Elserino Piol

Bio

Elserino initiated Olivetti's corporate venture program in 1980 and has been active in the initiative throughout its existence. Beginning in 1998, Elserino and Oliver Novick formed Pino Venture Partners and Pino Partecipazioni, advisor to the Kiwi funds, one of the leading European technology investment groups in Europe. He currently acts as an Advisor to the General Partner of the 4C funds, as well as advising the Kiwi funds through Pino. During his long career with Olivetti, Elserino served in a number of senior executive-level positions, including Director of Product Planning and Corporate Marketing, Senior Vice President of Olivetti of America in charge of sales and marketing, and Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development. In 1990, Elserino was appointed CEO for Olivetti's Systems & Networks, and later became the COO of Olivetti's core business until September 1992. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Olivetti from 1987 to 1996 and as Vice Chairman from 1988 to 1996, as well as Chairman and CEO of Olivetti's new telecommunications and multimedia initiative, Olivetti Telemedia. Elserino designed the strategy for Olivetti entering into telecommunications and served as the first Chairman of Omnitel (wireless telecom) and Infostrada (wireline telecom services). Elserino had a significant role in founding and building major new high-tech companies, among them Power Computing, Olicom, Virata, and Veron. He is or was a Director of Acorn Computer (UK), Olivetti Advanced Technology Center, Olicom, Power Computing, Docunet, Veron, Progress, and Tecnost. Elserino acted as Chairman of PICIENNE, the consortium including British Telecom, Mediaset, and Telenor which bid for the third GSM service license in Italy.