Experience.

Build. Lead. Scale. Repeat.
Across government and deep tech.

  • Leonardo has spent over a decade building, leading, and scaling programs across government and tech, globally.

    Today, he advises startups, business, and public sector institutions on building strategies and operations that leverage emerging technologies to create public value. He invests in deep tech and govtech startups.

  • At the European Commission, Leonardo was the youngest policy assistant to a Director-General.

    As chief of staff to the Head of the European Political Strategy Center, the European Commission’s in-house think tank, he was part of the council of advisors to the President.

    He overlooked seven interdisciplinary teams, with responsibilities including policy and strategy, outreach and communication, management and human resources.

  • At Amazon Web Services, he served in a COO-role at the AWS Center for Quantum Networking. There, he led the launch of a first-of-its-kind partnership between AWS and Harvard University, to advance research towards the quantum internet. As part of the alliance, he helped launch the “Generation Q Fund,” to spur the development of the quantum workforce. This work was recognized by the CEO as an example of how Amazon “Invent[s] on behalf of customers” in the Q3 2022 earnings report.​​

    At AWS Quantum, Leonardo started a quantum public policy workstream, designing the strategy for the organization.

  • Formerly at AWS, Leonardo created the United Nations Global Account. As the head of the UN Global Account, he led the Amazon’s COVID-19 response with UN agencies, such as the World Health Organization and the International Organization for Migration. This work was ​featured in Jeff Bezos’ 2019 Shareholders Letter​.

    During his tenure as the head of the Global Account, the United Nations doubled the adoption of cloud services and the UN team grew to tens of members.

  • Leonardo joined Amazon to launch the AWS Institute, an in-house think-and-do-tank. His programs trained more than 600 government executives from 60 countries in digital transformation, in two years.

  • Leonardo’s work has been recognized by Forbes Magazine (30 Under 30), the World Economic Forum (Global Shaper), the BMW Foundation (Responsible Leader). He has been a fellow at IE University and the Aspen Institute.​

Build.

  • Creating the innovation ecosystem of the future requires the best of academia, business, and government. I help businesses become enablers of national strategies, and governments balance precaution with innovation.

  • Customer obsession, culture of candor, and relentless optimization. With these ingredients I built top-performing teams. Now I bring them to organizations because operational excellence means better outcomes.

  • Policymaking is too often a tennis match between competing interests. I approach it as a relay race, brokering a space where innovation is a common pursuit among allies. To do so, I leverage my experience as a civil servant in tech, and a techie in government.

  • I invest in DeepTech and GovTech companies, with a positive bias towards public sector impact.

  • Featured Talks: World Economic Forum; AWS Summit; Transatlantic Digital Forum; United Nations; NATO.

  • “Analytical and pragmatic, honest and bold, curious and decisive, strategic and creative… Leo was core to the leadership of the European Commission’s first-of-its-kind think tank. He navigated institutional complexity like a seasoned civil servant, while injecting innovative thinking in the administration.”

    Ann Mettler, VP Europe, Breakthrough Energy and
    former Director-General, European Commission

  • "Leonardo sets himself apart for strategic thinking, brokering unlikely coalitions, and building high-performing teams. He is the purpose-driven, inventive, and entrepreneurial leader that every modern organization needs."

    Manuel Muñiz, Provost, IE University;
    former Secretary of State for Global Spain

  • "Leonardo has unique cross-sector experience, wit, and deep thinking. He has been our compass in navigating these transformative times. "

    Andrea Rocchetto, CEO, Ephos - Quantum Technologies

Contact.