Recordati S.p.A. - Board of Directors

Board of Directors

To view the biographies click on the names of the directors below.

Giovanni Recordati Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Recordati S.p.A.

Giovanni Recordati holds a degree in chemical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano and a master's degree in Management Sciences from Imperial College London.
He joined Recordati in 1974 as a researcher. In 1980, he was appointed as central production manager and, in 1984, as deputy general manager for operations and research. In 1990, he was appointed chief executive officer with responsibility for managing the operational activities of the group's Italian and foreign companies. He has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1977. Presently he is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Recordati S.p.A. as well as holding positions in other group positions.

Alberto Recordati Vice Chairman, Recordati S.p.A.

Alberto Recordati graduated from University of London King's College in 1977 and, in 1984, successfully completed a research PhD within the biochemistry department of Charing Cross Hospital Medical School.
He joined Recordati in 1984 as a researcher in the biochemistry laboratories. In 1987, he was appointed head of the planning and product development office. From 1990 to 1992, he worked for the US subsidiary Pharmetrix Corp as research project coordinator. In 1992 he was appointed industrial manager for biochemicals with responsibility for biochemical/microbiological research and for the Cascina dè Pecchi biochemical/fermentation production site. In 1995, he became head of the chemical research and technologies division. In 1999, he was appointed director in charge of the fine chemicals sector and in 2004 Deputy Chairman of Recordati S.p.A.

Mario Garraffo Former Senior Advisor GE Europe

Mario Garraffo graduated in 1960 with a degree in Economics and Commerce from the Università Bocconi di Milano.
Between 1960 and 1970, he was Controller and Development Director of La Centrale Finanziaria Generale, a holding company principally involved in the area of public services (communications and energy). From 1970 to 1980, he was Investment Director at the IFI group; from 1980 to 1985 he was Chief Executive Officer of IFIL - Finanziaria di Partecipazioni and from 1985 to 1993 Chairman of IFINT (now NEXOR). In 1993, he was chosen by Lazard to start up the group's business in Italy. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer until the acquisition by Lazard Italy of the investment bank Vitale, Borghesi & Co. in 1998. In 1998, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of UNIM, a post which he held until 2000 and as Chairman of General Electric Italia from 2000 to 2004. Since 2004 he has been a Senior Advisor for General Electric Europe.
He is an independent director, member of the Executive Committee and of the Remuneration Committee of Terna S.p.A and member of the Internal Audit Committee of Recordati S.p.A.. He has been a Trustee of the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore and a Trustee of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna.
From 1995 to 2006 he was President of the Università Bocconi Alumni Association and member of the Board of Directors of the Donna Javotte Bocconi Foundation (founding entity of the Università Bocconi).

William R. Gunnarsson Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Orphan Europe

William Gunnarsson was born in Sweden on 13 June 1947. He graduated from the Royal Swedish Marine Academy as a Marine Reserve Officer in 1967 and from the University of Gothenburg with a BA in Science and Economy in 1973. He started his professional career in the pharmaceutical industry as a sales representative and sales manager for Bristol Myers, Sweden, thereafter becoming Marketing Manager and Territorial Director for Denmark and Norway. In 1983 he assumed responsibility as General Manager for Bristol Myers Pharmaceutical and Nutritional Division in Scandinavia. In 1988 William became the President of Nobel Pharma, Inc., Tokyo, Japan.
In 1990 William Gunnarsson founded Orphan Europe, France, with the aim to provide treatment for patients suffering from rare diseases.

Federico Nazzari Former President of Farmindustria

Federico Nazzari has been involved in various roles in the pharmaceutical sector for 38 years. For almost twenty years, he worked for multinationals and for the remainder has worked in various roles in Italian companies.
In 1969, he started his professional career at Upjohn S.p.A. where he remained until 1979. After a spell of three years (1979-1982) at Farmindustria as head of the Technical/Scientific Area, he returned to the same company (1982-1988) to supplement his professional experience in various positions until taking on the role of Deputy General Manager. In 1988, he moved to Maggioni Winthrop as Chief Executive Officer. In 1991, he was recruited by the Istituto Luso Farmaco d'Italia S.p.A. where he was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. In the same period he became Chairman of Lusochimica (company associated with Istituto Luso Farmaco d'Italia S.p.A. and manufacturer of active substances for the pharmaceutical industry) where he worked until June 2000. Between 2000 and 2007, he worked for Bracco as Group Vice President General Affairs. In February 2007, he joined the Board of Recordati S.p.A. with delegated authority for institutional relations.
Over these years, he has taken an interest in the problems of the entire pharmaceutical sector, becoming a member of the Board of Farmindustria, the Italian pharmaceutical industry association of which he was elected Chairman in June 1995 and re-elected for a further two years in 1997 and subsequently in April 2003 for a third term. He is a member of the Technical / Health Committee of Confindustria, of the Board of Governors and Board of Federchimica, national federation of chemical industries and of the Management Committees of Assobiotec and Aschimfarma.

