The former CEO of cosmetics company Kiko will lead illycaffè into a new phase of growth as the company eyes a potential stock market listing in 2022
Italian coffee roaster and café chain, illycaffè, has started the new year with a new CEO. Cristina Scocchia took over the role from Massimiliano Pogliani on 1 January 2022, marking the end of Pogliani’s five-year tenure in the role.
Scocchia, who was CEO of cosmetics company Kiko since 2017 and held the positions of CEO and Chairwoman at L'Oréal Italia has been on Illycaffe's board since 2019. She is also a board director for lens, frames and sunglasses manufacturer, EssilorLuxottica.
“It is with great enthusiasm that I begin this new business chapter. I carry with me the values I have always believed in: Ethics, transparency, meritocracy, sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and commitment. And a guiding principle: People always come first,” Scocchia wrote on social media.
Massimiliano Pogliani, who became illycaffè’s first non-family member to lead the company in 2017, oversaw major developments including the sale of a 20% stake in US-based Rhône Capital in November 2020, the subsequent expansion of its retail packaged coffee business in the US and attaining B Corp certification in April 2021.
Scocchia is now set to lead a new chapter of illycaffè’s growth, with Chairman Andrea Illy indicating late last year that the company would pursue a potential stock market listing in 2022.
