Flavio Cattaneo

Overview

Flavio Cattaneo Cavaliere del Lavoro
Born	(1963-06-27) June 27, 1963 Rho, Lombardy, Italy
Citizenship	Italian
Education	Architecture
Alma mater	Polytechnic University of Milan; SDA Bocconi School of Management
Occupation	Business executive
Employer	Enel S.p.A.
Known for	Corporate turnarounds in energy, transport, telecoms, and transport
Title	Chief executive officer and general manager
Term	2023–present
Predecessor	Francesco Starace
Board member of	Assicurazioni Generali; Enel Foundation
Spouse(s)	Cristina Goi (div.); Sabrina Ferilli (m. 2011)
Children	2
Awards	Knight of Labour (Cavaliere del Lavoro) (2011); Man of the Year (Staffetta Quotidiana, 2011); Manager of the Year (Milano Finanza, 2016); Lombard Elite Award

🌍 Flavio Cattaneo (born June 27, 1963) is an Italian business executive and corporate turnaround specialist who has led companies across construction, media, energy, transportation, telecommunications, and finance. He has served as chief executive officer and general manager of Enel S.p.A., one of the world’s largest utilities, since 2023, after earlier tenures heading Fiera Milano, the public broadcaster RAI, the grid operator Terna, high-speed rail challenger Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (Italo), and Telecom Italia, as well as serving as an independent director at Assicurazioni Generali.

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Early life and education

🧒 Birth and upbringing. Cattaneo was born on June 27, 1963, in Rho, an industrial suburb of Milan in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. He grew up in a milieu shaped by small and medium-sized enterprises and entered business early, taking over his family’s construction company in 1989 at the age of twenty-six.

🏗️ Architect to entrepreneur. Originally trained as an architect, Cattaneo earned a degree in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Milan before specializing in finance and business management at SDA Bocconi School of Management, where he focused on real estate economics. The combination of technical training and financial studies shaped a career in which he would move away from designing buildings toward “designing” corporate restructurings, beginning with hands-on management of the family firm and later extending to large infrastructure and media companies.

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Professional career

🏛️ Early corporate roles. After consolidating experience in construction, Cattaneo entered public utilities and trade fairs in the late 1990s. From 1998 to 2001 he served as vice chairman of AEM, the Milan municipal utility (later integrated into A2A), where he oversaw gas distribution subsidiaries in northern Italy. In 1999 he was appointed commissioner and later chief executive of Fiera Milano, the country’s largest trade-fair operator, which he transformed from a public entity into a joint-stock company and led to a stock-exchange listing in 2001, while expanding its international presence to dozens of countries and modernizing its exhibition infrastructure.

📺 Leadership at RAI. In 2003, at the age of forty, Cattaneo was appointed director general of RAI, the Italian public broadcaster, by the government led at the time by Silvio Berlusconi, becoming the youngest managing director in the broadcaster’s history. Operating in a politically sensitive environment, he oversaw a merger of RAI with its holding company, introduced tighter cost controls, and presided over a period in which the group posted one of the highest net profits in its history, moves that reinforced his reputation as a manager willing to overhaul legacy organizations.

⚡ Terna and energy expansion. In 2005 Cattaneo moved into the energy sector as chief executive officer of Terna S.p.A., Italy’s electricity transmission grid operator, a role he held through three consecutive mandates until 2014. At Terna he refocused strategy on infrastructure investment and international growth, expanding operations into South America and the Balkans, while the company’s share price roughly doubled and it was repeatedly recognized as one of Europe’s best-performing utilities for shareholder returns, including awards from the Edison Electric Institute. He also chaired Terna’s Brazilian subsidiary and oversaw its listing in São Paulo, associated with the emergence of a leading private grid operator in Brazil. In 2011 he was appointed Cavaliere del Lavoro (Knight of Labour) by the President of Italy and was ranked among the country’s top energy-sector managers in contemporaneous surveys.

🚄 Insurance and high-speed rail. After leaving Terna, Cattaneo joined the board of directors of Assicurazioni Generali as an independent director in 2014 and took on roles in real-estate ventures linked to the Caltagirone group. In early 2015 he became chief executive of Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), operator of the Italo high-speed rail service, at a time when the privately owned challenger to the state railway was struggling to achieve profitability; within about a year, the company reported its first positive net income under his leadership, consolidating his image as a turnaround specialist whose methods could be applied beyond the utility sector.

📡 Telecom Italia turnaround. In March 2016 Cattaneo was appointed chief executive officer of Telecom Italia (TIM), the country’s largest telecommunications group, amid strategic uncertainty and weak operating performance. He launched a sweeping reorganization described in the Italian press as a “cura Cattaneo”, combining cost reductions, streamlined processes, and new commercial initiatives while accelerating rollout of fiber broadband, which expanded to cover a large majority of the Italian population. Financial indicators improved, with a return to revenue and EBITDA growth after years of stagnation, but his assertive style led to tensions with TIM’s main shareholder, the French media group Vivendi, and with elements of the Italian government over broadband policy and governance issues. In July 2017 he resigned after roughly sixteen months in the role, negotiating an exit that included a severance package reported at around €25 million under a contractual “special award” clause, a payout that became a prominent subject of debate in Italian corporate governance.

