Welcome back to our interview series with the ELIA Board of Directors! In this series, we’ll get to know the personal and professional journeys of our new 2026 Board Members who started their term at ELIA Networking Days in Seville. We’ll explore their roles within their companies, and learn more about how they contribute to ELIA.
First up is Diego Cresceri, CEO and Founder of Creative Words, an Italian language services company. From translator and project manager to COO and entrepreneur, Diego brings a wealth of industry experience and a strong commitment to collaboration, innovation and representing the language industry. Returning to the ELIA Board after a two-year break, he continues to contribute through the AI Committee and his role representing ELIA in the European Commission’s LIND expert group.
Can you tell us the story of your career journey using five emojis, and explain how each one represents a key moment or aspect of your professional life?
📚 🗂️ ⚙️ 🚀 🌍
📚 The books. It all started at the University of Genova, studying Translation and Interpreting. Back then I thought I’d spend my life with dictionaries. Partly true, just not the way I expected.
🗂️ The folders. I moved from translating to project management. That’s where I learned that a good translation is only half the job; the other half is deadlines, people and a lot of patience.
⚙️ The gears. As COO, I discovered how a language company actually works behind the scenes: processes, numbers, technology. Less glamorous, but extremely useful.
🚀 The launch. In November 2016 I founded Creative Words and started the second part of my professional life, the best one.
🌍 The world. ELIA, LocLunch, CLIA, the LIND group in Brussels, and much more: the community has given me friends, partners and ideas.
If your company were a person, what kind of personality would it have and why?
The person who throws the best dinner parties: they invite people from different worlds, make sure everybody gets introduced, and the conversation never stops. That’s what we try to do with clients, linguists and partners.
Tell us about the ELIA committee or initiative you lead. What’s its main goal and why is it important for the industry?
I’m part of two ELIA initiatives that look at our industry from different angles.
The first is the AI Committee. Our goal is to help ELIA members navigate AI with confidence, turning curiosity into real capability. We organise webinars, share practical resources and publish a monthly “AI Insights” newsletter on the tools, trends and use cases that actually matter. Whether a company is experimenting, implementing or still evaluating, we want to demystify AI and support informed adoption.
The second is LIND, the Language Industry Expert Group of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation (DGT), where I represent ELIA. The group meets three or four times a year in Brussels to give the DGT a view from the field: market trends, technology, skills, challenges. It matters because the European institutions are among the largest buyers of translation in the world, and they also shape policies, training and standards that affect all of us. Having the voice of language service companies in that room means decisions are made with a real understanding of how our industry works.
Networking Days 2026 marked the first event gathering our new Board. Do you have any special memories or particular moments from the event you would like to share?
Networking Days 2026 exceeded my expectations. Of course, the networking was great (that’s what the event is for, after all), but what struck me most was the variety of conversations we had. If you ask me for a single highlight, I honestly can’t pick one. Well, unless you count the karaoke, but that wasn’t officially part of the program. For me, Networking Days has become the go-to event to take the pulse of where our members are heading, and to figure out how we can get there together.
Once again, welcome to the Board, Diego.
Name: Diego Cresceri
Company: Creative Words
Company LinkedIn
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