Elisabeth Rizzotti is a physicist and a business leader. After a degree in Physics from Università degli Studi in Turin and a brief spell at CERN, she embraced the world of business, joining Accenture in strategic consulting for financial sector clients.

She then spent five years at Banca Lombarda and subsequently moved to UBI Banca, at the time the fifth largest banking group in Italy by number of branches, where she showed her managerial expertise and drive for innovation in various leadership roles. In 2017 she became Head of Communications, a role she held through a crucial period for the bank, leading the incorporation of UBI Banca into Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest international banking group by total assets.

In 2021, Elisabeth returned to her first love of physics: combining her scientific background and her strong business and leadership skills, Elisabeth co-founded the nuclear technology company newcleo.

At newcleo Elisabeth is in charge of global operations as Chief Operating Officer and she also serves as Managing Director, Italy. The company is based in the UK, Italy, France and Switzerland. Since 2021, newcleo raised over EUR 400 million and now counts on over 750 highly skilled employees. It pursues the goal of bringing forward the most sustainable strategy for the nuclear industry of the future, with innovations that increase safety, reduce costs, avoid mining, and dramatically reduce nuclear waste.