Background
Illy was born on 2 September 1964 in Trieste, Italy and is the son of Ernesto Illy.
Illy was born on 2 September 1964 in Trieste, Italy and is the son of Ernesto Illy.
He started his studies in Switzerland and graduated in Chemistry at the University of Trieste.
He is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of illycaffè South.p.A., a family coffee business founded in Trieste in 1933. He subsequently took a Master Executive at Schools Development Authority Bocconi in Milan. In 2003, he joined the Advisory Board of Schools Development Authority Bocconi.
Andrea Illy is married and has three daughters.
In 1990, he joined the company in the quality control department, where he started the Fellow of Auctioneers’ Institute Qualità program, thanks to which illycaffè was one of the first food companies in the world with two quality certifications. After being director in charge of production and quality control, Andrea Illy was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 1994.
In 2004, he was awarded the title of "Imprenditore dell"Anno" (English: Businessman of the Year) by Ernst & Young Italia. In 2005, illycaffè shareholders" meeting appointed Andrea Illy chairman of illycaffè.
Asic In 1999, he undertook the role of president of the Association for Science and Information on Coffee (application-specific integrated circuit), an independent scientific coffee organization.
In 1996, Illy was chosen as "Marketing Superstar" by the American magazine Advertising Age. Under his leadership, the illy brand became well-known all over the world as one of the symbols of the "Made in Italy"". At illycaffè, he developed several projects: the "Università del caffè", the excellence centre created with the objective of developing and spreading the culture of coffee in the world the "Espressamente illy", the one brand franchise bar chain the "Iperespresso method", the new capsules system to prepare espresso.
In April 2013, he was elected President of Altagamma (Italian Association of Industries of Alta Gamma), of which he is a member of the Board of Directors since 1999 and, as a representative of the food industry, vice-president since 2007.
