CEO, Microsoft Italy
Silvia Candiani is CEO of Microsoft Italy. She previously headed the Consumer and Devices Sales (CDS) division in Microsoft for Central and Eastern Europe for three years. Prior to that, she was Director of Marketing and Operations and Director of the Consumer & Online division of Microsoft Italy. Silvia started her career in McKinsey as a consultant in Media and Telco businesses and then moved to Vodafone where she headed Consumer Marketing in Italy. She holds a BA in Economics from Bocconi University and an MBA in Business Administration from INSEAD.
Chief Innovability® Officer, Enel Group
Born in 1971, he graduated in Business Economics from Bocconi University in Milan, magna cum laude, and after many years of consultancy, he joined Enel in October 2014 as Chief Innnovability® Officer. Founder of Ars et Inventio (2003), a consulting firm focused solely on innovation and creativity, he has helped many companies design and launch innovative products and services that have become popular worldwide. Nokia, Telecom Italia, Vodafone, Poste Italiane, Eni, GDF, Edison, the P&G Fater and Fameccanica joint-ventures, Unilever, RCS, Sole24Ore, BNP, Unicredit and American Express are just some of the firms he has collaborated with. Lecturer in Innovation Management at Italian and Spanish universities and business schools (director of the “Programa Avanzado de Gestión de la Innovación” at Istituto de Empresa de Madrid, professor and member of the Scientific Committee of the “Master in Innovazione Strategica” at Cà Foscari), he has also written four collections of verses and a theatrical play performed in several theatres in Italy (in Milan, Bologna, Taormina and Siracusa). Top tier Business Schools have written case studies on his activity as Chief Innnovability® Officer at Enel and on the Group’s transition towards a sustainable business model: Prof. Kramer – Harvard – ‘The future of Energy’; Prof. Chesbrough - Berkeley – ‘Enel: from Monopoly to Open Power’; Prof. Monteiro – INSEAD – ‘Enel’s Innovability’; Prof. Birkinshaw – LBS – ‘Enel S.p.A.: A traditional utility embraces the digital revolution’.
CEO, Treedom
As a social entrepreneur with over a decade of expertise in environmental issues and climate change, Garcea was initially inspired by the popular game, ‘Farmville’ where users are tasked with planting and taking care of their land – he, however, wanted to plant real trees. Twelve years on, Treedom has now grown into a global platform that is dedicated to offsetting global carbon emissions and allowing customers and businesses from around the world to plant tree projects in rural communities. The company is a best practice agroforestry organisation with the expertise of knowing where and when to plant different tree species to yield the best results. Treedom aims to create an alliance between farmers and supporters willing to make reforestation a sustainable source of long-term income for smallholders. It empowers local communities to start new agricultural enterprises by helping them fill the time gap between planting a seed and growing a tree. To date, Treedom has planted three million trees worldwide.
Author of The Raging 2020s (Henry Holt & Co)
Alec Ross is a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at the Bologna Business School, an author, entrepreneur and investor.
His book ‘The Raging 2020s’ is about the collision that has taken place at the intersection of government, business and citizens. His prior book ‘The Industries of the Future’ has been translated into 24 languages and been a best-seller on 5 continents.
He is a Board Partner at Amplo, a global venture capital firm, and sits on the board of directors for companies in the fields of technology, manufacturing, media, human capital and cybersecurity. Alec served as the convenor for technology and media policy on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and served as Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After leaving the Department of State in 2013, he joined Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs as a Distinguished Senior Fellow. Alec is a recipient of the U.S. Department of State Distinguished Honor Award, the Oxford University Internet & Society Award and the TriBeCa Film Festival Book of the Year Award. He was also named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers. He began his career with Teach for America and co-founded and helped lead a technology-focused social enterprise.
Head of Italy, Enel
Nicola Lanzetta has held the position of Italian Director of the Enel Group since December 2021. He has served as Chairman of numerous Boards of Directors of Enel Group companies: Enel Energia SpA, Servizio Elettrico Nazionale SpA, Enel.si srl and Enel Sole SpA. He began his career in 1992 at AT&T/NCR Italy S.p.A., dealing with major clients, before moving on to the world of telecommunications with Telecom Italia S.p.A. and Infostrada S.p.A., for which he held the role of Trade Marketing Director and, subsequently, Retail Sales Director. He joined the Enel Group in 2001, first dealing with the corporate integration and formation of Enel Gas S.p.A. and later with the launch of Enel Energia's commercial network with the first phase of liberalization of the retail market. Since September 2014, he has been responsible for the Italian Market. He is also president of the Energy Group of Assolombarda and member of the Board of Directors of Confimprese.
CEO and General Manager, CDP Venture Capital Sgr
Born in Oakland (USA) in 1968, he is married and has three children. He graduated from the Politecnico di Milano with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, and from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, with a Master’s in Business Administration. In 1995, he joined McKinsey & Company, where he became Partner in 2005, focusing on Telecommunications, High Tech, and Media. In 2012, he joined Vodafone Italia as Residential Director, responsible for fixed line services and broadband before moving to Wholesale and Strategy. In 2017, he joined Vodafone Group in London, taking responsibility of digital commercial services for the entire Group (20+ countries). In 2019, he joined EY as Partner, managing the Strategic Consulting division of the Mediterranean Area. In January 2020, he was appointed CEO of CDP Venture Capital Sgr - National Innovation Fund.
