Governance
The admistrative bodies of the Foundation are:
President of Politecnico di Milano.
Born in 1968, Resta graduated in 1992 in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano.
His academic path led him to become Full Professor of Mechanics applied to Machines in 2004. In 2007 he was appointed Director of the Mechanics Department and subsequently, in 2011, Delegate for Technology Transfer, a strategic role in the relationship with companies.
In 2017 he became Rector of Politecnico di Milano. He was President of the Conference of Rectors. Resta boasts over 300 publications and holds 10 patents. In the industrial community and in the Italian social fabric, Ferruccio Resta holds various roles. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Allianz SpA, of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, of Il Sole 24 Ore and of Fiera Milano. He also holds the position of Expert Component of the Technical Structure at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Ferruccio Resta is President of Fondazione Bruno and President of the National Center for Sustainable Mobility MOST.
In 2019 he was awarded the honor of Commander of the Italian Republic by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
Giampio Bracchi
President Emeritus of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano
Giampio Bracchi attained a M.Sc. with honors in Electronic Engineering at Politecnico di Milano and completed his studies as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Professor Emeritus of “Digital Enterprise” at Politecnico di Milano, where he served for many years as Deputy Rector and President of the “PoliHub” business incubator. Giampio Bracchi is the author of over 200 publications and 20 books on the topics of business and financial innovation, Data Bases and Information Systems. He has sat on the Steering Committees of several leading Italian industrial companies, banks and national public bodies, having the role of supervising innovation. He is presently President of the bank “Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking”, and a Board Director of some other companies. In the third sector, he is President of association of managers “Associazione Prospera” and vice-President of “Fondazione Ricerca e Imprenditorialità” (Research and Entrepreneurship Endowment).
Giampio Bracchi has been a member of the Boards and Committees of companies and bodies operating in finance, industry, services, the public sector and infrastructure. Among other positions, he has been councillor to the Prime Minister’s Office; vice-President and Director on the Executive Committee of Banca Intesa (the Italian leading bank); President of the companies Milano Serravalle-Milano Tangenziali, Partners Group Italy, Intesa Leasing, and Intesa Sistemi e Servizi; Board Director of INPS (Nation Social Security Institute), CARIPLO bank, Associazione Bancaria Italiana (Italian Bank Association), and the companies CIR, Amplifon, Autostrada Brescia-Verona-Vicenza-Padova and Sorin Biomedica; member of the Consultancy Committee of the Italian Stock Exchange and of the Scientific Committees of the Nation Fund for Applied Research and the Treccani Italian Encyclopaedia Institute. Within the world of Associations, in Italy he was the President of AIFI (the Italian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association) and AICA (the Italian Computer Science Association), and, outside Italy, President of the Committee on Information Systems of the International Federation for Information Processing, and Trustee for the Very Large Data Base Endowment of Los Angeles.
Giampio Bracchi was at the helm of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano for 12 years, from its formation up to 2015.
Luisa Collina, Vice President
Doctor of research, he is full professor in Design at Politecnico di Milano. He is interested in design with particular attention to the themes of services, interiors and strategic design. He collaborates with universities, research centers and companies in international research programs and design-led strategic innovation projects.
From 2005 to 2015 she was coordinator and President of the Course of Studies in Product-Service System Design at the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano. From 2015 to 2021 you were Dean (elected) of the School of Design of the Polytechnic of Milan.
From 2004 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2015 you were an elected member of the Board of Directors of Politecnico di Milano; from 2009 to 2010 you were a member designated by the Rector of Politecnico di Milano in the University Evaluation Unit. From 2010 to 2016 you were Delegate of the Rector of the Polytechnic of Milan for Expo and major University events and for Internationalization Policies, from 2016 for External Relations. From 2013 to 2019 you were President of Cumulus, the international association of design, art and media schools and universities. You are currently Honorary President of the same association.
Since July 2021 you have been appointed National Expert for the Horizon Europe program “Cluster 2 – Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society”, designated by the Italian Ministry of University and Research.
Since April 2016 you have been an independent member of the Board of Directors of De Longhi SpA. Since 2022 you have been President of the Control and Risk, Governance and Sustainability Committee and of the Independent Committee.
Since January 2024 you have been a member of the Board of Directors and Vice President of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano.
Enrico Zio, Deputy Vice President
Graduated in nuclear engineering at Politecnico di Milano in 1991 and in mechanical engineering at UCLA in 1995, PhD in nuclear engineering at Politecnico di Milano and in probabilistic risk assessment at MIT in 1996 and 1998, Enrico Zio is now a full professor at the Ecole de Mines Risk and Crisis Research Center, ParisTech, PSL University, Full Professor and President of the Alumni Association at Politecnico di Milano, Distinguished Guest Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, Adjunct Professor at City University of Hong Kong, Beihang University and Wuhan University and co-director of the Center for Reliability and Security of Critical Infrastructure and the Sino-French Risk Science and Engineering Laboratory, at Beihang University, Beijing.
He is a member and vice-president of the Board of Directors of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano and Distinguished Lecturer IEEE and Sigma Xi.
