Alessandro Profumo

Alessandro Profumo is an Italian manager who had significant influence in the consolidation of the Italian banking sector. As a representative of the share holder value based management approach he is considered to be ambitious. He was Partner at the McKinsey consultancy and was involved in the merger of HypoVereinsbank, Bank Austria Creditanstalt and Capitalia with the UniCredit Group. He is the current CEO of the Unicredit Group.

Childhood and Youth

Alessandro Profumo was born in Genoa on February 17th, 1957 as the youngest of five children. He grew up in Palermo; 1970 he moved to Milano with his parents where he went to the Liceo Manzoni and met his wife Sabina Ratti – they were in the same class.

Studies, Family and Beginning of Professional life

After finishing highschool, Profumo enrolled in the Business University Luigi Bocconi to study business administration.

In 1977, he married Sabina, and his only son Marco was born the same year. Profumo dropped out of college and started his professional career at Banco Lariano – his initial salary amounted to 377,000 Italian Lire. Within ten years he climbed up the job ladder and became branch manager. In 1987, Profumo finished his studies in business administration in a few months – writing his thesis during the nights. By December of the same year he joined McKinsey, where he acted as a consultant to financial institutions.

Professional Development

1989 Profumo changes to the Bain, Cuneo & Associati consultancy. 1991 he left the consultant path and was appointed to General Manager of the banking and financial sector at RAS, Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà. 1994 he becomes Deputy General Manager of Credito Italiano was responsible for strategy and controlling. 1995 he was appointed to Chief General Manager. On 29. April 1997 the UniCredit group was formed of which Profumo became Chief Executive Officer.

Current Activities

Since 1998 when UniCredit Group arose from “Credito Italiano” he acted as its CEO. By December 2005 he was appointed to chairman of the supervisory board of HVB.

Alessandro Profumo’s activities by the end of 2006 included:

• Member of the supervisory board of Deutschen Börse in Frankfurt am Main
• Director of Mediobanca in Italy

Member of international organisations:

• European Financial Services Round Table, London
• Steering Committee of The Group of Thirty in New York
• Italian group of Trilateral Commission
• Investment Advisory Council for Turkey in Istanbul
• Management Committee of the Harvard Business School European Advisory Board in Boston
• Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation and AIRC, the Italian association for cancer research.

Publications

Alessandro Profumo has written several articles and studies. In 2003 he published together with Giovanni Moro the book „Plus Valori“, addressing the „social responsibility of companies“

Honours

2004 Alessandro Profumo was invested as Cavaliere al Merito del Lavoro of the Repubblica Italiana. Only a few economic personalities have received this award so far.

Sources

• Stern
• BA-CA Webseite
• Il profumo dei soldi, L'Espresso vom 5. Juni 2008
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