The Team
Dr. Sabrina Malpede, CEO
Dr. Sabrina Malpede is the co-founder and director of SMAR Azure Ltd. Since the 1997 through her University doctorate, she has been involved in sail and rig design.
Dr. Malpede graduated from the Universita’ Federico II, Naples, Italy, with an Honours degree in Aeronautical Engineering and has a PhD in Sail Design from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She was awarded with the Enterprise Fellowship in 2003 by Scottish Enterprise and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2004 she won the SMART: Scotland Award for the development of an innovative technology for the rig design.
The technology is now commercialized by SMAR Azure Ltd.
Sabrina is the main spokesperson for the company and particularly liaises with clients.
Dr. Alessandro Rosiello, CFO
Dr. Alessandro Rosiello is the co-founder and director of SMAR Azure Ltd. He is a business economist with expertise in business development and financial strategies.
He has an undergraduate degree in Management and Economics from Universita’ Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy; an MSc in the Economics from the University of Glasgow; and a PhD in Economics from the University of Strathclyde.
Acting as SMAR Azure’s co-director, Dr. Rosiello assists mainly with business strategy, market research and financial management.
Dr. Donald MacVicar, CTO
In 2004, Dr. Donald MacVicar joined the company covering the role of Technical Director. He is a Software Engineer with a BEng in Electrical and Software Engineering. He was also awarded with a PhD in Computing Science after completing a dissertation on Dd Computer Vision, both were awarded by the University of Glasgow.
Since early childhood, he has been a very keen sailor and competes in many of the UK and Ireland’s major yachting events.
Donald supervises the development of the technology and software products within SMAR Azure. He also co-ordinates the SMAR Azure beta-testers group to ensure that the company products are robust and tailored to the users needs. Dr. MacVicar deals with clients when requiring custom and bespoke software solutions.
Francesco Nasato, R&D Engineer
Being part of the company Research and Development team since 2009, Mr. Francesco Nasato’s main role is clients’ support.
He has an undergraduate degree in Aerospace engineer from the University of Padova (Italy) and a MSc in Yacht design at the European Institute of Design in Venice.
He is a keen sailor and regularly competes in major off-shore sailing events in both Italy and Scotland.
As well as clients support, Francesco runs training courses and carries out consultancy projects in sail and rig design and analysis.
Charlotte MacVicar, Press Officer
Charlotte joined the company recently as a press officer, she assists in the design of all the companies press releases including newsletters, brochures and software manuals. Charlotte also does the company’s proof reading when needed.
Charlotte MacVicar studied to degree level at De Montfort University and the University of Dundee. She has also competed in sailing events and enjoys spending time on the water.
Nabiha AlBanna, Office & IT Assistant, Communication
Nabiha joined the team in December 2019, helping with administrative duties and producing marketing materials. She’s got a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and is currently taking her MBA online. She has experience in administrative work and has previously worked as a project coordinator in a charity in UK that had many projects abroad, her role involved many things such as communicating with partners and beneficiaries to ensure that they have received their aid, supervision of projects and preparing monthly reports. In the past she worked in media for over 2 years as a production assistant.
She’s very interested in arts and enjoys movies. In her spare time, Nabiha likes to watch movies, puzzles and socialising. She enjoys walks around the city and discovering new things.
