About Speaker Franco Bernabè…
Franco Bernabè was appointed CEO of Telecom Italia on 3 December 2007.
After earning his degree with honours in Economics and Political Science at the University of Turin in 1973, Mr Bernabè worked for two years as a post-graduate fellow at the Einaudi Foundation. He began his professional career in 1976 as a Senior Economist at the OECD Department of Economics and Statistics in Paris. In 1978 he joined the Planning Department of Fiat as Chief Economist.
In 1983 Mr Bernabè joined Eni as an Assistant to the Chairman and became subsequently the Head of Corporate Planning, Financial Control and Corporate Development. From 1992 – 98 he was CEO of Eni. During his two terms, he achieved the turnaround of the company and its successful privatisation bringing Eni to be one of the largest oil companies by market capitalisation worldwide.
In November 1998 Mr Bernabè became CEO of Telecom Italia, a position he retained until 1999, when he left following the takeover of the company by Olivetti. At the end of 1999 he founded FB Group, an investment company active in the areas of financial advisory, ICT and renewable energy. In 2004, following the merger of the financial advisory activities of FB Group with the Rothschild Group, he was appointed as Vice Chairman of Rothschild Europe.
Mr Bernabè has also served pro bono on different public assignments: in 1999 he was appointed by the Italian Prime Minister as a special representative of the Italian Government for the reconstruction of Kosovo; between 2001-03 he was the Chairman of La Biennale di Venezia; and since 2004 he has been the Chairman of Mart, the foremost Italian museum of modern art.
Mr Bernabè has served on the Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, and currently serves on the Board of the Peres Center for Peace, on the Advisory Board of the Observatoire Méditérranéen de l’Énergie, and on the Board of PetroChina. He also served on the boards of several listed companies including, among others, Fiat and TNT.