About

Crossing over from a career in private practice and public notaries, Luca Gentile has been head of legal at Aviva’s Italian branch since April 2013. With international experience, Gentile is able to combine in-depth legal knowledge with a deep understanding of Aviva’s Italian operation; he started in the company secretarial area, helped set-up the internal legal department and has worked closely with different senior managers. Gentile now has a day-to-day relationship with the senior management and the CEO, attending shareholder, board and committee meetings when necessary. Always seeking to develop himself further, Gentile oversees a department with an ever-increasing practice area remit, whilst at same time reducing external support from law firms. In terms of achievements and challenges, Gentile highlights his work on strategic M&A and restructuring projects involving the entire Aviva Group in Italy in addition to creating a ‘strong legal view’ on the business challenges that are ‘never ending’. As a keen manager of people, Gentle seeks to maintain a ‘proactive legal team’, citing this as a principle that is ‘very important’ to him. He says that ‘people with whom you spend most of your life are the real added value’.