According to the Statute, the President is the legal representative of the Association, convenes and chairs the General Assembly, the Board of Directors, and the Steering Committee.
The President is appointed by the Assembly through a secret ballot with a two-thirds majority and serves for the same term as the Board of Directors, with the possibility of reappointment, in accordance with the nomination procedures. In the event of absence or impediment, the President’s functions are temporarily carried out by the Vice President or, if the latter is also unable to serve, by the oldest member of the Board of Directors.
The current Board of Directors is chaired by Mercedes Bresso.

​President
​Mercedes Bresso

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Economist, she taught Economics and Economic Policy at several universities, including the University of Turin and the Polytechnic University of Turin. Specialized in Environmental Economics, she taught this subject in many postgraduate contexts, both in Italy and abroad. She has an extensive body of scientific publications on this topic.
Among her main works are: Economic Thought and the Environment (Loescher) For an Ecological Economy (NIS) Ecological Economics (Jaca Book) Project Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment (Franco Angeli) Environment and Productive Activities (Franco Angeli).
She was among the founders of Legambiente. As President of the Environment and Work Association, she participated in the first Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992 and, as President of the EU Committee of the Regions, in the second summit in 2012.
​ In her political career, she served as Regional Minister for Parks and Water Resources of the Piedmont Region (1994/95). She was President of the Province of Turin (1995–2004), and in that role contributed to founding Hydroaid. She later served as President of the Piedmont Region (2005–2010) and as a Member of the European Parliament, where she worked, among other things, on the Environment Committee.