De Agostini

Since 1997 Marco Drago has been the Chairman of De Agostini SpA, the holding company of the De Agostini Group, one of Italy's largest family-run groups. During this time he has steered the company through a crucial phase of development. As Chief Executive Officer of the Editorial Group during the 80s and 90s he was the driving force behind the exceptional growth seen in Italy and especially abroad. Since 2000, as part of a strategy of diversification, he has led the Group's expansion in the lottery, games and services sector with Lottomatica – GTech; in the media and communications sector with Antena 3 de Televisión in Spain (with the Planeta Group) and Zodiak Media; in the insurance sector with Toro, later sold to the Generali Group; and in the finance sector with DeA Capital. Since October 2006 he has been Chairman of the Board of Partners of B&D Holding di Marco Drago and C. S.a.p.a., a family limited partnership created to ensure cohesion in share ownership, consistency of intentions and continuity in decision-making over the long term. He is also Vice-President of the De Agostini Planeta Group and a Director of Antena 3 de Television, Lottomatica – GTech, Zodiak Media, DeA Capital, De Agostini Editore, Editions Atlas (France) and S. Faustin (Techint Group). Born in Settimo Torinese, in the province of Turin, in 1946, he graduated in Economics and Business from the Università Bocconi in Milan in 1969. In the same year he began his career in the family company when he joined the De Agostini Geographical Institute. Following appointments as Executive Officer and Managing Director, he then replaced Achille Boroli as Chairman of De Agostini SpA. In 1970 he married Donata Morandi and they have three children: Enrico and Nicola, both graduates in Economics from the Università Bocconi and Marcella, a graduate in Modern Literature. Drago has received important awards such as “Bocconiano dell'anno” in 2001 and “Cavaliere del Lavoro” in 2003.

Marco Boroli, born in Novara on August 25, 1947, graduated in Political Science at the University of Pavia. In 1975 he took over a managerial position in the Administrative Office of the De Agostini Group, and also undertook the restructuring of De Agostini associates operating in France and Switzerland. In 1978, he was appointed Deputy General Manager of De Agostini and in 1983 assumed the position of General Manager responsible for the books business area. In 1986, he was appointed Managing Director, and Vice-Chairman in 1990. He became Chairman of Istituto Geografico De Agostini in May 1996. In 1999 he was appointed Senior Vice-Chairman of De Agostini S.p.A., the holding company of the Group. Within the Group he also holds the position of Chairman of Mach 2 Libri and member of the Board of Directors of DeA Capital.

Born in Novara on 21 November 1957, Pietro graduated in Political Science at Pavia University. In 1979 he started to work with the Istituto Geografico De Agostini. From 1981 to 1983 he was assistant to the Managing Director, Marco Drago. In 1984 he was appointed Advertising Manager, in 1985 Sales Director for Magazines and Partworks and, in 1990, Partworks Division Manager, coordinating activities both on the Italian and foreign markets. From 1993 he was Managing Director of the Istituto Geografico De Agostini. In 1999 he was appointed CEO and Vice-Chairman of the Istituto Geografico De Agostini and since 2003 he has been Chairman of De Agostini Editore, the publishing sub-holding. He is Vice-Chairman and a member of the Executive Committee of De Agostini S.p.A, the Group holding company, and holds various other positions within Group companies, such as Chairman of De Agostini Libri S.p.A. and De Agostini Publishing S.p.A. and Director of Lottomatica Group and Zodiak Media S.A. He is a member of the Italian Newspaper Editor/Publisher Federation (FIEG) Committee and Chairman of the Delegation of Magazine Publishers of Medium-Size Firms, Chairman of publishing house SGP, which controls the Corriere di Novara, and a member of the Board of Directors of Venchi S.p.A., Banzai S.p.A. and Lavazza S.p.A.

Born in Novara on January 3, 1951, Roberto Drago graduated from the Università Bocconi of Milan with a degree in Economics and Business. In January 1976 he joined the De Agostini Geographical Institute, working in administration. From January 1978 until December 1988 he was Director of Finabuch SA in Lugano, the foreign holding company of the De Agostini group and sole distributor of the De Agostini catalogue in the Italian-speaking areas of Switzerland. From March 1991 he served as General Manager of the De Agostini Group holding company, responsible for the Group’s corporate, legal, financial and fiscal services. March 1999 saw his appointment as Vice-Chairman of Finance for De Agostini SpA. He is also a general partner in B&D Holding di Marco Drago & C. S.a.p.a. and a member of the Board of Directors of DeA Capital.
 He is Chairman of Camperio S.p.A. SIM, De Agostini Communications S.p.A., First Atlantic Real Estate Holding S.p.A. and DeA Partecipazioni S.p.A. From February 2007 he has been Chairman of Fondazione De Agostini.

