Biography

Born on August 16, 1950, in Montichiari (Brescia), since 1991 Alessandro Azzi has been the President of the Lombardy Federation of BCC, an associative body that represents and provides assistance, consultancy, and training to the network of Lombard BCCs. Graduated with honors in Law (University of Parma), he has been practicing as a lawyer since 1977, a profession he has never interrupted throughout his career. In 1985, even before turning 35, he was elected President of the Banca di Credito Cooperativo del Garda, formerly Cassa Rurale Colli Morenici, a position he held until 2019. To this day, he participates in the governance activities of the bank as a member of the Board of Directors. In 1991, he was elected President of Federcasse (Italian Federation of Cooperative Credit Banks-Rural Banks), where he worked until 2017 for the promotion and safeguarding of the mutual and local purposes of credit cooperation and worked on the development of Cooperative Credit Banks. During the same period, he was President of the Guarantee Fund for Bondholders of Cooperative Credit (2004-2016) and President of the Institutional Guarantee Fund (2008-2016). He has also held responsible positions at Iccrea Holding S.p.A., of which he was also President (1995-1997 and 2001-2003), Board Member (1995-2019), and Member of the Executive Committee (1995-2013). From 1992 to 2016, he was a Board Member and Member of the Executive Committee of the Italian Banking Association - ABI (of which he was also Vice President) and from 2011 to 2016 a Member of the ABI Presidency Committee. He was also a Board Member of the Felice Gianani Foundation, a Member of the Small Banks Committee (of which he was President), and a Board Member of the Federation of Banks, Insurance, and Finance. Previously, he worked at the Chamber of Commerce of Brescia, the Board of Directors of AIRC, the Permanent Italian National Committee for Microcredit, and the "Vincenzo Buonocore" Foundation. Alongside his current role as President of the Lombardy Federation of BCC, Alessandro Azzi is involved in numerous other realities in the entrepreneurial and institutional world. Among these, since 2000, he has been President of the International Foundation Tertio Millennio - ETS (Third Sector Entity of Italian Cooperative Credit) and a Board Member and Member of the Presidency Council of Confcooperative, the Confederation of Italian Cooperatives, a position he received in 2020 and previously held from 1991 to 2016. Since January 2006, he has also been on the Board of Directors of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, where he is also a Member of the Steering Committee. He serves on the Boards of the Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli Foundation in Rome (where he is also President of the Control and Risk Committee), Gemelli A Casa S.p.A., and Ecra-Edizioni (Cooperative Credit-Enzo Badioli Foundation). His current roles also include that of President of EBIS (Brescia Entity for Higher Education). An "Officer" of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic since 2000, Alessandro Azzi was appointed "Knight of Labor" in 2011 and, the following year, "Commander" of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic at the initiative of the President of the Republic. In 2009, he received the Guido Carli Award - Banker of the Year. He is the author of numerous publications on cooperative credit.