In the first meeting of the new BolognaFiere board of directors, three new entries made their debut on the board of directors: Valerio Veronesi , president of the Bologna Chamber of Commerce; Teresa Lopilato , tax law expert and Lord Stephen A. Carter , chief executive officer of Informa Group.

As a first act, the Board unanimously voted for the re-election of Gianpiero Calzolari as president and the election of Rosa Grimaldi as vice president. The objectives of the new mandate include:

• internationalization;
• the diversification of the group's activities;
• the enhancement of the spaces of the Bologna exhibition center, also following the real estate transfers of the shareholders.

First of all, however, there is the landing on the stock exchange to be concluded by 2024 that attracts attention. “I thank the board of directors for their renewed trust - underlines Calzolari -. The objective of the new board will be the listing of the company. An important challenge for the development of our territory, to which all members, public and private, are called to contribute. After the capital increase and the subscription of the bond loan with Informa Group, the path towards growth and internationalization of the Bologna Fiere Group proceeds at a brisk pace”.

Calzolari has been president of Bologna Fiere since July 2017 and was vice president from 2014 to 2017: he has been president of Granarolo Spa since 2009 and of Granlatte since 2007. He was also president of Legacoop Bologna from 2004 to 2014.

Rosa Grimaldi is full professor of Entrepreneurship and innovation management in the economic-managerial engineering sector at the School of Engineering of the University of Bologna. Since 2021 she has been delegated by the mayor of Bologna for the attraction of international talent, economic promotion, the impact of the technopole and the CCI, the creative and cultural industries.

The partnership with Informa falls within the points envisaged by the capital increase previously launched by BolognaFiere: the initiative provides for a capital strengthening of the group up to 105 million euros through a cash increase, transfer of real estate assets and the issue of the bond loan subscribed by the British company.