Born in Como in 1954, Corrado Passera has been the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Intesa Sanpaolo since January 2007.
Before that he had been the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Banca Intesa since May 2002. His other responsibilities include being a member of the Board of Directors of RCS MediaGroup and of Bocconi University.
He is an Advisor and Member of the Executive Committee of ABI (the Italian Banking Association), the Scientific Committee of Consulting of the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, the International Advisory Board of The Wharton School, the General Council of the Cini Foundation in Venice, and the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum of Geneva.
He began his professional career in 1980 at McKinsey, where he worked for 5 years. After that he worked at CIR, where he was the General Manager until 1990.
From 1988 to 1995 he was the Vice-President of Credito Romagnolo. He was also General Manager for Arnoldo Mondadori Editore and the Vice-President and CEO of the Gruppo Espresso–Repubblica.
In 1992 he was the Co-Managing Director of the Olivetti Group.
In 1996 he returned to the banking sector in the roles of Managing Director and General Manager of Banco Ambrosiano Veneto, which he left after having completed the consolidation with CARIPLO.
In 1998 he became the Managing Director of the Italian Postal System, where he remained until April 2002.