ANDREA ILLY

Andrea Illy is Chairman and CEO of illycaffè S.p.A., a family-established business founded in Trieste, Italy in 1933, with the singular mission of producing the world’s highest quality coffee.

He formally joined the company in 1990 as a quality supervisor. After studying best practices for quality in Japan, Andrea Illy developed illy’s groundbreaking Total Quality Program, which established standards for the company and coffee industry that are still in force today.

In 1995, one year after being named CEO, Andrea Illy’s comprehensive tract on coffee, co-authored with other experts in chemistry and agronomy, was published worldwide. Espresso Coffee: The Chemistry of Quality examines every major scientific and technological issue related to coffee and its preparation as espresso, its purest form. The book, published by Academic Press, is now in its second edition. 

In 1996 he was named a “Marketing Superstar” by Advertising Age, the influential American magazine covering marketing and communication.

Since 1999, he has served as President of Paris-based Association Scientifique International du Cafè (A.S.I.C.), the premier international research organization for the global coffee industry. He has served on the executive board of Altagamma, a foundation dedicated to promoting the excellence of the Italian food industry, since 2001, and was appointed Vice President in 2009, and then President in 2013. From 2003 to 2006, was a member of the Advisory Board of SDA Bocconi.

In 2004, Andrea Illy was named “Imprenditore dell’Anno” (Businessman of the Year) by Ernst & Young Italia, and in 2005, shareholders appointed him Chairman of illycaffè.

In 2008 Andrea Illy co-founded Ilko Coffee International, a global joint venture of The Coca-Cola Company and illycaffé, focused on providing authentic illy coffee experiences through a range of ready to drink, high quality, espresso-based coffee beverages.