Paolo Scaroni, CEO Eni
Paolo Scaroni, chief executive
Paolo Scaroni is the chief executive of Eni, one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies.
He graduated in economics in 1969 from Milan’s Bocconi. His first job was at Chevron and, in 1973 he completed a Master in Business Administration, at Columbia University in New York.
He worked as a consultant at McKinsey, and, in 1973, he joined the Saint Gobain Group, where he covered a number of managerial positions, both in Italy and abroad, before being nominated, in 1984, president of the Flat Glass Division in Paris, going on to take responsibility for all of the Saint Gobain Group’s activities around the world.
In 1985 Paolo Scaroni became vice president and managing director of Techint, where he oversaw the privatisations of the subsidiaries SIV, Italimpianti and Dalmine.
In 1996 he moved to Great Britain to join Pilkington, where he was chief executive until May 2002, when he was nominated chief executive and general manager of Enel, where he remained until 2005.
Since 2005 Paolo Scaroni has been the head of Eni. In the same year the company received the best ethical rating of all the companies in the S&P MIB 430 in the list drawn up by the European Investment Agency and based on respect for the ethical principles established by the UN, OECD, ILO and EU.
In 2006 Paolo Scaroni signed an historic agreement for Eni with Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, on the basis of which the Russian energy giant will extend the duration of gas supply contracts until 2035. The agreement has made a significant contribution to the strengthening of secure energy supplies across the whole of Europe.
2007 was a year of outstanding success for Eni led by Paolo Scaroni.
An important memorandum of understanding was signed with Gazprom for the development of the South Stream gas pipeline.
Following an agreement between Eni and NOC, the Libyan national oil company, that consolidated the strategic cooperation begun in 1959, Paolo Scaroni met with the Libyan leader Muammar Gheddafi.
At the end of the year an agreement was reached with the government of Kazakhstan which resolved an ongoing dispute regarding Kashagan, one of the world’s biggest oilfields.
The Eni Foundation, with Paolo Scaroni as its president, was established with its own aims, financial resources and operating tools and the task of developing and implementing id initiatives, both in Italy and abroad, particularly for the assistance of children and the elderly.
Also in 2007 Eni published its first sustainability report and launched a social campaign providing information and advice about energy efficiency and how household energy costs can be reduced by up to 30%.
During the same year Eni was also admitted to the prestigious Dow Jones Sustainability Index World, the FTSE4Good and the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index.
In February 2008, Paolo Scaroni signed a strategic agreement with the Republic of Venezuela to develop hydrocarbon resources in the Orinoco area (Faja).
In the same period, Paolo Scaroni also signed an agreement with the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston in the field of energy research.
Paolo Scaroni is a non-executive director of Assicurazioni Generali, LSEG plc (London Stock Exchange Group), Veolia Environnement (Paris), a member of the Board of Overseers of Columbia Business School in New York and a board member of the Fondazione Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
From 2005 to July 2006 he was chairman of Alliance Unichem (UK).
In November 2007 he was nominated Officier nell'ordine della Légion d'honneur.