Business Development Manager · Milan Area, Italy
Fifteen years bridging vendor strategy and channel execution in Southern Europe's IT distribution ecosystem. From HPE to Dell Technologies, from Esprinet to TD SYNNEX — building partnerships that convert pipeline into growth.
"The channel is not a middleman layer — it's where vendor ambition meets real customer need. My job is to make that translation as precise and profitable as possible."
Development and consolidation of partner relationships across resellers, VARs, and system integrators — building trust and commercial depth over time, not just managing accounts. Deep understanding of two-tier distribution dynamics, partner program mechanics, and what actually moves a partner from passive to engaged.
New partner identification, qualification, and acquisition. Joint business plan development, go-to-market alignment, and early pipeline activation. Specific focus on building partnerships between technology vendors and AI-specialised independent software vendors — connecting infrastructure capability with applied AI solutions.
Opportunity monitoring from early qualification to close. CRM pipeline hygiene, deal registration management, and quarterly business review facilitation with partners across commercial and mid-market segments, with occasional exposure to enterprise accounts through partner-led opportunities.
End-to-end organisation of partner events, product launches, and enablement days. Experience translating complex technical roadmaps — AI-enabled endpoints, modern workplace solutions, managed services — into compelling partner narratives.
Solid familiarity with Dell Technologies' commercial portfolio across endpoint, services, and core infrastructure categories. Former Apple Certified Trainer background adds cross-platform depth in environments that mix ecosystems — increasingly common in Italian mid-market and SMB accounts.
LinkedIn content creation and field marketing writing aligned to vendor messaging. Proven ability to adapt global GTM narratives for local Italian market sensibilities — across both reseller audiences and end-customer communications.
Business Development Manager at TD SYNNEX, one of the world's largest IT distributors, responsible for driving Dell Technologies partner growth across Italy. The role combines new partner acquisition with the development of strategic go-to-market initiatives — translating Dell's commercial and technology priorities into tangible results across the Italian channel ecosystem.
A specific focus of the current role is the development of partnerships between Dell Technologies and AI-specialised independent software vendors — working to connect Dell's infrastructure and endpoint portfolio with Italian companies building and deploying AI solutions for enterprise customers. This includes identifying, qualifying, and enabling partners whose offerings extend Dell's value proposition into applied AI, data management, and intelligent automation.
Activities span pipeline development, deal registration, co-funded event organisation, and partner enablement across Dell's commercial endpoint, AI-enabled infrastructure, and services portfolio.
Embedded vendor representative managing Dell Technologies' commercial portfolio within one of Southern Europe's largest IT distributors. The role sat at the intersection of brand ownership and distribution execution — a hybrid that required fluency in both vendor strategy and partner commercial reality simultaneously.
Managed an active portfolio of partners spanning resellers, VARs, and system integrators across Italy — covering partner development visits, pipeline monitoring, deal registration, quarterly business reviews, and co-funded event organisation. Also coordinated export-bound supplies to international clients, managing logistics and vendor compliance requirements.
Channel sales specialist at Tech Data representing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's portfolio for the Italian SMB segment. A concentrated but formative year — focused on generating new business opportunities across server, storage, and networking, managing the full deal lifecycle from qualification to close, and building the commercial discipline that has defined the subsequent career in distribution.
Before moving into IT distribution, nearly a decade was spent immersed in the Apple ecosystem across a progression of roles — from technical support and sales floor at Apple Premium Resellers in Messina, through store management, to independent consultancy and certified training in Milan.
As Store Manager at N.P.U. Group (Apple Premium Reseller), responsibilities covered P&L awareness, stock and supplier management, event organisation, and team coordination — a full general management remit in a retail technology environment. As a freelance consultant (2014–2017), the work shifted to enterprise: Mac integration in mixed networks, OS X Server, and cross-platform infrastructure support for business clients. The final chapter of this period was as an Apple Certified Trainer at Èspero, delivering iOS and macOS training and Apple Professional Certification programmes to both consumer and B2B audiences.
This background established the foundations that have defined the subsequent career in distribution: the ability to read a customer's real need rather than sell a feature list, to translate technical complexity into accessible language, and to train others — skills that transfer directly into partner enablement.
Formal certifications spanning technology distribution, Apple platforms, and professional branding.
Developed and delivered partner enablement around Dell's AI-enabled endpoint portfolio for the Italian reseller base. Translated global vendor narrative into locally actionable sales tools and event formats, addressing the specific objections and opportunity patterns of SMB-focused Italian VARs navigating the shift toward AI-ready hardware.
Conceived, organised, and hosted a full-day partner and vendor event at one of Milan's most prestigious venues, bringing together close to 100 guests from across the Italian IT channel ecosystem. Acted as moderator and on-stage interviewer throughout — leading conversations with Dell Technologies Senior Directors on market outlook and strategy, facilitating a panel with distribution managers covering enterprise, services, and client segments, and hosting presentations from strategic technology partners Elemento Cloud and Moxoff on real-world AI and innovation use cases. Intel Corporation completed the programme with a forward-looking session on technology roadmap.
Independently developed a Python-based tool that parses internal quote exports and generates clean, formatted Excel pricing sheets for partner distribution — reducing turnaround time and eliminating manual formatting errors.
Systematic prospecting and onboarding of new Dell-registered partners across Italy. Process included partner profiling, qualification, joint business plan definition, and transition to ongoing pipeline management.
I was born in Messina, Sicily — and that origin shapes how I think about relationships and trust, which are ultimately the only currencies that matter in the channel. I've spent fifteen years in an industry that rewards the ability to be simultaneously precise and persuasive, to hold a vendor's quarterly target in one hand and a partner's business challenge in the other, and find the path that moves both forward.
My approach to work has always been shaped by a stubborn attention to detail — deliberate over hasty, precise over approximate. In a channel role where the margin between a well-managed relationship and a lost one is often invisible, that disposition tends to matter.
I've been an active AI practitioner since early 2023 — not as a trend-follower, but because the technology genuinely changes how I work. I run local inference models for document analysis, built internal tools with Python, and think carefully about how AI integrates into professional workflows without replacing the human judgment that makes channel work valuable. This gives me an informed, non-evangelical perspective on AI positioning that I bring directly to partner conversations.
I'm also a runner training toward a marathon goal, a board game designer by occasional hobby, and a committed practitioner of digital minimalism — which in an industry saturated with noise and notifications is, I suspect, a competitive advantage.
Open to conversations with vendor partners, distributors, and organisations building serious channel capability in the Italian and Southern European market.