Bernardo Gandolfo
By : Greg Goodale
Bernardo Gandolfo, 54, who was born in the northern Italian port city of Genoa, studied economics at Rome University. After graduating in 1971, he joined U.S. oil giant Mobil Oil Italiana, where he stayed for the next 11 years. Despite his degree, Gandolfo started working in the companys IT department, where, he said, computing jobs were still open to non-specialists. After six years, he was promoted to organization-system analyst, and toward the end of his tenure with Mobil he was asked to head up the department.
Gandolfo said his reason for leaving Mobil in 1985 goes hand-in-hand with his belief that everyone needs change to develop professionally. The move to Italian automaker, Fiat, rekindled his interest in IT systems, only this time on a continental scale. Fiats component company, Magneti Marelli, had acquired a number of smaller manufacturers in Europe, including the U.K.s Lukas, whose IT-system integration Gandolfo supervised. In 1991 he moved to Fiats headquarters in Turin to work for Fidis, a subsidiary that controls Fiat Bank and Fiat Finance, where he led a project to integrate Fiats worldwide financial IT systems. After that success, the company asked Gandolfo to make the leap from IT to finance. He accepted, and in 1998 his new post took him to Madrid, where he helped transform Fiat Finance from a joint venture with Banco Central Espanol into an independent entity. Last month, he transferred to Poland to kick start the growth of Fiat Bank Polska and Fiat Finance Polska.
Past notes:
1971 Graduated with an economics degree from Rome University
1974 Joined the IT department of Mobil Oil
1985 IT manager at Fiat
1998 Chairman of Fiat Finance Spain
2001 Chairman of Fiat Finance Poland
Word of advice:
I dont think theres a magic formula (for success). Its an accumulation of experience, respect for your colleagues and the teams you set up and optimizing and utilizing the capabilities of your company.
