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.
Professor Michael Hilb is President of the Swiss Institute of Directors and Chair of the Board Foundation. He serves on the boards of several listed and privately held companies, foundations, and international organizations.
He is Dean of the Swiss Board School and teaches strategy, entrepreneurship, and corporate governance at universities in Switzerland and Singapore. He has authored and co-authored seven books and more than 50 articles.
Previously, Michael held leadership positions at DKSH, Holcim, and Roland Berger.
He has been a Visiting Fellow at INSEAD and Harvard University and studied business at the University of Michigan, the Stockholm School of Economics, and the University of St. Gallen, where he earned his MSc and PhD.
Juan Alvarez-Vijande has more than 22 years’ experience in the Boardrooms, as Non-Executive Chairman, Non-Executive Board Director (as independent director among others), as Executive Director, Advisory Board member as well as Advisor to Boards on Good Corporate Governance Practices. Boardroom experience on Listed Companies, Non Listed and Family firms. Experience gained among others sectors in Telecommunications, Consulting, Energy, Infrastructures, Internet, Defence/Space, Franchise, and others. Among other companies are Amper Group, Cable and Wireless SA, Baytree International, Alcatel Space and Telefonica affiliates, Detea Corporation and others.
Currently and from 2003 he is IC-A (Spanish Board Directors Association) Chief Executive, and IC-A Co-founder. In addition to IC-A activities, he is ecoDa Board Director and Honorary Chairman, he is in different boardrooms as well as advising Boards of Directors and Senior Management on Corporate Governance Best Practices and Strategy on different business sectors for Listed Companies and Large Private Companies. Corporate Governance Practical Guides author for Board Directors, member of the European group that elaborate the first Corporate Governance Guidance and Principles for Unlisted Companies in Europe ( 2010), Chairmen/Board Directors Training Tutor and independent advisor to Venture Capital firms.
As Senior Executive during more than 30 years he served as CEO/MD/CD in multinational companies and affiliates. During four years in Telecommunications sector, he has successful turnaround, restructured and refocus a major Telco group; also as CEO has restructured and integrated various companies acquired by an USA based in Europe Telco, set-up an USA multinational ASP group as partner founder, and he has leading the major M&A corporate transaction developed in Spain in 1997 with large European implications.
Positions: The Spanish Institute of Directors(IC-A, Instituto de Consejeros-Administradores), Executive Director, ecoDa Board Member, Nomination and Evaluation Committee
Sandra Gobert holds a Master degree of Law from the VUB and holds several certificates in Accounting, Management and Taxation. As an entrepreneur, she has been involved in the creation of several businesses since 1991 and has held executive and non-executive positions in various sectors. She is GUBERNA Certified Director since 2010.
Member of the Brussels Bar since 1992, specializing in corporate law and governance, she created the Law Link E.E.I.G. – the Global Law Group and the law firm Sub Rosa Legal of which she is an associate to this day. She has been CEO of GUBERNA since January 1, 2019. Since May 2019 she has also been appointed independent administrator of Fluxys Belgium NV.
Position: Managing Director of Guberna
With more than 30 years of experience in the Financial Services Industry, occupying several executive positions, including former member of the Executive Committee and Head of Compliance of a Luxembourg key financial institution, part of an international banking group, Anne Kayser has Compliance, Audit, Internal Control and Legal combined experiences and expertise for different business lines: Securities Services, Asset Management, Wealth Management, CIB, Retail Banking, Insurance, Real Estate, Leasing. Over the course of her professional career, she interacted a lot and was used to work with Boards of directors and their specialized Risk, Audit and Compliance Committees. Being risks prevention focused, especially on AML/CTF/Sanctions, she was used to lead in complex environment and in matrix organization, managing multicultural teams worldwide and used to work and cooperate with Regulators, mainly in Luxembourg, France and USA. She is now leading her own Business as Compliance and Regulatory Expert, offering Independent NED mandates and compliance & regulatory advice, with a strong risks, compliance, internal control and corporate governance culture and expertise.
She is Board member of the Luxembourg Institute of Directors and member of its Executive Committee. As a compliance expert, Anne is a Certified Anti Money-Laundering Specialist, CAMS. Anne is collaborating with the Luxembourg House of Training, as a lecturer mainly for compliance topics. She has completed in June 2021 the INSEAD Directors Programme and the process of her certification is ongoing. Anne holds master degrees in Law and Fiscal Law from the universities of Louvain-la-Neuve and Brussels.
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.
Mr Rytis Ambrazevičius has 20 years of experience in top management positions at international and local companies, including Omnitel (part of TeliaSonera Group), Mandatum Life Baltics, Sampo Life, Falck Security (now G4S) and SBA Group. For the last 10 years, he held different positions in the boards of directors and currently is an independent board member at Klaipėdos nafta. Rytis graduated from Kaunas Technology University and International Business School at Vilnius University. He is also a graduate of the BICG, having completed professional board member education in 2012 and chairperson education in 2013.
Irena Prijović, MSc is the Executive Director of the Slovenian Directors’ Association since 2004, with which she has been closely involved since its establishment in 1997. She holds a degree in economics (University of Ljubljana, School of Economics and Business) and a master’s degree from the Faculty of Social Sciences, where she completed her thesis entitled The Effectiveness of Supervisory Boards.
Her professional work focuses on corporate governance and supervisory board
practices, including the development of governance standards, codes and
recommendations, research, and the certification of professional knowledge required for supervisory board service. She is the author and editor of numerous publications and practical handbooks in these fields. She also works as a lecturer and consultant specialising in corporate governance and supervisory board self-evaluation.
Her previous supervisory board and committee experience includes roles at JP
Uradni list, d.o.o., Športna loterija, d.d., and Petrol, d.d., as well as membership of the Remuneration Committee at DUTB, d.d. and the Accreditation Committee of the Supervisory Board of KAD, d.d. She has also served as an external member of various human resources and nomination committees responsible for proposing candidates for supervisory board positions.
Since April 2023, she has been a member of the Management Board of Chapter Zero Slovenia. She is active internationally as a Board Member of the European Confederation of Directors’ Associations (ecoDa) in Brussels, the European Corporate Governance Codes Network (ECGCN), and European Women on Boards (EWOB). She regularly enhances her professional expertise through executive education and specialist programmes in Slovenia and abroad, including at Harvard Business School, INSEAD and ecoDa.
Jonathan was appointed the IoD’s Director General in October 2019.
He spent 30 years working in the professional services sector, most recently at Grant Thornton International, where he was responsible for the organisation’s interest in China. He is the author of three books about China and is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Outside of work his interests include hill walking and fell running. He was a rally team navigator for 20 years and, following two years of training in extreme environments, walked to the North Pole in 2006.
