Surprisingly Barbara Morgante leaves the post of managing director in Trenitalia. In a letter forwarded by the company's board of directors to the chairman of the board of statutory auditors, Maria Laura Prislei, the forfeiture of the board itself is formalised. The indiscretion was anticipated by Mf – Milano Finanza.
The FS group has formalized in a press release the designations for the new Board, which will be appointed by the next Trenitalia assembly. The renewal anticipates by one year the natural expiry of the mandate of the previous board, in office since 21 December 2015. The new CEO and general manager of Trenitalia becomes Orazio Iacono, until now head of the regional passenger division. Tiziano Onesti remains president, Paolo Colombo and Maria Rosaria Maugeri confirmed, Antonella D'Andrea enters the board of directors as new director. Barbara Morgante remains in the group, assuming responsibility for the Central Governance Department for Foreign Investments of the FS Italiane Group to manage the international growth of the Group.
The rumors circulated, reported by some press organs, relaunch the hypothesis that the changeover is linked to some differences between Renato Mazzoncini, managing director and general manager of FS, and the top management of the main subsidiary on the high-speed enhancement project, whose margins have fallen.
In particular, the issue would concern the quotation of Frecciarossa with Intercity: the landing on the Stock Exchange will arrive in a few months and will be exposed in the midst of the electoral campaign to major political storms between supporters of the spin-off of the most profitable rail transport activities and the opponents .
Mazzoncini allegedly evaluated the hypothesis of a spin-off of the Frecce and then listed them, while Morgante has always said she is convinced - in line with Mazzoncini's industrial plan - of the need to grow abroad and in local transport. The company has denied this reconstruction, and the official note from FS states that the outgoing Board of Directors, indeed, "has completed the mandate to reorganize the company in line with the development prospects envisaged by the FS Group's business plan" in advance of the expected times. Consequently, "the positive economic and industrial results achieved in the past two years make Barbara Morgante's position at Trenitalia a complete process and constitute a model of success and determination".
