Alessandro Profumo, known for having served as CEO of Leonardo S.p.A. (formerly Finmeccanica), is an Italian business executive known for his contributions to the banking and defense industries. Profumo began his career as a consultant at

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

and

Bain & Company Bain & Company is an American management consulting company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm provides advice to public, private, and nonprofit organizations. One of the Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three management co ...

. As a CEO of

Unicredit UniCredit S.p.A. (formerly UniCredito Italiano S.p.A.) is an Italian multinational banking group headquartered in Milan. It is a systemically important bank (according to the list provided by the Financial Stability Board in 2022) and the world' ...

, he played a pivotal role in the bank's expansion through mergers with

HypoVereinsbank HypoVereinsbank (HVB), legally registered since late 2008 as UniCredit Bank GmbH, is a significant bank in Germany headquartered in Munich. It has been part of the Milan-based UniCredit group since 2005, and fully owned by it since 2008. As a ...

, Bank Austria Creditanstalt, and

Capitalia Capitalia was an Italian banking group headquartered in Rome, in existence between 2002 and 2008. The bank was a listed company in Borsa Italiana (Milan Stock Exchange). The bank was acquired by UniCredit by issuing new shares of UniCredit for sh ...

, which significantly increased the institution's international presence. He resigned from this role on 21 September 2010.

Early life and education

Born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on 17 February 1957, Profumo was the youngest of five children. He grew up in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, and later moved to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

with his family in 1970, where he attended Liceo Manzoni. He later enrolled at

Bocconi University Bocconi University or Università Bocconi (formally known in Italian language, Italian as ''Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi'' – Luigi Bocconi Commercial University) is a private university in Milan, Italy. The university is consistently ...

but initially left to support his family, taking a position at Banco Lariano. He completed his degree in Business Economics in 1987.

Professional career

Profumo began his tenure as CEO of UniCredit in 1998, a period marked by significant organizational growth and structural changes. In 2005, he was appointed chairman of the supervisory board of HypoVereinsbank (HVB). In April 2012, Profumo became chairman of the Italian bank

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (), known as BMPS or just MPS, is an Italian bank. Tracing its history to a mount of piety founded in 1472 () and established in its present form in 1624 (), it is the world's List of oldest banks, oldest ...

. In 2015, he was acquitted in the Brontos case, a tax fraud case involving UniCredit and Barclays, as the judge ruled that "the fact did not exist". In 2017, he was appointed CEO of Leonardo S.p.A., an Italian multinational specializing in aerospace, defense, and security.

Honors and recognition

* 2004: Knight of the

Order of Merit for Labour The Order of Merit for Labour () is an Italian order of chivalry that was founded in 1923 by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III. It is awarded to those "who have been singularly meritorious" in agriculture, industry and co ...

("Cavaliere al Merito del Lavoro") of the Italian Republic, awarded by President

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician, statesman and banker who was the President of Italy from 1999 to 2006 and the Prime Minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994. A World War II veteran, C ...

* 2019: Recognized as Best CEO in the Defense Industry by ''Business Worldwide Magazine''

Personal life

In 1977, Profumo married Sabina Ratti, and they have one son, Marco, born the same year.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Profumo, Alessandro 1957 births Bocconi University alumni Businesspeople from Genoa Italian male writers Living people McKinsey & Company people Italian people convicted of tax crimes Harvard Business School people