Cesare ROMITI
President of Italy China Foundation
Born in Rome on June 24, 1923
In 1947 he joined the B.P.D. (Bombrini, Parodi, Delfino) Group; in 1955 he became Vice General Manager of one of the Group companies and thereafter was promoted in various stages to the position of General Manager of B.P.D.
On January 26, 1970 he joined the Board of Alitalia with the position of Managing Director and, immediately afterwards, of General Manager too.
In September 1973, he became Managing Director and General Manager of the IRI finance company Italstat.
On November 1, 1974, he joined the Fiat Group as Manager of the Central Department of Finance, Planning and Control and member of the Management Committee. On April 30, 1976, he became a member of the Board and Managing Director.
From November 1988 to December 1990 he was directly responsible for the Car Sector as Managing Director of Fiat Auto, in addition to his previous assignments. From February 28, 1996 to June 22, 1998 he was Chairman of the Board of Fiat S.p.a.
From on June 2, 1998 to July 15, 2004 he was appointed Chairman of the Board of RCS Quotidiani S.p.A. (formerly RCS Editori S.p.A.). He has been Chairman of Impregilo from 2005 to 2007.
Cesare Romiti is currently Chairman of the Istituto Italo Cinese since 2000 and Chairman of Fondazione Italia Cina from 2006. From the same year Mr Romiti is Honorary President of RCS Mediagroup. From 27 January 2007 Mr Romiti sits in the Board of Directors of Fondazione Musica per Roma and from 21 February 2007 he is President of the Accademia della Belle Arti di Roma.
Cesare Romiti has been nominated Cavaliere del Lavoro, Cavaliere Gran Croce Italian Repubblic,and Officer of the French Legion d’Honneur.
He has received honorary degrees from the Complutense University of Madrid and the Catholic University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte (Brazil), and Pisa University has awarded him an honorary degree in Mechanical Engineering. The University IULM (University of Foreign Languages and Communications of Milan) has awarded him an honorary degree in Public Relations. He received a Honorary degree in Business Administration from St. John’s University in Rome.
The magazine “Il Mondo” nominated Mr. Romiti “Manager of the year” in 1982 and the American weekly “Automotive News” voted him the “Best European Executive, Automobile Industry” in 1988.
On October 13th 2006 in Beijing he was awarded the honorary citizenship of the People’s Republic of China granted by the President of the “Chinese People's Association of Friendship with Foreign Countries”. The distinction was due to his efforts in strengthening relations between Italy and China.
On October 7th 2010 Mr Romiti has been awarded directly from the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China Wen Jiabao for the efforts to the China-Italy people-to-people friendship.
