Piergiacomo Ferrari, born in Lodi in 1936, is a law graduate from the University of Milan and holds a post-university diploma in company management from IPSOA in Turin.

He began his working career as a director in the staff management department of medium-sized industrial and commercial companies working in the legal and financial sectors and in business strategy, in Lombardy, Emilia, Liguria and Lazio.

Over the past 20 years he has been the managing director of Federlegno-Arredo, an association affiliated with Confindustria, and the managing director of its service and exhibition company, a strategic consultant for Federlegno-Arredo and for Cosmit which organizes exhibitions in the sector such as the Milan Furniture Fair.

He has an in-depth knowledge of the exhibition sector, as a result of many years of experience in launching events and initiatives at the Milan, Bologna and Verona exhibition complexes and at other centers in Italy and overseas.

In July 1999, he was appointed temporary member of the board of Fiera Milano and then deputy vice president of Fiera Milano Spa and president of Fiera Milano International, which is controlled by the Fiera Milano Spa joint-stock company (an organizer of events with a strong international reach).

In January 2003 he became the managing director of Fiera Milano International and on 4 April managing director and deputy vice president of Fiera Milano Spa.

He is also a member of the Technical-Consulting Committee of Fondazione Fiera Milano.

As a result of the positions that he has held from 1999 to date, Piergiacomo Ferrari took part in the reorganization of the company structure of Ente Fiera Milano as it was known at the time, becoming a Foundation under a private law in 2000, which in turn created a joint-stock company to deal with the operations. Ferrari assisted president Flavio Cattaneo in the major overhaul of the joint-sock company and in its listing in the STAR segment of the Milan stock market on 12 December 2002.

Ferrari has been the president of AEFI (Association of Italian Exhibitions and Trade Fairs) since December 2001 and vice president of E.M.E.C.A. (European Major Exhibition Centers Association) since June 2002.

Ferrari has also received the Italian title of “Cavaliere Ufficiale” for his work in the export sector, is the author of economic publications and the co-founder of the CFI (Comitato Fiere Industria).