Luca di Montezemolo
The Marquis
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo (born
August 31,
1947) is an Italian businessman, president and CEO of
Ferrari, president of
Maserati, and chairman of
FIAT; in addition, he's also president of Italian
Confindustria and of
FIEG.
Born in
Bologna, Montezemolo studied at the
University of Rome La Sapienza, earning a law degree in
1971, and went on to
Columbia University in
New York to earn a master's degree in international trade law in
1973. He drove briefly for the
Lancia rally team, but upon graduating went to work for FIAT. In
1973 FIAT moved him to Ferrari, where he promptly became
Enzo Ferrari's assistant and, in
1974, manager of the
Scuderia. In
1975 Montezemolo was promoted out of Ferrari to be head of all FIAT racing activities, and in
1977 he advanced to become a senior manager of FIAT.
Throughout the
1980s, Montezemolo occupied a number of positions in the FIAT empire, including managing director of the
Cinzano drinks company and director of the
Itedi publishing company. In
1984 he managed the entry of the
Azzurra yacht in the
America's Cup, the first Italian
yacht to enter the event. In
1985, he became manager of the committee which planned and put on the
1990 World Cup Italia.
In
1991, FIAT chairman
Gianni Agnelli made Montezemolo president of Ferrari, which had been struggling since Enzo Ferrari's death; Montezemolo made it his personal goal to win the
Formula One World Constructors Championship once again. During the
1990s di Montezemolo resurrected the Ferrari road car business from heavy debts into solid profit. He also took on the presidency of Maserati when FIAT acquired it in
1997.
Under Montezemolo, the Ferrari Formula One team won the
World Drivers Championship in
2000, for the first time since
1979. The previous year,
1999, they had won the constructorschampionship for the first time since
1983.
On
May 27,
2004, Montezemolo became president of Italian business lobby
Confindustria; days later, following the death of
Umberto Agnelli on
May 28, he was named chairman of
FIAT, Ferrari's mother company. He is also president of FIEG (
Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali) and vice-president of the
Bologna Football Club.
Montezemolo became involved in the controversy surrounding the
2005 United States Grand Prix when, on
June 23,
2005, he condemned the
FIA's requirement that a single set of
tires must last the full length of a race, blaming the circumstances which caused the disastrous race on the new rule rather than on
Michelin, with whom Ferrari had formerly done business. [
1]
He is related to the newly (
2006) created cardinal
Andrea Cardinal Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo.
