Cooperatives of the Americas, a region of the International Cooperative Alliance, appointed Danilo Salerno as its new Regional Director, who will be taking office from June 15, 2018. The designation was formalized at the regular meeting of the Regional Board of Directors held in the city of Pereira, Colombia, between May 17 and 18.
Born in Italy, Salerno has an extensive professional record within the cooperative movement, both in your country and internationally. He has Degree in Political Science from the University of Bologna, with a thesis on the emergence of the Chilean cooperative movement. He also has master's degrees in Non-profit Organizations and European PM (ASVI, Rome) and in European and International Relations (La Sapienza University, Rome) and a diploma in Latin American Studies from the Italian-Latin American Institute, Rome.
At the time of his appointment, Salerno was serving as Director of Coopermondo, the NGO created by Confcooperative, the largest apex organization of the Italian cooperative movement, which has implemented more than a hundred of international cooperation projects in more than 40 countries around the world, directly or through the network of cooperatives integrated in the Confederation. Since February 2016 has been Chairman of the “working group on private sector engagement” of the National Council for Development Cooperation, under the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2011, he also has served as the Confcooperative Representative for International Development Cooperation at Cooperatives Europe working group on International Development Platform (CEDP).
His professional background includes several direct work experiences with cooperative and solidarity economy organizations from different countries in Latin American. In addition to his participation in the various projects developed by Coopermondo in the region, he headed a research mission on cross-border cooperation carried out by the Center for Studies in International Politics (CESPI) on behalf of the Central American Integration System (SICA), and served as Consultant for Latin-American networking in the European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises (EURICSE).
Following his appointment, Salerno took a moment to express his gratitude to Coopermondo and Confcooperative for the enriching experiences in all these years. He also thanked the members of the Cooperatives of the Americas Board for trusting him. Salerno also highlighted his willingness to serve with commitment and devotion, working in close contact with all the members of the International Cooperative Alliance in the region in order to achieve the goals of the Regional Office, to contribute to the development of cooperatives in the Americas, and to fulfil the commitments made to the European Union within the framework of the project that is being implemented until 2020.
