Monica de Virgiliis

Board Member, Air Liquide

Monica is an electronic engineer at heart and spent the first two decades of her career in the semiconductor industry, running billion-dollar businesses at some of Europe’s blue-chip companies. For the past ten years, she has served as an independent director and chair on the boards of large listed companies in tech and energy across the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and France. These days, she divides her time between those boards and the entrepreneurs and innovators she loves working with as an operating partner.

What really drives her is holding two things at once: the big-picture view from the boardroom and the hectic detail of actually getting things done. She has never wanted to give up either. Each side sharpens the other: what she learns about the industry’s real priorities helps her guide entrepreneurs, while working with innovators keeps her curious, current and useful as a board member.