Born on July 29th 1951 in Alzano Lombardo (BG). Married, with three children, Lorenzo Pellicioli lives in Paris.
He started his career as a journalist for the newspaper Giornale Di Bergamo and afterwards became Vice-President of Bergamo TV Programmes. From 1978 to 1981 he held different posts in Italian private television sector: for Manzoni Pubblicità, and for Publikompass up to his nomination as Rete4 General Manager. In 1984 he joined Gruppo Mondadori, the leading Italian publishing group. He was initially appointed General Manager for Advertising Sales, and Mondadori Periodici (magazines) Deputy General Manager, and afterwards President and CEO of Manzoni & C. S.p.A, the Group’s advertising representative. From 1990 to 1997, he served as First President and CEO of Costa Cruise Lines in Miami, which is part of the Costa Crociere Group operating in the North American market (USA, Canada and Mexico) and then became General Manager of Costa Crociere S.p.A., based in Genoa, with worldwide responsibilities. From 1995 to 1997 he was also President and CEO of Compagnie Française de Croisières (Costa-Paquet), the Paris-based subsidiary of Costa Crociere. From 1997 onwards he participated in the privatisation of Seat Pagine Gialle, which was purchased by a group of financial investors. After the acquisition he was appointed CEO of SEAT. In February 2000 he also took charge of the Internet Business unit of Telecom Italia, subsequent to the sale of Seat. In September 2001, following the acquisition of Telecom Italia by the Pirelli Group, he resigned. As from November 2005 he became CEO of the De Agostini Group, an Italian financial group controlling companies in the publishing sector (De Agostini Editore), games and lotteries (Lottomatica/GTech), media and communications (Antena 3 – Spain’s leading television company, Zodiak Media - production and distribution of high-quality content for television and new media), and finally in the financial investment sector (DeA Capital). He is Chairman of Lottomatica, Chairman of the Board of DeA Capital, both companies listed in the Milan stock market, Chairman of Zodiak Media, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Générale de Santé and member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. He is also member of the Advisory Boards of Investitori Associati IV, Wisequity II and Macchine Italia and Palamon Capital Partners. Since 2006 he has been a member of the Global Clinton Initiative. He was formerly also a member of the boards of Enel, INA-Assitalia and Toro Assicurazioni, and of the Advisory Board of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking.

Lino Benassi was born in Trento in 1943.
From 1963 to 1994 he worked at Banca Commerciale Italiana covering offices of Director up to the office of CEO from 2000 to 2001. From 1995 to 2000 he was Managing Director and CEO of INA SpA and from 2000 to 2002 he was also CEO of Banca IntesaBci.
In 2003 he was appointed “Great Officer of Merit” of the Italian Republic.
His main offices were Chairman of Caboto Sim, Chairman and Managing Director of Banque Sudameris (Paris), Vice Chairman of Banco di Napoli Holding, Director of Banco di Napoli (Member of Executive Committee), Director of BNL (Member of Executive Committee), Vice Chairman of ABI, Vice Chairman of Compagnie Monegasque de Banque, Chairman of Toro Assicurazioni SpA, Banca Italease and Credit Suisse Italy Spa. Benassi is currently Director of De Agostini SpA, DeA Capital SpA, Seat Pagine Gialle SpA and Zignago Vetri SpA.

He gained his professional experience inside the Agnelli Group, holding from 1979 positions of increasing importance at Fiat SpA (Internal Auditing and Finance) and in the Financial Services Sector (Planning, Credit and Control) and subsequently assuming the position of Head of Strategic Planning and Development of Ifil.
After assuming responsibility for the internet B2C sector of Fiat/Ifil in 1999 as CEO/General Manager of CiaoHolding and CiaoWeb, he was appointed CEO and General Manager of GlobalValue SpA, a Fiat/IBM joint venture in the Information Technology sector.
Since 2004, he has been General Manager of De Agostini S.p.A., the holding of the De Agostini Group.
On 11 January 2007 he was appointed CEO of DeA Capital, De Agostini’s arm in private equity investments and alternative asset management, listed at the Milan Stock Exchange.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of Lottomatica Group, De Agostini Editore, Générale de Santé, Migros Ticaret, Zodiak Media and other companies.