Vittorio Colao

Vittorio Colao
Born (1961-10-03) 3 October 1961
Brescia, Italy
Residence United Kingdom
Nationality Italian
Education Bocconi University
Harvard University
Known for Omnitel Pronto Italia COO
RCS MediaGroup CEO
Vodafone CEO
Salary £8,927,000 (2014, total compensation)[1]
Title CEO, Vodafone
Term July 2008 - October 2018
Predecessor Arun Sarin
Successor Nick Read
Spouse(s) Married 1992
Children 2
Website Bio at Vodafone

Vittorio Amedeo Colao (born 3 October 1961) is an Italian businessman, chief executive officer at Vodafone Group.[2]

Early life

The son of an officer in the Carabinieri, he was born in Brescia.[3] He received a business degree from Bocconi University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.[4]

Career

He started his career at investment bank Morgan Stanley in London.[5] He joined the Milan office of McKinsey & Co in 1986, where as a Partner he worked on media, telecommunications and industrial goods sectors and was responsible for office recruitment.[6]

In 1996 he joined Omnitel Pronto Italia, rising to chief operating officer before its take over to become Vodafone Italy. 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, and having a purchase of a Bulgarian mobile company blocked, he left Vodafone for Italian publishing company RCS MediaGroup, where he became CEO in July 2004.[5][6]

After shareholder criticism of the publishing group's strategy and governance, he resigned from RCS MediaGroup following the company's board meeting in September,[7] rejoining Vodafone in October 2006 as CEO Europe and succeeding Sir Julian Horn-Smith as deputy CEO.[8]

Commenting to the Italian press in 2007 that he had no interest in taking the CEO's job at Telecom Italia,[9] Colao succeeded Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin on 29 July 2008.[2]

In 2015, he was appointed as a non-executive director of Unilever.[10]

In May 2018, he announced that he would step down as Vodafone CEO effective October 2018, and will be succeeded by the finance director Nick Read.[11]

Personal life

Married in 1992, his wife and two children reside with him in England.[5] Colao is a reserve officer in the Carabinieri.[3][5]

References

  1. "Executive Profile: Vittorio A. Colao". Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Vodafone Announces New Chief Executive". Vodafone. 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2008-05-27. .
  3. 1 2 Wearden, Graeme (2008-05-27). "Vittorio Colao: from Brescia to the top of Vodafone". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  4. "Vittorio Colao". 1 December 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Lindsay, Robert (2008-05-27). "Who is Colao?". London: The Times. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  6. 1 2 "Vittorio Colao (86-96 MIL) New CEO of RCS MediaGroup". McKinsey & Co. 2004-06-23. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  7. "RCS CEO resigns after shareholder criticisms". Forbes/AFX News. 2006-07-21. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  8. "Vodafone Names Vittorio Colao European Region Ceo". Dow Jones. 2006-09-06. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  9. Blackden, Richard (2008-05-27). "Vittorio Colao fends off Vodafone competition". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  10. "Vittorio Colao". Unilever global company website. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  11. "Vodafone boss Vittorio Colao to step down". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-05-16.


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