Leonardo Appoints Lorenzo Mariani as CEO After Government Ends Cingolani’s Mandate

ROME — The Italian government decided not to give Roberto Cingolani a second three-year mandate as CEO of Leonardo, leading to the appointment of Lorenzo Mariani as the new chief executive. Roberto Cingolani, who was appointed CEO in 2023, held an online press briefing on Wednesday to say goodbye to journalists. He had been released from the role last month.

Cingolani, 64, oversaw rapid expansion at the state-controlled company. Leonardo added 20,000 staff during his tenure. The firm's share price grew from 10 to 64 euros over the same period. On Wednesday, Leonardo reported a 33% year-on-year rise in first-quarter core earnings.

Cingolani said the firm’s industrial plan was rolling and that the strategy is built, capitalized and contracted. He warned that deviation from the plan could be detrimental to the success of Leonardo in the future. As an example of new product development, Cingolani cited the Michelangelo Dome, an air-defense system designed with open architecture to allow partner countries to link existing assets and make them interoperable.

The Michelangelo Dome system will be tested in Ukraine against drone attacks in November. Cingolani defended his bullets and bytes strategy which focused on turning Leonardo from a defense company to a global security company specializing in cyber, energy and infrastructure security. He said Leonardo now has one terabyte of memory per employee.

“We were a non-digital company. Now we have one terrabyte of memory per employee,” he said. The outgoing CEO created alliances with Germany’s Rheinmetall and Turkish drone maker Baykar during his mandate.