Mario Moretti Polegato (born 16 August 1952 in Crocetta del Montello, Italy) is an Italian entrepreneur, active in the footwear sector, who founded the company Geox of which he is the president. According to Forbes magazine, in 2014 he ranks 13th among the richest men in Italy, and 764th in the world, with a fortune estimated at about 2.3 billion dollars.
Biography
He was born in Crocetta del Montello (Treviso), into a family of entrepreneurs active in the agricultural and winemaking sector. Following in the family footsteps, he studied oenology. For several years, the entrepreneur of the Veneto region devoted himself to the family business. In the early 1990s, when walking through the desert in Nevada, where he was taking part in a wine fair, to relieve his feet that were overheated due to the rubber-soled shoes he was wearing, he made holes in both soles with a Swiss army knife. When he returned to Italy, he designed a new sole with holes and a breathable and waterproof internal membrane. He was the first person in the world to create a breathable rubber sole, which was immediately patented in over 100 countries worldwide. Mario Moretti Polegato began to think of the scope that his idea might have if launched on a large scale. Therefore, he established Geox in order to produce the shoe that breathes. The company, which employed 5 young graduates at the outset, now has about 30,000 direct and indirect employees. Today, Geox is known worldwide for its technologies and is present in the fashion streets and main shopping centres of 105 countries, through a network of over 1,250 single-brand stores, as well as 400 stores in China. Geox is the leading Italian company and among major world leaders in the “lifestyle” footwear category.
During his working life, Mario Moretti Polegato has received many acknowledgements including Knight of the National Order of Merit from the President of Romania in 2000. In 2002, he was nominated Entrepreneur of the Year – a title given to him by Ernst & Young – and in 2003 he received the Best Italian Entrepreneur in the World award, also from Ernst & Young Global. In 2005, the former Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi bestowed him the title of Cavaliere del Lavoro della Repubblica Italiana (Knight of Labour), whereas in 2006 the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano awarded him the title of Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica (Great Officer of the Republic). The European School of Management Italia (ESCP-EAP) named him Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship.
In 2010, he received the European Business Leader Award (EBLA) for the Innovator of the Year category, an acknowledgement that the Financial Times and the CNBC bestow on key players in the global economy every year. He was appointed as member of the international panel of judges for the “European Inventor Award”, organised by the European Patent Office (EPO), which selects and awards the best patented inventions worldwide every year.
He has held the diplomatic position of Honorary Consul General of Romania for North-East Italy since 1997, and he has been a member of the Executive Board of Confindustria (General Confederation of Italian Industry) since 2003. He has always devoted part of his time to teaching students and young entrepreneurs about “Intellectual Property” at the most prestigious universities in Italy and around the world. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Bocconi University of Milan, and since 2014 he has been the President of the International Advisory Board of Cardenal Herrera University of Valencia, of which he is an Honorary Professor. In July 2014, he became a member of the Regency Council of the Bank of Italy.
He received the America Award of the Italy-USA Foundation in 2015.
Summary
| Mario Moretti Polegato | |
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Mario Moretti Polegato, President and founder at Geox Group (2013).
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| Born | 16 August 1952 Crocetta del Montello |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Occupation | entrepreneur |
Mario Moretti Polegato Net Worth: Mario Moretti Polegato is an Italian businessman who has a net worth of $2.4 billion. He secured a place for himself in the billionaire circles thanks to his active involvement in the footwear industry. Actually, he rose to riches as founder and chairman of the Geox Group, known for using waterproof/breathable fabrics. It was in 1995 that Polegato patented his “breathable shoe” technology with the formation of shoemaker Geox. Over the years, the company grew and today it offers a wide span of products ranging from footwear for men, women and children to all kinds of apparel. Nowadays, the company makes distributions to high-end retailers and has numerous company-owned stores in large markets. However, it couldn’t avoid the impact of Europe’s weak economy and Geox saw its net sales drop 9% to $913 million (702 million euros) in the first nine months of 2012. Still, by the end of 2012, the company expanded by opening new stores in Moscow, Hong Kong and three mainland Chinese. The father of shoes who breathe, Mario Moretti Polegato became a recipient of Ernst Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2002, and the next year he was again named by Ernst and Young as the Best Italian Entrepreneur. He received one more accolade in 2010 when CNBC and The Financial Times selected him to become the recipient of European Business Leader Award (Ebla) for the Innovator of the Year category.
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