Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi

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Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi (Italian, born in Paris in 1952) is currently President of Valsoia^[1], Italy's leading health food company, President of the influential Italian Advertisers Association (UPA) and President of the Bologna Museum of Modern Art (MAMbo)^[2]. He also holds board-level positions on a number of important regional industrial associations and charities.

1 Education and methodology
2 Valsoia
3 UPA - Utenti Pubblicità Associati - the Italian Advertisers' Association
4 Bologna Museum of Modern Art (MAMbo)
5 Other responsibilities and charity involvement
6 Art criticism
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Education and methodology

Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi graduated in medicine at Bologna University in 1977, where he subsequently worked as a neurologist specialising in sleep diseases until 1985, including a residency at Stanford University in the USA. Driven by a passion for art, he simultaneously studied for a degree in Art History and Criticism, which he received from the UIA University in Florence in 1981.

In 1985, Sassoli de Bianchi joined the Board of Directors of the family firm, distillers Buton, the makers of Vecchia Romagna brandy. Initially called upon for his skills as a mediator, he was swiftly entrusted with the strategic direction of the company and appointed Chief Executive Officer later in the year.

This prompt recognition was due not only to his ability to bring people with different opinions together and to get them working synergistically, valuing and developing the contributions of each, but above all to an analytical and diagnostic approach he credits to his medical training. This transparent, methodical approach has stood him in good stead over the years, combined with an ability to read the groundswell of emerging trends that has often enabled him to act well ahead of the market.

Following the successful engineering of Buton's acquisition by Grand Metropolitan, Sassoli de Bianchi's acute awareness of the relationship between food and health led him to move out of the drinks industry and found the health food company Valsoia.

[edit] Valsoia

Valsoia was founded in 1990 as the first Italian health food company to apply mass marketing techniques and to emphasise the pleasures as well as the health qualities of its products.

Covering a full spectrum of sweet and savoury foods and snacks, the Valsoia range is now one of the most complete in the sector anywhere in the world. The company aim is to provide a complete lifestyle choice as well as to offer a broad product range.

Valsoia has been equally innovative in other areas, being one of the very first companies in Italy to offer a manager buy-in stock option and encouraging staff participation at all levels. It was in this spirit that the company went public in 2006^[3], since Sassoli de Bianchi believes it should be sustained by its own ethos as much as by its founder's vision.

Although Sassoli de Bianchi has been the architect of this innovation and growth, he is quick to emphasise that none of it was achieved on his own. Generous in his praise and recognition of his colleagues’ contributions, he has successfully created a culture of shared mission and values at Valsoia, capable of ensuring it continues to build a strong future when he is no longer at the helm, and has carefully laid the foundation for effective succession management with the 2006 flotation. This combination of vision, methodology, teamwork, democracy and a refusal to be "indispensable" is typical of Sassoli de Bianchi's management approach.

[edit] UPA - Utenti Pubblicità Associati - the Italian Advertisers' Association

Widely-respected by Italian industrialists for Valsoia's effective use of creative cross-media advertising and his personal skills as a communicator and consensus-builder, Sassoli de Bianchi was appointed President of the UPA in June 2007^[4]. In his usual participative style and applying the analytical methodology he developed at Buton and Valsoia, Sassoli de Bianchi worked with the organisation's active members to formulate a clear mission statement and objectives, as well as to restructure the governance of the association and to increase participation, accountability, innovation, effectiveness and transparency. The initiatives launched under this programme have extensively consolidated the already influential role, profile and authority of the UPA, which is currently organising a large international conference to be held in Rome in March 2009.

[edit] Bologna Museum of Modern Art (MAMbo)

Sassoli de Bianchi's reputation as an art collector and critic, innovator and organiser, led to his appointment as President of the Bologna Museum of Modern Art in 1995. Proceeding with his hallmark combination of a visionary and methodological approach based on solid research and a detailed market and financial analysis, Sassoli de Bianchi formulated a bold modernisation programme. This has brought the museum magnificent new premises which opened under the name MAMbo on 5 May 2007 and repositioned it as a leading centre of experimental art not just in Italy but internationally as well^[5].

[edit] Other responsibilities and charity involvement

Sassoli de Bianchi's achievements have gained him widespread recognition in both industry and the arts, including as Vice Chairman of the Emilia Romagna Region Ministerial Commission for Culture and the Arts, and as a Board Member of Bologna’s Association of Businessmen (Unindustria) and of the Bologna Festival Musical Association. Past responsibilities saw him acting as Vice Chairman of the Bologna Confederation of Industry (Confindustria) and as a Board Member of the Bologna development agency Promo-Bologna and of the Bologna Film Library. Sassoli de Bianchi’s extensive charitable commitments include board-level positions on two eminent charities, the Centro San Domenico cultural association and the Fondazione del Monte, which provides support in the areas of social solidarity, community development, scientific research and the arts and culture.

[edit] Art criticism

Sassoli de Bianchi has sustained a strong personal interest in contemporary art throughout his life, from his early degree in Art History and Criticism through to his involvement in the Bologna Film Library and his current position as President of MAMbo. A distinguished art collector and critic, Sassoli de Bianchi has published widely on modern and contemporary art, with essays on Raul Dufy, Salvator Dali, Julian Schnabel and Feng Zengjie to name but a few. He is, moreover, a recognised authority on Chinese contemporary art and the author of the acclaimed book, "China: contemporary painting". His latest book on the subject, "Between Heaven and Earth", is due to be published in October 2008.