Congratulations to our 12,000th member: Marco Laucelli

This week, the CERN Alumni Relations Office welcomed its 12,000th member - an important milestone in the development of the Network, launched in June 2017. We are pleased to share that Marco Laucelli, CEO of Galeo, is our 12,000th member.

Since its inception, the Office for Alumni Relations has worked to connect a growing global community of alumni with the Organization and its people, highlight the positive impact of a CERN experience on society, foster a network of ambassadors supporting CERN’s mission, and provide meaningful support to early-career professionals. In this context, reaching 12,000 members is a significant and rewarding achievement that we are pleased to share with the entire community.

But 12,000 is more than just a number. It represents individual journeys - including Marco’s, whose experience at CERN in the summer of 1999 had a lasting influence on his career. He has kindly agreed to share his story and reflections with us.

Congratulations and welcome to the Network, Marco.

What is your favourite CERN memory whilst you were in the Theory division?

"My first days at CERN's Theory division were genuinely overwhelming — being surrounded by some of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in the world made me feel incredibly privileged. But that quickly gave way to warmth. The division had a collegial, family-like atmosphere where knowledge flowed freely, and people were very accessible behind a couple of knocks on their office’s door. That experience of learning from world-class minds in such an open environment shaped the way I think about collaboration and intellectual curiosity, and has stayed with me ever since."

Can you say a few words about what you are doing now with Galeo?

"I am the founder and CEO of Galeo, a digital engineering company. Under the motto "Chip to Cloud," we design and connect hardware, software, and data to build intelligent digital platforms for industry, energy, and infrastructure management — working across the full stack, from IoT devices and edge computing to cloud platforms and AI-driven analytics. The analytical rigour I developed in physics continues to inform how I approach complex technical challenges."

Why did you want to join the CERN Alumni Network?

"CERN shaped a formative part of who I am professionally, and joining the Alumni Network feels like a natural way to stay connected to that community — to exchange ideas with people who share the same passion for physics and curiosity, whether they remained in research or, like me, took those skills into industry and entrepreneurship."

As we celebrate this milestone, we invite you to stay connected on alumni.cern to catch up on the latest news, events and much more. We also encourage you to update your profile, to enhance your networking experience and enables us to identify future speakers and contributors to our growing community.

Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey. Here's to continued success and connection within the CERN Alumni Network.