Carlo Pedersoli Partner Pedersoli e Associati law firm

Carlo Pedersoli was admitted to the Milan bar in 1980.
A partner in the Pedersoli e Associati law firm, he is a civil lawyer who deals predominantly in company and commercial law for national and international clients operating both in the financial/banking sector and in the industrial sector. He has spoken at conferences on company and commercial law, analysing the topic of financial statements, validity of shareholders' resolutions and responsibility of auditors.
As well as sitting on the Board of Directors of the company Nextam Partners SGR S.p.A., he currently sits on the Board of Directors and is a member of the Internal Audit Committee of Recordati S.p.A.. He was also Chairman of the company Sistemi Tecnologici Holding S.p.A., the holding company of Sistemi Tecnologici S.p.A. and in turn the holding company of Sirti S.p.A..

Andrea Recordati Western European Subsidiaries

Andrea Recordati obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in medieval and modern history from the University of London Royal Holloway and Bedford New College. Between September 1995 and March 1998, he took part in the United Kingdom SmithKline Beecham Management Access Program, starting off as Assistant Product Manager in Consumer Healthcare and then, for one year, occupying the role of medical representative in Essex before becoming Project Manager responsible for the development and implementation of an innovative SmithKline Beecham marketing initiative.
He joined Recordati in 1998 as Project Leader for a project aimed at improving Sales Force productivity and better use of marketing investments. In April 1998, he joined the Board of Directors of the Company.
In 1999, he was given responsibility for Pharmaceutical Business Development.
In March 2002, the Lercanidipine Business Unit was set up and he was appointed head of that unit. Since November 2002, he has been responsible for setting up the subsidiary Recordati Ireland and its industrial plant and, subsequently, for setting up the UK subsidiary. In September 2006, he was appointed director of the German subsidiary Merckle Recordati GmbH. In August 2007, the Northern and Central Europe Branches Division was set up and he was appointed head of that division.

Marco Vitale Economist and Business Consultant

Marco Vitale, business economist, has carried out intense professional and educational work at the Universities of Pavia, Bocconi and Libera Università Carlo Cattaneo (of which he was one of the founders and vice-president) and at the Istao and Istud (foundation for business and management culture) management schools of which he is the chairman. Formerly a partner in Arthur Andersen, he is the founding member and chairman of Vitale Novello & Co. S.r.l. (senior management consultancy firm) in which he is a consultant and director of major companies. He was chairman from 1984 to 2003 of A.I.F.I., national association of merchant banks. He is deputy chairman of Banca Popolare di Milano and chairman of Bipiemme Gestioni SGR. He is chairman of Rino Snaidero Scientific Foundation, chairman of the scientific committee of AIdAF (Italian Association of Family Businesses) and member of the management committee of the Olivetti Foundation.
He has held significant public offices. He has written numerous books including: La lunga marcia verso il capitalismo democratico (published by Il Sole-24 Ore); Liberare l'economia: le privatizzazioni come terapia alla crisi italiana (published by Marsilio); Le Encicliche sociali, il rapporto fra la Chiesa e l'economia (published by Il Sole-24 ore); Sviluppo e Spirito d'Impresa (published by Il Veltro); America. Punto e a capo (Scheiwiller); Il Mito Alfa (Egea editore, Bocconi). He is a contributor for major newspapers and magazines. He is an energetic, polemic and renowned speaker.

Walter Wenninger Former Member of the Board of Management Bayer AG

Walter Wenninger was born on 15 February 1938 in Wemding (Germany).
He holds a PhD in veterinary medicine and a MBA (Dipl.-Kfm.) both from the L.M.-University of Munich. In 1968 he joined Bayer Pharma where he held various executive management positions in Germany, Europe and the USA. From 1994 to 2000 he was a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG, responsible for their healthcare business. He currently serves on the boards of various European biopharmaceutical companies and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Robert-Koch-Foundation, the German Cardiac Research Foundation.