The presence of Italian businesses in New Jersey is impressive. Most recently at Montclair State University, the Italian program and the Inserra Chair are introducing a series of initiatives to discover them. These new synergies align with the objectives of my business Italian course and to better understand what it means to do business in this geographic area, where there is not only a strong Italian heritage but also a fondness of all things Italian, I invited Francesco de Grossi, Senior Vice President of Safilo USA, whose US headquarters are located not far from campus, in Parsippany.

His testimonial, “From Bologna to the World: Italian tradition and know-how on the international market,” followed by a Q&A with my business Italian students and international marketing students of Feliciano School of Business colleague Ric Jensen, was a success. VP de Grossi then sat down to chat with me about New Jersey and Safilo, the international market and Italian language and culture.