Corrado Passera (born 30 December 1954 in Como, Italy) is an
Italian manager and banker who has held numerous executive-level positions in various industrial and financial sectors and served as
minister of economic development and
infrastructure and transport in the
Mario Monti
Mario Monti, (born 19 March 1943) is an Italian economist and academic who served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a technocratic government in the wake of the Italian debt crisis.
Monti served as a European Commissi ...
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
. He is a member of Spencer Stuart's Industrial Chain practices.
Biography
Corrado Passera was born into a family of entrepreneurs. He graduated 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 comput ...
and from the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...
in 1980 with a Master in
Business Administration.
He began his professional career in 1980 at
McKinsey
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 ...
where he remained for five years. Shortly thereafter, he embarked on a long working relationship with the
Carlo De Benedetti
Carlo De Benedetti (born 14 November 1934) ''"Sfide perse e vinte: Repubblica-Mondadori"'', ''Gazzetta di Mantova'', 10 March 1998, webpage is an Italian industrialist, engineer, and publisher. He is both an Italian and naturalized Swiss citiz ...
Group, initially at ''Cir'', the group's holding company where he served as general manager until 1990. In 1991, he became general manager of
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy.
History
The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In ...
and, subsequently, of
Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale S.p.A., formerly known as Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso S.p.A. is an Italian media conglomerate. Founded in 1955, it is based in Turin, Italy.
History
In 2009, the group L'Espresso created an online advertising consortium ...
. Continuing his working relationship with the Cir Group, Passera served as co-managing director of the
Olivetti
Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been pa ...
Group from September 1992 to July 1996, a period when the
IT company expanded into telecommunications with the creation of
Omnitel and
Infostrada.
In 1996, he was appointed managing director and general manager of
Banco Ambrosiano Veneto, where he carried out the first major banking consolidation deal with Cariplo.
In 1998, he became the managing director of the Italian postal system,
Poste Italiane. Under his direction, Poste Italiane was restructured and relaunched with new business models, and the entry into financial services through the creation of BancoPosta. In 2002, the company recorded its first operating profit.
During the same year, Passera left his position at Poste Italiane as he was called to cover the role of managing director at
Banca Intesa. In his new position, he drew up a business plan that included key strategic objectives such as the recovery of efficiency, the reorganisation of the business, cost reduction, the restructuring of products and the revival of the bank's image, a process that was completed in 2005. In 2006, Passera was one of the main proponents who helped to carve out a process that ultimately led to the merger of Banca Intesa and
Sanpaolo IMI, and the ensuing creation of
Intesa Sanpaolo. On 16 November 2011, Passera left his position as
Intesa Sanpaolo Group's Managing Director and CEO to serve as minister of economic development, infrastructure and transport. His term as minister ended on 28 April 2013 and Maurizio Lupi succeeded him in the post.
Other roles
* Member of the board of directors of Bocconi University
* Member of the board of directors of the Fondazione
Teatro alla Scala
La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
* Director and member of the executive committee of the Italian Banking Association
* Member of the International Advisory Board of The Wharton School
* Member of the board of governors of the Cini Foundation in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
* Member of the board of governors of the Geneva
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
's International Business Council
Honours

Knight of the
Order of Merit for Labour: 1 June 2006, appointed by the
President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano
Giorgio Napolitano (; born 29 June 1925) is an Italian politician who served as president of Italy from 2006 to 2015, the first Italian president to be re-elected to the presidency. Due to his dominant position in Italian politics, some critics ...
.
Quirinale.it
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Passera, Corrado
1954 births
Living people
People from Como
Bocconi University alumni
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni
Italian bankers
Italian chief executives
Transport ministers of Italy
Government ministers of Italy
McKinsey & Company people