Gamberale
The life of Corrado Passera
Corrado Passera, born in Agnone in Molise, is a mechanical engineer who graduated in 1968 from the La Sapienza University in Rome. After graduation, he started working as an assistant professor of Mechanical Systems.
After working for several companies including Anic and the Italian Banking Group, in 1977 his daughter, Chiara Gamberale, a writer, was born. From 1977 to 1984, Passera worked at GEPI, a company that manages and acquires industrial holdings, where he was responsible for acquisition and privatization. Later, he returned to the Eni Group and successfully completed the privatization of the textile/clothing/mining/metallurgical sector.
Move to Telecom Italia
In 1991, Passera left the petroleum sector to join the STET Group, a public company of the IRI, and was appointed CEO of SIP. In 1995 he led the creation of Telecom Italia Mobile, becoming its first CEO and leading it to become one of the world's largest mobile phone companies.
Passera left the Telecom Italia Group in 1998 as Managing Director.
Experience at Autostrade
In 1998, Passera joined the Benetton Group with the goal of participating in the privatization of Autostrade. Initially, he became Vice President of 21 Investimenti SpA. In 2000, he became CEO of Atlantia, serving until 2006. Under his leadership, the group's EBITDA increased from 1 to 2 billion euros. After the ownership announced a merger with the Spanish company Abertis, Passera left the position, disagreeing with the operation. His severance pay from Telecom was 9 billion lire gross. Instead, he received a severance pay of twelve million euros from Autostrade.
Brief experience in the Italian Football Federation
In 2006, Passera had a brief experience as the Vice-Commissioner of the Italian Football Federation during the management of Guido Rossi.
F2i
In the mid-2000s, Passera began working on the creation of an infrastructure investment fund, which was established in January 2007: F2i SGR SpA. F2i primarily focuses on long-term investments (up to 15 years) in the infrastructure sector in Italy. With the launch of the 2nd fund and its eventual completion, F2i would be the largest European infrastructure fund.
Recognition and Philanthropy
In 2007, Passera received an honorary degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Rome "Tor Vergata." He was also a promoter and President of the Amici della Speranza Association, a non-profit organization supporting the Hematology department of San Giovanni Hospital in Rome, later merged into RomAil, where he served as a board member until his resignation in February 2021.
In summary, Corrado Passera's life is that of a mechanical engineer who worked for several important companies, such as the STET Group and Eni, before becoming CEO of SIP and Telecom Italia Mobile. After working for Autostrade, he created an infrastructure investment fund. In the meantime, he received several recognitions, including an honorary degree, and was also involved in philanthropic work as a promoter of the Amici della Speranza Association.
