Alberto’s career began in Interior Design, with teaching the basics of Architecture at Home Base Centre in Perth where, over 2 years, he tutored more than 400 students. In 1987, in association with two partners, he formed Studio D, a design studio specialising in Architecture and Interior Design for the commercial market, particularly the Hospitality Industry.
In 1991 Alberto changed business direction and joined the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Perth as Executive Officer. Here he initiated and developed annual business plans, structured yearly corporate and community activity schedules, managed staff and directly supervised the majority of significant projects undertaken including the Trade Fair ‘Italian Connection’, as well as leading political and economic missions to and from Italy. Alberto was also the nominated Art Director of the magazine La Camera. During these years the Chamber reached its highest financial turnover and largest number of members.
Returning to Italy in 1998, Alberto joined the multinational, Mediacamere to lead a newly created department to assist in the realisation of the benefits of IT developments, to provide new services to Italian companies and to promote business activities domestically and internationally. He provided Project Management support in the preparation and management of major events, conferences and trade fairs and undertook numerous projects for the business network and Italian Ministry offices. This new section of the company grew in only 2 years to reach a turnover of just over Euro1.5m per year.
The opening of the Eastern European market, in particular the Russian Market, offered an opportunity for Alberto to move to St Petersburg, where he managed the establishment and operation of a new branch tasked with monitoring the development of trade between the two countries and providing firsthand support to Italian companies entering a difficult market. Alberto quickly established links with local government and NGOs in order to facilitate trade and to provide SMEs with the appropriate knowledge to increase the success of market entry. Trade and investment between the two countries increased significantly: the US$170m invested in 2001 rose to US$283m in 2002, and Italian exports in 2003 to Russia amounted to US$4.1b, a 22% increase.
Two years later, Alberto’s successful experience in Russia and an ability to identify business opportunities, persuaded the Italian Government to call him back to Rome and assign him to a new role with Mondimpresa as Business Advisor to post-war countries. The company’s objective was to assist SMEs to develop new markets in difficult areas. Alberto was Consultant Advisor for large projects and Project Manager for all projects involving international cooperation in the Balkan Regions and Arab countries including Iraq, Iran and Syria.
In 2004, Alberto returned to Australia as CEO / Secretary General of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne. Here he successfully heightened the Chamber’s profile within the business community, increased interaction with government institutions and consolidated its role with traditional partners. He was accountable for an A$2.5m annual budget, and managed 12 staff in delivering over 30 projects/events every year in order to promote “Made in Italy” in Australia.
In 2006 he retired from the corporate life to dedicate his time and his knowledge to help SMEs to reach their goals. He started his company Creative4Business and in 2007 he joined the network of the Institute for Independent Business.
In summary, Alberto is a dynamic, articulate and creative business professional with 20-years experience in executive level leadership and communication in domestic and international business environments. He has extensive experience in enhancing internal and external strategic communications and stakeholder relations, well-developed skills in financial management, conduct of business feasibility studies and management of substantial projects. Throughout his career Alberto has demonstrated the ability to meet and exceed strategic corporate objectives and has an excellent record of achievement, an outstanding knowledge of business IT software and hardware and strong problem solving and decision making skills.