Alessandro Cilli

What has your grown path been like?

I graduated as industrial chemist at Luigi di Savoia Institute here in Chieti, Italy. I think I am an old-school chemist because education in the ‘90s was highly specialized. My achievements are also thanks to the analytical mindset they provided me there. I’ve been studying Engineering at University for a while, but I got a job quite soon and quit. I started in another testing laboratory, dealing with emission sampling. I then joined Laser Lab and I’m proud to say that I was the first employee – together with my friend and colleague, Dr. Fantozzi, to start this adventure.

It all started as a chemical analyst. The first year and a half I supervised the lab construction: physical set-up and fine-tuning, instrumental testing and start-up management. There were 4 of us, including the owner (previous one, Dr. Romeo, ed.).

Around 1996 the Legislative Decree 626/1994 on safety in the workplace came into force and external services experienced a boom of requests. Since I’ve gained some relational and technical experience, I began to follow these tasks as well. Therefore, I followed both the sampling and the analysis phases, managing both safety on workplace and air emissions and physical measurements.

Since 2001 I’m working only on physical measurements: noise in environment and workplace, vibrations, electromagnetic fields, and so on. Physical Area has been my daily appointment until today, ranging from matrix management to logistics, from on field operations to reporting.

Has anything changed with LabAnalysis Group arrival?

As far as my own area was concerned, we were given a kind of independency. They trusted us: we were free to manage a good-performing area.

From an organizational point of view, I must say they introduced a game-changing approach. The new management brought greater attention to those details that allowed us to become an important laboratory. It’s not about major re-organizations, but lots of small improvements that can produce a big result.

Naturally, all of this was possible thanks to the great technical and managerial experience of the Group and their owners: when we say Maggi, everyone knows what we’re talking about!

How do you see yourself in five years?

Hopefully still healthy! *he laughs*
Well, I hope the industry will grow and involve even more investments. I still see myself in the role I’m in now, with more experience and more problems to deal with. Why? Because it means we’re in a growth phase!

What do you like most about your job?

First of all, the fact that it’s not a boring job: everything is always evolving. You need to have the energy to be on point and this is a challenge I love to face since 1994.

My secret? I like to push myself to the line! Everything new is a challenge, both professionally and humanly. As an ex-sportsman, it’s something I like to live that way. But let me say… ex-sportsman… I actually played until this year, at the age of 51! I’m a volleyball player and I’ve competed professionally too. Challenge is flowing through my veins!

Tell us more about this passion of yours!

I started playing when I was 12 years old. Volleyball has never left me since then. There have been different phases and I’ve also been lucky enough to get experience in the major league.

Lately I’ve been participating with some friends in the official Serie C championship, despite our advanced age. We had a lot of fun! We all are old-guard players and we have found each other.

I therefore continued to play despite my job! I succeeded in managing both volleyball and work. Something changed of course. I now have less physical energy than before, but I definitely have more mental energy than ever.

Volleyball taught me that sacrifice spirit allows me to be able to handle the hardships and losses of life. It has taught me not to give up the things I care about, to know how to handle tricky situations and to hold on. It helped me forging my willpower.

What is the biggest lesson you have learnt?

I had to learn how to manage my personality. I am a pretty passionate person: I put a lot of emphasis on what I say. It’s because I sincerely express what I believe in and I want to emphasize it. The biggest lesson I’ve learnt is that it doesn’t always have to be this way and that sometimes you must put something aside. Whether it’s a superior or a client, your professionalism or even your brand image is at stake.

Do you want to stay updated on Alessandro’s activities?
Follow him on LinkedIn!