Not many people represent the superior command and gentle authority that Professor Brunello Rosa does in the high-stakes, global economic arena. With several academic, policy, and business connections at the highest level, his journey has been influenced by scientific training and then by his transformative move to the UK to develop his expertise as an economist through the rigorous education process offered at the London School of Economics. Emerging into a volatile post-dot-com world, he did not just witness financial history; he began to architect its future.
Brunello’s career is a masterclass in intellectual duality. As a bond strategist at IDEAglobal, he decoded complex markets while simultaneously shaping brilliant minds back at the LSE. This symbiotic relationship between profound theory and high-pressure practice became his professional hallmark. His formidable tenure at the Bank of England saw him informing the UK’s monetary policy implementation and the provision of liquidity insurance, serving as a sentinel of financial stability during times of profound economic shifts.
The Turning Point
The narrative took a legendary turn at Roubini Global Economics. Working alongside Nouriel Roubini, Brunello ascended from Director to Co-Head of Research, eventually co-founding the prestigious Rosa & Roubini Associates. Today, he occupies a unique vantage point at the intersection of global power and academic depth. As Course Convener for Global Macroeconomic Challenges, an Associate of the Centre for Macroeconomics and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE, his insights guide the next generation of world leaders.
His far-reaching influence stretches from the classrooms of Bocconi to the elite think tanks of Chatham House and the IISS. As a trusted policy advisor to central banks and finance ministries across the G10, he is the architect of resilience. Prof. Rosa’s story is an epic of constant learning and strategic progression. He stands as an Inspirational Icon who proves that when deep academic insight meets the practical fires of the financial market.
A Visionary Legacy is Born
The idea behind his business leadership began when Brunello was working at Roubini Global Economics, and he decided to found a new company. Before co-founding Rosa & Roubini, traditional macro shops were offering the typical suite of products based on macroeconomic analysis, policy outlook, and market forecasts. “But we wanted to create a company that was able to integrate seamlessly macroeconomic analysis and geopolitical insights.” It was 2016, and at that time, the idea seemed far-fetched and almost impossible to realize. But the evolution of events has proven them right, since today it is clear that geopolitics is one of the major drivers of economic activity, suffice to look at the recent events in Venezuela, in the Middle East or in Ukraine.
This was the foundation idea behind Rosa &
Roubini Associates.
But if you want to remain ahead of the curve, Brunello adds that you need to continue innovating. So, in 2016, they added geopolitics and political risk analysis to traditional macro/policy/market analysis. In 2020, they added cyber risk analysis and strategy, which, at that time, Brunello was also teaching at Bocconi University. “Again, most people were skeptical about this move, but we thought it was warranted for two main reasons.” First, some of the most relevant geopolitical developments were occurring in cyberspace. Secondly, it was obvious that the tech space was becoming a major battlefield for global dominance. In effect, the tech war is one of the defining features of the ongoing competition between the US and China.
And this is when the great ‘Eureka!’ moment presented itself: China decided to introduce its central bank digital currency (CBDC), and this was an instrument that was able to capture all the dimensions of analysis discussed so far, i.e., macro, policy, politics, geopolitics, markets, cyber strategy, and tech. And this is what inspired the book ‘Smart Money: How Digital Currencies Will Shape the New World’, which discusses the geopolitics of digital currencies, “And clearly was able to put my name on the map of the most influential economists around the globe,” adds Professor Brunello.
Following that, he says they decided to implement the latest evolution of Rosa & Roubini, i.e. their pivot to digital assets, which was conceived in 2025 and will be fully operationalized in 2026, together with their tech partners.
Business Leadership by Chance
Moreover, Brunello says that he became a business leader almost by chance, “Considering that I started as an academic and an economic analyst and financial strategist, with some relevant experience in policymaking at the Bank of England.” But it became almost a necessity, considering that by the age of 38, he was the managing director of one of the most prestigious independent research houses at a global level. At 40, he was already the CEO of his first startup company, co-founded with other business leaders. “When you reach that position at such a relatively young age, it is obvious that the next step is founding your own business, and taking full responsibility for the main decisions regarding the company.”
So, Brunello has grown in the role of business leader over the last several years, considering that he now has several associates around the globe to help him deliver the services that their clients want.
“I like the idea of shaping the future of the company by making strategic decisions that can affect the lives of so many people around me and being able to find another way of staying ahead of the curve, not just with analysis, but also with action,” he adds.
Also, “It may sound naïve, but I’m still driven by the passion of my young age which is that of making the world a better place,’ he continues. This is the reason why the motto of his company is “making sense of this world”, “And I would like to emphasize the importance of the italics in the word ‘this’.”
By doing that, they wanted to attract people’s attention to the fact that ‘this’ is kind of a ‘crazy’ world, where the rules of the past are no longer valid, the rules-based system of the international order now seems forgotten by world leaders, in favour of the more cynical approach that ‘might is right.’
“If I may say, the impressive thing is that we suggested that ten years ago, when none of the chaos before our eyes today could even be imagined, or feared. This is what I mean by staying ahead of the curve, detecting the future from the signals that can be read today.” Being able to ‘see’ the future a bit beyond and a bit sooner than anybody else “is really the passion that drives my everyday efforts in business, academia, and policy making or advisory.”
Balancing an Equilibrium of Challenges
However, today, balancing the challenges in his personal and professional lives is one of the hardest questions to answer, says Brunello. As he mentioned earlier, his professional life consists of at least three dimensions: first, he’s a business leader, being the co-founder, CEO, and head of research at Rosa & Robini Associates. Secondly, he’s an academic with several positions – including adjunct professor and visiting professor- in various prestigious universities, including the London School of Economics, City University of London, and Bocconi University in Milan. Third, he is a policy advisor of several prestigious institutions globally, including the UK parliament and the European Investment Bank (EIB). At the same time, Brunello is also a member of several think tanks, livery companies, and clubs, such as the Athenaeum, the National Liberal Club, the Institute of Directors, and the Naval and Military Club in London.
