Rocco Benetton

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Rocco Benetton (born September 29, 1969 in Treviso, Veneto, Italy) is the former chief executive of the Benetton Formula One team.

[edit] Personal background

He is the son of Luciano and Maria Teresa Benetton and a member of the Italian Benetton family which founded the Benetton Group S.p.A. clothing company in 1965. After studying Mechanical Engineering in the United States at Boston University, he moved to New York where he worked in hedge funds for Oppenheimer & Co. and Alpha Investment Management. At the latter, he served as Managing Director.

[edit] Career in F1

In September 1997, he was called back to Europe to take a position in the Benetton Formula One team following the departure of chief executive Flavio Briatore. Rocco started out as commercial director, working alongside chief executive David Richards. Richards tried to convince the family that it was necessary to sell some of the shares in the team to the Ford Motor Company, in order to get a factory engine supply. The Benettons did not agree so Richards departed in October 1998 and Rocco was appointed chief executive, the youngest in F1 at the time. He disappeared from F1 when the team was sold to Renault at the start of 2000.

[edit] After F1

He then moved back to Treviso where he founded the Companies Zero Rh+ and Oot Group. In 2003 he also founded Banca del Gottardo Italia together with other Italian enterpreneurs and Banca del Gottardo SA, Lugano.