Luca Cordero di Montezemolo

Luca Cordero di Montezemolo

Luca Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (born August 31, 1947 in Bologna ) is an Italian manager and entrepreneur .

Luca Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ferrari (from 1991 to 2014), is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fiat Group , of which he was Chairman from May 2004 to April 20, 2010, President of Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali (LUISS) Rome , Member of the Board of Directors of La Stampa newspaper in Turin , PPR (Pinault / Printemps Redoute) in Paris , von Tod’s and member of the Citigroup International Advisory Board.

From July 2008 to January 19, 2010, Montezemolo was President of the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), which worked as a partner of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the marketing company Formula One Management (FOM) in shaping Formula 1 understands.

In the past, Montezemolo was President of the FIEG (Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali), the Italian Association of Newspaper Publishers, the Federation of Industrialists of the Province of Modena , a member of the board of directors of the Unicredit banking group and of the TF1 television channel, as well as managing director of Ferrari and Maserati , RCS Video, of the beverage manufacturer Cinzano International and ITEDI , a holding of the Fiat Group, which z. B. controls the newspaper La Stampa.

Montezemolo is an important public figure in Italy and, because of his diverse activities and positions, a welcome interviewee on a wide variety of topics. He achieved special media attention with his criticism of the politically responsible in Italy in his position as President of Confindustria (2004–2008) comparable to the Federation of German Industries .

On September 10, 2014, Montezemolo announced that he would be giving up his position as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ferrari on October 13, 2014 to Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne . Since November 2014 he has been President of the airline Alitalia .

biography

family

Montezemolo is the youngest son of Massimo Cordero dei Marchesi di Montezemolo (1920–2009), a Piedmontese nobleman whose family served the House of Savoy for generations, and Clotilde Neri (* 1922), niece of the famous Italian doctor Vincenzo Neri. His uncle, the Admiral Giorgio Cordero dei Marchesi di Montezemolo (1918–1986) was the commanding officer in the Marina Militare during the Second World War . Great-grandfather Carlo (1858–1943) and grandfather Mario (1888–1960) were generals in the Italian army . His father was a cousin of Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo , who was named cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church in 2006. His title is not Marchese (margrave), but Nobile dei Marchesi di Montezemolo (nobleman of Montezemolo). This indicates that he is descended from a Marchese but is not himself. His last name is Cordero di Montezemolo . Hence it is not correct to call him di Montezemolo . The correct name is the one with the full surname or simply Montezemolo . Because of his legal training, he is known both internally and publicly as avvocato .

education

Luca Montezemolo studied at the University of La Sapienza in Rome jurisprudence (graduating in 1971 with summa cum laude ) and began his career with Chiomenti Studio Legale in Rome. In 1972 he moved to Bergreen + Bergreen in New York City . During that time, he attended Columbia University in New York and studied International Commercial Law.

During his studies in Rome, he went in 1969 with different partners successful car race in endurance racing. Together with his friend Cristiano Rattazzi, he contested races in Italy in a red Fiat 590 GTS from Giannini. In August 1969, he took with a Fiat 125 S of the Scuderia Pinerolo on Marathon de la Route , a 84-hour race on the North and southern loop of the Nürburgring , in part. In the overall standings with 64 starters, he finished ninth. The car was registered to the mother of Cristiano Ratazzi. In other international races he started with Pino Ceccato and Cristiano Rattazzi at the wheel of another Fiat 124 S and 125 S.

In 1971, Cesare Fiorio , at that time the Lancia racing director , invited him to drive for the Squadra Corse HF Lancia. His move to the United States ended this short career with partner Daniele Audetto in a Lancia Fulvia 1600 HF after just four races.

Career

During the semester break in Bologna, Montezemolo heard a caller on the popular radio show Chiamate Roma 3131 by the journalists Gianni Boncompagni and Mario Moccagatta who condemned the company and motorsport on the topic of the day, the Ferrari crisis . He called immediately and fought passionately against the critic. Enzo Ferrari , who was following the show in Maranello , was delighted. The "Commendatore" sent him his biography with the dedication: "For Luca Montezemolo and his courageous words and deeds." Although Montezemolo continued his studies in America, he called Ferrari when he returned home for Christmas 1972. He asked for an appointment. Ferrari explained to him: "It is a pity that you are going back to America, because I can use a young man like you." Then Montezemolo decided to drop out of his studies as soon as possible and returned in June 1973. He initially became Ferrari's personal assistant. In 1974, Montezemolo was promoted to head of the then less successful racing department Scuderia Ferrari , which now concentrated entirely on Formula 1 after giving up sports car races . After initial successes with the newly designed Ferrari 312B3 designed by Mauro Forghieri and later with the Ferrari 312T series, piloted by Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni , Montezemolo was appointed head of all racing activities at Fiat just one year later. Ferrari won the drivers 'world championship with Niki Lauda in 1975 and 1977 and the constructors ' world championship three times from 1975 to 1977. He then left Ferrari and was responsible for public relations at Fiat from 1977 to 1981 and then managing director of ITEDI.

