​Bocconi: Margherita Della Valle is the 2022 Alumna of the Year

CFO OF THE VODAFONE GROUP AND FOUNDER OF NXT GEN WOMEN IN FINANCE, DELLA VALLE IS COMMITTED TO LEADING THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP AND ITS OPERATIONAL CENTERS THROUGH COMPETITIVE CHALLENGES AND DIGITAL ACCELERATION AND TO PROMOTING FEMALE EMPOWERMENT INA VISION OF GENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY

 
Margherita Della Valle, Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee of the Vodafone Group, is the Alumna of the Year for 2022.  Della Valle is one of 15 female CFOs in FTSE 100 companies according to The Female FTSE Board Report 2021 and has been elected Chairman of 100 Group, the association that brings together FTSE 100 CFOs.
 
The award is conferred by the Bocconi Alumni Community (today over 130 thousand members gathered in 72 chapters around the world) every year since 1987 to an alumnus or alumna who has particularly distinguished themselves.
 
"Margherita Della Valle's career is extraordinary, built with the determination, responsibility and preparation necessary to achieve great professional goals," comments Silvia Candiani, President of the Bocconi Alumni Community. “Hers is a vision among the most qualified in the world and an admirable example of female empowerment in the international economic context. Margherita Della Valle leads the financial sector and the company's operational centers with competence and firmness, managing to react skillfully to the constant changes in the Telco sector, maneuvering between hypercompetition and digital acceleration. At the same time, she is personally committed to promoting the presence of women in finance by creating, with other European CFOs, NXT GEN Women in Finance a mentoring program to identify, guide and promote the rising female stars of finance and combat that unconscious prejudice which still represents a strong obstacle to the development of women's careers."

After graduating in 1988 in Economic and Social Disciplines, Della Valle began her professional career in the study and strategic planning office of Montedison. In 1994 she joined Omnitel and performed various roles, from marketing to customer management and finance, building a career in which she used data in executive functions with strategic responsibilities. Since then, Della Valle has been at the top of the Vodafone Group, serving as CFO for Vodafone Italia from 2004 to 2007, Deputy Chief Financial Officer of the Vodafone Group from 2015 to 2018, until becoming Chief Financial Officer of the Group in 2018.
 
"This recognition has a very special meaning for me. My family has three generations of 'Bocconians', starting with my mother in the early '50s", commented Margherita Della Valle.  "The five years spent at DES were a real springboard thanks to the quality of training and dialogue, not only with teachers but also with classmates, who continue to be a source of inspiration and intellectual stimulus.''
 
The award will be celebrated on 21 October.

Here are the 38 Alumni of the Year to date:

Matteo Del Fante, 2021
Andrea Enria, 2020
Urbano Cairo, 2019
Francesca Bellettini, 2018
Luca de Meo, 2017
Stefano Sassi, 2016
Giuseppe Sala, 2015
Federico Marchetti, 2014
Joerg Asmussen, 2013
Giovanni Ciserani, 2012
Fabrizio Saccomanni, 2011
Diego Piacentini e Laura Cioli, 2010
Nouriel Roubini e Giovanni Castellucci, 2009
Alberto Cribiore e Gaetano Micciché, 2008
Paolo Cuccia, 2007
Enrico Cucchiani, 2006
Vittorio Grilli, 2005
Claudio Costamagna, 2004
Vittorio Colao, 2003
Paolo Scaroni, 2002
Marco Drago, 2001
Corrado Passera, 2000
Renato Soru, 1999
Emma Bonino, 1998
Alessandro Profumo, 1997
Emma Marcegaglia, 1996
Isabella Ventura, 1995
Carlo Scognamiglio, 1994
Marco Tronchetti Provera, 1993
Giovanni Giudici, 1992
Lucio Stanca, 1991
Jody Vender, 1990
Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, 1989
Giordano Zucchi, 1988
Roberto Mazzotta, 1987
 
 
 

by Barbara Orlando
Translated by Richard Greenslade