Meet Ettore Pollicardo: Building Phenna Group’s Next Chapter of Growth Across EMEA

Meet Ettore Pollicardo 

Ettore’s career has taken him from operational and technical roles into senior leadership across some of Europe’s largest TICC markets. His early work centred on the industry’s core purpose: protecting people, property, and critical assets. As his responsibilities grew, his technical knowledge became the foundation for leading people and developing businesses within complex, multinational environments.

His time at Bureau Veritas included leadership responsibility across Italy, Europe, and neighbouring regions, along with extensive experience in the acquisitions, integrations, and development of growth-focused organisations. That combination of technical, operational, and commercial experience now informs his role at Phenna Group as we develop our growing network of specialist EMEA businesses.

Ettore Pollicardo

In Conversation with Ettore: A Career in TICC

What first attracted you to the TICC industry, and what has kept you engaged throughout your career?

From the beginning, my work was very operational and the mission was clear: to help safeguard life and property. That purpose remains just as important today. Over time, my role has developed as customers and industries have changed, and I now support organisations in protecting people and assets, meeting their responsibilities, and maintaining the integrity of their operations.

What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the TICC market?

For many years, our industry concentrated heavily on regulation and compliance. Technology has accelerated the pace of change. Customers have transformed their operating models and processes, and they still need to maintain the required levels of safety, quality, and compliance as they do so.

Innovation therefore plays an increasingly important role in TICC. We need dynamic organisations, strong technical competencies, and the ability to find efficient ways of achieving the required outcomes as industries, technologies, and customer expectations develop.

How has your approach to leadership developed during your career?

My leadership style has changed with my responsibilities. I started by concentrating on delivering operational tasks effectively. As my career developed, technical competence became an important foundation for managing people, organisations, and processes.

After 23 years with Bureau Veritas, what attracted you to Phenna Group?

Innovation, fast decision-making, and a direct approach to the market attracted me to Phenna. Once I joined, the culture confirmed that impression. The organisation reflects Paul Barry’s entrepreneurial approach, with limited bureaucracy, a strong customer focus and lean, agile businesses.

Italy: An Established TICC Market with Significant Potential

Italy has a well-developed TICC market shaped by a broad industrial base, significant infrastructure and energy needs, and a highly regulated operating environment. For businesses, that creates ongoing demand for specialist technical expertise that can help them understand requirements, demonstrate compliance, and maintain confidence in the products, assets, and systems they rely on.

Against that backdrop, Ettore sees particular potential in areas where deep technical competence and sector-specific knowledge are essential.

Ettore on the Italian TICC Market

How would you describe the current TICC market in Italy, and where do you see the strongest opportunities?

I would describe the Italian market as conservative, with significant potential. The TICC industry has demonstrated its resilience through a series of challenging periods, and Italian businesses have strong technical capabilities that can support wider European development.

From a sector perspective, I see particularly strong opportunities within infrastructure and highly specialised industrial activities. These are areas where technical competence, experience, and the ability to provide reliable assurance are essential.

What do you expect to influence demand over the next few years?

Italy has learned through difficult events how important it is to have confidence in the products, systems, and infrastructure people depend on every day. That includes the food we eat, the water we drink, the roads we travel on, our railways and aircraft, and the buildings where we live and work.

I expect future demand to reflect this awareness. Businesses and public organisations will need to keep adapting to developing regulations and society’s expectations around safety, quality, and performance, creating an ongoing requirement for dependable technical expertise.

What makes the Italian market distinctive?

Regulatory complexity is a key characteristic. The rules themselves are often right, but applying them can be complicated. Customers regularly need technical partners who can help interpret requirements and understand how they apply within their own operations. That creates an important role for experienced TICC sector companies.

Where do you see opportunities for Phenna Group in Italy?

