Lavazza named outside manager Baravalle CEO in 2011 as the fourth generation arrived

At the shareholders' assembly that approved the 2010 accounts, on June 22, 2011, the Lavazza family appointed Antonio Baravalle as chief executive of Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., the coffee group with around €1.1 billion in revenue. Baravalle, 46, came from Mondadori (where he had run the educational division and Einaudi) and took over from Gaetano Mele.

The move was framed as governance change, not just a personnel change: Comunicaffè reported that together with Baravalle the family would launch a new governance marking the definitive passage from the third to the fourth generation. Third-generation chairman Alberto Lavazza (70) remained president, and three independent directors joined the board — Gabriele Galateri (Generali), Pietro Boroli (De Agostini) and Antonio Marcegaglia — making governance look more like a listed company's.

Marco Lavazza became vice president alongside Giuseppe Lavazza, keeping the family's branches represented, while the outsider CEO ran the operating company. Baravalle's mandate was international expansion, continuing the path Mele had started with a 250-million-euro stake in US coffee firm Green Mountain in 2010.

Revenue grew from about €1.1 billion in 2011 toward €1.4 billion by 2015, with Baravalle's deals — Carte Noire (2016) and others — pushing international sales toward 70%.

Choosing an outsider with big-company experience (Mondadori/Einaudi) brought managerial depth the family did not have in-house.

Adding independent directors to the board professionalized governance before the fourth generation took ownership.

Keeping Alberto Lavazza as chairman gave the family a single point of control while the outsider ran operations.

A family can modernize without losing control: bring in an outside CEO, professionalize the board, keep ownership and strategy in the family — then back the outsider's M&A.

Under Baravalle, Lavazza grew through acquisitions — including French brand Carte Noire in 2016 — with revenue reaching €1.4 billion in 2015 (+8%) and a stated target of €2 billion with 70% from abroad. The 2011 governance change is cited in Italian reporting as the moment Lavazza moved from family-run to family-owned.