Event Profile

Go Back

Paola Bissoli - CAIA, Director - Business Development, Aberdeen Investments
Paola is Director of Business Development, Switzerland, in charge of global banks and large institutional investors and is based in our Zurich Office. She joined Aberdeen in 2015 from Saint George Capital Management (Unipol-SAI Insurance Group) where she held the position of CEO and Investment Manager since 2008. Prior to that, Paola was a Hedge Fund Manager.
Paola is passionate about financial education and chaired the Zurich Chapter for the CAIA Association from 2017 to 2024. 
From 2013 to 2018, she was a Director of 100 Women in Finance Ltd and she is now member of the association’s Global Council. 
Paola holds a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino and a Certificate in Advanced Studies in Sustainable Finance from University of Zurich.

Alida has over 30 years of experience in banking and in private banking globally. Before founding Valeur and then LAGOM FA, she held prestigious positions at the Credit Suisse Group (where she was also, as Managing Director, Global Head Investment Products Strategy), Lombard Odier & Cie, UBS and Deutsche Bank. Alida graduated with honors at the Luigi Bocconi commercial University in Milan, Alida perfected her knowledge by obtaining in 1994 the title of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in the United States. Since 1996 she has held numerous positions within the CFA Institute (including the Italian CFA society in 1999), until becoming Governor from 2005 to 2008, and joining, starting in 2009, of the “CFA European Investment Conference Advisory Group.” Currently, she is a member of the Executive Advisory Board of the CFA Institute Education Advisory Committee and a mentor of the Executive MBAs programs at Bocconi University. She has a passion for foreign languages and cultures; she is currently studying Chinese.

Francesca Casalini is Assistant Professor of Practice in the Government, Health & Not for Profit Knowledge Group at SDA Bocconi School of Management. She collaborates with the Knowledge Group of Strategy & Entrepreneurship and she is a Teaching Assistant of the Master in Strategy and Entrepreneurship (MISA).

Her research interests focus on innovative business models based on public-private collaborations and digital platforms. Her teaching activities mainly focus on business planning and business modeling in multiple sectors (both for-profit and non-profit, based on traditional collaborations as well as platforms) and strategic data crunching.

Francesca has been a research grantee of the European Investment Bank and a Research Assistant for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank on the topic of public-private collaborations. She has also worked with several start-ups, private companies and public administrations in the business planning of new strategic projects based on public-private collaborations.

Francesca holds a B.Sc. in Economics and Management with honors from the Università di Bologna an M.Sc. in Management with honors from Università Bocconi and a PhD in Management from the University of St. Gallen.

Giorgio Panzera studied at the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences at the University of Bern and obtained his teaching qualification from the Bern University of Teacher Education. He later completed a course in Grant Making Foundation Management at the University of Basel and earned a CAS in Nonprofit Governance & Leadership. He subsequently obtained an Executive Master in Philanthropy, CSR and Grant Making from the University of Turin.

He has participated in more than 30 conferences on the third sector, both in Switzerland and abroad. Since 2008, he has been professionally active in the nonprofit and philanthropic field, where he has held several key roles, including serving as director of a national foundation for six years. In 2020, he established the cenpro Foundation, which he still leads, and in 2023 he founded the Fondazione Mantello Filantropia.

Member of the Board of Directors since 1 October 2024, born on 28 September 1964, Swiss and Italian nationality. Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee.

Education and Professional Background  
In 1992 she graduated in Economics and Commerce from the University of Genoa and passed the State Examination qualifying her as a Chartered Accountant. In 1999 she obtained the Swiss Federal Diploma as a Financial Analyst (AZEK-Switzerland). She began her career as an equity analyst, later specialising in fixed-income fund management. She worked for the Sumitomo, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan groups in London and Milan.

In 2000 she took on responsibility for global fixed-income management within the institutional client desk at BSI SA, Lugano. Between 2006 and 2022 she gained entrepreneurial experience at Soave Private Investors SA, Lugano, and Londinium DAC, Dublin.

Her professional path has also been oriented toward socio-economic fields, gender equality and women’s empowerment. She led the Ticino Plus Federation of Women’s Associations from 2017 to 2023, and since 2020 she has been a member of the Office of Conciliation for Gender Equality. In 2021 she was elected Ticino representative at the second Swiss Women’s Session of the Federal Parliament.

In 2018 she co?founded the Equi?Lab Association, where she continues to serve as co?director. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Advisory Commission of the Department of Business Economics, Health and Social Care at SUPSI, and has served as its Chair since 2024.

Other Activities  
President of Londinium 1444 Sagl, Mendrisio.
Member of the Board of the Fondazione Mantello Filantropia, Vezia.

Rosa has over 25 years experience in structuring, managing and distributing traditional and responsible investment solutions for institutional and private investors globally, working for several major European financial institutions. Since 2012, she is focusing on Sustainability and Impact Investing, first at Credit Suisse and then as Head of Sustainability at Pictet Wealth Management. She recently decided to become independent, and grow her own advisory firm (RSG Impact Investing) focusing on supporting innovative start ups, acting as fractional Chief Sustainability Officer for foundations and family offices, and serving as Independent Board Member.

A professional journalist is the creator, founder and director of Family Business Forum, the first public discussion venue on family businesses for which she was listed among the 100 most influential people in family business globally, the only journalist.
She founded and directed Tpf-ThePlatform, an online fashion and luxury newspaper.
She has worked in major Italian newspapers and periodicals. Until April 2022, for 23 years, she was at Corriere della Sera, a daily newspaper for which she followed the issues of family business, fashion and luxury, governance and women’s leadership. She has followed all the most important Italian and European business families. For Rcs, she set up and directed the Rcs Academy Master in Fashion and Luxury Management and the Online Fashion Talks. An expert in family law, she has dealt with the laws of the last 30 years, from the equalization of natural children to shared custody. Among the founders of the blog La27ora and part of the
founding group of Iltempodelledonne of Corriere della Sera. Author of books on families, moderator of debates, Ted speaker. She has received awards and recognition for her work, including, in addition to inclusion among the 100 Top Global Capital Influencers, International Profile Woman Award, Standout Woman Award, State Street Press Award.