Additionally, he’s also the president of the association of winners of the Talented Young Italians awards, which were initially awarded by the Italian Chamber of Commerce for the UK. The association is very active in promoting brain circulation of Italian talents abroad, as well as mentoring and coaching activities for young talented Italians.
With so much work on his shoulders, it is not easy to balance private and family commitments, which are equally, if not more, important than professional activities. “I try to be present to all the school activities of my daughter, and to be available for my friends and family when they need it. It will always be a challenge to find the right balance between work and personal life, and clearly this is a period of my life in which work is taking the lion’s share of my time.’
Both professional activities and family commitments present challenges on a daily basis. Still, a key element is making sure that the ones do not impact the others, otherwise one risk enters a very complicated loop. The secret is probably being able to compartmentalize among the various situations, reveals Brunello.
The Message
In his advice to others aspiring to take on leadership roles in their respective fields, Brunello says, “First and foremost, I suggest studying hard and working even harder. Success is the product of years of sacrifice, a world that new generations may need to learn again, after having received everything for granted. As Edison once said, “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,” so hard work is the foundation of every success.”
Secondly, he suggests being extremely open-minded and nimble, as success may come from where you least expect, “and actually sometimes the more we try to achieve something, the harder it seems to get.” History is full of discoveries that were made almost by chance, when looking for something else – medicine being the primary example of this. But also, the iPod, from being a secondary experiment, became the product that brought Apple back on track!
“Thirdly, I would suggest that people be able to change careers several times over their lives, especially in the age of AI disruption, machine learning, robotics, and automation, which pose such large threats to our current work environment.”
Fourth, Brunello strongly advises his students to own a technique, any technique, he would say, whether it’s mathematical abilities, knowledge of languages or musical instruments, programming skills, organizational abilities, and so on. Skills that can be measured and evaluated.
Clearly, emotional intelligence and people skills are equally important, especially when you reach top positions, and you need to manage large teams. But at the very beginning, you need to be technically gifted and be able to do things that others are unable to; you need to find your niche, your ‘brand’, HR consultants would say.
The Mantra
And for readers, Brunello’s growth, development, and success mantra is: “The key point is loving what you do, enjoying your work and profession; if you don’t do, don’t be afraid to change. Courage is of the essence in this difficult period. Don’t be afraid of going against the wind, against received wisdom, against common sense; take your risks, take your chances. One of my favourite quotes is from an artist called James McQueen, who reproduced in one of its pieces of art the famous quote ‘no risk, no story.”
The Wisdom
Finally, he adds, “The pendulum of history is not moving in our favour. After many decades, world peace cannot be taken for granted, so each of us has the duty of doing our best to make sure that tomorrow is going to be better than today, without delegating to others. Each one of us carries the responsibility of making the world a better place, for everybody, not just the privileged ones.”
A Journey of Million Milestones
Brunello started receiving his first recognitions very early in his life: already in primary school, his teachers wrote in Brunello’s first reports that he was exhibiting an ‘unusual sense of leadership’ for a kid of that age. Then came the sports recognitions during middle school, as he was named three years in a row as the best baseball player of the school, after winning some regional competitions with the school’s team.
In high school, the first important recognition came when the Scuola Normale di Pisa (the Italian equivalent to the French Écoles Normales Supérieure) selected him among the best 200 students of Italy’s high school system (out of a population of 530,000), for their very exclusive University Orientation Course, held annually in Cortona. It was 1993.
Fast forward to University: after graduating with the maximum mark (110/110 cum laude), Brunello won a scholarship from the Fondazione Ezio Tarantelli to attend the MSc in Finance and Economics at the LSE.
After completing the MSc and starting to work, Brunello won the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK’s “Talented Young Italian” Award, for his “outstanding contributions to the development of business between Italy and the UK”. In 2018, he became president of the association of the winners, called “Talented Italians in the UK. During the pandemic, he was included in the list of the top-100 financial services influencers in the world by Onalytica for his discussion on COVID-19 and its impact on the global economy and financial markets.
In 2021, the CEO Publication recognized Brunello as a Top 20 Dynamic CEO in the UK, with a profile article titled “The Pioneering Visionary”. Five years on, the Magazine confirmed that his “story has consistently been one of the most viewed leadership profiles on The CEO Publication.” Here is the 2021 feature for reference: https://theceopublication.com/the-pioneering-visionary-brunello-rosa/
In 2022 and 2023, Rosa & Roubini Associates was selected by the Corporate Vision magazine as Macro-Economic Research and Advisory Firm of the Year for two years in a row as part of their Corporate Excellence Awards.
In 2024, Brunello was elected as “Freeman of the City of London” as part of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers and of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants.
Still in 2024, one of the key recognitions of his career took place, as “Smart Money” was selected among the Best Economics Books of 2024 by Martin Wolf for the Financial Times. That doesn’t happen every day!
In 2025, Brunello was included in the “Power List 2025” by Forttuna Group. This prestigious recognition celebrates 100 “influential visionaries selected from over 1.5 million profiles across more than 100 countries, with his profile being posted on Times Square in New York on 5 July 2025.
Finally, still in 2025, he was recognized by the Fluxx Conference in Doha (Qatar) as “Author of the Year in Economic Thought Leadership” for his “exceptional achievements and contributions to the Independent Research and Education” categories.
