Council

Marisa Xuereb is an economist and Managing Director of Raesch Quarz (Malta) Ltd, a German-owned manufacturing company producing quartz glass components that has been operating from the Mosta Technopark since 1997. She was Chairperson of the Mosta Technopark Tenants Association between 2006 and 2021.

Over the course of her career, she has lectured at the University of Malta and undertaken research for the Central Bank of Malta and the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the EC’s Joint Research Centre. Since 2015, she has served on the Council of the Chamber as a member of the Manufacturing Economic Group.

She is also Director of Malta Enterprise, the Malta Life Science Park and Education Malta, and sits on the Technology Development Programme Committee of MCST.

Christopher Vassallo Cesareo BA Hons (Marketing) born in 1970, husband of Katia nee’ Cuschieri and father of two boys Jack and Alexander. Following his junior years studying at De La Salle College, he furthered his studies at the University of Boston and graduated in Marketing.

On his return to Malta, he was employed as Sales and Marketing Manager with Domestica Limited a family owned business which was setup in the seventies. His career at Domestica Limited flourished and in 2006 he was appointed as managing director.

Mr Vassallo Cesareo has been a Council member of the Malta Chamber since 2013. He is also currently Vice Chairman on the San Anton School Board and a member of Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem.

High energy leader with an innate ability to drive strategy, lead people and achieve results. Entrepreneurial by nature and able to see the ‘bigger picture’, utilises skills from an extensive experience within the family business from business and stakeholder performance and analysis to business development.

She has an excellent record of initiating and leading turnaround growth strategies and remains resilient and unfazed by challenges.

Liz is known as an inspirational leader with a supportive yet challenging management style that motivates both teams and individuals to achieve and exceed targets and job responsibilities. She never stops investing in self-growth.

Nick was elected to the Chamber Council and Manufacturers and Other Industries Economic Group in March 2015 and has been an active member since. Nick, is an accountant by profession, starting his career with PwC in 1988 and consequently moved to manufacturing in 1999 with one of Malta’s iconic manufacturing companies, Trelleborg as Finance Director.

Nick was also Chairman of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority between 2008 and 2013, during a period that the gaming industry flourished in Malta. In addition, Nick occupied the post of CFO of Air Malta, being part of an international team that drove a major restructuring programme of the national airline, reducing considerably the airline’s losses. In June 2014, Nick joined Toly Products, as Group CFO, and is also part of the executive management team of Toly, the arm that sets the Group strategy and direction.

Norman Aquilina is the Group Chief Executive of Simonds Farsons Cisk Plc. The Group holds a leading market position in the beverage industry and FMCG sector – apart from brewers and beverage production, the Group includes subsidiaries within the food and beverage importation and fast food franchise business.

Mr Aquilina is a former chairman of the Chamber’s Manufacturers and Other Industries Economic Group. Previously he had the post of Senior Vice-President of the Chamber where he was actively involved in the merger between the Chamber and Federation of Industry (FOI).

He also served as chairman of the Chamber’s EU Steering Committee for the years leading up to Malta’s EU accession. Mr Aquilina is a past president of the Malta Business Bureau.

A Leading business thinker and doer with high energy in the innovation and optimization element.

Mark has gained a reputation in the Maltese market through his strong values and ethical principles which he manages to transmit through his businesses. Very mindful and always driven by the ultimate purpose of doing something right and not just financially good

Back in 1990, has been the pioneer in importing and installing the first renewable products which since then have grown exponentially with the element of climatical issues present; for the last three decades has been instrumental in leading a number of companies who led the market through innovation and constant evolution in this dynamic needs.

Ian Casolani was born in 1974 and graduated from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) in 1998. He is the Managing Director of Belair Property, a company he has been instrumental in developing and growing over the past 27 years and which is now recognized as one of the leading players in the real estate industry.

He has served two terms as Chairman of the Real Estate Business Section at The Malta Chamber as well as President of the Federation of Estate Agents (FEA), which he has also been involved in since its inception. Through this, he has been regularly active in discussions with government on schemes and policies related to the property sector.

Ian is married with two children and is passionate about sailing, which he does his best to enjoy in his free time.