Paolo Catalfamo

Founder and Chairman of the financial group Investar, based in Malta, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the US, and Adjunct Professor at the Villanova School of Business in Philadelphia.

He serves as Chairman of LifeStar Holding plc, a financial conglomerate listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. He is also Chairman of LifeStar Insurance plc, Chairman of LifeStar Health ltd and Chairman of Global Capital Financial Management ltd, all regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority. He’s a Board Member of Centtrip Ltd, a London based fintech company regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

He is a Board Member of the National Italian American Foundation based in Washington D.C. (the association which represents the 26 million Italian-Americans) and Chairman of NIAF Italia. He has been the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the American University of Rome, Board Member of the Advisory Board of the Villanova School of Business in Philadelphia and Board Member of the Advisory Board of Bocconi University in Milan.

From 1991 to 2010 he has been teaching Economics of International Financial Intermediaries at Bocconi University, the University of Turin, the University of Miami and the Florida Atlantic University.

In 2008 he advised the CNEL (the Italian Parliament think tank) on foreign investments attraction. He has been President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy and Chairman of the Italy- America Chamber of Commerce in Miami. From 1994 to 2000 he served as Founder, Deputy Chairman and CEO for Italy of Franklin Templeton, the world third largest indipendent asset management group.

In 2000, he founded Investar SGR and Invesclub SGR, two asset management companies regulated by the Bank of Italy, which launch and manage mutual, private equity and hedge funds.

In 1992 he was Founder and President of Cruise Finance in Miami, the leading arranger of financing to the cruise industry. He has published several pieces including “Marketing investment funds in Europe” (1997),

“The evolution of finance in the Emerging Markets”(1997), “The management of Pension Funds in Italy”(1996),”The Italian Ship Financing”(1993), “The creation of an off-shore financial center in an evolving market: Mauritius financial platform for Africa and the Indian Ocean(1988). His articles are published on the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Il Sole 24 Ore, MF Milano Finanza. He is a frequent guest of CNBC, Bloomberg Television, RAI and other television and radio networks.

Professor Catalfamo holds a Master Degree in Economic and Social Sciences (DES) from Bocconi University in Milano, with a major in International Finance.