Barbara Cominelli is the CEMS Senior Alumni of the Year 2021
An energetic, caring and insightful leader who also dedicates time as a mentor. These are the qualities that moved the CEMS community to nominate Barbara Cominelli, CEO of JLL Italy, as CEMS Senior Alumni of the Year 2021.
A Bocconi graduate, Barbara then graduated in 1994 from the CEMS Master in Management program - the global program promoted by the CEMS network (33 partner universities, around 70 corporate partners and 7 social partners) of which Bocconi is one of the four founding members. Barbara attended the program at Bocconi and ESADE.
Promoted by the Global Office, Student Board and CEMS Alumni Association, the CEMS Alumni of the Year awards are presented to outstanding alumni – in the three categories Young, Mid-career and Senior - in recognition of excellent contributions to promote the CEMS values of global citizenship, cultural diversity, professional responsibility, professional accountability and impact on society as a whole. Voting is conducted by CEMS students, alumni and academic representatives.
After various roles at Vodafone, Barbara then became Chief Operating Office at Microsoft Italy and since December 2020 is CEO of the commercial real estate and investment firm JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle SpA) in Italy.
"Barbara embodies forceful, energetic and caring leadership. She has built a tremendous career. Barbara strives to be an insightful leader, in particular for women. She mentors and encourages women to reach their potential," cites CEMS in motivating the award.
"I am very happy and excited to receive this acknowledgement. The CEMS master was for me an important period of exchange and growth, both academically and personally, teaching me to be a European citizen and welcoming me into an international Community of excellence, which I am honored to represent today," says Barbara Cominelli. "I hope the current students will live this experience to the full, to then lead - as managers and entrepreneurs - the development of an innovative, responsible and inclusive future, for the organizations they work for and for society."