Scelza has already held the role of Director of Valore D and takes over from Paola Mascaro, who completed her three-year term of office.
Cristiana Scelza joined Pirelli and then Prysmian Group over 20 years ago, starting as a materials scientist, ultimately progressing to her current role, combining her technical knowledge, international experience, and leadership skills. She led the launch the Group’s Side by Side initiative for creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace in 2016 which included a Diversity Work Stream, and clear global targets and guidelines.
Prysmian’s commitment to Diversity and Inclusion has since expanded with the introduction of myriad Global Policies (Maternity Leave, Anti-Harassment, Human Rights, Diversity Recruitment), a first-ever “eNclusion Week”, reinforcement and expansion of work-life balance practices, and numerous Regional and Local D&I initiatives. Most significantly, with the release of our Social Ambition 2030 setting specific targets for gender balance, reducing inequalities in local communities, and upskilling employees, D&I has become an integral pillar of the Group’s Sustainability strategy.
This week, 20-24 June, the Group hosted Sustainability Week – open to all stakeholders – in which two out of five days focused on Social Sustainability and integrating D&I even more into our strategy. It is therefore fitting that also this week, on June 23rd, Cristiana was elected as President of Valore D for a three-year term (2022-2025), elevating Prysmian as an international and domestic leader in D&I.
Through her presidency, Cristiana continues her life-long commitment to building a better world and ensuring equal opportunities for all. Her agenda will work to build a stronger international network of companies, expanding the domestic understanding of D&I, which often gives more weight to gender diversity over other elements such as sexual orientation, age, ability, or ethnicity/race, and grow Valore D’s domestic network to include more Southern Italian enterprises.
More specifically, through her purposefully gender-balanced advisory board of 30 top business leaders from across Italy, Cristiana will leverage on the (mostly Italian) male members to demonstrate their allyship, helping to remove any lingering stigma that D&I is the work of minorities, ultimately creating a truly inclusive space for all people to come together and build a better place to work.
Founded in 2009 by twelve managers from highly-respected companies, Valore D is the first corporate association in Italy promoting gender balance and an inclusive culture to foster companies and country growth. With over 300 member companies and more than 2 million employees, Valore D provides training, mentorship, research and more to its associates.
“Cristiana’s election is a well-deserved recognition of her work promoting Diversity and Inclusion. We strongly believe that leveraging on diversities means creating more value, and we look forward to seeing this value spread across Prysmian Group, across Italy, and across the world, over the next three years of her presidency of Valore D.”
Fabrizio Rutschmann, Chief HR & Organization Officer