Vittorio Calao: The Second Time Around

It may be the case that the position you think will go to you goes to someone else. It could be that the position wasn’t meant for you or it simply wasn’t the time yet. The latter was the case with Vittorio Calao.

Calao was born on October 3, 1961 in Brescia, Italy.  He graduated from Bocconi University with a degree in Business. Highly intelligent Calao earned, with Honors, an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He began his career in London working as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley. In 1986 he was back in Italy as a Partner in the Milan office of McKinsey & Co. His work covered telecommunications, media and industrial goods. Calao was also responsible for office recruitment.

Around a decade later Calao joined Omnitel Pronto Italia and reached the position of Chief Operating Officer before it was taken over and became Vodafone Italy. When you’re good at what you do even the new owners will notice. Calao didn’t have to worry about his employment status. By 2001 he was the Regional CEO for Southern Europe and the following year even joined the main board of Vodafone Group.

Calao was a rising star at Vodafone and was in line for the top post. As things turned out the CEO position became open but it went to someone else. Calao resigned from Vodafone and joined RSC MediaGroup, an Italian publishing company, where he was appointed CEO in July 2004.

Things did not go very well at RCS MediaGroup. There was criticism from shareholders concerning the group’s governance and strategy.  Calao resigned from the company and rejoined Vodafone in 2006 as CEO, Europe and Deputy Chief Executive. 

He finally got the CEO post in July 2008 succeeding the man who got the job instead of him. His resignation at RCS MediaGroup was actually a blessing in disguise as it gave him another crack at the top post at Vodafone. A winner never quits.