Maurizio Marchesini was born in Bologna in 1955.

His entrepreneurial career began at the age of 22 alongside his father Massimo, who had started his own business in the Bologna Packaging Valley in 1974.

In the following years he transformed the small artisan business into a 2,000-employee company, the Marchesini Group S.p.A., one of the leading players in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics packaging sector, of which he is now Chairman.

From 2009 to 2011 he was President of Unindustria Bologna.

From 2011 to 2013 he was President of the Aldini Valeriani Foundation.

From 2012 to 2017 he was President of Confindustria Emilia-Romagna.

In 2015, he became SIMEST Vice-President until 2019.

From 2018 to 2022, he is Treasurer of the Emilia-Romagna group of the Knights of Labour and also Prior President of Monte del Matrimonio, a Family Welfare Institute founded in Bologna in 1583.

From 2020 to 2024, he is a member of the General Council of Confindustria, Vice President of Confindustria with responsibility for Supply Chains and Medium Enterprises, member of the Board of Directors of UCIMA and Member of the Board of Directors of the Bologna Business School.

In 2023 he became President of Nomisma.

He is the President of FiD (Fare impresa in Dozza) - a foundation created by a collaboration of several local companies to create work inside the Dozza prison in Bologna.

In 2013, he was made a Cavaliere del Lavoro by the then President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano.

Since 2022 he has been Vice President of the Emilia-Romagna Group of the Knights of Labour and Member of the Board of Directors of the National Federation of the Knights of Labour.

In 2019 he received an Honorary Degree from the Alma Mater Studiorum in Automation Engineering.