Gregor Pilgram: “We strive to empower our employees and stimulate their creativity”

Gregor Pilgram, CEO at Generali Austria, and Luka Podlogar, President of the Management Board of Generali Investments Slovenia, participated at the Business Conference Portorož 2021 titled “Leaping into a new era, calls from words to action”.

Luka Podlogar, CEO of Generali Investments, in an exchange of views with co-speakers at a panel on business operations in 2022

The conference is one of the most important Slovenian business events. It is a space for exchanging business practices and also an opportunity for managers to hear first-hand on the upcoming trends in the economy. This year, Slovene and foreign experts were challenged to find solutions on how to design exit strategies that really work.

Traditionally, the conference focuses on the future and the upcoming challenges of the economy. This time, the speakers focused on the EU's post-pandemic recovery and shared experiences and knowledge on sustainable business practices, corporate social responsibility and the benefits of green growth. Leading Slovenian and foreign business people also talked about topics such as healthy and responsible organizations that foster creativity, also touching on the current problems in supply chains.

Gregor Pilgram, CEO at Generali Austria, at the round table

Together with Gorazd Bedenčič, Director of Puklavec Family Wines, Žigo Hieng, President of the Management Board of Salus, and Anita Stojčevska, CEO of SKB bank, Luka Podlogar spoke about how they envisioned their companies’ operations in 2022. In an interesting discussion, the President of the Management Board of Generali Investments Slovenia pointed out: “companies will face three key challenges in their operations in 2022 - rising inflation expectations in a period of low interest rates, inadequate structure of Slovenians' financial assets, half of which is in cash and deposits and loses its real value on a daily basis, and by adjusting investment decisions to sustainability criteria”. He added that Generali Investments has the opportunity to co-create exit strategies by appropriately diversifying the assets of its investors between mutual funds and introducing sustainable investment.

Gregor Pilgram, CEO at Generali Austria

Gregor Pilgram participated at another round table together with Jernej Česen, President of the Management Board of Distribution & BI and General Manager of Ekipa2 (a subsidiary of Outfit7), dr. Jana Krapež Trošt, co-director of BIA Separations - Sartorius, and Peter Demsky, commercial director and board member of Corwin, discussing the importance of healthy and responsible organizational cultures. They pointed out that only companies with such cultures can provide an environment that stimulates development and creativity of employees. Gregor Pilgram, CEO at Generali Austria, emphasized: "At Generali whose ambition is to be a Lifetime Partner, we always strive to empower our employees and stimulate their creativity. The last two years have shown us how important relationships and socializing at the workplace are to our employees. The main focus of our leadership is to give a sense of purpose and long-term development. This helped us overcome the crisis together and adapt to the changes that happened over just fourteen days. The pandemic has once again revealed that the key to success is an organizational culture that encourages adaptability and ingenuity. We succeeded because here, at Generali, people are at the heart of everything we do".