| John Elkann | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 1, 1976 New York City, New York |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
| Spouse | Lavinia Borromeo |
| Children | Leone Elkann Oceano Elkann |
| Parents | Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen and Alain Elkann |
| Relatives | Gianni Agnelli grandfather |
John Philip Jacob Elkann (born April 1, 1976) is an Italian industrialist. He was the chosen heir of Gianni Agnelli, his grandfather, and controls the family's automaker Fiat (which also owns the Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Lancia, Maserati, and Ferrari brands, and in July 2011 acquired control of Chrysler[1], which also owns the Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Mopar brands[2]). He is the Chairman of Fiat and the Chairman and CEO of Exor, an investment company controlled by the Agnelli Family, which owns Juventus F.C., Cushman & Wakefield and SGS.
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Born in New York, United States, John Elkann is the first son of Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen, a painter and poet of the Agnelli family, and her first husband, Alain Elkann, a French-Italian journalist and writer[3]. His parents divorced in 1981. Elkann's maternal grandparents were the Italian princess and socialite Marella Agnelli and the industrialist Gianni Agnelli. He has a brother Lapo and a sister, Ginevra, as well as five half siblings from his mother’s second marriage to Serge de Pahlen.
Elkann attended primary school in the UK and in Brazil, before his family moved to Paris, where he obtained a baccalauréat scientifique at the State School Lycée Victor-Duruy in 1994. Later the same year, he moved to Italy to attend the Politecnico di Torino (Turin), where he graduated with a degree in management engineering in 2000. As a result of his international upbringing, he is fluent in four languages.[4]
While pursuing his degree in Management Engineering, Elkann gained work experience through several internships: headlight plant in Birmingham, England (1996), production line in Tychy, Poland (1997), car dealership in Lille, France (1998) and also at GE's CIG (corporate initiatives group) where he worked on a thesis on e-auctions (1999).
In December 1997, Elkann was selected by his grandfather Gianni Agnelli to take the place in the family business of Giovanni Alberto - the son of Gianni’s younger brother, Umberto, who had died at the age of 33 – and he was appointed to the Fiat Board at the age of 22.
In 2000, after graduating in Management Engineering from Politecnico di Torino, he joined General Electric’s Corporate Audit program. He left General Electric two years later [5].
In 2003, he joined IFIL (now Exor) and worked on the turnaround of Fiat Group.
John Elkann was instrumental in the appointment of current Fiat CEO, Sergio Marchionne, in May 2004.
After the deaths of his grandfather Gianni Agnelli (2003) and his great-uncle Umberto Agnelli (2004), Elkann became Vice Chairman of Fiat and Vice Chairman of Giovanni Agnelli & C, the family partnership through which it controls EXOR.
He is also Chairman of Editrice La Stampa and Itedi, a board member of Fiat Industrial, SGS, RCS Mediagroup, The Economist Group and Banca Leonardo.
In addition, he is an active member of various non-profit organizations and think-tanks engaged in the global geopolitical debate, including serving as Vice Chairman of the Italian Aspen Institute and the Giovanni Agnelli Foundation and as a member of the Brookings Institution[6], MOMA[7] and the Italy-China Foundation.
In 2010, he became Chairman of Fiat S.p.A., succeeding Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, and Chairman of the Giovanni Agnelli e C. Sapaz, suceeding Gianluigi Gabetti. In February 2011, he was appointed Chairman and CEO of EXOR.
In September 2004, Elkann married the Italian countess Lavinia Borromeo on Isola Madre, one of the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore; the reception, held on nearby Isola Bella, featured a 5 meter long chocolate cake depicting the Lingotto car plant of Turin and a unicorn, the heraldic symbol of the Borromeo family, and a guest list including Henry Kissinger, Mario Monti, Michel Platini, Valentino Garavani, Carla Bruni and Elle McPherson. Their first child, a boy named Leone (Italian for "lion"), was born in August 2006. On 12 November 2007, Mrs. Elkann gave birth to the couple's second boy, Oceano (Italian for "ocean").