Stefano Pessina, born June 4, 1941, in Pescara, Italy, grew up across Milan, Como, and Naples. He graduated with a degree in nuclear engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan. Initially pursuing a career in academia, he later joined the market research firm ACNielsen in Milan. In 1977, Pessina took over his family's pharmaceutical wholesaler in Naples, establishing Alleanza Farmaceutica.