Como, Italy. The European Business Press (EBP) presented the "European Manager of the Year 2012 Award" to Luca di Montezemolo, the Chairman of Ferrari, at its Annual Meeting in Como, marking the 50th anniversary of EBP. Today the organisation counts 48 leading European business newspapers and magazines in 27 countries among them publications such as the "The Wall Street Journal Europe", "Handelsblatt", "Les Echos", and "Milano Finanza".

In 1991, EBP began presenting the award to top European managers and companies. The award is based on a vote of EBP editors. Among the recipients were personalities such as Ingvar Kamprad of Ikea, Jorma Ollila of Nokia, Bernd Pischetsrieder, former CEO of BMW and Volkswagen, Wendelin Wiedeking, CEO of Porsche and Wolfgang Mayrhuber, the Chairman of Lufthansa. 

Luca di Montezemolo has received the highest award granted by European business journalists for his outstanding work as Chairman of Ferrari over the last 20 years, during which time he turned the company around into one the most famous and profitable brands in the world.

Montezemolo took over the running of Ferrari in 1991, three years after the death of the founder Enzo Ferrari. As Chairman, he focused on three priorities: completely renewing the range of products and opening new markets, making the Scuderia a F1 winning team again, and creating the factory an ideal environment for the workers. In 20 years the turnover of Ferrari increased tenfold, maintaining high levels of profitability, won 15 Formula One Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championship titles, and increased the number of markets in which Ferrari has a com-mercial presence from 28 to 60. The strategy of making “different Ferrari for different Ferraristi” allowed Montezemolo to reach new customers without losing the characteristics of the brand.

In these years a strong attention has been made to the welfare of the workers: the factory was redesigned by leading architects, such as Renzo Piano, Massimiliano Fuksas and Jean Nouvel to create a unique working environment. Besides that Ferrari provided for free medical check-ups for the whole family, free books for school children, medical programmes for women and summer camps for children of the employees, making Ferrari a unique campus which was awarded the best place to work in Europe. 

Born in Bologna in 1947, Montezemolo graduated in Law from the University of Rome and later specialized at Columbia University in New York in International Commercial Law. 

Montezemolo is the Chairman and one of the main shareholders of NTV (Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori), Italia’s first private high-speed railway company. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of Fiat SpA, La Stampa, PPR (Pinault/Printemps Redoute), Tod’s, Unicredit and Delta Topco. He was Chairman of Fiat S.p.A. from 2004 to 2010, President of Confindustria from 2004 to 2008 and President of LUISS University until 2010.

In 2002 Montezemolo was the founder of Charme, a financial-entrepreneurial fund which was used in 2003 to acquire Poltrona Frau, one of the most renown Italian furniture companies, later followed by acquisitions of the Cassina, Cappellini and Thonet brands and in 2004 of Ballantyne, the historic international cashmere brand.

In 2009 Luca di Montezemolo founded Italia Futura, an association established to promote civil and political debate on the future of Italy.