GIAN LUCA RANA: CEO OF PASTIFICIO RANA

Visionary, innovator, obsessed with quality.

Gian Luca Rana, thanks to his gaze towards the future and innovation, has transformed Pastificio Rana from a small family business into a multinational leader in the market of fresh pasta, fresh sauces and high quality ready meals.

The Pastificio Rana today represents the gastronomic tradition of "Made in Italy" in the world with a turnover that in 2020 reached 900 million euros thanks to the choices made by Gian Luca.

Gian Luca Rana's career in Pastificio Rana begins in 1986 at the age of 21 when Pastidicio Rana was still a small artisan company.

He starts working in the purchasing management department, then in the production processes where he is able to collaborate side by side with workers and mechanics up to industrial development.

Gian Luca immediately understands the potential of the company and sees innovation as the key to the great leap in quality of the Pastificio Rana.

Hence the idea of creating the Research and Development Center where new ideas are developed for the creation of new ranges of products and recipes.

However, Gian Luca's innovation doesn’t stop at the products but also involves the production process that sees the development of new machines and production processes totally patented by Rana.

After strengthening the range of products and the production process, Pastificio Rana first conquers all of Europe and then 2012 also the United States with the opening of the first American plant in Chicago.

In the United States, the Rana pasta factory was immediately loved by the market and in just 5 years, it reaches a turnover of 300 million dollars.

In 2007, he decided to open Giovanni Rana restaurants throughout Italy.

Inside the restaurants, it is possible to taste Rana products and many dishes freshly prepared in the open kitchen with the highest quality products.

An idea to discover all the taste of the tradition of Italian gastronomy.

From 2005 to 2009, Gian Luca Rana was President of Confindustria Verona where he immediately committed himself to promoting an involvement between entrepreneurial spirit and passion for territorial development.

From 2005 to 2014, he was a member of the Board of Directors at Banco Popolare di Verona.

Currently Gian Luca Rana is a member of the Board of Insead in Fontainbleau and since 2010, he has been President of the Athesis Publishing Group, which includes several newspapers such as the Arena and the Giornale Di Vicenza, radio, television broadcasters and digital platforms.

Gian Luca Rana also created the "Festival of the Future" event, an initiative dedicated to major global trends and innovations.

In 2018, Gian Luca Rana received the 2018 Business Excellence award promoted by Harvard Business Review Italy.

In 2019, Gian Luca received the prestigious “International Awareness Award” from Fordham University in New York for his career in the USA.