Vittorio Colao
Encyclopedia
Vittorio Colao is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 businessman, the current Chief Executive of Vodafone Group.

Biography

The son of an officer in the Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...

, Colao was born in Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...

. After studying business at Bocconi University
Bocconi University
Bocconi University is a private university located in central Milan, beside Parco Ravizza. Bocconi provides undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate education, in addition to a range of double degree programs, in the fields of economics, management, finance and law. According to many university...

 and holding an MBA with Honours from Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...

, he spent time in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 at investment bankers Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....

. Colao joined the Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 office of McKinsey & Co
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...

 in 1986, where as a Partner he worked on media, telecommunications and industrial goods sectors and was responsible for office recruitment
Recruitment
Recruitment refers to the process of attracting, screening, and selecting qualified people for a job. For some components of the recruitment process, mid- and large-size organizations often retain professional recruiters or outsource some of the process to recruitment agencies.The recruitment...

.

In 1996 he joined Omnitel Pronto Italia, rising to Chief Operating Officer before its take over to become Vodafone Italy
Vodafone Italy
Vodafone Italia is an Italian mobile telephony operator. The company has 31,000,000 customers and a market share of 33.4%, placing it just behind TIM...

. He became Regional CEO, Southern Europe in 2001 and joined the main board of Vodafone Group Plc's in 2002. After missing out on the CEO's job, taken by his friend Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin was the CEO of Britain's Vodafone Group plc. On June 29, 2008, he announced his resignation as CEO of Vodafone Group. He is a senior adviser at the private equity firm KKR. He serves on the board of directors of Cisco Systems and Safeway, Inc...

, and having a purchase of a Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n mobile company blocked, Colao left Vodafone for Italian publishing company RCS MediaGroup
RCS MediaGroup
RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. , 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, new media and digital and satellite TV...

, 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 of September 12, rejoining Vodafone on October 9, 2006 as CEO Europe and succeeding Sir Julian Horn-Smith
Julian Horn-Smith
Sir Julian Horn-Smith is a British businessman who is a member of the boards of a number of international corporations. He was formally Deputy Chief Executive of Vodafone Group Plc until July 2006....

 as Deputy-CEO.

Commenting to the Italian press in 2007 that he had no interest in taking the CEO's job at Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most important of which was...

, Colao succeeded Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin was the CEO of Britain's Vodafone Group plc. On June 29, 2008, he announced his resignation as CEO of Vodafone Group. He is a senior adviser at the private equity firm KKR. He serves on the board of directors of Cisco Systems and Safeway, Inc...

 on July 29, 2008. Colao's compensation from Vodafone in 2009 included his annual salary of €932,000, and a bonus of €881,000. Combined with other payments the total was €2,264,000.

Personal

Married in 1992, his wife and two children reside with him in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Colao is a reserve officer in the Carabinieri
Carabinieri
The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...

.

External links

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