In 2020 he was awarded the prestigious Humboldt Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany, one of the most prestigious research awards in the world across all scientific fields.
Federico Colombo, General Manager
Experienced manager in operations start-up, brand management, and education industry, targeting – among others – sales, finance, and HR. Focuses on bringing business ideas and projects to life and keep them rolling always looking for new opportunities, with the vision, curiosity and persistence to carry through innovative systems and procedures and developing the organizational structure needed.
Working with Politecnico di Milano since 2005, as Director of Development and Corporate Relations Division (2013-2024) focused on proactive development plan and expanding long‐term partnerships with corporates, institutions, as well as attracting and engaging other key communities (alumni, donors,) to obtain support for the immediate and long‐term goals. Prior to this, as Head of Career Service (2005-2012), took up crafting the strategic direction of this self‐financed organization (€ 1,7m per year) that provides consultancy on employer branding and recruitment services to more than 200 companies interested in targeting the Italian and international young talents.
In 2024 starts to work in Fondazione Politecnico di Milano as General Manager, working with prof. Ferruccio Resta at the head of the company.
Federico Colombo holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and Business Administration from Università degli Studi di Bergamo.
Manuela Pizzagalli
Deputy Director
Manuela Pizzagalli, Biomedical Engineer with a master’s degree in Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, has had a long career at Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, where she started in 2004.
She is now Deputy Director, after having coordinated, first as Head of the Innovation Projects Area and later as Chief Operating Officer, the team of Project Managers working to improve the relationship between the university, businesses, and public administrations.
In her current role, Manuela oversees strategic initiatives, promoting new innovation projects and partnerships between companies, organizations, and institutions. With extensive experience in managing complex projects, she is committed to developing and managing human resources and optimizing internal processes to foster the growth of Fondazione Politecnico di Milano.
Manuela is actively engaged in promoting STEM degrees among girls and is a member of the advisory board for the STEAMiamoci project by Assolombarda. For her commitment and leadership skills, she was awarded the Merito e Talento 2019 recognition by ALDAI Federmanager.
Board of Directors
Chairman: Ferruccio Resta
Directors: Chiara Bertarelli, Luisa Collina, Gabriele Masera, Mara Tanelli, Enrico Zio, Floriano Masoero, Pierangelo Misani, Elena Vasco, Maurizio Montagnese, Francesca Zarri.
Fondazione Politecnico di Milano is managed by a Board of Directors, whose eleven members are selected by Politecnico – six members including the President – the other Founders – four members – and the final member by the Ministry for Education, Universities and Research. The Rector of Politecnico di Milano and the President of the Founders Assembly are entitled to attend the Board meetings with no voting rights. The Board of Directors is responsible for the Foundation’s ordinary and extraordinary administration. Their duties include defining the guidelines for the Foundation’s work and the relative objectives and programmes, appointing the General Director, administering the Foundation’s assets and approving the financial statements.
Founders’ Assembly
Chairman: Attilio Fontana, President of Regione Lombardia
Deputy Chairpersons: Cristina Tajani, Councilor for Labor Policies, Productive Activities, Commerce and Human Resources, Municipality of Milan; Vico Valassi, UniverLecco President
Members: a2a, Associazione Eugenio e Germana Parizzi, Camera di Commercio di Milano Monza Brianza Lodi, Comune di Cremona, Comune di Milano, Comune di Piacenza, ENI, Fondazione Alessandro Volta, Indesit Company, Intesa Sanpaolo, Pirelli & C., Provincia di Cremona, Regione Lombardia, Siemens, UniverLecco.
The Founders’ Assembly consists of one member from each Founder. The President of the Committee of Institutional Participants attends the Assembly meetings. The Assembly’s duties include making recommendations to the Board of Directors concerning the general direction of the Foundation’s work and the relative objectives and programmes, expressing opinions on the provisional and actual financial statements, and nominating four Directors to the Board.
Scientific Committee
President: Andrea Sianesi
Members: Giovanni Arvedi, Gaela Bernini, Manfredi Catella, Enrico Cereda, Adriano De Maio, Paola Delmonte, Giorgio Diana, Sergio Dompè, Mauro Fenzi, Giorgio Ferrari, Pasquale Forte, Luciano Galimberti, Pietro Guindani (President of Institutional Participants Committee), Alberto Meda, Paola Mungo, Marta Ghidoli (Student representative), Marinella Soldi
The Scientific Committee is the Foundation’s consultancy body. The number of its members can vary – between 10 and 20 – and include the Foundation President and the President of the Committee of Institutional Participants. The Scientific Committee has a consultancy and collaboration role, working with the Board of Directors in defining the annual programme for the Foundation’ work.
College of legal Auditors
President: Domenico Marchetta
Actual members: Giovanni Ciuffarella, Gilberto Gelosa,
Alternate members: Rosanna Mirabasso
The College of Auditors is the Foundation’s body for internal control, carrying out the functions set out in the Civil Code for Colleges of Auditors. It consists of three effective members and two substitutes, including the College’s President.