Andrea Illy (born 1964, Trieste) is an Italian businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of illycaffè S.p.A., a family coffee business founded in Trieste (Italy) in 1933.
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Son of Ernesto Illy, Illy was born on September 2, 1964 in Trieste, Italy. [1] He started his studies in Switzerland and graduated in Chemistry at the University of Trieste. Subsequently he got a Master Executive at SDA Bocconi in Milan. In 2003 he joined the Advisory Board of SDA Bocconi Andrea Illy is married and has three daughters. [1]
In 1990 he joined the company in the quality control department,[2] where he started the F.A.I. Qualità program, thanks to which illycaffè was one of the first food companies in the world with two quality certifications. After being director in charge of production and quality control, Andrea Illy was appointed CEO in 1994. In 2004 he was awarded the title of “Imprenditore dell’Anno” (English: Businessman of the Year) by Ernst & Young Italia. In 2005 illycaffè shareholders’ meeting appointed Andrea Illy chairman of illycaffè.
Since 1999 Illy has been a member of the executive board of Altagamma (Associazione Italiana delle Industrie di Alta Gamma), the luxury Italian brands association. In July 2007, as representative of the food sector, he was appointed vice-president.
In 1996 Andrea Illy was chosen as “Marketing Superstar” by the American magazine Advertising Age. Under his leadership focused on the commitment to excellence and ethics, the illy brand became well-known all over the world as one of the symbols of the "Made in Italy"". At illycaffè he developed several projects:
In 1999 he undertook the role of president of the Association for Science and Information on Coffee (ASIC), an independent scientific coffee organization. [3] Since 1963, ASIC has organised twenty-one periodical international conferences gathering hundreds of specialists from all over the world in different disciplines spacing from the coffee tree, the coffee bean to the coffee drink.