Fincantieri picks former Leonardo high flyer to helm naval unit

ROME — In a surprise pick, Italian shipyard Fincantieri has hired veteran aerospace manager Giuseppe Giordo – who has built his career selling military aircraft – to head up its naval business unit.

The Italian manager will now oversee collaboration with Fincantieri’s regular partner on warship production, Leonardo – the Italian firm where Giordo spent most of his career and was tipped to become CEO before he was pipped to the post and released during a massive cull of managers in 2015.

As Fincantieri seeks to build its naval business and works on its fledgling joint venture with France’s Naval Group, Giordo will bring to the fray his “consolidated, strong and long-term relationships with main industry players,” Fincantieri said in a statement.

Giordo’s entrance into the warship business is the latest step in a three-decade career which started when he joined Leonardo, then known as Finmeccanica, as a young graduate. He rose to become head of the U.S. operation of the firm’s Alenia unit, before becoming boss of the amalgam of Alenia and fellow unit Aermacchi, overseeing the sales of the C-27J cargo aircraft to the United States and the sale of M-346 trainers to customers including Israel.

Fincantieri has tapped Guiseppe Giordo to head its naval business unit. (Fincantieri photo)

He was also involved in talks to sell the Eurofighter to Kuwait. That gave him a shot as contender to take over state-controlled Finmeccanica in 2015 when the job became vacant, only to see the role given to outsider Mauro Moretti, who turned the firm from a collection of companies into a single entity and released dozens of managers in the process, including Giordo.

In 2016 Giordo was hired as CEO of Czech firm Aero Vodochody, where he marketed the firm’s L-39 New Generation trainer as a competitor to Aermacchi aircraft, while in 2018 he also took on a role as advisor to the Saudi Arabian government on building up its defense industry.

Giordo’s appointment at Fincantieri follows a few tense moments between the shipyard and his old employer Leonardo, which has demanded a more central role in the Fincantieri-Naval Group alliance, given it supplies combat systems to Fincantieri ships.

In 2018 Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono, himself a former boss of Leonardo, tried to buy Italian electronics firm Vitrociset, only for Leonardo to snap it up first.

Giordo’s appointment follows the April retirement of Angelo Fusco as head of the naval business unit.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——出人意料的是，意大利造船厂芬坎蒂尼聘请了资深航空航天经理朱塞佩·乔尔多（Giuseppe Giordo）——他毕生致力于销售军用飞机——来领导其海军业务部门。

这位意大利经理现在将负责监督与芬坎蒂尼集团在军舰生产方面的常规合作伙伴莱昂纳多公司的合作——莱昂纳多是乔尔多职业生涯的大部分时间所在的地方，他曾被认为是首席执行官的有力竞争者，但在 2015 年的大规模裁员中，他被解雇了。

芬坎蒂尼集团在一份声明中表示，随着芬坎蒂尼集团寻求发展其海军业务并努力发展与法国海军集团的合资企业，乔尔多将凭借其“与主要行业参与者建立的稳固、强大和长期的关系”参与其中。

乔尔多进军军舰业务是他长达三十年职业生涯的最新一步。他的职业生涯始于加入莱昂纳多集团（当时名为芬梅卡尼卡集团），当时他还是个刚毕业的年轻人。他一路晋升，最终成为该公司旗下阿莱尼亚集团美国业务的负责人，之后又成为阿莱尼亚集团与另一家子公司阿埃尔马基集团合并后的公司的负责人，负责监督C-27J运输机对美国的销售以及M-346教练机对包括以色列在内的客户的销售。

芬坎蒂尼集团已任命朱塞佩·乔尔多 (Guiseppe Giordo) 领导其海军业务部门。（芬坎蒂尼集团供图）

他还参与了向科威特出售欧洲战斗机的谈判。这使他有机会在 2015 年芬梅卡尼卡集团（Finmeccanica）首席执行官一职空缺时成为候选人，但最终该职位由外来者毛罗·莫雷蒂（Mauro Moretti）担任，莫雷蒂将这家公司从多家子公司合并为一个单一实体，并在此过程中解雇了数十名经理，其中包括乔尔多。

2016 年，乔尔多受聘担任捷克公司 Aero Vodochody 的首席执行官，负责将该公司的 L-39 新一代教练机作为 Aermacchi 飞机的竞争对手进行销售；2018 年，他还担任沙特阿拉伯政府的顾问，负责发展其国防工业。

乔尔多被任命到芬坎蒂尼造船厂之前，该造船厂与他的老东家莱昂纳多之间曾发生过一些紧张关系。莱昂纳多要求在芬坎蒂尼-海军集团联盟中扮演更核心的角色，因为它为芬坎蒂尼的舰船提供作战系统。

2018 年，芬坎蒂尼集团首席执行官朱塞佩·博诺（他本人曾是莱昂纳多集团的老板）试图收购意大利电子公司 Vitrociset，结果被莱昂纳多集团抢先一步收购。

乔尔多接替安杰洛·富斯科，后者于四月份退休，卸任海军业务部门负责人一职。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。