In 1982 he became General Manager of Cinzano Vermouth International in Geneva , which, like Fiat and Ferrari, was controlled by the Agnelli family. In the same year he led the Azzurra Challenge ( International America's Cup Class ) for Giovanni Agnelli and Prince Aga Khan , participants in the 1983 Louis Vuitton Cup , the qualifying event for the challenger teams for the America's Cup . In 1986 he became General Director of the Organizing Committee for the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

In 1991, Gianni Agnelli made Montezemolo chairman of the board at Ferrari, which ran into economic difficulties after Enzo Ferrari's death in 1988, quickly recovered under Montezemolo's leadership and became a profitable sports car manufacturer again. In 1997, he became CEO of Maserati . On his intervention, Scuderia Ferrari hired team boss Jean Todt in 1993 and Michael Schumacher in 1996 . The team was completed in 1997 by Ross Brawn . Not least because of these personal decisions, Ferrari won the Formula 1 constructors' championship for the seventh time in 1999 after 15 years without a title . In the following year Michael Schumacher won the tenth driver's world championship for the Scuderia after Jody Scheckter's last in 1979 . Until 2004 , five more constructors 'and four more drivers' titles were won in uninterrupted succession . The successes in 2007 - driver's title for Kimi Räikkönen and winning the constructors' trophy as well as the renewed success with the constructors in 2008 - were achieved under the management of Montezemolo.

In 2001 he turned down an offer from the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to join the government. From May 2004 to April 20, 2010, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Fiat Group. At the suggestion of Susanna Agnelli , he succeeded Umberto Agnelli , who died on May 24, 2004 and had been chairman since January 2003 following the death of his brother Gianni .

Montezemolo is the founder of the Charme investment fund for the luxury goods industry, with which he took over the Poltrona Frau Group in 2003 - with the brands Cassina, Gufram, NEMO, Alias , cappellini and Gebrüder Thonet Vienna - and Ballantyne Cashmere SpA in 2004; Founder and until October 2012 President of Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori NTV, the first private company for high-speed trains in Italy.

Private

In his first marriage he was married to Sandra Monteleoni, with whom he has the son Matteo. After long partnerships with Barbara Parodi Delfino and the actress and producer Edwige Fenech , he is now married to Ludovica Andreoni, with whom he has two daughters.

Honors

Montezemolo is a holder of the Italian Order of Merit . The President of the French Republic appointed him Knight of the Legion of Honor (Chevalier de la Legion d Honneur) in July 2005 and promoted him to Commander of the Legion of Honor in December 2008. In 2001, The Automobile, the largest US automobile magazine , named him Man of the Year, as did the English magazine Autocar 2002. In 2004, the Financial Times voted him one of the 50 best managers in the world. In 2012 he was named European Manager of the Year by the European Business Press Federation (EBP) . The choice is in recognition of the extraordinary work he has done in transforming the Fiat group over the past 20 years.

Montezemolo is Doctor h. c. in mechanical engineering from the Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio nell'Emilia and in corporate management from the Fondazione CUOA , a renowned business school in Vicenza , in business administration from the Università degli Studi di Genova and in industrial design from the Politecnico di Milano .

Web links

Commons : Luca Cordero di Montezemolo  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Norman Fischer: "Official: Di Montezemolo leaves Ferrari". Motorsport-Total.com, September 10, 2014, accessed September 10, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Coat of arms and history of the Noble of the Marquises of Montezemolo ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Luca di to become President once again
4. ↑ ballantyne.it
5. ^ Luigi Grassia: Montezemolo lascia la presidenza di Ntv. La Stampa, October 24, 2012, accessed October 27, 2012 (Italian). 
6. ↑ . Luca di Montezemolo is ,, Europe Manager of the Year 2012 " (. No longer available online) Auto-Presse.de, June 19, 2012, filed by the original on April 7, 2014 , accessed June 19, 2012 . Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.