TURIN, Italy – On April 28, 2023, the Shareholders’ Meeting of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. appointed the new Board of Directors, which will remain in office for the next three years until the approval of the 2025 Financial Statements. Giuseppe Lavazza was appointed Chairman, while Alberto Lavazza assumed the position of Honorary Chairman.
The Shareholders’ Meeting also reappointed Marco Lavazza as Vice Chairman (elected in 2011) and Antonella, Francesca and Manuela Lavazza as board directors, as well as Antonio Baravalle and Enrico Cavatorta as Lavazza Group CEO and CF&CO respectively.
Completing the new Board of Directors, which has a total of 13 members including five independent directors, are the reappointed Robert Kunze-Concewitz, Campari Chief Executive Officer, Nunzio Pulvirenti, Ferrero Advisory Board member, and Roberto Spada, Spada & Partners Managing Partner. Joining them on the Board of Directors are new independent members Silvia Candiani, Vice President Telecommunication at Microsoft, and Daniel Winteler, Managing Director Extraordinary Operations and Business Development at The European House Ambrosetti.
The outgoing members of Lavazza’s Board of Directors are Pietro Boroli, Vice Chairman at De Agostini S.p.A., Gabriele Galateri di Genola e di Suniglia, Chairman at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Antonio Marcegaglia, Chairman at Marcegaglia Steel S.p.A., and Leonardo Ferragamo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the family-owned company.
“I intend to continue following our strategic growth path, consolidating the line charted over the last 15 years under Alberto Lavazza’s Chairmanship. We will continue to strengthen our presence in key segments and markets for the Group, looking carefully at new opportunities and continuing to invest in research and development”, said Giuseppe Lavazza, Lavazza Group Chairman.
“As a family and as a Group, we confirm our uncompromising focus on people, the environment and product quality. Creating long-term positive impacts and widespread prosperity, while underscoring the social role played today by a contemporary company, is part of our DNA, our values, and our vision: the same vision we shared with the third generation of our family and want to pass on to the fifth.
I would like to thank Alberto Lavazza, who today became Honorary Chairman of the Company, for his dedication, his ability to foster growth that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago, and for his support and confidence in the challenges faced by the fourth generation of the family, which continues to realise the vision set out by Emilio and Alberto Lavazza” concluded Giuseppe Lavazza.
Alberto Lavazza stated: “In my more than 60 years with the company, 15 of them as Chairman, I have had the opportunity to get to know and learn from the first generation of the family, but most importantly from the second, helping to chart out with my cousin Emilio some of the major changes that have seen Lavazza grow and evolve over the years. This has allowed me to communicate our family’s vision and heritage of values down through the generations, as well as a sense of responsible leadership that is open to new challenges and creates a bridge between the present, past and future of the company.”
Alberto Lavazza, in fact, has acted as the link between the generations of the post-war years, of the economic boom and of the new millennium, testifying to the continuity and tradition of a family that also has its sights firmly set on building tomorrow’s world.
As he himself likes to point out, “… it wouldn’t have made sense to talk about a family business if we hadn’t been able to be a family in the business. Home and office were (and are) the same thing for us: the two houses of one big family in which human relationships have always played a fundamental role.
Honorary chairman Alberto Lavazza
Member of the third generation of the Lavazza family, Alberto joined the family business in 1962 after completing his studies in Switzerland. He began his career working alongside his father Pericle, son of the company’s founder Luigi Lavazza. Working together with his cousin Emilio (the Honorary Chairman who passed away in 2010), whose work focused mainly on commercial expansion, Alberto has personally overseen research and development activities on the raw materials and the manufacturing processes.
After performing the roles of CEO and as Vice Chairman of the company, in 2008 he became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., the role he held until April 27, 2023.
Chairman Giuseppe Lavazza
Entered the family business in 1991, after finishing university and gaining professional experience in London (Philip Brothers), Giuseppe Lavazza was the company’s Strategic Marketing Director from 2005 to 2011. In 2008, he also took on the role of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A.
He is also on the Board of Directors of the Giuseppe e Pericle Lavazza Foundation, a non-profit organisation owned by the Lavazza family’s holding company Finlav S.p.A., and a member of the Steering Committee of International Coffee Partners, an organisation that promotes support programmes for coffee producers.
In 2019, he was made a Knight of the Order of Merit for Labour by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, as was his father Emilio in 1991. As of April 27, 2023, he is chairman of the Board of Directors of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A.
