Giovanni Vitaloni - New ANFAO president

The new leaders of the Confindustria association have been elected: local connections, partner engagement and innovation are all in the new Presidency Board’s four-year programme. The Associazione Nazionale Fabbricanti Articoli Ottici (ANFAO) has elected the senior figures who will lead the Confindustria association for the next 4 years: at the General Meeting held in Belluno, Giovanni Vitaloni was chosen as the new President, also taking on the Presidency of MIDO. The new Presidency Board, which will support him in his role, was also chosen: Paolo Pettazzoni, Renato Sopracolle, Lorraine Berton, Nicola Del Din (Vice Presidents) and Cirillo Marcolin (Past President). The new Vice Presidents will be supported by delegates for specific activities: Callisto Fedon for relationships with Certottica, Enrico Tormen for the Technical Commission and Nadia Zampol for internationalisation.Giovanni Vitaloni, 49, formerly Vice President of the association and delegate for MIDO, comes from a family of Turin industrialists and is the founder and director of Nico-design. He boasts over thirty years' experience in the industry; a pragmatist, his teamwork embodies his enthusiasm for market challenges, whilst maintaining a strategic link with the local eyewear district.“We will work to improve our understanding of issues of interest to all our members, basing our actions on 4 values: transparency, involvement, innovation and quality”: this, in a nutshell, is the new president’s plan on which he intends to work seamlessly with the outgoing presidency whose goals he helped to develop and achieve in his role as vice president. “My role over the last 4 years, together with President Marcolin, gave me the opportunity to familiarise myself with the association’s complex objectives and to focus on the primary interventions to be implemented during the mandate, working primarily with a view to building upon what had already been achieved, but also adding some new elements to the programme. I am honoured to take over in a role that has traditionally represented the North-East's major industrial groups. We are certainly a wide-reaching body; despite being geographically located in the North-West, we are no less engaged in keeping alive and constructive the relationship with the reference eyewear district.I will focus on maintaining ANFAO's growth in terms of its attractiveness and visibility, expanding its membership base, strengthening its institutional representation, extending its offer of member services through the new Federation and maintaining and, where possible - increasing its internationalisation initiatives.I will ensure constant attention is paid to developing the commercial and communication activities linked to MIDO, the crowning glory of the system and a valuable asset for all our member companies.I would like to thank the outgoing President for the impetus that he has given to the industry and the growth of the association - continues Vitaloni. We will continue to work together to grow a modern association that is able to move with the times in our business, acting as an invaluable tool to its member companies in a market that is continuously developing”.The new President takes over from Cirillo Marcolin: “I am really happy to pass the baton to Giovanni who has supported me recently in these crucial years for the Association,” says the outgoing President, “In my last mandate, ANFAO changed step, achieving major goals, which are the result of many years of work. These include the establishment of Confindustria Moda and the imminent transfer of the new headquarters that will be home to segments of the fashion world, the impetus towards industry internationalisation, the confirmation of MIDO’s leadership at international level, the conclusion of the agreement with the social partners for the new classification of the staff in the eyewear industry, the recognition of Commissione Difesa Vista as Non-Profit Organisation (Onlus), which we have always promoted, and, not least, the corporate participation in DaTE, an extremely important element which gives added prestige to our system.”The new President’s first challenge will precisely be the debut in Florence (September 23-25) of DaTe, the event dedicated to the most innovative eyewear, which in 2016 at The Mall (Milan) attracted over 2,300 individual visitors and over 100 exhibitors from across the whole world. There will then be the 2018 edition of MIDO (Milan, February 24-26), the first global exhibition dedicated to the eyewear industry, at which large multinational groups will converge, from the whole world of lenses, design, start-ups, machinery and components which last February recorded over 55,000 visitors and over 1,200 exhibitors.ANFAO has, since 1954, brought together in a Confindustria association the main Italian eyewear companies from across the whole production chain.The national industry boasts 17,250 permanent employees with a turnover of 3,697 million Euros (figure from late 2016). It is the worldwide leader in the high-end bracket, exporting over 85% of its production.Giovanni Vitaloni was born in Turin on 28 December 1967. After attending Turin’s international school, he enrolled at the Faculty of Economics and Trade at the University of Turin.In 1988 he helped to launch his family’s new business initiative which saw the establishment of the company Nico-design, with the centre of interest shifting from the industrial-automotive sector – which characterised his father's business “Vitaloni S.p.A.” – to that of eyewear design.In 1992 he created the VANNI eyewear brand to stand alongside the first-born brand DERAPAGE.Since 2002 he has been Managing Director of Nico-design, a company with a strong export vocation, operating in over 45 countries.In 2008 he became a council member of ANFAO and head of the export committee of small-medium enterprises. In 2013 he was appointed Vice President of ANFAO with a delegation for internationalisation and for the MIDO event.Giovanni Vitaloni lives in Turin; he is married with four children.