2007), three memoirs (Knopf) and a novel-in-progress.
Her essays, book reviews and journalism have appeared in many publications including The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/profile/nora-gallagher, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, Utne Reader, The Village Voice, Mother Jones, and The Los Angeles Times.
Gallagher has been a keynote speaker and given talks on radio, television and at Yale University, UC-Berkeley, and Stanford University and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
She is the editor of the award-winning Notes from the Field, published by Chronicle Books, 1999. Among her honors are a Penny-Missouri journalism award and fellowships at both the MacDowell Colony and Blue Mountain Center.
She sits on the advisory board of the Yale Divinity School.
Norm Bishara's research interests include the areas of corporate governance and corruption as a constraint on business activity, international legal reform and business ethics in the developing world with a focus on the Middle East, and covenants not to compete as an obstacle to employee mobility and knowledge transfer. His academic field research includes a position as the principal researcher and project consultant with the Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) in Beirut, an affiliate of Transparency International, where he coauthored the first Lebanese Code of Corporate Governance. Professor Bishara's recent research is focused on corporate governance in the Middle East to circumvent a business ethics glass ceiling, the evolving role of the corporation and the employee relationship to Benefit Corporations and B Corps, corruption as a human rights issue, corporate corruption in the executive suite, and noncompete agreement enforcement variations across the United States and the implications for highly skilled labor mobility, including CEO contracts.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean, University of Michigan Law School
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman, La Biennale Di Venezia
Paolo Baratta is the Chairman of Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia.
After achieving a Degree in Engineering at Milan Polytechnic and a Degree in Economics in Cambridge, in 1967 he began doing economic research at the Association for Industrial Development in Southern Italy (Svimez) in Rome.
In 1977 he became a Director of the Credit Institute for Public Utilities (ICIPU) and then Deputy Chairman. From 1980 to 1992 he was Chairman of ICIPU, Credit Consortium for Public Works (CREDIOP), Deputy Chairman of Nuovo Banco Ambrosiano, Banco Ambrosiano Veneto and the Italian Bankers' Association (ABI). In addition to being a Director of various companies, he was Chairman of the Centro Beneduce per gli Studi in Campo Bancario e Assicurativo. In 1993 he became Minister for Privatizations with responsibility for the reorganization of the system of state holdings. In 1993-94 he was Minister for Foreign Trade and Minister for Industry ad interim. In 1995-96 he was Minister for Public Works and Minister for the Environment.
From 1997 to 2000 he was chairman of Bankers' Trust S.p.A. and from 1998 to 2000 Chairman of the Biennale di Venezia. He is a member of the Italian Economists' Society and currently is Chairman of the Comitato Venezia Internazionale, of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, of the Venice Biennale Foundation and of the Lorenzo Valla Foundation for the Greek and Latin Classics. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Italian Environmental Fund (FAI) and Director of Ferrovie dello Stato S.p.A. (Italian National Railways), of Svimez and of the Cini Foundation-Venice.
Job Titles:
- Professor at Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
- Professor of Marketing
Peter Boatwright is Professor of Marketing and New Product Development at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also co-Director of the Integrated Innovation Institute. He is co-author of The Design of Things to Come: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Products (co-authored with Jonathan Cagan and Craig M. Vogel) and Built to Love - Creating Products that Captivate Customers (co-authored with Jonathan Cagan), September 2010.
Professor Boatwright has developed new statistical methods and additional theories of consumer behavior, spanning qualitative and quantitative methodologies. His expertise and teaching focus is in new product marketing, consumer marketing, and marketing research methods. His formal approaches to opportunity identification and problem-solving have been integrated into a diverse range of companies including Apple, P&G, Nissan, Whirlpool.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Chairman, OTB Group
Renzo Rosso is an Italian fashion entrepreneur. Referred to as the "Jeans Genius" by Suzy Menkes, he is the President of OTB Group, the parent company of Diesel, Maison Margiela, Marni, Paula Cademartori, Viktor & Rolf, Staff International (manufacturer and distributor of DSquared², Just Cavalli, Maison Margiela, Marni and Vivienne Westwood), and Brave Kid (manufacturer and distributor of Diesel Kid, Dsquared², John Galliano Kids, Marni and Trussardi Junior). Founder of the Only The Brave Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, Rosso is also the President of Red Circle investments; the Diesel Farm in Marostica, Veneto; the Pelican Hotel in Miami; and Bassano Virtus 55 S.T., the professional soccer club of his hometown Bassano del Grappa, Veneto.
Job Titles:
- Commissioner and Professor
- Professor of Law at New York University
Robert J. Jackson Jr. is a SEC Commissioner and Professor of Corporate Governance at New York University Law School.
His research emphasizes empirical study of executive compensation and corporate governance matters. Known for its dynamic lectures and active engagement with students outside the classroom, in 2012 he was honored with the Columbia Law School Willis L.M. Reese Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
Roberto Nicastro, an Italian businessman and banker, he has been the Chairman of the "Good Banks" and was the Group General Manager of Unicredit; in the past, he worked with McKinsey & Co and Salomon Brothers. He is also involved in postgraduate education advisories and charitable activities.
Job Titles:
- CEO, Enjoy Inc. and Former SVP for Retail Operations, Apple
Ron Johnson is the former chief executive officer of J. C. Penney. He was responsible for a major rebrand of J. C. Penney. Previously, he was the senior vice president of retail operations at Apple Inc., where he pioneered the concept of the Apple Retail Stores and the Genius Bar, and the vice president of merchandising for Target Corporation, where he was credited for making the store "hip." He is currently the head of Enjoy, a startup company.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Design Program at Stanford
- Executive Director, Stanford Design Program
Bill Burnett is the Executive Director of the Design Program at Stanford. He directs the undergraduate and graduate program in design at Stanford, both interdepartmental programs between the Mechanical Engineering department and the Art department. He got his BS and MS in Product Design at Stanford and has worked professionally on a wide variety of projects ranging from award-winning Apple PowerBooks to the original Hasbro Star Wars action figures. He holds a number of mechanical and design patents, and design awards for a variety of products including the first "slate" computer. In addition to his duties at Stanford, he is on the Board of VOZ (pronounced "VAWS - it means voice in Spanish) a social responsible high fashion startup and advises several Internet start-up companies.