Stefania Montanari, International Executive MBA

21 April 2020

Stefania Montanari, Supply Chain Finance Manager at the Florentine headquarters of the brand Jimmy Choo, is an Alumna of the International Executive MBA: “not a simple Master, but a real-life path”.

What is your professional path?

I would call it multifaceted. My professional career begins during the third year of university at Bocconi. Student of the CLEACC course (Economy and Management for Culture, the Arts and Information), I start working in one of the most famous strategic communication agencies in the world: OGILVY. I work for over 3 years, covering various roles and following many strategic communication projects, branding, new business. I decide to complete my training with a specialist degree in Marketing Management, but after having achieved it I feel the need to change to go to the other side of the fence or go to the company. Arrived on short list in 2 interviews, between a large company and a family-run company, I choose the second one, and I am hired as Brand and Marketing Manager in the high jewelry sector. A nice challenge, where I found myself creating everything from scratch, from the team to the structure, passing through every single organizational aspect. It was an incredible professional and personal experience, which allowed me to travel around the world until I understand that that phase has closed and I need more.

I decide to attend another Master, after all, I was missing student life! And thanks to a Master in Entrepreneurship and Business Strategy I can put all the pieces together, and from marketing and branding, I move on to the numbers, which I have always loved. Thus began my experience in CCPL, the Cooperative Consortium of Production and Work Cooperative Society, within the Corporate Development & Investment Portfolio Strategy department, which marks the first step of a path in the corporate finance world. At every step I choose. I choose different things. I choose to change the size of the company, sector, role. I choose to switch from corporate to business.

And so I arrive today, with the current role as Supply Chain Finance Manager at a global level for  Jimmy Choo brand. Although the job title seems very specific, my scope is much wider, and, among the various tasks, I am in charge of group-level projects linked to the Supply Chain part. Every change sought and experienced has led to my professional history wealth: of knowledge, competence and vision.

Why did you decide to continue your training and how did you choose BBS?

For several years I wanted to go back to “studying”: I wanted and above all needed to “brain refresh”. This is because the world around us runs at an impressive speed, and I am convinced that if we do not have the desire and the urge to “keep up”, it is like not even starting to play this game. Furthermore, when working in the same company for years, it is inevitable to “sit down” on consolidated practices, even there are new projects and colleagues. So, deciding to continue my training at that precise moment was a fundamental requirement for me, because, despite the very demanding workload, I needed to refresh my knowledge, consolidating what has already been learned and learning new ones to return to the field, even more prepared for the game. When I came across the program provided by iEMBA, I realized that it was exactly the gym I needed: a professional and training path that would help my managerial part to grow at 360 degrees, while refreshing general business knowledge and enriching them through a path of digital transformation. I chose BBS thanks to what in my opinion remains the best way, that is word of mouth and comparing the testimonies of old Alumni whose evaluations have always been very positive: in terms of content, on the value of teachers and for the strength of the network.

What are the strengths of the iEMBA program?

First of all, the opportunity to face digital issues without the need for specific technical skills; it is a training course that allows you to understand how digital transformation is a fundamental tool for the development of corporate strategies and how it is connected to each area of ​​the corporate organization. The iEMBA allows you to develop both the ability to rethink and understand the true role of innovation and a real managerial vision that allows you to embrace a high, complete and interconnected point of view of the company system. Only in this way can managers become the real multipliers of opportunities! Last but not least, among the strong points of the program, the emphasis placed on the importance of execution: each residential is characterized by assignments to be carried out in the form of real business cases, which allow you to immediately confront the most varied business realities.

What would you recommend to those who are going to choose BBS?

An even more challenging question, considering the particular historical moment we are going through. I believe that we will be spectators of important changes: to those who are about to choose BBS, I would therefore, say that I wish to be actors in this change. They just want to play this game as protagonists; they must train and never stop learning. This is also innovation, and BBS is the best gym in which to train. Those who choose BBS will find people with equal passion, the first ingredient of innovation, but also a collaborative atmosphere that calls everyone to continuously contribute, thus developing day after day to the awareness that is always won in the team.

Stefania Montanari – Italy

International Executive MBA – Class 2018/2020



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