Vittorio Amedeo Colao (born 3 October 1961) is an Italian manager who has been serving as
Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition in the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
of
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Mario Draghi
Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian economist, academic, banker and civil servant who served as prime minister of Italy from February 2021 to October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he served as President of ...
from 2021 to 2022. From 2008 until 2018, he was the chief executive officer at
Vodafone Group
Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vodafon ...
.
Early life
The son of an officer in the
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
, Colao was born in
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...
.
He received a business degree from
Bocconi University
Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and computer sci ...
and an MBA from the
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 in the private sector
Colao started his career at
investment bank
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort.
In finance, the purpose of investing is ...
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
in London.
He joined the
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 ...
office of
McKinsey & Co
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...
in 1986, where as a Partner he worked on media, telecommunications and industrial goods sectors and was responsible for office recruitment.
In 1996 Colao joined
Omnitel Pronto Italia, rising to chief operating officer before its take over to become
Vodafone Italy
Vodafone Italia S.p.A. (formerly Vodafone Omnitel N.V.) is an Italian telephone company, subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc. It has 30,153,000 mobile phone customers and 3,182,000 fixed phone lines, with respectively a market share of 28.5% and ...
. He became regional CEO, Southern Europe in 2001 and joined the main board in 2002. After missing out on the CEO's job, taken by his friend
Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin (born 21 October 1954) is an Indian-American telecommunications executive.
Sarin was the former CEO of the telecom giant Vodafone, serving from 2003 until 2008. He drove the integration of Vodafone, Airtouch and Mannesman. He was al ...
, and having a purchase of a Bulgarian mobile company blocked, he left Vodafone for Italian publishing company
RCS MediaGroup
RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. (formerly Rizzoli-Corriere della Sera), based in Milan and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, is an international multimedia publishing group that operates in daily newspapers, magazines and books, radio broadcasting, ne ...
, where he became CEO in July 2004.
After shareholder criticism of the publishing group's strategy and governance, he resigned from RCS MediaGroup following the company's board meeting in September, rejoining Vodafone in October 2006 as CEO Europe and succeeding
Sir Julian Horn-Smith
Sir Julian Michael Horn-Smith (born December 1948) is a British businessman who is a member of the boards of a number of international corporations and an advisor to others. He was deputy chief executive of Vodafone until July 2006.
Horn-Smith ...
as deputy CEO.
Commenting to the Italian press in 2007 that he had no interest in taking the CEO's job at
Telecom Italia
Gruppo TIM, legally TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.), also known as the TIM Group in English, is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples, (with the Telecom Italia Tower) which provides fixe ...
, Colao succeeded Vodafone CEO
Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin (born 21 October 1954) is an Indian-American telecommunications executive.
Sarin was the former CEO of the telecom giant Vodafone, serving from 2003 until 2008. He drove the integration of Vodafone, Airtouch and Mannesman. He was al ...
on 29 July 2008.
[.] During his time in office, Vodafone sold out of the United States with a $130 billion exit from a joint venture with
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
and bought the German and eastern European cable networks of
Liberty Global
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
for $18 billion (turning Vodafone into Europe's largest broadband provider).
In May 2018, Colao announced that he would step down as Vodafone CEO effective October 2018, and was succeeded by the finance director
Nick Read
Nicholas Jonathan Read (born 1964) is a British businessman. He was the CEO of Vodafone from October 2018 to December 2022.
Education
Read earned a degree in accounting and finance from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1986. He is a Fello ...
. In July 2019, he became a special adviser of
General Atlantic
General Atlantic (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in New York, United States. The firm was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team for ...
.
Political career
In April 2020, Colao was appointed by the Italian government led by
Giuseppe Conte
Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...
as the leader of a special task force to handle the 'Phase 2' of the emergency for the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. He submitted a proposed plan in June 2020 that was largely ignored by the government.
In February 2021, he was appointed Minister of Technological Innovation and Digital Transition in Mario Draghi's government.
Other activities
Corporate boards
*
General Atlantic
General Atlantic (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in New York, United States. The firm was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team for ...
, Senior Advisor (since 2019)
*
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
, Member of the Board of Directors (since 2019)
*
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
, Non-Executive Member of the Board of Directors (since 2015)
Non-profit organizations
*
Bocconi University
Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and computer sci ...
, Member of the International Advisory Council
*
European Round Table of Industrialists The European Round Table of Industrialists, abbreviated ERT, is an advocacy group in the European Union consisting of some 50 European industrial leaders working to strengthen competitiveness in Europe. The group works at both national and European ...
(ERT), Member
Personal life
Colao has been married since 1992. His wife and two children reside with him in South Kensington, Greater London.
The MT Interview: Vittorio Colao of Vodafone, managementtoday.co.uk
/ref> Colao is a reserve officer in the Carabinieri
The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign polic ...
.
References
External links
Bio at Forbes.com
Bio at Bloomberg.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colao, Vittoro Amedeo
1961 births
Draghi Cabinet
Living people
Businesspeople from Brescia
Bocconi University alumni
Harvard Business School alumni
Vodafone people
McKinsey & Company people