Debora Guma
Global CIO
De'Longhi Group
Debora Guma is an experienced Chief Information Officer with a history of working in several markets, including retail and consumer packaged goods. Debora has a strong information technology background, with a master's degree focused on Legal Informatics and New Technologies Law from Università di Bologna.
Debora is committed to a "lifelong learning" lifestyle and has completed several post-graduate masters in Italy and abroad. She is now pursuing an Executive MBA.
Learn more about the Italy CIO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
Passionate about IT since I was a teen, I moved across Italy from the South to the North to find exciting job paths. I started my working life in a company named Finsiel which was, at that time, the most relevant consultancy firm in the public institution sector. I then moved to SkyTv where I was regarded as an early digital technology expert.
Back to consultancy services, I joined a small firm named IrisCube (now belonging to Reply Group) when it had fewer than 40 employees and left the company as Practice Manager with more than 300 employees. Switching again to a customer company, Carrefour Italy, I fell in love with the retail market, becoming their first CTO and then serving as the CIO. After 16 years, I moved to the industrial market, becoming first the Italian CIO of the Lactalis Group, the most relevant milk and cheese producer in the world.
I now serve as the Global CIO of De'Longhi Group, managing the worldwide Information Systems (IS) strategy and execution for the Group as well as offering IS services to external customers as General Manager of e-Services (the IT Company owned by the De'Longhi Group).
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
Decision sharing and people growth are the leading principles in my daily activities, together with attentive support for business needs and a passionate attitude towards innovation.
With disruption being a key theme of the past few years, where do you see your role as a CIO going in the next 1-2 years?
The greater the unpredictability, the more the information systems will represent a key role in leveraging flexibility, diversification, innovation and sustainability.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the role as a CIO?
Be attentive to business needs and stakeholder relationships. Leverage technologies for the most adequate to mid-term business evolution, whilst also keeping attention on long-term possibilities. Invest in your team to prepare the company for the future.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
- I have my heart in Naples and my mind and future life in Milan.
- I'm a voracious reader and a cinema lover.
- I support women's empowerment in any possible way, which I believe will make the world a better place to live.
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