Chatting with Friends in the Company of Top Executives

SOCIAL EVENT PAR EXCELLENCE OF THE BOCCONI ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, THE DINNER SPEECH IS A DIFFERENT WAY TO MEET HIGHPROFILE SPEAKERS FACE TO FACE. ON 20 JUNE, THE DINNER GUEST WILL BE DESCALZI, AT THE HELM OF ENI

Dinner Speeches are informal meetings, organized in the guise of a dinner party with friends, rather than a formal discussion panel. In 2015-2016, ten managers and other high-profile professionals, often Bocconi alumni, sat around the table share their experiences. People of the reputation of Oscar Farinetti, founder of Eataly (Photo), Marco De Benedetti, managing director and co-head of Carlyle's European Buyout Group, Luca Mignini, president of the Campbell's Snacks and Biscuits Division, Stefano Sassi, CEO of Valentino SpA, Pietro Salini for Salini Impregilo, Alberto Cribiore, vice chairman of Citigroup's Institutional Clients Group, Marco Sala, CEO of IGT Group, or Claudio Costamagna, current chairman of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).

Over the years, the Dinner Speech formula has expanded its influence among BAA members (to whom the event is reserved): "It's the prime social event for the Milan Area Chapter, but it also increasingly attracts alumni from other Italian provinces,” says the alumni association's director, Gianfranco Minutolo. "It is becoming a monthly rendezvous for the membership, an event whose strengths are the exchange of experiences and the relationships that can develop between people in informal networking opportunities."

This formula appeals to both senior and junior members, who are often still students, such as Bianca Maria Bettoli, BAA On Campus VP and first-year student of the Master in International Management: "The Dinner Speech allows you to meet people of experience who can broaden your horizons and bring students closer the to professional world, by helping them understand its complexity and see it from a different perspective," the young woman explains. "I found many useful ideas on how to manage your career rather than letting your company manage it."

And if you would like the opportunity to discuss with prominent names a wide range of issues (last year the discussion covered everything from private equity to public finance, from food to fashion), you just need wait for the next dinner event, scheduled for 20June. The special dinner guest of BAA members will be Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, the Italian energy company.

 

by Andrea Celauro
Translated by Alex Foti