Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was at the helm of the legendary sports car manufacturer Ferrari for 23 years. During his tenure, the struggling carmaker became the world’s most prestigious luxury sports car brand. His era shaped the corporation like no other since that of company founder Enzo Ferrari. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is an iconic figure of Italy’s economy.
Montezemolo (born in 1947) is the youngest son of a Piedmontese aristocrat. He studied law at La Sapienza University in Rome, graduating, summa cum laude, in 1971. He began his professional career in Rome, before moving to a law firm in New York in 1972, where he also attended lectures in international commercial law at Columbia University.
In 1973, he began his career at Ferrari as a personal assistant to Enzo Ferrari. The following year, he was appointed manager of the Scuderia, Ferrari’s racing team division. After initial success, he was promoted to head of all racing activities at the parent company FIAT in 1975. He went on to achieve great success, celebrating numerous championship titles with drivers such as Niki Lauda among others. During the 1980s, Luca di Montezemolo held a number of posts within the FIAT empire and also headed the organizing committee of the 1990 Football World Cup. He returned to Ferrari as Chairman in 1991. Three years after the death of Enzo Ferrari, the company was in the thick of an economic and sporting crisis.
Under Montezemolo’s leadership, Ferrari quickly returned to being a profitable manufacturer of luxury sports cars.
In 1996, he was instrumental in signing the reigning Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher to Ferrari, and the Scuderia went on to celebrate enormous success in the following years. Kimi Raikkonen won the drivers’ title for Ferrari in 2007. These achievements propelled Montezemolo’s career to further heights – between 2004 and 2010, he concurrently held the position of Chairman at Ferrari’s parent company FIAT. After leaving Ferrari, he became Chairman of the Italian flag carrier and national airline Alitalia in autumn 2014.
Luca Cordero di Montezemolo is the founder of an investment fund and the mastermind behind the Italo high-speed train. He is also politically active, supporting with his “Italia Futura” initiative the former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Montezemolo is a member of the Management Board at the footwear manufacturer Tod’s and the newspaper La Stampa.
Topics:
- Leadership and Motivation
- Auto Industry and Motorsports
- Transformation
- The Future of Mobility
- Risk and Safety