About
General manager and programme director. Twenty years across shipbuilding, energy and infrastructure.
I am Diego Lopez. I live in Trieste, north-east Italy, and for over ten years I have been doing the same thing across very different industries: taking organisations that have grown complicated and putting them back in a position to decide.
I trained as an architect at Politecnico di Milano. That origin explains more than it seems: designing a building means holding together technical constraints, budget, regulation and people who want incompatible things. It is precisely the job I do now, with different objects.
Where I have worked
I do not name clients here, out of respect for confidentiality agreements. I describe context and results, which is what you need in order to judge whether I can be useful.
- Shipbuilding. Three and a half years leading a digital transformation programme at one of Europe's largest shipyards: an integrated platform for ship design and lifecycle management. The engagement began with a proof of concept against three global vendors and led to a 50 million dollar project acquisition, with project risk cut by 26% and costs reduced by 19% through fixed-price contracting.
- Naval process reengineering in China. One year in Shanghai, converting a yard's production processes from container ships to cruise ships. Timelines went from nine months to four, with a 40% saving on technical staff costs.
- Energy and gas. As general manager, I run projects funded under Italy's national recovery plan: compliant document management, contract cost control, and relations with sector regulators.
- Sports infrastructure. Direction of an 18 million euro complex from project financing through to operation, including ISO 9001:2015 certification achieved with zero non-conformities.
The full record, with company names, is on my LinkedIn profile.
What I do
- Business process analysis and reengineering
- Management control for small and medium enterprises
- Direction of complex projects and programmes, including multi-vendor and multi-country
- Technical and economic contract monitoring, budget and progress control
- Change management and adoption of digital tools
- Institutional relations, regulatory compliance, compliant document management
If I had to name one competence: translating technical language into business language, and back. It is the point where most projects break.
Education
- Degree in Architecture, Politecnico di Milano
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (in progress)
- Financial Management, Discounted Cash Flow and Valuation
- Program Management, University of Michigan — PMI recognised
- Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management, University of Virginia
- Successful Negotiation, University of Michigan
- Competitive Strategy, INSEAD
Languages: Italian (native), English (fluent).