Angelos Papadimitriou

Experience & Background

Angelos Papadimitriou is a senior leader with 30 years’ experience in the Advanced Industrials and Healthcare sectors. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He is the Founder and Chairman of Milan-based Athena Ventures, an active investment firm focusing on early stage companies.

Papadimitriou served as General Manager and Co-CEO of Pirelli, and was a member of Pirelli’s Board of Directors and the Board’s Strategy Committee in 2020-21.

As the CEO of Coesia, he led its transformation into the global leader of the packaging machinery industry, with revenues growing by 2.5 times to circa €2 billion (2019), EBITDA quadrupling to circa €340 million. Coesia, a group of 21 companies, provides high-end industrial and packaging solutions to some of the world’s leading manufacturers in the FMCG, healthcare, ceramic tiles, and racing/automotive industries. Coesia operates directly in 35 countries with 86 production plants, employing almost 9,000 associates.

Papadimitriou spent 17 years in the pharmaceuticals industry with Merck & Co, Fournier, Schering Plough, and GlaxoSmithKline in Greece, Spain, Italy, the UK, and the US. Most recently he headed GlaxoSmithKline’s Italian and Southeast European business.

Early in his career, he worked at McKinsey & Co in New Jersey and served as a computer programmer in the Greek military. Since moving to Italy in 2005, he has been actively involved in Confindustria, Italy’s Employers’ Association, in various regional and national roles, including serving as Vice President of Farmindustria, the pharmaceutical sector association, as president of Confindustria’s National Committee of Foreign Investors in Italy and as a member of Confindustria’s Presidency Board.

Papadimitriou, who lives in Milan, serves on the boards of directors of Dompé Pharmaceuticals, an Italian biopharmaceuticals company, Humanitas, a leading Italian network of teaching and university hospitals, and Perspective, a human capital development firm.

Expertise & Interests

Leadership, pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, advanced industrials.

Contributions to IMD

Guest speaker (MBA, EMBA or Executive development programs), content development.