Maria Carmela Ostillio is an Associate Professor of Practice in Marketing and Sales at SDA Bocconi School of Management. She has previously served as the Responsible Professor for Brand Management at Bocconi University.
At SDA Bocconi, she is the Director of the Brand Academy. Maria has been the project owner for numerous research and training projects ("Customized-Programs") for companies in the consumer goods, services, and B2B sectors. Her research primarily focuses on branding, strategic brand management, marketing, and corporate communications. Additional areas of study include direct and interactive marketing, one-to-one marketing, customer databases, and marketing information systems.
She is the author of numerous essays and articles on the topics she covers, published in prominent journals such as the Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, International Journal of Arts Management, Economia & Management, and Micromacro Marketing.Maria has been a Visiting Scholar at several foreign universities, including Columbia University (New York, USA), Northwestern University (Evanston, USA), Tuck School of Business (Hanover, USA), and Eller School of Management at the University of Arizona (Tucson, USA). She has also been a Visiting Professor in Italy (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza; Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”; Università degli Studi di Torino, Biella) and abroad (WU Executive Academy, Vienna University of Economics and Business; Skolkovo Business School, Moscow School of Management; SDA Bocconi Asia Center, Mumbai, India).
In 2013, Maria received the Best Paper Award at the Aimac International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Political Science with a focus on International Economics from the University of Bari and an MBA – Master in Business Administration – from SDA Bocconi. Married with two children, Maria has been actively involved in humanitarian volunteer work for children, the elderly, and those in need. Her volunteer activities have taken her to several developing countries (Mali, Namibia, Somalia, etc.) and within Italy. Since 2008, she has volunteered with children and adolescents at Dynamo Camp, part of the SeriousFun Children's Network.