We’re a technical Group built around specialist competence, so we look for companies that lead within their sectors and have strong reputations for their expertise. The opportunity is in how we combine that expertise. Bringing testing, inspection, and certification together allows us to apply deeper technical knowledge across the compliance process and deliver more meaningful outcomes for customers.

Building Phenna Group’s EMEA Presence

Italy has become an important part of Phenna Group’s recent growth across EMEA, with several specialist businesses joining the Group across testing, inspection, certification, and compliance. We are also continuing to expand our network across other EMEA markets, giving customers access to local expertise supported by wider technical capabilities and Group resources.

As that regional presence develops, Ettore is focused on where Phenna can build further depth, strengthen specialist capabilities, and create long-term value across EMEA.

Ettore on Phenna Group’s EMEA Ambitions

What are your immediate priorities as Divisional Managing Director for EMEA?

We’re building a modern TICC market leader across EMEA. Over the past year, Phenna has invested intensively in Europe through M&A, creating strong foundations across several markets and technical disciplines. My priority is to continue developing depth in the sectors where we invest, support the companies already within the Group, and strengthen our technical leadership.

What do you believe differentiates Phenna from other international TICC groups?

Our ability to adjust quickly to what the market needs. Customers, technologies, regulations, and economic conditions continue to evolve, and our organisations have to remain close enough to their markets to understand those changes.

Phenna’s structure supports fast decision-making, customer focus, and empowered leadership. That gives our businesses the ability to act on opportunities, invest in their capabilities, and respond to customers through people who understand their industries.

How do you balance specialist independence with the benefits of a wider international Group?

Integrity is central to our model. We select companies based on their technical reputation and the reputation of their founders and leadership teams. That expertise and credibility ultimately become part of the wider identity of Phenna Group.

Impartiality is also fundamental to the TICC industry. Every service we provide carries an element of trust, so protecting technical quality, independence, and professional integrity has to remain central as our businesses collaborate and grow.

Keeping TICC Sector Companies Close to Their Markets

One of Ettore’s strongest observations from the interview was the need for organisations to keep questioning whether their structure still reflects what customers require. Technology, regulation, and economic conditions can progress quickly, and TICC sector companies need enough technical depth and organisational agility to respond effectively as those requirements develop.

Ettore explains:

“Every organisation needs to keep interrogating itself:

• Are we equipped for changes in the economy and society?
• Is our model fit for what customers and the market need?
• Are our internal processes helping us deliver effectively?
• Do we have the technical capabilities the market is asking for?

These questions keep an organisation dynamic. Our competencies have to keep developing so that we can respond to change and continue delivering the quality and integrity customers expect.”

That philosophy aligns closely with Phenna Group’s operating model. Our specialist companies retain experienced leadership and established market knowledge, supported by investment, functional expertise, and collaboration across the Group. We aim to help strong businesses continue developing their capabilities and give customers access to a wider pool of expertise.

What Phenna Group’s Model Means for Customers, Employees, and Owners

Phenna Group’s growth across EMEA is designed around specialist businesses with established expertise, strong local reputations, and leadership teams that understand their markets. Bringing these companies into a connected international Group creates various opportunities depending on their relationship with us.

For owners considering the future of a TICC sector company, the right acquisition partner can shape what comes next for the business, its people, and its leadership. Since 2019, more than 90 TICC founders and entrepreneurs have chosen to partner with Phenna Group.

Considering the Future of Your TICC Business in EMEA?

Our ambitions across EMEA depend on continuing to find high-quality specialist TICC sector companies with strong technical capabilities, trusted customer relationships, and leadership teams who want to develop their businesses. Ettore’s experience across the region will help guide that growth as Phenna strengthens its presence in Italy and other key European markets.

If you’re considering succession, exploring a partial or full exit, or looking for a long-term partner to support the next stage of your company’s development, our M&A team can discuss your objectives confidentially and explain how the Phenna model could work for your business.

Speak to the Phenna Group M&A team today to discuss how a partnership with us could support your long-term goals.