Giovanni De Gennaro

Giovanni De Gennaro (born 14 August 1948) is an Italian police officer, public official, prefect, and business executive who was Italy's police chief during the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa. De Gannero was chief of the Italian police department and director of the information services and security department from 2000 to 2007. He served as Undersecretary of State to Italian Prime Minister, with responsibility for information services and security, in the Monti government from 11 May 2012, to 28 April 2013. From 2013 to 2020, he was president of Leonardo (formerly Finmeccanica).

Early life Born on 14 August 1948 in Reggio Calabria, De Gennaro graduated in Law at Sapienza University of Rome, and then joined the Italian Police Department. Afterwards, he was moved to Rome to join the narcotics unit. During his career, he collaborated with Giovanni Falcone, carrying out international investigations against the Sicilian Mafia. In 1984, he was the lead officer during the extradition issues of the informer Tommaso Buscetta from Brazil.

Career De Gennaio was appointed as prefect in 1994 and became Chief of the Italian Police Department – Director General for Public Security on 26 May 2000. He was in charge of the Italian Police during the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, including the raid on the Diaz school. For such deeds, Italy was later condemned by the European Court of Human Rights in 2015 and 2017 for not having prevented and punished acts of torture by state agents. De Gennaro was prosecuted, convicted, and later cleared by Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation for inducing false testimonies.

In 2007, De Gennaro became Head of Cabinet for the Italian Ministry of Interior, and held the position of Special Commissioner for an emergency crisis related to waste in Campania region. In June 2008, he became Director General of the Department of Security Information (DIS). In 2012, he became undersecretary to the Italian prime minister with responsibility for information services and security.

In July 2013, De Gennaro was appointed as chairman of Finmeccanica (later became Leonardo) by the board of directors, with duties regarding International Relations, Institutional Relations, External Relations and Communication, Group Security and Internal Audit. In May 2014, De Gennaro has been confirmed as Chairman by Finmeccanica Board of Directors, and again in May 2017 when he was attributed the supervision of the execution of corporate governance rules related to integrity in corporate behaviours and fight to corruption. Several politicians have opposed De Gennaro's chairmanship of Leonardo/Finmeccanica due to his past in Genoa, including the then Democratic Party president Matteo Orfini, who deemed it "shameful", as well as other politicians from Five Star Movement and Left Ecology Freedom.