Governance

Cinzia Monteverdi was born in Viareggio (LU) on 30 January 1973 and graduated in Political Economics from the University of Parma in 1997. She began her professional career in 1997 in the field of technology and software services for companies operating in the banking and finance sector, in particular in asset management focused on marketing and sales. In 2004 she decided to follow her great passion and focused on the creation of her own communications and event organisation firm, through which she organised major cultural events in the fields of art, entertainment and journalism. In April 2009, she participated in the foundation of the broadcaster and newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano and became a member of the Board of Directors. In 2011 she became the broadcaster’s marketing and external relations director, while in 2012 she was appointed Chief Executive Officer. In May 2018 she was also appointed Chairwoman of the company’s Board of Directors.

Antonio Padellaro was born in Rome on june 29th 1946. He graduated in Law, in 1968 he became a professional journalist working for the ANSA news agency. In 1971 he started working at Corriere della Sera, where he was correspondent, political commentator and directed the Rome newsroom. He worked at Corriere della Sera until 1990, when he joined L’Espresso, where he became vice-editor. During this period he wrote Non aprite agli assassini (1995), Senza cuore (2000) and other essays on the political careers of the most important political figures of the First Republic, such as Bettino Craxi, Aldo Moro and Francesco Cossiga. In 2001 he moved to L’Unità where he was managing editor from 2005 to 2008. On april first 2009 he founded the blog Io gioco pulito. In the year he was one of the founders of Il Fatto Quotidiano and he became its managing editor.

Luca D’Aprile was born in 1971, in 1995 he graduated from the University of Bologna with a degree in Economics and Management, in 1996 he specialized in International Economics and Management at ICE. After a brief experience at Tod’s in New York, he worked for two years at Sigma SpA. He started an international consulting firm within the Morison KSI group. In almost 20 years of management consulting he has supported the international development of dozens of Italian companies, mainly in India, the United States, China, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, sometimes acting as a member of the board of directors of foreign subsidiaries. In 2009 he participated in the founding of Il Fatto Quotidiano. As a member of the Board of Directors he has always been involved in editorial innovation, particularly in the field of data analysis and in the study of the main editorial models, both Italian and foreign. In May 2018 he was appointed Chief Innovation Officer with the aim of redesigning the company’s new digital strategy.

Lorenza Furgiuele was born in Florence in 1978.

Graduated with honours in Law in 2001 from the University of Florence, in 2010 she obtained a PhD in Commercial Law from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. She is Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the Department of Law of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” where she currently teaches Corporate Law.
At the same University she has previously taught Competition Law, Commercial Law and Communication Law.
She has also held teaching positions in university masters courses and at the National School of Administration and participates in research projects characterised by national and international collaboration. She is a member of the editorial boards of accredited legal journals and a member of the teaching board of the PhD programme in “Diritto e Tutela. Contemporary Experience, Comparison, Legal-Romanistic System” at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. She has participated in national and international conferences and is the author of the monograph “Trasferimento della partecipazione e Legittimazione nelle società di capitali, Milano, 2013”, as well as numerous articles published in leading legal journals and collective works.
She has been a member of the Florence Bar since 2005 (currently on the special list of university lecturers) and a member of the Italian Supreme Court since 2016. She deals with specialist matters, mainly in civil and corporate matters.
She was a member of the Board of Directors of Olivetti S.p.A.

Giulia Schneider, with dual Italian and German citizenship, is a lawyer registered with the Florence Bar, a PhD in International Law and Economics from the Bocconi University of Milan, and an expert in corporate and competition law. She has completed various educational courses, including a degree in Law from the University of Pisa and a Licence Diploma in Legal Sciences from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa, both of which she obtained with 110 cum laude. She has received numerous prizes and awards and participated in countless conferences and seminars, as well as producing prestigious publications. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and holds courses in Commercial Law at the University of Pisa and in Corporate Governance at the Universitè Catholique de Lille in Paris. Her recent studies focus on corporate governance of corporations, with particular regard to the impact on corporate governance of new technologies, CSR and independent directors.

Niccolò Abriani

was born in Turin in 1966 and graduated in Law at Turin University in 1990. He is a lawyer licensed to practice in front of the Supreme Court (Cassazione) and is a partner in the Corporate Department at DLA Piper. He is professor in Commercial Law at Florence University and teaches in the Master for Enterprise Laywers at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome. He is co-director of the “Rivista del Diritto Societario” e della “Rivista di Diritto dell’Impresa”. He as published several monographs and essays on primary  academic journals. He has been a relator at several law conferences. He has led several research projects on the national and international stage. He has been active on behalf of Fondazione Agnelli and Assogestioni, of which he has been a representative in shareholder meetings of several public companies. He has held several academic roles (among which Chairman of the Economics Faculty at Foggia University) and enterprise roles as independent board member or statutory auditor of public companies and banks. È was a member of the study group held by CONSOB on regulatory simplification of the Italian financial markets and is currenlty a member of the Committee responsible for writing the Rules for colleges of statutory advisors and of the National Council of Accountants and Auditors.

Valeria Fazi: After graduating in Business Administration at the University of Rome Tor Vergata – academic year 1999/2000 – she gained significant experience in the Rome office of PricewaterhouseCoopers SpA. In 2005 she became “Head of IFRS accounting, work in progress and reporting” at Oerlikon Contraves SpA (a company of the Rheinmetall AG group – now Rheinmetall Italia SpA) and in 2007 she began her activity as Certified Public Accountant and Auditor.

