After nine years with Paolo Scaroni serving at the helm of Italy’s Eni S.p.A., the company’s board of directors appointed his successor: Claudio Descalzi (pictured), chief operating officer of Eni’s Exploration and Production division since 2008. Descalzi was named chief executive officer and general manager on 9 May, following a shareholder vote and sweeping reforms headed by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Since mid-April, Renzi has aggressively pushed for changes in leadership within Italy's top wholly or partially state-owned companies. His actions were an attempt to abolish the country’s “toto nomine,” or “nominations sweepstakes.” In the past, top executive positions were typically seen as being hand-picked by politicians as a way to repay favors or reward support.
During the same sweep, Emma Marcegaglia was named Eni’s chairwoman, a first for the company.
In addition to Eni, executive positions were shuffled up at utility provider Enel, state defense company Fenmeccanica, and Poste Italiane, Italy’s postal service.
Descalzi, originally from Milan, joined Eni in 1981. He oversaw Eni subsidiaries in Congo and Nigeria before being named executive vice president for Africa, Middle East and China in 2000; executive vice president for Italy, Africa, Middle East in 2002; and then deputy chief operating officer of Exploration and Production in 2006.
Image from Eni.
Read more of OEDigital's previous coverage of Eni:
Eni CEO, Mozambique president discuss progress
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