There Will Always Be Those Who Want You to Feel Out of Place. You Let Results Do the Talking
“I am a theoretical physicist on loan to the world of digital innovation.” This is how Silvana Filipponi describes herself, Country Director of EasyPark Italia, the company that manages the smart parking application in our country.
Born in Jesi, in central Italy, Filipponi can boast an international career with experience in a string of stand-out tech companies, from IBM to Vodafone Omnitel, American Express and Visa. She describes a winding career path, built gradually while being very aware she was often an outlier, both as a scientist and as a woman in a world still dominated by men. She says: “After graduating in Physics from the University of Bologna, I did research for a few years, then started working in the world of digital innovation and chose to do a Master’s in Business Administration at SDA Bocconi. Then I moved to London for family reasons and discovered the sector of digital payments.”
She stayed in that sector for 12 years, working first for American Express and then for Visa. Here she became Head of Marketing and Communications for Southern Europe. Then the expertise she acquired in digital transformation led her to join the team of the Prime Minister’s Office in 2020, where she was tasked with “mapping out the strategic direction of the government’s digital ID program for Italy.” A challenging experience for Filipponi, starting from her work with the European Commission. “It was an incredible opportunity,” she says. “I was used to working in the private sector, in big multinationals, and here I had the chance to help shape the strategy for Digital Europe. I also felt a great responsibility on my shoulders as a representative of the Italian market.”
Her arrival at EasyPark is linked to her desire to innovate with an eye to sustainability. She explains: “The role combined two issues that were close to my heart. I was also interested in getting in on the acceleration of digital growth in the mobility sector. I like challenges, the idea of changing people’s lives, even people who are less digitally inclined.”
An ambitious mission, and in achieving it, her scientific background is an additional asset. “Thanks to physics, I have the ability to deal with complexity, to look at problems in a systemic way, and the tenacity to learn.” Tenacity that she also applies to another mission she has set herself: to help get more women on company boards. That’s why she is a board member of Valore D, the association of companies in Italy that promotes a more inclusive culture. “In my career, I have often been the only woman in the room, the only woman physicist in the classroom, the only woman member of the board. I was the one who was different. I tell younger women that there will always be someone who will try to make you feel out of place, or who will ask, ‘How can you be a mother and a professional?’ My strategy was to go my own way and let my performance speak for itself in terms of my passion and competence,” she concludes.
