Simone Bemporad

Simone Bemporad was CEO of Finmeccanica North America, Inc., until the end of 2012. He has been responsible for the coordination of Finmeccanica’s operating companies in the United States and for managing the expansion of Finmeccanica’s presence in the U.S. aerospace, defense, energy, homeland security, and transportation markets. Mr. Bemporad played a leading role in the growth of Finmeccanica in North America, overseeing and coordinating the acquisition of DRS Technologies in 2008, which at $5.2 billion remains the largest acquisition of a U.S. defense contractor by a continental European company. Mr. Bemporad has also served as president of Meccanica Holdings, the parent shareholder of DRS Technologies as a Finmeccanica company, and played a key role managing the integration of DRS into the Finmeccanica Group. Before becoming CEO in October 2007, Mr. Bemporad served as senior vice president for Finmeccanica SpA in Rome in charge of international affairs, where he helped direct corporate strategy, particularly in North America, Europe, and Asia. From 2003 to 2007, he served as deputy head of institutional relations and communications for Finmeccanica SpA. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Bemporad served as a board member of Ansaldo Energia SpA, Italy's leading producer of thermoelectric power plants, operating in international markets. Between 2004 and 2006, he served as a member of the International Affairs Working Group of Confindustria, the leading organization representing manufacturing and service companies in Italy. Mr. Bemporad also served as chief of staff for the chairman of ENEL SpA, Italy’s largest provider of gas and electric power, and as communications director and chief of staff for the chairman and CEO of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction SpA (IRI), an Italian public holding that played a pivotal role in the postwar Italian economic miracle. Mr. Bemporad participated in developing and implementing IRI’s communications plan for its privatization program and coordinated the final report of the Italian minister of the treasury for then-director general Prof. Mario Draghi, in order to develop the operational tools and guidelines for Italy’s privatization initiatives. From 1995 to 1996, Mr. Bemporad served as press secretary for the Italian Industry and Foreign Trade Ministry, responsible for all of the minister’s public initiatives, both in Italy and abroad. Mr. Bemporad began his career in 1991 as a journalist with the Italian Journalist Agency AGI, covering economics and finance.