🚌 Return to private ventures. After leaving Telecom Italia, Cattaneo returned to NTV–Italo as chief executive and then vice chairman, steering the company through its sale in 2018 to the U.S. infrastructure fund Global Infrastructure Partners in a deal valuing the business at around €2.4 billion; as a roughly six percent shareholder, he reinvested part of his proceeds and maintained a board role after the transaction. In 2021 he broadened his transport activities by co-founding the long-distance coach operator Itabus through his investment vehicle Essecieffe, alongside prominent Italian business figures such as Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, positioning himself as majority shareholder and chairman of a venture aimed at modernizing intercity bus travel in Italy with a technologically equipped fleet. In interviews he has described himself as enjoying the challenge of building new businesses from the ground up as much as restructuring large incumbents, reflecting a dual track in corporate and entrepreneurial roles.

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Enel S.p.A.

🔌 Appointment at Enel. In May 2023 the Italian government, which controls a majority stake in Enel through its state holding company, nominated Cattaneo as chief executive officer and general manager of Enel S.p.A., replacing Francesco Starace as part of a broader reshuffle of top management at state-influenced energy groups. Whereas Starace’s tenure had been associated with rapid international expansion and an emphasis on renewables growth, Cattaneo signaled an intention to prioritize financial discipline, focusing on core markets and regulated assets with predictable returns while maintaining the company’s commitment to the energy transition.

💳 Debt reduction and disposals. A central element of Cattaneo’s early strategy at Enel was reducing the group’s sizable debt, which had risen following years of heavy investment and global expansion. He pressed ahead with an asset-disposal program on the order of €21 billion, selling operations in countries including Argentina, Romania, and Peru to concentrate resources on jurisdictions viewed as more strategic and stable. By 2024 Enel’s net debt had fallen to around 2.4 times EBITDA, from about 2.7 times a year earlier, helped by these disposals and operating cash flow, and the company announced plans for a share buyback of up to €3.5 billion alongside a higher dividend as part of a broader effort to increase returns to shareholders.

🗺️ Investment plan and geographic focus. In November 2024 Cattaneo presented Enel’s 2025–2027 strategic plan, which envisaged total investments of about €43 billion, with approximately €26 billion earmarked for upgrading electricity grids—a substantial increase in network spending compared with the previous plan—and around €12 billion directed to adding roughly 12 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity, particularly in onshore wind and hydro projects considered more resilient in the group’s portfolio mix. Roughly three-quarters of planned capital expenditure was allocated to Europe, notably Italy and Spain, with the remainder focused on North and South America, reflecting a deliberate retrenchment toward markets where Enel held strong positions and regulatory frameworks seen as relatively predictable.

💹 Market reaction. Financial markets responded positively to the reorientation of Enel’s strategy under Cattaneo. Within roughly two years of his appointment the company’s market capitalization had increased by about thirty-five percent, reaching around €83 billion by mid-2025, and total shareholder returns including dividends over the period were estimated at more than fifty percent by some analyses, which dubbed the performance uplift the “Cattaneo effect”. Cattaneo underscored his confidence in the group’s prospects by investing around €40 million of his personal wealth in shares of Enel and its Spanish subsidiary Endesa, while operational results showed a four percent rise in 2024 EBITDA, ordinary net profit of about €7.1 billion, and a reduction in capital expenditure as projects were selected more selectively, with management stating a preference for accretive acquisitions and share buybacks over expansion for its own sake.

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Compensation and wealth

💰 Enel compensation. As head of Enel, Cattaneo has received a remuneration package that is significant by European standards but relatively moderate compared with some peers in the FTSE MIB index. In 2024 his total compensation was reported at roughly €3.6 million, largely composed of fixed salary and annual bonus, placing him around fifteenth among chief executives of major Italian listed companies by pay level. Upon taking the role he also declined a contractual severance arrangement reportedly worth around €10 million, equivalent to about twenty-four months of salary, a decision interpreted as an effort to underscore his long-term commitment to the post and to pre-empt criticism in light of previous debates over his exit packages.

🏦 Previous payouts and wealth. Over a three-decade career in top management and entrepreneurship, Cattaneo has accumulated substantial personal wealth. In addition to executive salaries and bonuses at companies such as Terna and Telecom Italia, he received an estimated €25 million severance payment upon leaving Telecom Italia in 2017 under a pre-agreed “special award” clause, and his former roughly six percent stake in Italo was valued at around €140 million at the time of the 2018 sale to Global Infrastructure Partners, although he reinvested part of the proceeds and fully exited the investment only later. He has also earned fees as a director on boards such as Generali, Cementir, and other companies, and, while not appearing on public billionaire rankings, is generally regarded as one of the more affluent figures in Italian corporate life, with a net worth likely in the hundreds of millions of euros.

