RIZZIOLI, Valentino
Participate in the introduction of a multinational company in a new country and actively contribute to its consolidation in the market, reaching the edge in virtually every industry in which it operates in the region.
This is how Valentino Rizzioli’s career may be summed up. With over 45 years’ experience in the Fiat Group, his career is “mingled” with the beginning, solidification, growth and leadership of the Fiat Group in Brazil and Latin America.
When the group decided to expand its business worldwide, in the early 1970s, Brazil was soon chosen for its market potential and the favorable moment of development. To command this undertaking, engineer Rizzioli was sent to Brazil as the brand’s first executive coming from Italy to the country
It wasn’t long until the unprecedented Fiat Group factory outside Italy was inaugurated in 1971, in Contagem (MG), where advanced construction machinery by Case and New Holland brands are produced to date.
In the same decade, Rizzioli actively participated in the development and construction activities of Fiat Cars factory in Betim (MG).
Shortly after, Rizzioli had yet another international experience in his career, when Fiat purchased the U.S. based Allis Chalmers, leading him to live in the United States to follow the company’s business in the construction machinery segment.
After five years in the U.S., Rizzioli returned to Brazil to develop and strengthen the activities in the construction and subsequently agricultural sectors for Fiat in Latin America. And then the Group took important steps towards leadership in the continent.
With the acquisition of the New Holland in 1991 by Fiat, Rizzioli took over the command of the agricultural machinery and construction equipment for the company in the region.
Even with developments in business, the Fiat Group went beyond and bought Case, in a global merger with New Holland, and Case New Holland was born.
In Latin America, Rizzioli became president of the new company. With extensive experience in business and with his sensitive contribution to the activities of the Fiat Group, especially at Case New Holland, Rizzioli was also named vice president of Fiat Automobiles and in 2004, as executive vice president of Fiat in Brazil, position he holds until today.
Since its inception, Case New Holland is a world reference in the manufacture of agricultural and construction machinery, offering to the consumers of Brazil, South American and of other continents products with the latest technology in the market.
Currently Rizzioli is also Vice-President of Anfavea, Vice-President of the Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais (FIEMG), Chairman of the Esponenti Italiani Group (GEI) and Chairman of Technology and Innovation at FIEMG.
Among his many honors, Rizzioli was awarded in 1998, with the title of Officer of the Italian Republic – Italy’s main award of for people who excel in the corporate world. In 2008, he received the title of Honorary Citizen of Minas Gerais granted by the Legislature of the State.
Rizzioli was also awarded the Medal of the Order of Industrial Merit in 2012, the highest award of the National Confederation of the Industry (CNI), which honors personalities and institutions for outstanding services rendered to the socioeconomic development of the country
In the same year he received the Tricolore Globe Award for personalities who contributed to the dissemination of culture and Italian technology in the world, and the President Juscelino Kubitschek Medal, an award given to personalities and institutions that render or have rendered outstanding services to the society, contributing to the growth of political and governmental institutions of Minas Gerais and Brazil.