Company Governance
Board of Directors:Melo HiliChairmanMelo Hili joined the family business in 1988 and was appointed Managing Director of Motherwell Bridge, then a joint venture with Motherwell Bridge Group of Scotland. He later also headed the company’s Italian operation and was a board member of Motherwell Bridge Bhicam in the Bahamas. Mr Hili was named Developmental Licencee for McDonald’s in Malta in 2005, for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2007, for Greece in 2011, and for Romania in 2016. He is Chief Executive Officer of Premier Capital plc’s parent company Hili Ventures Limited.
Victor TedescoExecutive Director
Victor Tedesco joined the McDonald’s team in Malta before the first of nine restaurants opened on the island in 1995. He was St Julian’s restaurant manager in Malta for three years during which time he won a Manager of the Year award. Mr Tedesco was later appointed Operations Manager and moved to head office. In 2007, he was appointed Director of Operations for the Baltics and moved to Riga for three and a half years. In 2011, he was entrusted with leading the operation in the newly acquired Greek market. He returned to Malta in 2014 as Managing Director for Malta and Greece. He assumed responsibility for all six McDonald’s markets in 2015 and now holds the position of Chief Development Officer and Chief Executive Officer of Premier Capital. Mr Tedesco was appointed to the Board of Directors of Premier Capital plc’s parent company Hili Ventures Limited in 2018, and Chairman of HV Hospitality, another Hili Ventures subsidiary, in 2019.
Valentin-alexandru trutaNon-executive DirectorValentin Truta was appointed General Counsel at Premier Capital plc’s parent Hili Ventures Limited in 2016 and moved to Malta from Romania where he was General Counsel and Local Compliance Lead at Premier Restaurants Romania, the operator of the McDonald’s business. Mr Truta, who has since returned to Romania, is also a Member of the Audit Committee of Premier Capital plc. He was appointed to the board of directors of RMHC Romania in November 2020, bringing his cross-border legal expertise to the board and his extensive background at McDonald’s in Romania, the charity’s founding mission partner. Prior to joining McDonald’s in 2010, he held various senior roles in the legal field. He graduated from Nicolae Titulescu University in Bucharest and obtained his Master’s in Business Law a year later. Mr Truta completed an Executive Management Programme from the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany.
Dorian DesiraNon-executive DirectorDorian Desira started out at the Hili family business in 1997 as an accounts clerk. He was promoted to Management Accountant with the group’s holding company in 2001 and later became financial controller at the group’s IT arm and MB Services. In 2008, Mr Desira graduated from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. A year later, he joined Premier Restaurants Malta as Finance Manager. On takeover of the Greek McDonald’s operation in 2011, Mr Desira moved to Athens. He returned to Malta as General Manager overseeing the McDonald’s operation of nine restaurants, including the opening of the Sliema restaurant in 2013. Mr Desira was appointed Chief Financial Officer for the Premier Capital group in May 2014. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer for Hili Ventures in January 2021. Mr Desira also sits on the boards of 1923 Investments plc, Hili Finance Company plc, HV Marine Ltd and Motherwell Bridge Industries Ltd. He holds a CPA warrant and is a fellow of the Malta Institute of Accountants and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Karen Pace
Non-executive Director
Karen Pace is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Practising Certificate in Auditing in Malta. Ms Pace graduated as an Accountant in Malta in 2001 and practised in the audit function within the Deloitte professional network in Malta, Luxembourg and New York for 16 years. In the US and Luxembourg, Ms Pace served some of the larger players in the global asset management industry, while her audit experience in Malta encompassed a variety of industries including real estate and consumer products. During her time overseas, Ms Pace also qualified as a Reviseur D’Entreprises in Luxembourg and a US-Certified Public Accountant. Ms Pace holds an executive position within the financial services industry which focuses on regulatory compliance and internal audit of regulated collective investment schemes and licensed investment services providers operating in Malta. Ms Pace is a Member of the Audit Committee of Premier Capital plc.
Massimiliano eugenio lupicaIndependent Non-executive DirectorMassimiliano Lupica has worked in the McDonald’s System for more than 20 years. He started his career as a Trainee Manager in 1990 and went on to lead restaurant teams in Rome, Bergamo and Milan as Store Manager. He later held several roles including Business Consultant, Director of Field Service for central and southern Italian, and Regional Director for southern Italy leading the training, finance, operations and development teams of the region. In 2012, Mr Lupica became a McDonald’s franchisee and opened three restaurants. Mr Lupica completed programmes at the Hamburger University at both the Chicago and London campuses, and also studied at SDA Bocconi in Milan in partnership with HU. Mr Lupica is Chairman of the Audit Committee of Premier Capital plc.
Claudine CassarIndependent Non-Executive Director
Claudine Cassar is a technology entrepreneur with more than 23 years’ strategic and management experience who has delivered digital transformation projects internationally. She is the founder of Alert Communications, a long-time leading player in the Maltese technology sector, which was acquired by Deloitte in 2016. Ms Cassar was also managing director of Alert Solutions, a company she acquired in 2012. She was later Partner and Consulting Function Lead at Deloitte between 2016 and late 2020. Ms Cassar has served as director of the Malta Council for Science and Technology and of JobsPlus, and was Chair of the Institute of Education between 2016 and 2017. She is founder and current Chair of the Blossom Foundation which undertakes projects to support children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Audit Committee:MASSIMILIANO EUGENIO LUPICA
Chairman
Karen Pace
Member
CLAUDINE CASSAR
Member
The Company Secretary is Adrian Mercieca.
The Company Auditors are Grant Thornton.