Board of FIAA

Mr. Alessandro D’Oria has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Member of the Board of Directors of Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania in September 2021. During the last months of 2021 he has initiated and led the Transformation Programme at Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania which aims to revolutionize internal processes and further drive digitalisation in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency and offer impecable service to the customers of the Bank.

Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania, Mr. D’Oria has held various managerial positions at Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, achieving desirable results with one of the main goals achieved in his experience, the business transformation project named “Adopting Group business model”, with the aim to introduce more modern technologies and a new organization in the network.

Earlier in his 35-year long and extensive banking career Mr. D’Oria held the position of Head of Regional Director of Milan and province of Intesa Sanpaolo – Banca dei Territori, where he managed approximately 400 branches and 5,000 employees to serve 1.2 million customers. Other positions held by Mr. D’Oria were Head of Area Puglia of Banca dei Territori Division, Intesa Sanpaolo managing 200 branches coordinated and 2,000 employees; previously Area/Segment manager in several Italian regions – Banca Intesa Group: Puglia, Calabria, Campania, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy.

During his career, Mr. D’Oria has held the position of Deputy Chairman of ABI Lombardia (ABI – Italian banking association) and Chairman of ABI Puglia – the Italian banking association – and Member of local Chamber of Commerce, representing banking and insurance sectors.

Since July 2020 Mr. D’Oria has been appointed as non-executive board member of AlexBank where he also held the positions of Chairman of Risk Committee, Member of Audit Committee and Member of Remuneration Committee. He left the position in March 2022.

Mr. D’Oria received his Economics and Corporate Organization Degree from University LUM – Libera Università Mediterranea.

He brings in Albania important experience in the banking Industry, as well as a wealth of experience working in various Banking Divisions in italian regions with international markets and managing large projects throughout his career. With this extensive background, proven leadership experience, he has a full picture of the business environment in the country and the critical emerging issues, and he is looking forward to commit and contribute to a fostering FIAA and stronger role in the business community of the country.

Mr. Sokol Elmazaj joined Boga & Associates in 1996. He is a partner of the firm and Country Manager for Kosovo.

Mr. Elmazaj has extensive expertise in mergers and acquisitions, energy, corporate, project financing, privatization, real estate projects, telecommunication, and dispute resolution. He is continuously involved in providing legal advice to numerous project-financing transactions mainly on concessions and privatizations with focus on infrastructure and energy, both in Albania and Kosovo.

With 25 years of extensive experience, Mr. Elmazaj has advised and represented clients in international commercial arbitrations, court proceedings and mediations particularly in matters related to construction and infrastructure projects, damage claims, corporate disputes and other.

He is as well arbiter listed in the roster of the ADR Centre of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo and serving as Chairman of the Steering Council of ADR of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo.

Mr. Elmazaj is Member of the ICC Court of Arbitration for the mandate 2021-2024 and an active member of ICC Albania Commission of Arbitration and ADR, currently involved in the process of consultation of the new draft law on arbitration prepared by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Albania.

He is continuously ranked as a Leading Lawyer by major international directories: Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, the Legal 500 and IFLR1000 as a Corporate and Finance Law expert.

Mr. Diego Pisa is the CEO of Teleperformance Italy Group, including Italy and Albania, a reality of +6000 employees, serving more than 30 Clients in 5 markets in 8 languages from its onshore (Rome, Taranto) and nearshore (Tirana, Durres) locations.

Before being named as CEO Diego had 5 years’ experience in Accenture as a manager and then the offshoring director of Teleperformance where he played a key role in founding the nearshore hub in Albania.

He is a leader with 15 years of experience in the BPO industry with deep focus in Customer Experience and strong skills in strategic positioning, revenue growth, operations, people management, as well as in Union’s management, restructuring and change management.

Mr. Pisa earned a degree in Electronic Engineering in the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II.

Teleperformance Albania, founded in 2008 by Mr. Diego Pisa, has today more than 3500 employees and it is now positioned as the best nearshore solution for European and English-speaking countries due to Albania’s population’s strong language capabilities and highly skilled workforce.

The company has won the award as a Great Place to work® 2021,2020, Best Place to Work® in 2018, 2019, 2020; Best AON Employer 2017,2018,2019: Kincentric Best Employer 2021. The Albanian government granted Teleperformance the award of “Best Employer of the Year” in 2021, and it represents the biggest tax payer in 2021 in the country. Teleperformance Albania has a broad client portfolio — from visionary startups to global industry leaders.  Key Clients: World’s Biggest E-Commerce company, World’s Technology Leader Brands, and most the more valuable e-commerce brands.

In 2018 Mr. Diego Pisa founded also Teleperformance Kosovo, today with about 1000 employees, on behalf of the German speaking market.

Teleperformance Italy Group is part of Teleperformance Group, a company with over 44 years of experience in connecting the world’s most successful brands with their customers. The company operates in 88 countries, with 460 facilities, serving 170+ markets with a team of 420,000 passionate employees, 70% of which work remotely, providing services in 265 languages for some of the world’s best and most valuable brands.

Mrs. Rigela Gegprifti holds the position of Country Head of Devoll Hydropower Sh.A. and Statkraft Renewables Albania since June 2020. She was first employed by Devoll Hydropower in 2009 as Director for External Affairs and Business Administration. She left the company in 2012 for a role as Director for Knowledge and Relationship Management in Tirana International Airport, before she re-entered Statkraft the year after as Senior HR and Administration Manager.

Prior to joining Statkraft, Rigela held a number of positions in private and public sectors in Albania, including PA to the CEO at Tirana International Airport, as well as project and specialist roles at Ministry of Territory Adjustment & Tourism. Rigela holds a Bachelor’s degree for German languages and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

Rigela is a believer on FIAA’s fundations, as a reliable platform of communication among all relevant stakeholders, ensuring that challenges faced are clearly communicated and collectively addressed, in support to the business community.

Mr. Ante Frens, A Dutchmen, was appointed as Country Chairman and General Manager of Shell in Albania in 2020 and is resident in Tirana.

He is a professional in the energy business who has worked for Shell in multiple locations spanning Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Malaysia in a variety of general management, project development, commercial and operational roles. His roles have been working across Shell’s businesses in Research, Upstream Exploration and Production and Integrated Gas LNG.

Prior to working for Shell, he got a PhD in Physics from the University of Leiden.

Marinela JAZOJ, MBA
Executive Director of FIAA

Ms. Marinela Jazoj (Albanian) holds a Master Degree in Investment Management from University of Wales (London School of Business and Finance, UK). Since 2004, she is the Executive Director of the Foreign Investors Association in Albania (FIAA). During the last ten years she acts as a contact point for the International Investors aiming to know about Investment Opportunities in Albania. She is also active on the management of the Cross Border Economic Co-operations through EU funded projects.