Gianfelice Rocca

Gianfelice Rocca
Born	(1948-03-02) 2 March 1948 Milan, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Alma mater	University of Milan Harvard Business School
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Chairman of the Techint Group
Parent	Roberto Rocca
Relatives	Agostino Rocca (grandfather) Paolo Rocca (brother)

Gianfelice Rocca (born March 2, 1948) is an Italian billionaire businessman. He is chairman of the Techint Group and Istituto Clinico Humanitas.

Education

Rocca has a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Milan, and an PMD from the Harvard Business School in Boston.

Career

Rocca joined the Techint Group in 1974. In 1980, at the age of 32, he was appointed head of corporate activities in Italy, Europe and Mexico. He has been chairman of the Techint Group since 1997.

The Techint Group consists of: Tenaris, Ternium, Techint Engineering & Construction, Tenova, Tecpetrol and Humanitas. In 2014 the Group had a workforce of 58,500 people and reported revenues of US$25 billion.

Under Rocca's leadership, the Techint Group has significantly expanded the operations of the companies that report to the Milan HQ (Techint E&C, Tenova and Humanitas).

In the 1990s, in Rozzano (Milan), Rocca founded the Istituto Clinico Humanitas, today one of Europe’s most important hospitals with an international research and teaching center. The creation of the Humanitas Clinic marked the start of a new business in the Healthcare sector, which has since grown through the acquisition of a number of other important hospitals in Italy, coordinated by the Humanitas S.p.A. company. In 2010, through an agreement with the Università degli Studi di Milano, an International Medical School was instituted at the Istituto Clinico Humanitas in Rozzano offering an English-language degree course in Medicine and Surgery.

Humanitas and Tenova have both become Harvard University management case studies.

In July 2014, Humanitas University was founded dedicated to life sciences, and closely related to the IRCCS Istituto Clinico Humanitas, of which Rocca is president.

Appointments

Since June 2013, Rocca has been president of Assolombarda, the largest territorial association of the entire entrepreneurial system in Italy which groups about 5.100 firms located in Lombardy region and is part of Confindustria (Italian employers' organization). From May 2004 to May 2012 Gianfelice Rocca was Vice President for Education of Confindustria, the leading association of Italian industrialists. He is chairman of the Board of IIT, the Italian Institute of Technology, Member of the EIT Governing Board, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and a member of the Scientific Committee of the “Politecnico di Milano” Foundation. Since November 2014 he is a member of the board of administration of the Bocconi University. In Italy, he is a member of the boards of Allianz, Brembo, Buzzi Unicem. At international level, he is a member of the Trilateral Commission, the European Advisory Board of Harvard Business School, the Executive Committee of Aspen Institute and the Allianz Group Advisory Board.

Social activities

He is chairman of the Rocca Foundation, a body active in a number of social and educational projects around the world. In 2005, in memory of Rocca’s father, the foundation announced the “Progetto Roberto Rocca”, an innovative agreement between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Milan Politecnico to promote cooperation between the two distinguished universities through exchanges of graduate students and post-doctorate researchers in Italy and the US.

Honors

In 2007 Rocca was made a Cavaliere del Lavoro and in 2009 he was awarded an honorary degree in Management Engineering by Milan Politecnico. In 2010 the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, presented Rocca with the 2009 Leonardo Award for his contribution to enhancing Italy’s international standing in steelmaking, energy and infrastructure.

Other interests

A keen yachtsman and mountaineer, in 1970 Rocca took part in the expedition organized by the “Ragni di Lecco” mountaineering group to explore the Cerro Torre in Patagonia, regarded as one of the world’s most inaccessible peaks. The experience prepared the ground for the conquest of the Cerro Torre by the “Ragni di Lecco” in 1974 and was the start of Gianfelice Rocca’s long-standing association with the group. In 2007 plans were organized for the ascent of an unexplored face of the Cerro Piergiorgio in Patagonia, in memory of Agostino Rocca, Gianfelice and Paolo Rocca’s brother, who had died in 2001. In 2008 mountaineers Christian Brenna and Hervé Barmasse became the first to climb the north face of the Piergiorgio, dedicating their ascent to Agostino Rocca by calling it La Routa de l'Hermano. In 2011 Gianfelice Rocca became an honorary member of the “Ragni di Lecco” mountaineering group.

Personal life

Rocca lives in Milan, is married and has two children.