Roberto Zanni is a Senior Executive with over 40 years’ experience working for leading FMCGs such as Japan Tobacco International, Jacob Suchard, Unilever, Kraft General Foods and for several medium-sized subsidiaries.
He is now Professor across several International Universities and since 2010 he is the Founder of ЯZ Consulting a Top Consultants’ Boutique providing Tailored Management Consulting.
Born in Italy in 1953, he graduates with summa cum laudae in Economics from Bocconi and obtains a Masters’ degree in Business Management from INSEAD in Fontainebleau.
After graduating, he begins his first experience in Unilever: the first stage of a long journey in large companies and multinationals. It is the starting point for a fast-growing career, geared towards building successful national and global brands.
Two years later he chooses to join Kraft which, thanks to Giulio O. Gorla, was making its first steps in Italy and then became the great Food Group we all know. Roberto Zanni’s career, characterized by great passion and leadership, has resulted in transformation, growth and positive results for the Group.
In just a few years Roberto Zanni reaches the position of Vice President Marketing & Sales Europe in the Lausanne Headquarters which represented one of the first models of globalization of the Brands and of the Business.
In 1985 Roberto Zanni returns to Italy to relaunch the Company and his success story continues.
He becomes General Manager Marketing and Corporate Group Strategy in Italy, responsible for the Brands and Product Portfolios of: Kraft, Invernizzi, Osella, Simmenthal, Fini and Negroni.
In the 90s Roberto Zanni, in search of new stimuli, embarks on a path of success in Jacobs Suchard.
He is appointed Executive President for Southern Europe for the Group, recently acquired by Philip Morris.
Roberto Zanni and his team are responsible for the massive restructuring of the business which brought the various Southern European companies back to profit.
After leaving Jacob Suchard in 1994, Roberto Zanni continues to work in the Italian food industry as President and CEO of a leading frozen food company.
Today it no longer exists because, due to the financial choices of the shareholders, the brands have been sold to various companies.
Very successful brands and products such as: Mare Pronto, Brina, Arena Surgelati and Häagen Dazs ice cream, which have been successfully introduced in the Italian market.
After his experience in frozen foods, to enrich his skills outside the Food Markets, Roberto Zanni moves to Sin&rgetica, an Italian consulting company.
As Senior Advisor he will be in charge of a total re-engineering of some companies of the Fininvest group, in particular Mondadori, Milan and Medusa.
In 1998 he returns to the international circuit by joining JTI, Japan Tobacco International, at the Geneva Headquarters. His leadership and business vision have had an extremely significant and successful impact on the performance of the Brands and on the overall positioning of the Company.
In an Industry with a highly restrictive legal context and in which it is very difficult to build Brand Equity, the process, led by Roberto Zanni, of revitalization of all the Brands combined with a different approach to world sales, has allowed JTI to maintain the status of world “top performer” in the tobacco sector for 10 years.
Roberto Zanni, at first Head of Camel Worldwide, is co-opted into the World Board and promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Consumer and Trade Marketing Worldwide.
As World Leader in Marketing, Sales and Strategic Planning, Zanni has successfully renewed these corporate functions, regaining a competitiveness and leadership that was in danger of being lost. Under his leadership, JTI has transformed a very decentralized business into a more focused business model, with a more sophisticated and more centralized approach, while renewing brands and ways of operating, with a more global vision of the market.
By becoming Executive President of JTI Europe, Zanni has successfully managed one of the most complex and profitable regions in the world of Japan Tobacco for several years.
At the same time, he was also Head of Motor Sponsorships: F1, MotoGP and Superbike.
Also, in the sponsorship sector he has been able to obtain important sporting successes but, above all, commercial successes, so much so that he has set new guidelines also in this complex sector.
In 2010 he founded his company: Zanni & Partners, now ЯZ Consulting, based in Geneva. A company specialized in ad hoc consultancy for Italian SMEs and entrepreneurs.
In 2017 he received an Honoris Causa Degree in Business Administration from the University of Business and International Studies (UBIS) in Geneva and in 2018 he received the Award as best Professor of the year.
After leaving the Corporate world, Roberto Zanni becomes University professor with the aim of sharing his concrete experience within the academic field.
In addition to being personally engaged in his consulting activity, he holds Management courses in various European and international universities, creating, in parallel, a project to support primary school access for Ugandan children.
