Alessandro Centrone

President, Steelcase EMEA

Greater Munich Metropolitan Area

About

I serve as the President of Steelcase EMEA and I am responsible for: Strategy and, in particular, to define where to play and how to win choices, developing a plan to implement, and executing on the strategy. Financial health: growing sales, increasing gross margin, and achieving continued profitability improvements. Commercial excellence: delivering customer experience and customer success results, including achieving product development goals for EMEA-led projects and executing key sales strategies. Steelcase is a global design and thought leader in the world of work. Along with our expansive community of brands, we design and manufacture innovative furnishings and solutions to help people do their best work in the many places where work happens.

Experience

  • Steelcase (13 yrs 10 mos)
    • President
      Mar 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 4 mos

    • Vice President Marketing EMEA
      Jan 2018 - Mar 2024 · 6 yrs 3 mos

      Leadership of Marketing in EMEA for Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry. Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products. Located in Munich, home of the new Steelcase Learning and Innovation Center; the future focused hub of Steelcase for EMEA provides designers, architects, leading organizations and dealer partners with immersive experiences that reflect the close link and correlation between engagement and workplace. Thanks to a diverse and multidisciplinary team of workplace specialists we support the needs of leading organizations, influencers and dealers across EMEA. As a Marketing leader I translate customer needs, trends and insights into products and solutions that make up a comprehensive product portfolio. I orchestrate the efforts of a team of diverse professionals who seek the input of the market and actively gather feedback and ideas from customers, designers and dealer partners. My priorities and my focus are driven by the need of responding to impulses coming from the market. Understanding and translating these needs in an accurate way allows to make decisions that translate in innovations. In a market where speed of change and complexity keep increasing, it is my job to anticipate trends and to adapt and evolve our product portfolio. As part of my role I led the implementation of the retail digital channel in EMEA to serve our customers for their Work From Home needs. Through e-shops, partnerships with e-retailers and digital catalogues we serve our residential customers 24/7 guaranteeing safe delivery of our products in several European markets. This business is supported by a digital marketing strategy and has returned significant growth during and after the Covid pandemic. Member of the global Diversity Equity and Inclusion executive committee.

    • Vice President EMEA Business Group
      Mar 2016 - Dec 2017 · 1 yr 10 mos

      Leadership of sales for the EMEA Business Group for Steelcase Inc., the global leader in the office furniture industry. Steelcase delivers a better work experience to its customers by providing products, services and insights into the ways people work. Its portfolio includes architecture, furniture and technology products. Leading the distribution of products and services in the Europe Middle East and Africa Business Group. Engaging with leaders from the most dynamic industries in fast paced cities like London, Paris, Istanbul, Almaty, Johannesburg, Riyadh, Milan, Moscow and Dubai. Use of proven methodologies and an insight led approach to drive focus toward business development and innovation in these markets.

  • Board Member at Munich International School e.V.
    Jun 2020 - Jun 2026 · 6 yrs 1 mo

  • Managing Director - Italy at Sedus Stoll
    Dec 2006 - Sep 2012 · 5 yrs 10 mos

    Managing Director for the Italian subsidiary

  • International Key Account Manager at Renault
    May 2002 - Nov 2006 · 4 yrs 7 mos

    International Key Account Manager 04-06 Purchasing Manager 02-04

  • Senior Consultant at Arthur Andersen & Co.
    Feb 1999 - May 2002 · 3 yrs 4 mos

    Omaha Practice - Strategic Sourcing Several engagements with clients in a number of industries including Finance, Pharmaceutical and Staffing. Focus on finance re-engineering and strategic sourcing projects.