Paolo Rocca (born 1952) is an Argentine-Italian businessman,

CEO 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 ...

of the

Techint Techint is an Argentine conglomerate founded in Milan in 1945 by Italian industrialist Agostino Rocca and headquartered in Milan (Italy) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). As of 2019 the Techint Group is composed of six main companies in the following ...

Group, which holds

Tenaris Tenaris S.A. is a global manufacturer and supplier of steel pipes and related services, primarily for the energy industry with nearly 23,000 employees around the world. It is a majority-owned subsidiary company of the Techint Group, which ha ...

Ternium Ternium S.A. is a manufacturer of flat and long steel products with production centers in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, and the United States. It is the leading steel company in Latin America with highly integrated processes to m ...

and other companies that operate in the

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

and energy sectors. He is also chairman and CEO of Tenaris, and chairman of Ternium.

Early life

Paolo Rocca was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy, in 1952. He is the son of Roberto Rocca, who was Honorary Chairman of Techint, and grandson of

Agostino Rocca Agostino Rocca (1895 – 17 February 1978) was an Italian Argentines, Italo-Argentine businessman. Life and times Agostino Rocca was born in 1895 in Milan. His family relocated to Rome early in his childhood, and he completed secondary school stu ...

, founder of this industrial group. Paolo Rocca earned a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from the

Università degli Studi di Milano The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

. In 1985 he pursued an MBA in

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

Career

After having served as assistant to the executive director of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, in 1985 Paolo Rocca began his career at Techint Group as assistant to the chairman of the board of directors. In 1990 he assumed as executive vice-president of Siderca.

Techint

Since 2002, he is the CEO of

and Techint. In addition, he is chairman of the board of directors of Tamsa and of the board of directors of Ternium, and director of the Techint Financial Corporation. Rocca led Techint in a series of acquisitions in Latin America and the world, which led to the development of operations in more than 20 countries.

Notebook scandal

In November 2018, Rocca was indicted by the Argentine judge overseeing an investigation into the so-called notebook scandal as part of a graft case. The charges resulted from testimony that a company executive had paid bribes to speed up the compensation to Rocca's group that resulted from the nationalization of SIDOR by the Venezuelan government. In April 2019, the Argentine court of appeals dropped all the charges against Rocca, clearing him.

Boards and awards

Paolo Rocca is a member of the executive committee of the

World Steel Association World Steel Association, often abbreviated as worldsteel, is the international trade body for the iron and steel industry. The association is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world, with members in every major stee ...

and was the chairman of this association during the 2009–2010 period. He was a member of the International Advisory Committee of

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

, and of the advisory board of the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...

(IDB) private sector. In 2004 within the "Argentina-México: Visión y Perspectivas” forum, he was awarded with the Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca. In 2008 he was recognized by

Fundación Konex Konex Foundation (''Fundación Konex'')is an Argentine cultural non-profit organization created in 1980 ''to promote, stimulate, help, and participate in any form of cultural, educational, intellectual, artistic, social, philanthropic, scientific ...

with the “2008 Platinum Konex Prize: Industry businessmen”; and in 2011 he was chosen “Steelmaker of the Year” by the Association of Iron and Steel Technology (AIST). In 2013 the Columbia Business School honored Paolo Rocca with the "Deming Cup" in recognition to the impact of his leadership on Tenaris's competitiveness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocca, Paolo 1952 births Living people Businesspeople from Milan Argentine businesspeople University of Milan alumni Harvard Business School alumni Italian billionaires Argentine billionaires Techint Italian emigrants to Argentina