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Personal life and management style

❤️ Family life. Cattaneo is known to keep his private life relatively discreet, though his marriage in 2011 to Italian film and television actress Sabrina Ferilli has drawn media attention and made the couple a prominent pairing of business and entertainment in Italy. Before his marriage to Ferilli he was married to Cristina Goi, with whom he has two children, and he has generally shielded his family from public scrutiny, appearing in the media mainly at occasions such as football matches—Ferilli is closely associated with AS Roma—or cultural events rather than celebrity circuits.

👔 Management style. In professional settings Cattaneo is frequently described as a decisive, results-oriented, and demanding manager who combines close attention to operating details with a willingness to delegate execution to trusted teams. During his tenures at RAI, Terna, and Telecom Italia he set ambitious financial and operational targets and applied rigorous cost-cutting where he perceived inefficiencies, an approach that won praise from some investors, particularly in heavily indebted Telecom Italia, but also contributed to an image as a “corporate cleanup” specialist brought in to fix problems quickly. Colleagues and profiles have portrayed him as reserved and serious in demeanor, courteous but direct in discussion, and strongly focused on quantifiable metrics such as profitability, cash flow, and shareholder returns.

🧩 Architectural mindset. Commentators have often noted that Cattaneo’s original training in architecture sets him apart from many Italian corporate leaders, who more commonly have backgrounds in law or economics. He has been reported to use imagery drawn from construction—speaking of “foundations” and “blueprints” for companies—and to sketch diagrams and structures during meetings, reflecting a visual and structural way of thinking that he applies to business problems. This interdisciplinary profile, coupled with a willingness to learn the technical specifics of sectors as different as electricity grids, rail operations, and media programming, has been cited as one factor behind his ability to move between industries while maintaining credibility with engineers, financiers, and policymakers alike.

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Controversies and challenges

⚖️ Telecom severance debate. The most widely discussed controversy in Cattaneo’s career has centered on his departure from Telecom Italia. The roughly €25 million payment he received after about sixteen months as chief executive drew criticism from proxy advisory firms and sections of the Italian press, which described the package as excessive and called on shareholders to oppose the pay structure that allowed such an outcome even in the event of early termination. Cattaneo defended the arrangement by pointing to improvements in Telecom Italia’s profits and share price during his tenure and argued that the severance reflected contractual obligations rather than a discretionary reward, but the episode became a touchstone in Italian debates over executive compensation and “golden parachutes”.

🧭 Political context. Another recurring theme in commentary on Cattaneo’s career has been the political dimension of his top appointments. His selection as director general of RAI occurred under the Berlusconi government, while his nomination as Enel’s chief executive in 2023 was part of a broader reshaping of state-influenced companies by the administration of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Environmental groups and opposition politicians expressed concern that the leadership change at Enel might slow the pace of the company’s green transition or shift emphasis away from certain renewable technologies, particularly given the new government’s more cautious stance toward some climate policies, although Cattaneo has repeatedly stated that sustainability remains central to Enel’s strategy even as investments are refocused on profitability and regulated networks.

🤝 Stakeholder balancing. Cattaneo has also had to navigate complex governance situations involving powerful shareholders and state interests. At Telecom Italia he found himself between Vivendi, the activist French majority shareholder, and the Italian government, which was concerned about strategic infrastructure and employment, a tension that contributed to the breakdown of his mandate there. At Enel he operates in a similarly delicate environment in which the Italian state is both controlling shareholder and policymaker, while international investors expect strong financial performance; in response, he has practiced what Italian commentators have called “economic diplomacy”, meeting political leaders in key markets such as Brazil and Argentina and seeking to reconcile national energy-security priorities, decarbonization goals, and shareholder expectations.

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Legacy and recognition

🏅 Awards and recognition. Over the course of his career Cattaneo has been recognized with a series of honors and industry awards. In 2011 he was appointed Knight of Labour (Cavaliere del Lavoro), one of Italy’s highest distinctions for contributions to the economy, reflecting his impact at Terna and earlier roles. The same year he was named “Man of the Year” by energy journal Staffetta Quotidiana, and in 2016 he was selected as “Manager of the Year” in a survey conducted by financial newspaper Milano Finanza, largely in connection with his turnaround at Telecom Italia; he has also received the Lombard Elite Award for contributions to the competitiveness of the Lombardy region. These recognitions have reinforced his image among peers as a manager associated with operational improvement and value creation in strategically important sectors of the Italian economy.

🎨 Legacy and outlook. Outside core corporate roles, Cattaneo has chaired the Enel Foundation, supporting research and initiatives related to sustainable energy and social development, and is known to have an interest in art and culture, occasionally appearing at exhibitions and cultural events alongside his wife. Observers have highlighted his unusual combination of architectural training, cross-sector executive experience, and entrepreneurial ventures—from family construction and trade fairs to high-speed rail, telecoms, and global utilities—as a case study in versatility at the top of European business. With Enel’s strategy under his leadership still unfolding, his longer-term legacy is expected to be shaped by how successfully he can balance financial discipline, energy-transition objectives, and the expectations of both state and private shareholders in one of the world’s largest power companies.

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