Mayor of Milan
After working as a manager in important multinational companies, he turned the page and started working for the public administration. He was general manager of the Municipality of Milan. He led Expo 2015, a very successful event that saw the participation of millions of people from all over the world, where he succeeded in showing the value of Milan and Italy. It was during the exciting and challenging period of Expo– on a personal, human and professional level – that the decision to run for the primaries to become Mayor of his city began to mature, a role he has held since June 2016.
Vice Chairman, BlackRock
Mr. Hildebrand joined BlackRock in 2012. Prior to that, he served as Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB). In that capacity, he was also a Director of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the Swiss Governor of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), of which the Leaders of the G20 appointed him Vice Chairman in 2011. He was also Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the Board of Directors of the BIS, and part of the Steering Committee and the Plenary of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). Previously, Mr. Hildebrand was Chief Investment Officer of a Swiss private bank and a partner at Moore Capital Management in London. Mr. Hildebrand is a Trustee of the British Museum, a member of the Group of Thirty and an Honorary Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. He sits on the International Advisory Board of Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government and the International Leadership Council for Europe for the University of Toronto. He is a Chevalier de L'Ordre National du Merite (France). Mr. Hildebrand earned a BA from the University of Toronto, an MA from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, and a PhD from the University of Oxford.
Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities, UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program University of California, Berkeley
Jodi Halpern is a Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities in the Joint Medical Program and the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. She is the co-founder and co-lead of the Berkeley Group for the Ethics and Regulation of Innovative Technologies. Her work brings together psychiatry, philosophy, affective forecasting and decision science to elucidate how people imagine and influence their own and each other’s future health possibilities. Her first book, From Detached Concern to Empathy: Humanizing Medical Practice was called a “seminal work” by the Journal of the American Medical Association. Her upcoming book Remaking the Self in the Wake of Illness focuses on how people facing health losses in the prime of life experience shifts in their core values and identity. Her work appears in publications such as the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Emotion Review, Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience, Gerontology and Global Public Health as well as in popular media. Her current scholarship focuses on how innovative technologies change how we adapt to health losses, how we view our futures and the trajectory of empathic curiosity across differences. Her new book project Engineering Empathy looks at the upcoming uses of technology in relationships, including using AI/robotics in caregiving (AI psychotherapy, elder and childcare) and the influence of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) on empathy across differences.
Senior Advisor LVMH
A graduate of Sapienza University in Rome, Andrea Guerra began his career in the hotel industry as Marketing Director at Marriott International in 1989. He then joined Merloni Elettrodomestici in 1994, holding various positions in central, commercial and production services, before becoming CEO in 2000. In 2004 he took up the position of Chief Executive Officer of Luxottica, before being appointed by Matteo Renzi as strategic advisor to the Italian Government for industrial policies and relations with the business world. In 2015 he was appointed Executive Director of Eataly, the extraordinary initiative that promotes Italian gastronomic culture internationally through high quality products. From 2020 to 2022 he was CEO of LVMH Hospitality Excellence and a member of the Executive Committee. Since January 2021, he is also head of Fendi and Loro Piana.
Founder, Chairman and Anchor Investor, Milano Investment Partners Sgr
An entrepreneur, he has been involved in Venture Capital investments since 1996, when he founded the telecommunications company ePlanet (listed on the stock exchange in 2000) and, later, Sarlux, a company that built and operated a power plant. He is the founder of ACM (Angel Capital Management), a private investment company and family office. ACM is the majority shareholder of Milano Investment Partners SGR, a management company of Alternative Investment Funds, founded to support young visionary entrepreneurs not only in their search for capital but in the development of their project. A philanthropist and patron, he is vice president and executive committee member of Special Olympics International. He was formerly President of the Association of Friends of the Dino Ferrari Center, which is engaged in research for neurological diseases.
President & CEO, Formula 1
Stefano Domenicali began his role as President & Chief Executive Officer at Formula 1 in January 2021, following his departure as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Automobili Lamborghini. Mr. Domenicali joins Formula 1 on the back of an illustrious career within the motoring industry, where he has had success within both motorsport and commercial roles. After studying business administration at the University of Bologna he began his professional career in 1991 with Ferrari. At Ferrari he held various positions, including heading up the Direzione Sportiva F1 from 2004, before becoming Team Principal for the Formula 1 team in 2008, where he won a total of 14 titles in the F1 Constructors and Drivers Championships. From 2009 to 2014, Domenicali represented Ferrari in the FIA World Motor Sport Council and recently stepped down as the president of the FIA Single Seater Commission before joining Formula 1. He was Vice President of New Business Initiatives at AUDI AG from November 2014 before taking over the role of Chief Executive Officer in March 2016 at Lamborghini in Sant’Agata Bolognese.
Founder and CEO, illimity
Graduated in Business Administration from Bocconi and with an MBA from the Wharton School in Philadelphia, he spent his early professional years at McKinsey. Corrado Passera has built his professional career on the challenge of innovation: from Olivetti to illimity, passing through Poste, Intesa Sanpaolo and a government position as Minister for Economic Development, Infrastructure and Transport. In 2018, he created illimity, a banking startup specialized in lending to SMEs, which aims to discover and exploit the many hidden potentials of our economy and society.
General Partner at Course Corrected
Kerstin Cooley is the founder and GP of three venture capital firms, most recently Course Corrected, a climate-tech fund backing the most visionary entrepreneurs solving our planet's most pressing challenges. Ms. Cooley is also Managing Partner of Brightly Ventures, a Stockholm-based VC and co-founder of MOOR, the first female-founded venture firm in Sweden. Prior to her VC career, Ms. Cooley was an investment banker with SEB. Her early career in the technology sector was with Silicon Valley based Echelon and global financial software company Trema, Ms. Cooley is also a co-founder of global communications agency Cognito.