OUR STORY
SINCE 1950, THREE GENERATIONS DEDICATED TO WATER
Fulcor’s story spans three generations of the Cortesi family. It is shaped by technical ideas, daily dedication and people who have spent a significant part of their lives with the company. Each generation has brought something of its own, helping the business and its way of working to grow and evolve.
FULVIO AND WANDA
IDEAS AND ORIGINS
In 1950, Fulvio and Wanda Cortesi start the business in their own home. Its name also comes from the family: Fulcor combines the first letters of Fulvio and Cortesi.
Fulvio brings technical ingenuity and the ability to turn customers’ needs into practical solutions. He dedicates himself to water treatment and develops innovative systems, including an electrophysical solution that he patents.
Wanda handles administration and sales. She is not involved in the technical side of the installations, but she plays a decisive role in the company’s choices: behind the scenes, she is often the one who makes the final decision. The family still remembers the Sundays she spent preparing quotations, when home and work shared the same space.
GIULIANO
THE HEART AND DRIVING FORCE OF FULCOR
Giuliano, Fulvio and Wanda’s eldest child, begins helping in the company while he is still at school, taking on even the heavier tasks, such as unloading sacks of salt. After completing his business studies, he joins the business full-time and takes over its leadership in the 1980s.
During this period, Giuliano and his IT specialists begin developing Anita, a business management system designed specifically for Fulcor. In the 1990s, he adopts Linux as the operating system for Anita and continues to develop the management system. He devotes an immense amount of work to the project, turning his knowledge of the company and its needs into a tool built around its day-to-day operations.
For more than forty years, Giuliano dedicates his life to the company. He never takes holidays and works on Sundays too: Fulcor is at the centre of his days, his thoughts and his responsibilities.
His way of working has stayed with everyone who knew him: everything in triplicate, repeated checks, documents carefully organised and catalogued. Nothing is to go unchecked. This precision complements his commercial and organisational skills, which bring stability and continuity to the business born from his parents’ ideas.
He is a demanding man, sometimes strict, who expects a great deal of his staff and himself. In his approach to leadership, the interests of the company and those of its people are closely linked. His practical approach, punctuality and constant presence enable him to build trusting relationships with customers, suppliers and staff.
Giuliano is the heart of Fulcor: he combines daily dedication with a keen business instinct, growing the company his parents founded and achieving significant financial results. It is above all under his leadership that the company builds the financial strength that will become a fundamental part of his legacy to the next generation.
KAREN
A BOND THAT BEGAN LONG BEFORE HER CAREER
Karen joins the company in 2009 and takes over its leadership in 2022, following the death of her father, Giuliano.
Her connection with Fulcor, however, begins much earlier. Many of the colleagues she works with have known her since she was a child. Some are now approaching retirement, having shared a long professional and personal journey with the family.
For Karen, leading the company also means nurturing these relationships. She brings a personal and direct approach to working with staff, alongside new internal guidelines, revised employment terms and a greater investment in training.
The renewal also extends to Fulcor’s identity: a new logo, a redesigned website and a range of workwear created for the team. The company also expands its offering in the wellness sector.
An important step concerns Anita, the management system built by her father. Assessments by the company’s IT specialists have identified the need to develop a new system to meet today’s requirements for updates, security and further development.
For this reason, Karen has been working with her IT specialists for the past couple of years on Anita 2.0: a new bespoke management system designed to preserve the functions and company expertise built into Anita, while enabling it to evolve. The aim is at least to match its precision and functionality and, wherever possible, surpass them, with more modern tools and a more up-to-date interface.
Throughout this process, Karen preserves the proven solutions and experience built up by her father and grandparents, adapting them to new needs and possibilities. Together with director Francesco Ruffolo, who also worked alongside Fulvio and Giuliano, she is preparing to propose new projects to address today’s environmental needs, combining the company’s experience with an interest in innovative technologies.
PROTECTING WATER: A PERSONAL COMMITMENT TOO
In her private life, Karen actively campaigns to protect water and uphold the rules that safeguard it. Raising awareness and drawing attention to everyone’s responsibilities are part of this commitment.
At its heart is a clear conviction: water is essential to life, and protecting it calls for care and responsibility in everyday choices. For Karen, compliance with the rules that protect water must be a shared priority.
This concern also guides Fulcor’s future. On the environmental front, the company is working primarily within its own operations and preparing to develop new proposals. The aim is to grow the business with respect for water, combining the experience it has gained with the preparation needed to meet today’s challenges.
From quotations written at home to the challenges of today, the story continues through its people: the Cortesi family, the staff and the customers who have become part of it over time.