06-07-2026 | di COOPI

COOPI: new Board of Directors elected

On 27 June 2026, the elections of the Board of Founders took place for the renewal of COOPI's corporate offices. This important appointment has outlined the Foundation's new governance, calling professionals with consolidated field experience in the humanitarian sector and sustainable development to the leadership.

The new composition of the Board of Directors

Below is the complete overview of the elected members and their respective roles within the Board of Directors:

Profiles of the new governance

Antonella Tagliabue – President

As the outgoing Vice-President, Antonella Tagliabue assumes the role of President of the Foundation. A member of COOPI's Board of Directors since 2017, she also holds the position of Editor-in-Chief of the COOPI News publication and is the President of COOPI Suisse. An expert professional in business strategy and sustainable development, she is a Senior Advisor at Un-Guru. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with major companies, institutions, and non-profit organisations, including Pirelli, IBM, FAO, Save the Children, WWF, and UNICEF. A freelance journalist, she has been writing for Il Sole 24 Ore since 2005, managing the "Esami di bilancio" (Financial Statement Reviews) column within the Volunteering page and producing dossiers dedicated to the Third Sector. She collaborates with numerous other publications and is responsible for the "Impatti" (Impacts) column on Innovazione Sociale, combining these activities with significant experience as a trainer and speaker on marketing, communication, and social and environmental responsibility.

Claudio Ceravolo – Vice-President

The outgoing President, Claudio Ceravolo now assumes the role of Vice-President. His connection with the organisation dates back to 1964, the year of his first meeting with the founder, Father Barbieri, which sparked his desire to commit himself to the poorest populations on the planet. A general surgeon specialised in General Surgery and holding a Diploma in Tropical Medicine obtained in Antwerp, he set off in 1981 for his first mission with COOPI as the sole surgeon at Walungu Hospital in the former Zaire. He subsequently worked in Chad during the war (1985) and directed the major hospital in Goma from 1986 to 1990. In 1990, he resumed his work at Crema Hospital, alternating his work with missions to Somalia and again to Zaire during the conflict. He served as Mayor of the city of Crema from 1997 to 2007. He took over the duties of President of the COOPI Foundation on 18 December 2010 following the death of Father Barbieri, subsequently being reconfirmed in successive mandates. On 1 June 2026, he was awarded the Honour of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

The Board Members

Vincenzo Altomare

He has been collaborating with COOPI since 1985, holding positions as Project Manager and Head of Mission in difficult and complex contexts such as Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and Haiti. He is directly involved in managing humanitarian programmes, development projects, and emergency interventions. He currently holds the interim role of Head of Mission in the Central African Republic.

Giuliano Bottino

An outgoing member of the Board of Directors and former member of COOPI's General Council. He began his journey as a volunteer for the organisation in 1987 in Cameroon, subsequently undertaking short missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Togo, Rwanda, and Chad. Since 1999, following a period of specialisation in liver transplants at King's College London, he has been working in Italy as Medical Director with a highly professional assignment at the Organ Transplant Centre in Genoa.

Olimpio Gasparotto

An outgoing member of the Board of Directors, he was a COOPI volunteer from 1980 to 1982 and he participated in numerous interventions in refugee camps and emergency health and nutrition programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Chad, and Albania from 1994 to 2017. He actively collaborates in the Foundation's information and fundraising activities and, since 2016, has assisted in managing the transport and distribution operations of food from the Food Bank (Banco Alimentare), aimed at the Combating Poverty project in Italy.

Carla Ricci

An outgoing member of the Board of Directors, she worked in the field of organisation and IT for large companies such as Bayer, Italtel, and Olivetti, before dedicating herself to cooperation developmemt. She collaborated with COOPI in Ecuador (1983-‘84), then she became Head of Mission in Ethiopia, and from late 2005 to 2008 she took on the role of Director of COOPI. Subsequently, she continued to support the Foundation as a volunteer, participating in the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Master's in Cooperation and Development at the University of Pavia and managing the project for the decentralisation of international activities. Formerly President of COOPI Suisse until May 2023, she currently holds the role of Director there.

Morena Zucchelli

With a rich background that began in the feminist movement, the CGIL trade union, and the Ministry of the Treasury, she entered the world of cooperation in 1984 in Bolivia with COSV. In 1998, she began her collaboration with COOPI as Head of Mission in Ecuador, continuing with the same role in Peru, Haiti, and Niger. Over the years, she has consolidated strong expertise in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and emergency projects in conflict contexts. Since August 2024, she has been carrying out short field missions to ensure the continuity of COOPI's coordination offices or to conduct needs assessments.

With this Board of Directors, which combines a deep knowledge of COOPI's history and values with multi-sectoral and high-profile professional skills, the Foundation looks towards the future to continue responding effectively to global humanitarian challenges.