Born in Livorno on the 18th of August, 1968, Manfredi Catella graduated in Economics from the Università Commerciale Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and holds a master in Regional Planning and Real Estate from the Politecnico in Turin. He is chartered financial analyst, is member of the Italian journalist association (freelance) and author of a number of articles on real estate and territory requalification fields. Mr. Catella has gained 25 years of experience in the investment management and real estate sectors.

He is chairman of the real estate company COIMA, founded in 1974 and controlled by the Catella family. Mr. Catella is shareholder and chief executive officer of COIMA SGR S.p.A and founding shareholder of COIMA RES S.p.A. SIIQ. During the last 15 years, he was responsible for the Italian activities of the US group Hines, with assets under management of more than 5 billion Euros, acquisitions of more than 3 billion Euros, and negotiation of financing agreements of approximately 3 billion Euros. Among the development projects realized, Porta Nuova in Milan represents one of the most important real estate developments in Europe, with an investment totaling 2 billion Euros. Previously, Mr. Catella worked at JP Morgan in Milan, Caisse Centrale des Banques Populaire in Paris, Heitman at Chicago and at HSBC.

He is currently President of the Fondazione Riccardo Catella and on the Advisory Board of Università Bocconi and Assolombarda. Prior he was President of Urban Land Institute in Italy.