Our People

Francesca Polini

Born and raised in Rome, Francesca grew up with a fascination for the power of communication, influenced by her upbringing and her studies - particularly her readings of Chomsky and Foucault. In Rome, she obtained a degree in International Politics and was active in the political arena as an activist for major issues such as social justice and antiwar movements.

Francesca has a track record in global strategic marketing, communications and Corporate Responsibility, as well as board-level experience across diverse cultures and a valuable mix of media, global corporate and NGO achievement.

Francesca was latterly Global Director of Communications and Marketing for Greenpeace International, based in Amsterdam where she defined, developed and led a branding and marketing strategy to transition the Greenpeace brand to a single proposition, helping to increase supporter awareness and fundraising significantly. She was also in charge of liaising with corporate partners (McDonald's, Ikea, M&S) on their CR reporting strategies and a spokesperson on climate change and other campaigns.

The move to Greenpeace followed Francesca's role as CR Director for Mars Inc. where she was promoted from her Communication role to define and implement the first CR strategy and stakeholder engagement framework for Mars,  building on the company's guiding principles. In this role she was a senior advisor to the Mars family and the President Board on cross function goal setting, responsible and visible leadership practices, as well as triple bottom line management.

Francesca's career started as news and then documentary producer for APTN (Associated Press) and TWI (Transworld International). She has a passion for languages. Francesca is fluent in Italian, English and Spanish and has a strong knowledge of French, basic Russian, Greek and Portuguese.

Francesca is author of Mexican Takeaway (published by Matador, 2011).