Barbara Cominelli

Barbara is a C-level executive with more than 25 years of experience in the Technology, Telco, Energy, Consulting and Industrial industries, with a passion for digital, innovation and talent development and how they drive sustainable growth and empower customers and society. Her experience ranges from P&L management to corporate governance, strategy, marketing, CRM and management of operations with thousands of people, with a strong track record in driving growth and profitability through business transformation, leveraging technology, sustainability and people/organizational change. 

Since December 2020 she has been the CEO of JLL in Italy, with the objective of supporting the transformation of the Real Estate industry through Innovation, Digital and sustainability. Previously she was COO, Marketing and Operations Director in Microsoft Italy for 3 years. As the number 2 of the company she led the growth plan aimed at doubling revenues in 3 years, and orchestrated the business across the different solutions (modern workplace, cloud, data and AI, digital transformation & business applications) to accelerate the digital and sustainable transformation of Italian businesses, institutions and citizens. She is also Non-Executive Director at ERG S.p.A., public company #1 in wind energy in Italy and 9th in EU, as well as Autogrill S.p.A., the leading global provider of food and beverage services for travellers. 

From 2010 to 2018 she was Director of Digital and Commercial Operations at Vodafone, where she led the largest organizational unit of the company with a team of 3000 employees managing traditional and digital channels as well as the Digital Transformation Program and the P&L of the Wholesale Business Unit. Previously she was Strategy, Planning & Marketing Director for a 7bn energy multinational; Partner of a Venture Capital investing in High Tech in Italy, USA, France; Manager for a major consulting firm in London and Milan; Marketing Professor at Bocconi University. 

She has a wide international experience, having studied/worked in Italy, UK, NL, Spain, USA, LUX, leading diverse teams located in multiple countries. In 2016 and 2017 she was been included in the Inspiring Fifty; she was also been nominated "Best Digital Director" and “Top 15 women in Digital in Italy" in 2017; in 2016 she won the “Merit and Talent” award for women executives and in 2009 was nominated “Best Young Executive” by the Italian Executives Association. She won more than 20 awards in Italy and internationally for Digital Transformation, Customer Experience and Operational excellence. She holds a degree 110/110 Summa Cum Laude in Business Administration (Bocconi) and Master CEMS-MIMs in International Mgmt (Bocconi and ESADE, Barcelona); also completed exchange program at Rotterdam School of Mgmt and executive education courses at Stanford and SDA Bocconi. Passionate about people/talent development, she is a strong Diversity and Inclusion advocate, actively engaged in several non-profit initiatives, with special focus on women/girls in tech. 

She lives in Milan with her husband and her son.