Vice Chairman Marco Lavazza
After finishing his university studies, he began his career at the International Business Department of the University of Nevada and then moved to the Marketing Department of Ferrero Group. In 2002, he joined the Board of Directors of the family business, where over the years he gained management experience in various strategic sectors, such as the Coffee Buying Department, Operations, Sales and M&A, before becoming Vice Chairman in 2011.
He has been on the General Board of Confindustria since 2015, having previously been a member of its Managing Board and Council in the period 2012-2015. Since 2019, he has been President of Unione Italiana Food, Europe’s largest association in the industry, and Vice President of Unione Industriali di Torino (the Turin employers’ association).
Francesca Lavazza
She joined the Board of Directors of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. in 2001. Since 2010, she has been on the Board of Directors of Finlav S.p.A., where she is currently Chair. From 2005 to 2015, she was in charge of the company’s corporate image, a role in which she focused on developing new forms of communication, such as the international campaigns for the Lavazza Calendar, photography projects and the launch of major partnerships in the world of art and culture. Since 2015, she has sat on the Board of Directors of Camera, Centro Italiano per la Fotografia, and since 2016 on the Board of Trustees of New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Gastronomic Sciences (Pollenzo) since 2017. She has been President of the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art since 2021.
Antonella Lavazza
A member of the Board of Directors of the family business since 1998, in 2004 Antonella also joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit Giuseppe e Pericle Lavazza Foundation, along with her cousin Giuseppe. She has been on the Board of Directors of Finlav S.p.A. since 1999 and is currently its CEO. She has been managing the activities of Lavazza’s Historical Archive, the company’s memory bank, since 2010. Since 2017, Antonella has been Vice President of 2gether, a non-profit organisation that provides support through sport to children and teenagers with disabilities. And since 2020, she has been Vice President of Time2, a foundation that aims to generate social impact by supporting innovation, sustainable development and inclusion initiatives.
Manuela Lavazza
The youngest member of the fourth generation of the Lavazza family joined the Board of Directors of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. in 2014, having previously completed Language studies at Turin University. She attended the ESCP European Business School, earning a Master’s in European Business. She played an active role in the creation of the Lavazza Museum, which opened in 2018. She has been on the Board of Directors of Finlav S.p.A. since 2020. Active in the world of sport – her passion for skiing led her to qualify as an instructor – as well as in the social sector, she is President of 2gether, a non-profit organisation that supports children and teenagers with disabilities through sports. Since 2020, she has been Vice-President of Special Olympics Italy, a global movement that, through sport, combats the marginalisation and exclusion of people with relational intellectual disabilities. She is also President of Time2, a foundation active in the fields of social innovation, sustainable development and inclusion.
Antonio Baravalle
After studying biology at university, he completed a Master’s in Business Administration and began his professional career in the marketing and sales department at Diageo (1992). In 1999, he moved to Fiat Group, where he gained important professional experience. In 2003, he was appointed Vice President Marketing for the Alfa Romeo brand and, in 2004, CEO of Lancia, before becoming Alfa Romeo CEO in 2005. He left Fiat Group in 2008 to take up the post of CEO at publisher Giulio Einaudi Editore (Mondadori Group). In 2010, he was also appointed General Educational Manager at Mondadori and CEO at Mondadori Electa. He has been CEO of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. since 2011, leading the Group’s drive for growth and internationalization, a process in which he has played a key role in recent years.
Enrico Cavatorta
He began his professional career in the Finance and Control Office at Procter & Gamble Italy, where he remained until 1993. After gaining three years’ experience as a consultant for McKinsey & Co., during which he worked on various strategic projects, in 1996 he joined Piaggio as head of Group Planning and Control. In 1999, he was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Luxottica Group, where he stayed for 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility, becoming General Manager and then CEO for Corporate Functions. After this important experience, he joined fashion retail group Yoox-Net a Porter as Chief Financial and Corporate Officer. In 2019, he moved to Lavazza Group in the same capacity. In 2020, he joined the Board of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. as executive director.
Robert Kunze-Concewitz
He began his career at Procter & Gamble, first in Financial Planning & Analysis and then in Marketing. He held numerous key positions on an international level before becoming Group Marketing Director for the Global Prestige Products division. In 2005, he joined Campari as Group Marketing Director and implemented various new marketing strategies for the Group’s international brands. He was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer of Campari in 2007. He has been an independent non-executive director of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. since 2014.
