After almost 30 years with Apple (1987-1999) and Amazon (2000-2016) and an experience of 2 years serving as a civil servant with the Italian Government (2016-2018), I finally started my own endeavor: View Different. The primary mission: invest in and provide mentorship to entrepreneurs who use tech as an enabler to reshape traditional sectors, with an emphasis on education, government, mobility and environmental sustainability.
History: I worked at Amazon.com as Senior Vice President of the International Consumer Business from February 2000 to August 2016. I was a member of the senior executive team (S-team), and responsible for the International Consumer Business. During that period, Amazon launched and grew e-commerce operations in Europe, Canada, Japan, China, India, and Brazil and started exploring entering new geographies.
Early in my career (1987), I joined Apple in Italy in my home city, Milan. Ten years later, I was appointed General Manager and Vice President of Apple EMEA based in Paris. In late 1999, I joined Amazon in Seattle.
I also served a two-year civil servant term – from August 2016 to November 2018 – as Italian Government Commissioner for Digital Transformation, reporting directly to the Prime Minister. In this role, I founded and scaled the Government’s Digital Transformation Team.
Present:
- Non-executive Chair of the Board of Directors of Apolitical, a global peer-to-peer learning platform for governments.
- International Advisory Council Member of The Economist Group; its flagship businesses include The Economist newspaper, and research and analysis division, The Economist Intelligence Unit.
- Advisor for Exor Seeds, supporting its activities and operations; the Seeds team has backed over 40 startups globally, with a particular focus on mobility, fintech and healthcare.
- Senior Advisor for KKR, a leading global investment firm. In this role, I support the assessment of some investment activities of the company globally and mentor some of the portfolio companies, with a particular focus on technology and sustainable development challenges.
- Advisor and investor in several US and European start-ups.
- International Advisory Council Member of Bocconi University.
- Board member of Endeavor Italy, which I co-founded in 2016, and mentor of Endeavor Global, an NGO leading the high impact entrepreneurship movement around the world
- Board member of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington.
- Board member of the Maasai Association, supporting education and health initiatives in Kenya.
I hold a degree in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan and I am a dual citizen of the United States and Italy.
Non-exec Board of Directors roles
- Apolitical, a global peer-to-peer learning platform for government.
- The Economist Group, the leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs. Its flagship businesses include The Economist newspaper, research and analysis division and The Economist Intelligence Unit.
Advisor roles
- Senior Advisor for KKR, a leading global investment firm. In this role, he supports the investment activities of the company globally, with a particular focus on technology and sustainable development challenges.
- Advisor for Exor and Chairman for Exor Seeds, supporting its activities and operations; the Seeds team has backed over 40 startups globally, with a particular focus on mobility, fintech, and healthcare.
- Advisory to the Founder of Firefly, a company building a street-level digital media platform that connects audiences with dynamic media on taxis and rideshare vehicles.
- Advisory to the Founder of Pachama, a company using AI and remote sensing to verify and monitor carbon capture by forests to help finance conservation and reforestation.
- Advisory for Voi, a company that makes makes city travel convenient by offering best-in-class shared electric vehicles accessible on-demand through the Voi app..
NGO Board of Directors and mentorship roles
- Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research center at the University of Washington.
- Bocconi University, one of the leading European higher education institutions. Member of the International Advisory Council.
- Mentor of Endeavor Global, an NGO leading the high-impact entrepreneurship movement around the world. Also a board member of Endeavor Italy which he co-founded in 2016.