Dr. Béatrice Richez-Baum is a Doctor in Law specialized in European Law. She completed also training at the Paris Bar School. Having completed her Ph. D. thesis on international Trade and European Law, in 1999, Dr. Béatrice started her career as a legal expert for the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry after few experiences in Brussels in the lobbying sector including the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe and the European Economic and Social Committee.
Dr. Béatrice Richez-Baum was appointed as Secretary General of ecoDa at the creation of the confederation in March 2005 and was appointed as Director General in September 2017. She has been able to raise ecoDa’s profile by advocating the interests of European board members, and by developing close working relationships with the EU institutions and European peer organisations.
Born in Schio (VI) in 1957 she graduated in Economics at Bocconi University in 1982 and obtained in 1988 an MBA in Finance with honors from New York University Stern School of Business Administration. After working at Bocconi University and at the World Bank as research assistant in Banking, she developed a career in financial services. After joining Citibank as senior financial analyst in corporate finance, she became Director of Premafin, a listed diversified holding company where she was in charge of strategy and financial control of three listed subsidiaries and investor relations for the holding.
In 1999 she joined Borsa Italana where she designed, launched and developed the equity market for growth companies Nuovo Mercato, listing 45 companies and managing all promotinal activities towards investors, issuers and intermediaries.
In 2003 she became Managing Director for Standard & Poor’s Italy and later Head of Southern Europe, managing the franchise , business development and institutional outreach of the rating agency, significantly expanding its leadership in financial analytics. She also served in the Board of S&P Italy until 2018.
In 2016 she was appointed by Bank of Italy , Resolution Unit, as the sole independent director of the four banks in resolution (Nuove Banche Marche, Etruria e Lazio, Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara e Chieti).
She has been Non executive Director of Luxottica (2015/20) , Autogrill (2018/2023) , Aidexa and several other companies. Since 2018 she is member of the board of UNICREDIT .
She is President of ecoDa, the European Confederation of Director Associations and Honorary Chair of NedCommunity, after serving as President for 4 years . During her professional career she has served as Board Member and Vice Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce, Collegio san Carlo, and several advisory boards. She was founding member of the association Valore D and actively engaged in various project to support diversity in business organizations. For her career achievements she received the Belisario Award in 2001 and other corporate recognitions.
Ms Linnainmaa is an expert on corporate governance, company law and securities market law as well as women’s leadership issues. She is the Vice Chair of the Finnish Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis, Past Chair of ecoDa and Past Chair of the European Corporate Governance Codes Network. She has served on several European Commission’s expert groups.
Prior to joining DIF in September 2019, Ms Linnainmaa was Deputy Chief Executive of Finland Chamber of Commerce where she worked since 2000. Before that she gained more than 10 years’ experience in the banking sector.
Dr. Béatrice Richez-Baum is a Doctor in Law specialized in European Law. She completed also training at the Paris Bar School. Having completed her Ph. D. thesis on international Trade and European Law, in 1999, Dr. Béatrice started her career as a legal expert for the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry after few experiences in Brussels in the lobbying sector including the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe and the European Economic and Social Committee.
Dr. Béatrice Richez-Baum was appointed as Secretary General of ecoDa at the creation of the confederation in March 2005 and was appointed as Director General in September 2017. She has been able to raise ecoDa’s profile by advocating the interests of European board members, and by developing close working relationships with the EU institutions and European peer organisations.