Fundraising and Alumni Engagement Have a Marketing Man at the Helm. It is Bruno Busacca
When he is asked to describe the positive tension generated by a big challenge, he quotes a passage of La vita è un viaggio (Life Is a Journey) by Beppe Severgnini: "Without fear there is no relief, without relief there is no joy. Relief is a refined and accessible form of happiness. Not so much for the danger you have avoided, but for the courage you have found".
Bruno Busacca knows it. Amongst the many roles he has held, he has been Director of the MBA and Dean of SDA Bocconi School of Management. "I fell in love with academia in the early Eighties", he says, "when I was writing my graduation thesis with the supervision of Enrico Valdani". Busacca wanted to put applied research side by side with an ongoing relationship with the business community. He wanted to test theoretical models with managers: SDA Bocconi was the perfect destination.
Another turning point was meeting Franco Nicosia in Berkeley, California, where he spent a year as a research associate. "He opened up my mind and introduced me to Consumer Behaviour. He ignited my passion for an eclectic topic that encompasses economics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, social psychology and semiotics". He says he's attracted by marketing because it combines studies on decision-making, quantitative measurement, a creative and imaginative side. He calls it "an activity at the service of the consumer, even though it is not perceived as such: marketing has a marketing problem, so to speak".
He loves skiing, reading Gabriel García Márquez (favorite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude), and cars, new and vintage. Every summer he puts two vehicles on the road: an old Citroën 2 CV and the motorcycle he owned when he was 18, a Yamaha RD350. From November 1 he takes on the role of Dean of Fund Raising and Alumni Engagement, in the team of new Rector Gianmario Verona. "My new job will allow me to see Bocconi from an across-the-board angle, and alumni are a key asset of our university. In Bocconi, we have the chance to interact with talented people. It is a privilege. We must prove we deserve it, every single day".