MP Photo Portrait by Clara Palazzi

Marcello Palazzi

An economist and serial entrepreneur for human progress with 26 successful pioneering ventures under his belt, including Progressio Foundation, focusing on human progress through entrepreneurship, has just passed its 30th year and 300 projects in 33 countries; Social Venture Network Europe, the first network of socially responsible business leaders, which Marcello co-founded and led in 1993-94; the Tällberg Forum in Sweden, 2005-2013, co-founded with Bo Ekman and one of the first systems’ approach global community of leaders; and B Lab Europe, co-founded with Leen Zevenbergen in 20014-current, where he has grown B Corps in Europe from zero to over 300 (today at 600).

Marcello’s strengths are his vision of a civic economy, which he wrote about in 1989 at the start of Progressio Foundation* and which underpinned most of his work and influence; his commitment to ethical values and principles; his foresight in consistently seeing and anticipating what economic evolution requires for progress; his strategic acumen, his collaborative nature and 30-year experience in working across business, civil society, government, philanthropy and academia at the highest levels in several countries and globally; his boundless creativity and innovation; his capacity to shift from high strategy to low implementation; his leadership qualities, energy, passion, charisma and his global contacts with some 50,000 conscious leaders around the world; his co-leadership capacity, which he has practiced for close to 40 years, starting with his father.

Marcello is by education an economist and foreign policy professional. His Alma Maters include Stanford University (Fellow 2015-6), Harvard University (Fellow 2013), LSE, LBS, Erasmus Rotterdam and the University of Buckingham. He holds a BSc, MSc and MBA and was awarded The Economist Prize in 1987 for his MBA Thesis on Entrepreneurial Philanthropy, the first article on the subject ever.

He is currently Global Ambassador for the B Corp Movement, member of the Danone North America’s B Corp Committee of the Board, chairman of SIX, the worldwide social innovation exchange, co-chair of the Trustees at Global Academy Foundation in San Francisco, co-chair of the Avalon Foundation in the Netherlands, board member of Foundations 3.0 in Brussels, board member of IMECE in Istanbul, Fellow of the Eco-Transformation Centre at Erasmus University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in the UK, member of the board of trustees of the Alterra Foundation in Basel, co—founder of the 2020-2030 Summit • Regenerative Economy, to be held in Parma and Rome in October 2020.  Marcello grew up in Northern Italy, Switzerland and the UK, lived in London until 1993 and has resided in the Netherlands since then, with three spells of one year each in the USA.

What people say about Marcello Palazzi

“Marcello is the best entrepreneurial networker I have ever met.”

Anita Roddick, Co-Founder, The Body Sop

“You have been the entrepreneurial force behind B Corps in Europe.”

Andrew Kassoy, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, B Lab

“Marcello is the best entrepreneurial networker I have ever met.”

“You have been the entrepreneurial force behind B Corps in Europe.”

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Topics

  • Impact Entrepreneurship: how entrepreneurs change the world, for the better
  • Impact Economics: how our economy can be transformed for the good of people and planet
  • Impact Leadership: lessons learned in 30 years of leading new ventures.