Boards of Directors

Costa graduated in medicine at Milan University in 1976 and specialized in surgery and oncology. He worked at Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan from 1980 to 1993 and at Istituto Europeo di Oncologia from 1994 to 2000 as direct assistant to Umberto Veronesi. With him he also worked as director of the
European School of Oncology (ESO) since 1982.

He currently holds the position of CEO of ESO. In 2000 he founded a new breast unit in Pavia (Maugeri Foundation) and got the first Eusoma quality certification in Italy. In 2005 moved to Canton Ticino (Switzerland) and established another Breast Unit, also certified in 2009.

Costa’s research field was cancer chemoprevention (H Index 54). For a few year editor of the journal The Breast and from 2014 to 2020 editor of the scientific magazine Cancerworld.

Retired from clinical work in 2016, Costa has acted as special Adviser for cancer policy in Brussels with EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

Alessandro owns a degree in Economics at Glasgow University and a Master Degree in Micro Economics at the University of Cambridge. Alessandro is a Managing Partner of Green Arrow Capital, an Alternative Asset Manager based in Italy with around Euro 1.5bn in assets under management through Private Equity, Private debt and Infrastructure funds.

He started his professional career in London as a consultant for Braxton Associates/Deloie Consulting.

Following Alessandro has been a Director of H3G Italy, the mobile arm of the Hutchinson Whampoa Group (3 mobile), where he has been overseeing the finance activities as Deputy CFO. He has been an executive Director with the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) since 2008, where he has been Board member of all the Italian subsidiaries (Borsa Italiana and other 6 subsidiaries) and CFO. While at LSEG he has also been Chairman of GlobeSele, a company of the London Stock Exchange Group active in the post trade sector in Luxembourg. Alessandro’s experience has been mainly in strategic planning, M&A and financial support to decision making in start-up companies in the financial and technology sector as well as financial control in regulated entities.

Alessandro has a strong interest in cashmere and textile in general, through ventures he participated in with his life partners.

Cristian graduated the Economic Highschool “Virgil Madgearu” of Bucharest in 1995. In the year 2000 left Romania for Spain where he started his career in real estate. He has 22 years of experience in real estate and residential development with almost 1000 units projects.

In 2022 he established Eco Friendsheep SRL and Eco Partnersheep Insulation SA, two companies that are directly involved in the sheep wool processing business, producing sheep wool insulation for construction sector and not only.

As CEO of Eco Partnesheep Insumaltion SA is developing a large scale sheep wool processing factory in Romania, Fagetelu, Olt.

Andreas started off his career as a chemical engineer at Unilever in the United States and subsequently moved to Germany as product manager. After about a decade in the food industry he turned to banking in Cyprus.

Andreas led Hellenic Bank’s Group Strategy unit throughout the economic crisis and currently leads the bank’s efforts in business development in Small and Medium Enterprises. With degrees from Cambridge University and the Wharton Business School, Andreas combines analytical skills with business acumen and strategic thinking.

Andreas is passionate about protecting our planet and sits on various boards of NGOs linked to entrepreneurship education, the cyclical economy and protection of the seas.

Daphne Valambous, from Athens, moves between the worlds of art and hospitality.
She studied Philosophy, Politics & Economics at Oxford University, followed by International Economics and International Relations at SOAS.

Among her hospitality projects is The Vasilicos, a boutique hotel in Santorini.

She also manages one of the most significant private collections of Greek art.

Daphne is currently developing a new project on the island of Ithaca—a writers-andweavers community, with the old village kafeneio at its centre, reviving its traditional role as a hub of daily life, conversation, and craft.

Dòra Jamnizcy-Kaszás studied at University of Limerick.

Note: The coordinator is a non-voting member of the board.