She is currently a member of several boards of statutory auditors of medium and large companies, of scientific committees and commissions. She is also a member of the Standard Setter Board of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance for the definition of a single accounting system for the Italian Public Administrations. She was a member of the Advisory Committee on Quality Controls for Auditors established by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, whose work ended on June 30^th 2023.

She is an expert in GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) and IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards), as well as in International Standards on Auditing (Isa Italia).

Author of numerous publications on the subjects of the board of statutory auditors, auditing and accounting.

She has been Adjunct Professor of Corporate Finance at Sapienza University of Rome – Latina branch – since the 2021/2022 academic year. She teaches also about laws and regulations related to statutory auditors, auditing and accounting, in many postgraduate courses, public entities and training companies; she is a speaker at several conferences.

She is fluent in English and she is a volunteer as President of AGET.

Antonio Castagnazzo was born in San Giovanni Rotondo (Foggia) on june 7th 1975. After graduating in Economics at Foggia University he was a visitor for studies at the Faculty of Law at Cambridge University in 2004, at the Univerity of Delaware in 2005 and Universidad de Valencia in 2007. In 2006 he qualified as an Accountant and Statutory Auditor. In 2008 he was graduated in the Doctorate for Law and Economics. From 2009 to 2018 he worked at Studio Legale Abriani in Florence. He was a member of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Centro Studi Unione Nazionale Giovani Dottori Commercialisti ed Esperti Contabili from 2012 to 2015. He was a researcher at the Istituto di Ricerca dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili (Research Instititute of Accountants, IRDCEC), from 2011 to 2012. From 2012 to 2013 he was a consultant at the Consiglio Nazionale dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili (the National Council of Accountants, CNDCEC). tasked with reviewing the code of conduct of the College of Statutory Auditors in both public and private companies. In 2012-2014 he taught Commercial Law at the “Cino da Pistoia” specialization school in Florence. In 2013-2014 he taught Commercial Law at the Tor Vergata University in Rome.In 2014-2015 he taught Company Law at the Master of the  Scuola Superiore dell’Economia e delle Finanze in Milan.

Graduated with honors in Economics in 1992 at the University of Florence with a thesis also awarded internationally.Chartered Accountant, qualified in 1993, registered with the Order of Florence and Statutory Auditor, with auditing duties and in the Boards of Auditors of S.r.l. (limited liability companies) and public and private joint stock companies, non-profit entities and foundations.

Since 6 April 2002, the professional activity has been carried out in the form of an associated firm, as a founding member of Studio Michelotti, Bonechi e Associati – Professional association of chartered accountants – with offices in Pistoia, Montecatini Terme and Florence.

Since 2011, the firm has been a member of ACB GROUP Spa, an integrated firm of chartered accountants and lawyers, established in 2000 by the will of professors Guatri and Uckmar, based in Milan.

Since 1995 assistant professor of Commercial Law, as well as post-graduate Masters such as Sports Law and Economics and Organization and Management of Cooperative Enterprises. In this context, for years he was Professor of Commercial Law, with a supplementary teaching contract from the University of Florence, teaching in the degree courses of Business Economics and Economics.

Since 2020 and still holds the position of Coordinator of the Legislative Office of the National Council of Chartered Accountants and Accounting Experts. For the five-year mandate 2008–2012 elected National Councilor of the Order of Chartered Accountants and Accounting Experts.

From 2012 to 2014 councilor of the Unitary Committee of the Professions, a body that permanently brings together the top representatives of the National Councils of Professional Orders.

From July 2007 to October 2013 President and CEO of a multi-utility holding company of 36 Municipalities in Tuscany, owner of shares in all local public service companies (water, gas, environmental hygiene) relating to them.

Author of publications on corporate law and corporate crisis law, he is a regular speaker at conferences on the topic, as well as at specialist and institutional conferences on the topics of the reform of professional associations and professional partnerships.

He specializes in consultancy for extraordinary corporate transactions, M&A, including international ones, and intragroup transactions, as well as in the structuring of financial and family holdings.

She began her professional activity in Florence in 1995, carrying it out in Pistoia since 1997, first on an individual basis and then,since 2002, as an associate of Studio Michelotti, Bonechi e Associati.

Since the start of the professional activity, she has studied and professionally applied aspects relating to restructuring, reconversion and/or rescue plans for companies in crisis status.

She has carried out and carries out important judicial roles as Bankruptcy Trustee, Judicial Commissioner, OCC. With regard to the subject of auditing (assurance), she has always had a particular interest in the public bodies sector to which she has dedicated time and energy to in-depth analysis and the acquisition of the most up-to-date knowledge.

She has held public positions, as auditor in various Local Authorities, holding the position of President of the Control Body in the Municipality of Pistoia, in the Province of Pistoia and in the Municipality of Campi Bisenzio.

She was also President of the Board of Auditors of the Centrale del Latte company of Florence, Pistoia and Livorno Spa from July 2013 to September 2016.

She is a member of permanent and study commissions of the Order of Chartered Accountants and Accounting Experts of Pistoia and speaker at professional meetings organized by the ODCEC of Pistoia.

Given her passion for the culture of teaching, she became an expert in the subject of “Accounting” at the Department of Economics and Business Sciences, University of Florence.