Nicola Drago, born in 1978, married and father of two daughters, graduated cum laude in Business Administration from Università Bocconi, worked at Sonenshine Partners in New York and at McKinsey in Milan, and subsequently earned an MBA from Columbia University in New York.

Since 2008, he has held various positions at De Agostini Group, starting as controller and M&A manager at Zodiak Media Group (now Banijay Group), in Paris. In 2016, he was appointed CEO of De Agostini Publishing, global leader in print and collectibles that, at the time, was in the middle of a severe business and financial crisis. In this capacity, he focused among others on the revamping of the product pipeline and on a massive switch of distribution channel from the traditional point of sales (retail/kiosks) to direct-to-consumer, ultimately accomplishing a full company turnaround. Saving and transforming his family’s legacy business earned him the “EY Entrepreneur of the Year” award in 2021.

In 2020 Nicola was appointed CEO of De Agostini Editore, the holding company of Publishing, Books and kids content divisions. In 2021, he became Vice-President of De Agostini Group. In 2023 he leaves the role as CEO of De Agostini Publishing to become Executive Chairman of the company. In the same year he is appointed Vice-President of DeA Capital, the leading independent Italian operator in real estate and alternative asset management.

He co-founded the venture capital fund Connect Ventures in London and sits on the Board of Directors of San Faustin (holding of Tenaris/Techint Group) and of several non-profit organizations including Ubuntu Pathways, Opes Impact Fund and Fondazione De Agostini. Nicola is co-founder and President of ioCambio, a civil movement promoting constitutional reforms aimed at enhancing stability and governance of Italy.