Paola Bottero

Born in Vicenza in 1959, she graduated in law from the University of Padua and was admitted to the Italian bar in 1990.

After working for a while for the Vicenza-based law firm Nascimben & Partners, she ventured into a career as a corporate lawyer, in charge of the legal departments of Italian leading companies, parent of big international groups (such as Marzotto S.p.A and Armani S.p.A).

In 2000, she joined the De Agostini group as Group General Counsel and was proactively involved in the growth and diversification of the Group as well as creating and coordinating the Group’s own legal departments.

In her career, Paola specialised in M&A, Capital Market and structured finance, as well as in corporate governance and compliance for listed companies, in Italy and abroad.

She joined Autogrill in 2010 as Group General Counsel & Corporate Secretary Director of Autogrill S.p.A – an office she is still holding – and, in particular, in 2013 she was involved in the demerger of Autogrill S.p.A and the listing of World Duty Free S.p.A., and in 2017-2018 she worked on the reorganisation of the parent company and its European subsidiaries.

In her career, she has been Board member of many Italian and foreign companies; currently, she also sits on the Board of HMS Host Corporation, Autogrill Italia and Autogrill Europe.