Nunzio Pulvirenti
In 1977, shortly after completing his studies, Nunzio began his career at Fiat, where he worked until 2004 in roles of increasing responsibility in car manufacturing plants, and in 1987 became Arese plant manager at Alfa Romeo, which had recently been taken over by Fiat. In 1991, he became head of the Product Development Department and, following the 2000 agreement between Fiat and General Motors, was appointed Chairman of the Board of Fiat-GM Powertrain.
In 2005, he embarked on a new adventure at Ferrero as head of its Operations Department. In 2011, following the tragic death of Pietro Ferrero, with whom he had worked closely, he was appointed head of the Product Department and of SOREMARTEC, joining the Strategic Committee, the Board of Ferrero International and the Board of Ferrero S.p.A. In 2015, he voluntarily relinquished all his executive responsibilities but remained on Ferrero’s Advisory Board and later became Chairman of the Audit Committee, posts he held until 2019, when he finally left the group. In 2020, he joined the Board of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. as an independent non-executive director.
Roberto Spada
He began his career as a Certified Accountant in Turin in 1986. Since 1989, he has been an associate at Spada Partners in Milan, where he is currently managing partner. Throughout his long career, he has worked mainly on corporate restructuring, M&A, tax in the financial and banking sector, and international taxation. He has participated in numerous restructuring operations and corporate crisis management assignments.
From 2009 to 2017, he was Extraordinary Administrator for the IT Holding/Ittierre Group, an appointment made by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. He has acted as president and sat on the board of directors of several Italian and international groups, now he is currently chairman of the Board of Directors of Club House Italia S.p.A. and Luxury Living Group S.p.A., an industrial group operating in the luxury furnishing sector. He is also a Statutory Auditor for several major companies.
In April 2020, he joined the Board of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. as an independent non-executive director.
Silvia Candiani
She started her career in 1993 as an Associate in the financial institutions and media practice at McKinsey & Company. In 1998, she joined San Paolo IMI as head of CRM and Marketing before moving to Vodafone Italy, first as CRM Manager and then Consumer Director. In 2010, she joined Microsoft as General Manager Consumer & Online and held posts of increasing responsibility before being made global Vice-President Telecommunication, a post she still holds today. She has been President of the Università Bocconi Alumni since 2020 and a member of the university’s board of directors since 2022. She is also a board director of ValoreD, a non-profit association that promotes women’s leadership in business, and plays an active role in ITA2030, an organisation the promotes the development of non-profit initiatives.
From April 2023 she is a member of the Board of Directors of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., in which she sits as an independent and non-executive director.
Daniel John Winteler
He began his career in finance and M&A at Ciba (pharmaceutical chemicals) in Switzerland in 1988. He was one of the key figures in the Ciba-Sandoz merger that resulted in Novartis and went on to become Chief Operating Officer at Ciba Specialty Chemicals.
In 2000, he returned to Italy, first as General Manager and then CEO at IFIL (now Exor). In this period, he sat on the boards of various major Italian companies including FIAT, Juventus, Worms and Club Med.
He became Chairman and CEO of Alpitour Group in 2006 and relaunched the business through major M&A operations, growing the Group’s value and then managing its sale. He was then appointed President of Federturismo.
From 2013 to 2016, he was CEO at Miroglio Group, where he led a major restructuring operation. He then assisted in the restructuring and relaunching of numerous manufacturing concerns. He is also a co-founder of Keiken Partners, an advisory firm specialising in extraordinary operations.
He has been an executive director and board member of The European House Ambrosetti S.p.A. since 2021 and is CEO at FG Holding S.p.A. (Gabrielli Group).
He also teaches Management Practices at the University of Turin and sits on the Boards of Directors of Bolaffi and of Ruspa Officine, as well as being Chairman of GDS Communication.
He is one of the founding partners of The Wine Place London and Vice-President of the non-profit Certosa 1515.
From April 2023 he is a member of the Board of Directors of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., in which he sits as an independent and non-executive director.
About the Group
Lavazza, founded in Turin in 1895, has been owned by the Lavazza family for four generations. Today the Group is one of the leading players on the global coffee scene, with turnover of over € 2.7 billion and a portfolio of top brands that lead their respective markets, such as Lavazza, Carte Noire, Merrild and Kicking Horse. It is active in all business sectors and has operations in 140 markets, with 8 manufacturing plants in 5 countries and about 5,500 collaborators all over the world.
The Group’s global presence is the result of over 125 years of growth and the more than 30 billion cups of Lavazza coffee produced every year are a testament to a remarkable success story, with the goal of continuing to offer the best coffee possible, in all forms, by focusing on every aspect of the supply chain, from the selection of the raw material to the product in the cup.
