Excellera, a leading corporate affairs consultancy in EMEA, has received a new award in financial communications: Roberto Patriarca, Partner at Excellera and CEO of Community, has been named Professional of the Year in the “Financial PR” category at the Financecommunity Awards 2026, the annual event organised by financecommunity.it that celebrates excellence in the Italian financial sector. This is Patriarca’s second Professional of the Year award, following the one he received in 2024.
The award further strengthens Excellera’s track record in the sector. Across the five editions of the Financecommunity Awards held since Excellera’s foundation, its firms have received six awards in the Financial PR categories: three for Team of the Year and three for Professional of the Year.
The jury, made up of industry experts and representatives of leading financial institutions, explained its choice as follows: “Roberto Patriarca brings more than twenty years of experience in financial communications. During the period under review, he led teams on some of the year’s most significant and closely followed transactions. These deals, diverse in sector and complexity, included listings, disposals and ownership restructurings, and helped position his firm as one of the leading players in financial communications in EMEA.”
The award adds to Excellera’s achievements in financial communications in 2026. In the Mergermarket league tables of PR advisers on M&A transactions for the first half of the year, Excellera ranked first in EMEA by deal count, with 86 deals, and ninth worldwide.
Roberto Patriarca, Partner at Excellera and CEO of Community, said: “Behind this award is the work of the people who, every day, support clients through the most important moments in a company’s life. My thanks go to these colleagues, and to the jury. At Excellera, financial communications never operates in isolation: it is integrated with our expertise in public affairs, corporate communications and data analysis, and with a presence in nine countries. It is this combination that enables us to stand alongside decision-makers”.
Paolo Zanetto, CEO of Excellera, added: “Roberto’s award is a source of pride for the entire Firm and recognises the excellence of Excellera’s people in financial communications. It also recognises an advisory model that brings clients a diverse range of skills and experience, from corporate communications to public affairs, through to intelligence, digital and design. This is how we support clients on their most complex transactions, combining a broad perspective with specialist expertise. We will continue to invest to strengthen this model and create new opportunities for growth.”
The Financecommunity Awards, an initiative of Financecommunity.it, the LC Publishing Group portal edited by Nicola Di Molfetta, are a benchmark for the Italian financial sector. Each year, they recognise excellence across private equity funds, investment banks, asset managers and financial communications.