The General Manager
On the basis of guidelines provided by the Rector and the Board of Directors, the General Manager is responsible for the overall management and organisation of the School's services, instrumental resources and technical and administrative staff.
The General Manager is selected from individuals of high professional standing with proven, long-standing experience in senior management roles, and is appointed by the Board of Directors, following the opinion of the Academic Senate and on the basis of a proposal by the Rector.
Current general Manager
The current General Manager of IASA is Dr Sabrina Saccomandi.
A native of Teramo,Sabrina Saccomandi holds a degree in Economics and Business from the University"G. D'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara, awarded with first-class honours(110/110 cum laude). In 2003 she was awarded a Postgraduate Specialisation Diplomain Administrative Law and Public Administration by the Faculty of Law of theUniversity of Teramo, with a specialisation thesis in Public Economic Lawgraded 70/70. In March 2026 she obtained a Laurea Magistrale (LM-63) inAdministrative Sciences from the Department of Political Sciences of theUniversity of Teramo, graduating with first-class honours (110/110 cum laude).
She qualified as aChartered Accountant through the State Examination held at the University"G. D'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara and is registered in Section A ofthe Order of Chartered Accountants and Accounting Experts of Teramo (No. 982A).In 2000, she qualified as a Statutory Auditor and has since been registered inthe Register of Legal Auditors maintained by the Ministry of Economy andFinance (No. 119,780). In December 2025, she obtained the qualification ofSustainability Auditor, authorised to provide assurance on sustainabilityreporting pursuant to Legislative Decree No. 39/2010 implementing Directive(EU) 2022/2464. Since March 2026, she has served as President of the Fondazionedei Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili della Provincia di Teramo,promoting professional development, continuing education and institutionalinitiatives for the accounting profession. Her statutory audit appointmentshave included Chair of the Board of Auditors of the National Bar Council and ofthe Scuola Superiore dell'Avvocatura, as well as member of the Board of Auditorsof the Italian Foundation for Legal Innovation.
Sabrina Saccomandi hasover twenty years of experience in higher education and universityadministration. At the University of Teramo, she served as Head of theResearch, Innovation, Development and Internationalisation Division andsubsequently as Head of the Research Area, with responsibility for Europeanproject design and management, doctoral programmes, technology transfer,research evaluation and international mobility. She also acted as Legal EntityAppointed Representative (LEAR) for FP7, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, andas Director of the University's ESF-accredited training centre, before laterleading the Human Resources Area and the General and Institutional AffairsArea. Since the 2015/2016 academic year, she has taught European Project DesignTechniques and, since 2020/2021, Corporate Finance at the San Raffaele RomaOpen University. Between 2022 and 2024, she served as Visiting Scientist at theGran Sasso Science Institute, conducting research on higher education, researchand innovation within the framework of Italy's National Recovery and ResiliencePlan (NRRP).
From 2017 to 2024, sheserved as Senior Expert at the Ministry of University and Research (MUR),within the General Secretariat, Directorate-General for Research, acting asManaging Authority for the National Operational Programme for Research andInnovation 2014-2020 (ERDF and ESF) and REACT-EU. In this capacity, shecoordinated the Ministry's task forces at Italian universities and worked oninnovative industrial doctoral programmes (32nd-36th cycles), "Innovationand Green" doctoral programmes, research contracts, financial engineeringinstruments, and data science applications for public policy. She was a memberof the MUR working group for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (2021)and of the working group responsible for drafting the National ResearchProgramme 2021-2027. She also served as Italy's national focal point on the ERACorona Platform, collaborating with the European Commission'sDirectorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).
Since January 2024, shehas been Director General of the Fondazione Rome Technopole, the technologicalhub and innovation ecosystem of the Lazio Region financed under Mission 4,Component 2, Investment 1.5 of the Italian NRRP, where she directs eightflagship projects and six spokes across the digital and energy transitions andthe health and bio-pharma sectors, together with the construction of the RomeTechnopole building. The Foundation brings together ten universities, fournational research bodies, regional and local institutions and leadingindustrial partners. She also sits, on behalf of the Foundation, on theMonitoring Committee of the ERDF Regional Programme of the Lazio Region2021–2027.
Since January 2026, shehas additionally served as Managing Director and Director General of theFondazione BF Research, the research and innovation foundation of the BF S.p.A.Group. She is also Director General of IASA – Institute of Advanced Science forAgriculture, a non-state higher education institution (Scuola UniversitariaSuperiore) promoted by BF S.p.A. and accredited by the Ministry of Universityand Research by Ministerial Decree No. 264 of 20 March 2026, based in Jolandadi Savoia (Ferrara).
By decree of theMinistry of Tourism of 21 November 2025, she was appointed member of theNational Tourism Observatory, with the functions of Director of its ScientificCommittee.
With more than 25 yearsof experience in the leadership, administration and coordination of public andprivate organisations, including in the fields of research, innovation andEuropean funding, she is an expert in economic planning and developmentpolicies, as well as in the programming, management, monitoring and reportingof national and European funding programmes and Cohesion Policy instruments(ESF, ERDF, EAFRD, AMIF, LIFE, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, REACT-EU, NRRP andFSC). She is the author of several scientific publications on European fundingand innovation policy.
She was awarded thehonour of Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and was afinalist in the 2025 WE Award – Women Excellence (Innovation category),promoted by Il Sole 24 Ore with the Financial Times.
