PROFESSOR LAURA VIGANO', Ph.D, is full professor of Banking and Insurance, Microfinance, at the Department of Management, University of Bergamo (since 2002).
CREDENTIALS:
Degree in Economics and Business at the University of Bergamo (1987). PhD in Business Economics, Finance, and Capital Markets, administratively based at the University of Bergamo (1992).
RESEARCH:
Main research areas: finance for development and microfinance, credit risk assessment, weather-related risks and insurance, agricultural credit, ethics and finance.
Director of CESC - Research Center on Economic, Social, and Cooperative Dynamics at the University of Bergamo and head of the FinDev (Finance and Development) research group. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Savings and Development.
From 1995 to 2005, she was a permanent advisor and scientific director at the Giordano Dell’Amore Foundation in Milan (formerly Finafrica), designing and overseeing projects also in collaboration with the University of Bergamo. She has worked in numerous countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East, conducting research and providing technical assistance. Her work has been presented and published in national and international scientific journals.
Visiting Scholar at The Ohio State University (Rural Finance Group, 1990), New Mexico State University (2013), and the University of Melbourne (2016).
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
At the University of Bergamo, she has served, among other roles, as a Board member, Dean of the Faculty, and founder and director of the first international Master’s program in Microfinance.
She has been a member of the Board of Directors of Banca Popolare di Bergamo, (2008–2012), Caricesena (2016–2017), and UBI Banca (2020–2021). Currently, she is a Board member of the Fondazione Banca Popolare di Bergamo, the Bernareggi and Zaninoni Foundations (Bergamo), and an honorary member of CESVI-Bergamo.