Armando Persico

Armando serves as Scientific Coordinator at the Ikaros Foundation Vocational School. He is a chartered-accountant-turned-teacher who has been involved in teaching financial literacy and entrepreneurialism since 1996. He has managed pioneering projects with European Schools for the last decade. His innovative approach to teaching has meant that students have won 16 European prizes, including 4 Italian national competitions. Nearly 20% of Armando’s previous students are now running companies that have created 800 jobs in total: between them they have registered a number of patents.

Armando’s teaching has received a great deal of recognition. He was JA-YE European Teacher of the Year in 2010; he won the JA Italy Ambassador Award in 2011, the Label International Award for Best Practice from the Ministry of Education in 2013, and the Confindustria Bergamo Teacher Award in 2015. He has also spoken to the European Parliament on entrepreneurship, and has been on the cover of Sweden’s Trade and Finance magazine.

In the years to come Armando would like to establish a Foundation involving vocational schools, students, and those in need, in order to remedy unemployment, help immigrants integrate, and create new business. This will involve allocating $10,000 annually to 10 Italian schools for 10 years.