Our Team
QRP International has achieved great success due in no small part to the dedication, knowledge and expertise of its staff. In any industry, the people behind a company are as important as the company itself. QRP International is blessed to have such energetic and customer-driven individuals.
Jacobus Groot
Managing Director
Jacobus was born in the Netherlands in 1969. He studied Tourism in Breda and International Management at the University of Maastricht. After his graduation he started a career in Project Management in various telecommunications companies. Being passionate about international management he worked in Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany , Cyprus, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Through his various experiences he wanted to improve project management, facilitating change.
In 2003 he started his long time dream to have his own company and founded QRP International which quickly grew to a Pan – European leader in Project Management training and consultancy.
Jacobus loves travelling, speaks Dutch, English ,German, Italian and some French. Wine and good food are his passion which he enjoys in his home town Como in Italy. In his free time he bikes around lake Como and plays Football. Jacobus is married and has 3 children.
Michelangelo Carbone
Chief Operating Officer
Freshly graduated into business administration at European School of Economics in Bari, Michelangelo joined QRP in July 2004 as an intern in charge of doing market research for the Italian market, the company was then made of 2 persons: Jacobus and He. QRP activities increased quickly at an international level and he soon became in charge of finance and operation, ensuring that business operations are efficient and effective, planning, scheduling and controlling all QRP services provided worldwide.
As QRP’s senior team members, Michelangelo is a reference and a guide for the whole team, always ready to answer to our (numerous!) questions, with patience and great understanding. Michelangelo is also an expert problem solver. We haven’t met a problem he can’t untangle. A man of few words, when he does speak up, we all listen. But don’t let him fool you. Just under the surface, Michelangelo harbors a wicked sense of humor.
Outside the office, as a father of two sons, Michelangelo keeps pretty busy with his family life and his passion for reading.
Maria Chindamo
Sales Executive Switzerland
Maria was born and raised in Switzerland, where she completed a technical-commercial study. Afterwards, she followed various specialist courses in the banking sector, where she gained many years of experience in the Swiss banking sector, initially as a consultant for credit and credit cards and later as a financial advisor.
She moved to Como, the city and landscape that she has always particularly appreciated in 2004 to rejoin her family. In 2013 she took on a new independent professional challenge as a free-lancer as a German language teacher. She started at QRP on 01.01.2020 where he is a sales executive in the Swiss market. She started at QRP on 01.01.2020 where he works as a sales executive in the Swiss market. In her spare time, Maria is a very active person.
She loves trekking in nature, as well as various gymnastics and yoga practices.
Federica Passaro
Marketing Executive Switzerland
Born in Merate (LC) from a German mother and Italian father, she was raised in Lucca. After the degree in foreign languages and literatures in Pisa she moved to Milano where she obtained a master degree in interpreting and decided to remain there because she loved living in Milano.
After working for Valentino as a customer assistant and for a publishing company with different mansions, she landed in Como thanks to her German knowledge, beside speaking German and English she also knows Spanish.
As a good tuscanian she loves a good rare steak and drinks lots of good red wine. Her main hobby is travelling and watching movies but her favourite activity is going to the stadium to cheer for Inter.
Chiara Orsenigo
Service Manager
Chiara graduated from the University of Study Milan-Bicocca with a Bachelor’s degree in Science of Tourism and Local Community in November 2013.
After that, Chiara was in charge as customer and partner care in an Online Travel Agency in Milan until November 2015, when she decided to leave Italy and stayed for nearly one year in England at the beginning for an English Course and after like a volunteer in a Youth Hostel.
After this experience, she started to work like a receptionist in a 5 stars’ hotel by the Lake Como until the beginning of November 2016.
All these experiences enriched her cultural and professional knowledge, making her the perfect candidate for the Office Assistant role in 2017.
From January 2023 Chiara is Service Manager, making sure that services are being seamlessly delivered to our clients.
As you can figure out from her studies, tourism, travel and geography are her favourite passions. She has a lot of hobbies as well, besides music and cooking, she has been playing Volleyball since she was a child.
Renato Passalacqua
Finance Manager
Born in Naples and raised in Rome, Renato graduated from University of Rome La Sapienza with a bachelor degree in International Economics and a Master’s degree in International Management and Business. Having acquired relevant experience in the international finance and cash flow management, Renato found his way in Como at QRP International as Finance Assistant, in June 2018.
From January 2021 he runs the Finance department and his growing team as Finance Manager for the whole QRP group.
Thanks to his international and finance experience, combined with his quick thinking and analytic skills, Renato is a good guide through the complex world of international invoicing, cash flow management and financial forecasting.
Renato has a huge passion for videogames, books, tabletop games and cooking (especially chinese and japanese). In his spare time he tries to fulfill all of these passions, along with managing his extremely energetic dog Tuuli.
Alessandra Morciano
Marketing Manager
Alessandra graduated from Sapienza University of Rome with a Master’s degree in Business Economics and got a job fresh out of school as an intern in Etnocom, an advertising agency specialised in ethnic strategies. After the internship, she found an opportunity for an European Voluntary Service in Croatia where she was in charge of promoting projects and visibility of the organization through social networks, writing articles for the blog and facilitating events.
If you combined those skills with her willingness, curiosity, creativity and positive attitude, Alessandra was for sure the best candidate for the role of Marketing Executive for the QRP Italian market in 2016.
From January 2023 Alessandra is Marketing Manager, overseeing the department’s operations and providing guidance and feedback to other marketing executives.
In her free time, Alessandra loves reading and practicing & teaching yoga.
Justyna Ptasznik
Accreditation and Compliance Specialist
After obtaining her Master in Pedagogy at The Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw, she worked in international elementary schools in Warsaw, London and Frankfurt. She joined our team in February 2013 as country manager for the Polish market and was in charge of all the sales and marketing activities for Poland. Unfortunately in 2016 QRP has to take the difficult decision of leaving the Polish market to focus on its main countries, however we could not leave Justyna as she was a great asset for QRP! Justyna learned about the office and administration manager position at QRP.
It was clear that she had the right competences for the position: she is naturally thorough, hard worker, steady and reliable, and she’s been mastering our office ever since, helping Michelangelo to keep the books, monitoring and delivering training material and examination worldwide.
From 2023 her main focus is on maintaining the excellent standard as well as ensuring that the company follows its defined internal policies and procedure, and as well is responsible for ensuring external compliance related to all accreditations of QRP.
In her spare time, Justyna is most likely hanging with her family or cycling.
Laurent Louboutin
E-Learning Developer
Laurent was born in Brittany, France and graduated in History and Politics at Rennes II University. He moved to the United Kingdom where he started his career as IT support on IBM service desk. Thanks to a keen interest for project management, he moved to Royal Dutch Shell IT project management team where he certified as an ITIL expert and Prince2 practitioner. He taught these two topics for four years at QRP and later gained experience in Cloud technologies and eLearning development at Oracle. Laurent returned to QRP in 2021 to develop our digital offering.
Outside of work he enjoys reading, running, spending time with family and Qi Gong meditation.