Anthony Di Pietro (born 15 February 1969) is a

businessman A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...

from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Di Pietro is most known for his current and longest standing chairmanship of

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

. Alongside sport, Di Pietro is also the

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and a board member of industry leading fruit & vegetable producers and marketers,

Premier Fresh Australia The Premier Fresh Australia is an Australia-based fresh fruits and vegetables supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to cus ...

Early life and education

Di Pietro is a

University of Melbourne alumni A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

holding a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanmar, ...

degree and has delivered the occasional address to the graduating students in the university's Business and Economics faculty.

Agribusiness

Di Pietro is Group CEO of

. The company's farming and marketing enterprises cover all major Australian markets. It has farming operations in Queensland, the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, and Goulburn Valley

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Di Pietro voiced his advocacy for an 'Australian-led Asian food boom' and was a key participant in the Victorian Government's 2013 Food Trade initiatives into

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Melbourne Victory FC

Melbourne Victory Chairman Anthony Di Pietro with Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat

Di Pietro was appointed to the Board of Melbourne Victory FC in 2006 during its formative years and became chairman in January 2011. Di Pietro oversaw a number of key achievements, including 2017–18 Championship, making Melbourne Victory FC one of the most successful clubs in A-League history, having won three Premiership and four Championship titles, as well as winning the Australia Cup titles in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. Di Pietro oversaw the visit of English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

heavyweight

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

to Melbourne in July 2013. The game attracted a record crowd for a football (soccer) match of 95,446 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In April 2021, Di Pietro announced

Asian Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

winning coach

Tony Popovic Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of A-League club Melbourne Victory. As a player Popovic's usual position was centre-back. Starting in 1989 at Sydney Unit ...

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

head coach. In July 2022 Melbourne Victory FC signed Luis Nani, an ex-Manchester United star player on a 2-year deal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Pietro, Anthony 1969 births Living people A-League Men executives Businesspeople from Melbourne Australian people of Italian descent Australian chief executives University of Melbourne alumni Australian people of Calabrian descent Australian soccer chairmen and investors Australian corporate directors Melbourne Victory FC chairmen Founders of association football institutions Directors of Melbourne Victory FC