Italo Andres Zanzi (born May 18, 1974 in New York) is a senior executive, attorney and entrepreneur with extensive experience building and optimizing sports, media and technology businesses worldwide.
He is currently Chief Operating Officer of droppTV, the industry-leading operating system for “shopatainment", which brings together content, streaming entertainment and commerce.
He is also Co-Founder of TrustyLux, an innovative luxury business that delivers value based on its core principles: authenticity, reliability and efficiency.
Previously, Zanzi was Chief Commercial Officer, Americas at DT One, a leading global B2B mobitech solutions provider for mobile data/airtime transfers with a network of 1000+ telco, digital & financial partners across 160 countries.
Between 2016 and 2019, he served as Executive Vice President & Managing Director,
Sports for Asia Pacific & the Middle East in Singapore. In this role, Zanzi was responsible for all aspects of the
FOX Sports Network
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
, including production, acquisitions, digital platforms, sales and marketing across the region, stretching from Japan to Dubai.
Zanzi joined FOX from Italian
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...
football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
A.S. Roma
' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...
where he was CEO for three and a half years, overseeing all aspects of the club's operations and business. His tenure at Roma was marked by financial improvements and competitive success for the club, including two-second place finishes in Serie A and qualification to the knock-out stage of the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
in 2015-16.
Before moving to Italy, Zanzi worked on behalf of the
America's Cup Event Authority overseeing media rights sales and future event planning. Until October 2011, Zanzi served as Deputy General Secretary of
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
. In this capacity, Zanzi oversaw the Confederation's revenue generating activities, including the
CONCACAF Champions League
The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...
and
Gold Cup, as well as its communications and marketing. He also represented the Confederation on
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
's Committee for Fair Play and Social Responsibility and Media Committee.
Until November 2007, Zanzi served as Vice President for International Broadcast Sales & Latin American and United States Hispanic Marketing for
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
. In this capacity, Zanzi managed three of Major League Baseball's business functions - international television and radio sales, Latin American marketing and sponsorship, and United States Hispanic marketing initiatives.
While at MLB, Zanzi negotiated numerous seven-figure media rights agreements in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
,
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 ...
,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and
Oceania
Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
. Zanzi also played a pivotal role in the organization of the inaugural
World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic (WBC) is an international baseball tournament sanctioned from 2006 to 2013 by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and after 2013 by World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) in partnership with Major Leagu ...
in 2006. In addition to overseeing media sales for the event, Zanzi served as the principal liaison to the Latin American baseball federations and managed operations of the
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...
venue.
Italo Zanzi was the Republican candidate for
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
in 2006 in New York's 1st Congressional District (Eastern
Suffolk County). Zanzi earned 38% of the vote against a two-term incumbent, the most of any Republican challenger in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and 7th highest nationwide. Zanzi won the endorsement from Suffolk Life, the most widely distributed newspaper in Suffolk County, which wrote, "Zanzi's outlook and enthusiasm are refreshing. He has kept a close eye on the issues that affect the people in the 1st Congressional District, and already has formulated some plans to address these issues. We are confident that if given the chance, Zanzi could effect some real change in government". Zanzi was also praised by Newsday, who while endorsing his opponent, wrote, "Republican challenger Italo Zanzi, 32, is not one to go unnoticed. Zanzi has panache, a top-flight education - including a law degree and a master's in business administration - and a glamour job...". "Zanzi has tremendous potential. Down the road there should be a place for a bright, energetic man like him in public life."
Italo Zanzi was a goalkeeper for the
U.S. national handball team from 1997 to 2007. He competed in 75 international matches and won a Bronze medal at the 2003
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...
. At the 2003 Pan Am Games, Zanzi had strong performances against Argentina and Brazil and played a pivotal role in the USA's victories over Mexico (21 saves) and Uruguay in the bronze medal game. He was named the
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee for the United States. It was founded in 1895 as the United States Olympic Committee, and is headquartered in Col ...
's Team Handball Athlete of the Year in 2000, 2002, and 2004. Before being introduced to team handball in 1996 after the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Zanzi was an accomplished soccer player. He played for the University of Chicago where he was named Most Valuable Player in 1995 and later spent a pre-season with the professional soccer team Club Deportivo Lo Barnechea in Chile. He also served as Assistant Coach for the Emory University men's soccer team from 1996 to 1999. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for South Bronx United, a youth soccer program in New York.
Zanzi received El Diaro's "EL Award" in 2005 which is awarded to top Hispanics in business, politics, and entertainment.
[EL DIARIO La Prensa 11/6/05] He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
in 1996, and Juris Doctor and MBA from
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
in 1999.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zanzi
1974 births
American politicians of Italian descent
Living people
People from Port Washington, New York
University of Chicago alumni
American chief executives of professional sports organizations
Goizueta Business School alumni
Emory University School of Law alumni
New York (state) Republicans