I have one daughter, Beatrice and a beautiful grandchild, Alessandro, almost seven years old.

Education – I graduated in Mechanical and Bio Engineering from the Politecnico in Milano. My thesis was “ A totally implantable artificial heart “. I also graduated from the Sebring High School – Sebring, Florida – where I attended the Senior Year through a scholarship of AFS Intercultural Programs. After the graduation at the Politecnico, I attended the Executive Program at the Stanford Business School, in Palo Alto, California.

Work – Until 2009, my work experience developed inside our family company, Finderpompe, which had been established by my father in 1952: it designs and manufactures industrial and specialty pumps, mostly for the Oil & Gas business. I worked in all the departments of the company, initially. I became COO in 1980, and then I acted as CEO from 1987 till 2009.

In this period of time, the company grew and became internationalized through:

• Acquisitions in Denmark, France, Ireland, Israel, Great Britain and Italy
• Joint Ventures in Brazil, China and Egypt
• Licensing agreements in India and Spain
• Strategic alliances with two US companies
• International sales network ( sales in 85 Countries in 2009 )

In 2008 the company was sold to a private equity company belonging to Goldman Sachs; in 2009 I ended my relationship with Goldman Sachs; in 2010 I realized that I could not live as a retiree. I bought back two companies from GS, acquired a small one near Treviso, invested in partnerships in Sweden, France and China. All these companies manufacture fluid handling equipment mostly for the Oil & Gas market. In the past three years, we also established companies in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Kazakhstan which promote and sell the products manufactured in Italy. Now I run the holding company which overlooks and coordinates these enterprises.
I am also an independent Board member of two Italian manufacturing company and an independent Board member of HMS, a Russian company which manufactures pumps and compressors, listed at the London Stock Exchange.

Service – Volunteer work has always been an important part of my life.
• in the Italian business community mainly through Confindustria ( Chair in Lecco, Vice Chair in Lombardy in the past, member of a couple of committees now).
• In the not for profit and education, I was one of the founders of Intercultura – now the largest Italian association for student exchange – and Chair from 1970 till 1991 -; I have been a member of the Board of AFS International in New York for many years and Chair in the late eighties; Chair of the Alumni Stanford Club of Italy, twice.
• Presently, I am the Chair of the Board of IES Abroad in Chicago, the largest Study Abroad program for American College students, and Chair of the Board of the AFS Foundation in Zurich.

I practice many sports, maybe too many because I never excelled in any of them when I was young; I love to travel and to learn about cultures, mentality and traditions of the peoples of the world.