New stage for the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation in France and Spain

At the start of the 2023 academic year, the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation is pleased to present the three new Directors who will now lead the Foundation’s teams in France and Spain: Benoît Mounier-Saintoyant, Managing Director for France, Lucía Casani, Managing Director for Spain, and Francesco Cingolani, Managing Director of el17 – Casa de las Alianzas.

The Foundation is now at a key moment in its history, having reached a maturity that allows us to put into perspective the progress made over the past 13 years, in order to draw the contours of the future action plan. It is thanks to this wind of renewal that the Foundation’s teams and governance are delighted to welcome these new faces to our Management Committee.

This announcement formalizes a new organization for the Foundation, now structured around three Departments – one in France and two in Spain. The three new Directors will report directly to Philippe-Loïc Jacob, a member of the Foundation’s Delegate Committee alongside Marina Nahmias and Jacques Nahmias.

They will support the teams in carrying out their missions and each will enrich the Foundation’s work with their unique perspective, vision and experience, on the two major historical areas of intervention, which are Citizen Art and Sustainable Food.

Rooted in very different professional fields, their careers, which we present to you here, are synonymous for the Foundation with renewed perspectives and energy in the service of an ecological, inclusive and fulfilling society.

Benoît Mounier-Saintoyant, Managing Director for France

Benoît Mounier-Saintoyant joined the offices at 40 avenue Hoche in Paris on September 12 as Managing Director for France.

With the power to act as his main driver, Benoît has seized the levers of social innovation and equal opportunities to pursue a career in the service of social and ecological transformations.

After studying industrial engineering, he took charge of a non-formal education center for street children in the Philippines. On his return to France, he became involved with Unis-Cité and then with the French Red Cross to help promote the civic engagement of young people. He then co-founded the Benenova association, for the development of a collective volunteer commitment accessible to as many people as possible, which today mobilizes 25,000 volunteers. In 2012, he joined Avise, an agency dedicated to the development of the social and solidarity economy and social innovation, before taking over the management of the social mission of the Fondation Entreprendre in January 2020.

A career that strongly resonates with the values and objectives of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. His experience in social innovation, his knowledge of the ecosystems of the social and solidarity economy and philanthropy, but also his approach to impact will be valuable assets for the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation in France.

Lucía Casani, Director-General for Spain

Lucía Casani joined the Foundation’s teams in Madrid on 4 September as Managing Director for Spain.

Lucígraduated from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Audiovisual Communication. Between 1997 and 2001, she participated in various film and advertising projects, before joining the teams of La Casa Encendida when it was created in 2002, as Audiovisual Coordinator. In 2009, she took over the management of the institution’s culture branch, then, in 2014, she was appointed Director General. It makes it a place of reference for contemporary Spanish culture but also a space for thought, social and environmental action. Its contemporary, multidisciplinary, intergenerational and accessible programming commitments have given La Casa Incendida its international dimension by establishing collaborations with institutions around the world.

The Foundation will undoubtedly benefit from her in-depth knowledge of the world of Madrid culture, of which she is a noted personality.

Francesco Cingolani, Managing Director of el17, Casa de las Alianzas

Francesco Cingolani took up his position as Managing Director of el17, Casa de las Alianzas, an innovative and solidarity-based real estate project based in the Delicias district of Madrid, in April.

Francesco is an architect with a renowned international career, having collaborated with renowned colleagues such as Jean Nouvel, Hugh Dutton and Thomas Heatherwick, as well as with leading artists such as Tomas Saraceno and the Basurama collective. For six years, he launched and directed the Mastère Spécialisé d’architecture “Design by Data” at École des Ponts ParisTech. In 2014, inspired by the need to evolve the traditional urban planning approach and give a prominent place to communities of neighbors and users, Francesco founded Volumes in Paris. This innovative space has become a laboratory for social innovation and transdisciplinarity. Under the aegis of Volumes, he founded Foodlab, an incubator for social economy projects linked to sustainable food. Francesco is also a member of the supervisory board of the Fab City Foundation, a global organization that promotes the development of self-sufficient, sustainable cities; and heads the NGO Villae, a citizens’ initiative that aims to transform a semi-abandoned heritage site into a dynamic European civic center dedicated to urban regeneration and art.

In 2023, Francesco joins the ambitious project of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, to create an eco-designed third place in Madrid, a meeting space between citizen art and sustainable food and open to the neighborhood, which will see the light of day in 2025. Having always had a special attachment to Madrid, Francesco sees it as an exceptional opportunity to realise his ambitions.

The visions and professional trajectories of Benoît, Lucíaand Francesco have in common the ambition to contribute to a fairer and more sustainable society. This new organisation comes at the right time to contribute to the development of the Foundation’s next strategic plan alongside the Delegate Commission and the teams.

We welcome all three of them to our midst, and we look forward to this new step for the Foundation, which brings synergies and transformative impulses. All the actors of change are ready for the future, and this chapter of commitment, innovation and impact is just waiting to be written!