È Pasquale Pistorio died at the age of 89, the Sicilian engineer known as the “father of the Etna Valley” and one of the manager most influential in Italian industrial history. He was the architect, in 1987, of the merger between SGS and Thomson which gave birth to STMicroelectronics, today among the world leaders in semiconductors.
Pasquale Pistorio: Who was the "father of the Etna Valley"?
Born in Agira in 1936, Pistorio graduated in Electrical Engineering at the Polytechnic of Turin in 1963. He began his career in Motorola as a transistor salesman, until he became marketing director for Europe in 1967. He subsequently assumed roles of increasingly greater responsibility: worldwide marketing director, vice president of Motorola Corporation and general director of the International Semiconductor Division, responsible for design, manufacturing and marketing for all areas outside the United States.
In 1980 he returned to Italy to lead the group Sgs, then in great difficulty. Under his presidency, in 1987, came the merger with the French Thomson Semiconducteurs, from which was born Sgs-Thomson Microelectronics, then STMicroelectronicsThe company quickly rose in the global rankings, going from $100 million in revenue to $9 billion in 2005, when Pistorio stepped down as operational head and was named honorary chairman.
The relaunch of the Catania plant was fundamental, giving life to the “Etna Valley”, a symbol of the Sicilian and Italian technological rebirth.
Commitment to innovation and sustainability
Pistorio was among the first to promote a business model based on innovation, responsibility social e sustainability Environmental SustainabilityConvinced that competitiveness and attention to the territory had to go hand in hand, he supported European programs such as Medea e Jessi, and participated in international organizations such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, Strategic advice for attractiveness of the French government and theInternal Advisory Council of Singapore.
It was also included in UN task force on digital divide, to reduce the technological gap between rich and poor countries.
Pistorio: Confindustria, Telecom Italia, and other positions
Having reached the age limit after his long career in Stm, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo wanted Pistorio at his side in Confindustria, where he was vice president with responsibility for Innovation and Research between 2005 and 2008. In 2007 he led Telecom Italy as president in a complex phase, between April and November.
He was also an independent advisor on the boards of directors of Fiat and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, as well as a member of the boards of Origin Acts, Brembo e XID Technologies.
In 2005 he founded the Pistorio Foundation, based in Geneva, is committed to supporting children in the most disadvantaged areas of the world, with projects dedicated to education, nutrition and healthcare.
During his life he received numerous awards academics: he was awarded honorary degrees by the Universities of Genoa, Malta, Pavia, Catania, Palermo, Milan-Bicocca and Sannio.
