Pasquale Pistorio

President and Founder, Pistorio Foundation

Upon graduating in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic of Turin, Pasquale Pistorio began his career in Motorola, Italy in 1967, rising through the ranks to become in ten years Corporate Vice President of the company, based in Phoenix, Arizona, in charge of the International Semiconductor Division.

In 1980, Pasquale became President and CEO of the SGS Group, the only Italian microelectronics company. In 1987 Pistorio led the successful integration of SGS with the French Thomson Semiconducteurs. As President and CEO of the newly formed company, later renamed STMicroelectronics, he developed its diverse product portfolio based on high-growth applications and its worldwide network of strategic alliances that propelled it amongst the top five semiconductor companies by 2001. During these years, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange, Paris Bourse, and Borsa Italiana. From a government owned, nearly bankrupt company, SGS, making 100 Million in sales, Pasquale Pistorio created a major industry champion that ranked third worldwide and totaled 9 Billion in sales by the time of his retirement in 2005. Pasquale Pistorio also contributed to forge a strong company culture characterized by integrity, pursuit of excellence, and commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

As early as 1993, Pasquale set up a companywide Environmental Decalogue with quantitative targets to reach Carbon Neutrality, making the company within a few years a leader in Environmental Responsibility and winning numerous accolades including the prestigious US Environmental Protection Award for two years, and the European Quality Award. Pasquale received the “Green Hero Lifetime Achievement Award” from AnalogZONE magazine, and in 2002 was nominated voted among the top 50 “Stars of Europe” by Business Week magazine and number 1 in Time Magazine’s “Top 25 Movers and Shakers” list.

A member of the UN ICT Task Force under Kofi Annan, Pasquale founded the STFoundation in 2001, to provide IT Literacy skills and access to computer technology to the most marginalized communities in the countries in which STMicroelectronics operated, by creating computer labs in public spaces and providing Train the Trainers classes. STMicroelectronics was to contribute every year 1% of its revenues and 1 % of its employee working time to run the Foundation. Today, the STFoundation counts over 100 installed computer labs and 260,000 trainees in 25 countries.

Upon his retirement as President and CEO of STMicroelectronics in 2005, he created the Pistorio Foundation, with the mission of serving children in need by giving them back their inalienable rights to education, health, safety, protection, and life. In 2012, Pasquale was honored with the “Ellis Island Medal of Honour” award for his philanthropic endeavors.

Pasquale Pistorio has served as Chairman of Telecom Italia in 2007 and as Vice President for Innovation and Research of Confindustria, the Confederation of Italian Industrialists, from 2005 to 2009. He has been a member of the Board of Fiat and Telecom Italia for ten years. He is currently a Board Member of ATOS Origin and Brembo among others, and Board Chair of XID Technologies.

 

Awards and Honors

1974 – nominated “Commendatore al Merito” of the Italian Republic
1990 – nominated “Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite” by the President of the French Republic
June 1997 – nominated “Cavaliere del Lavoro” by the President of the Italian Republic
June 1998 – decorated “Ouissam Alaouite” by the Kingdom of Morocco
November 1999 – awarded “Public Service Star” by the Government of Singapore
December 1999 – nominated “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” from the French Republic
September 2000 – winner of the Leonardo Qualità Italia Award.
December 2000 – recipient of the “Akira Inoue Award” for Outstanding Achievement in Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) in the Semiconductor Industry
December 2001 – recipient of the 2001 “Environmental Leadership Award” given annually by Tomorrow, one of the world’s foremost publications devoted to business sustainability issues
June 2002 – voted among the top 50 “Stars of Europe” by Business Week magazine
November 2002 – nominated number 1 in Time Magazine “Top 25 Movers and Shakers” list
April 2003 – awarded “Prix du Manager d’Entreprise” in the “Prix des Technologies de l’information”, organized by Telecom Paris, a French telecommunications academy
September 2003 – recipient of the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Reed Electronics Group, as part of inaugural European Electronics Industry Awards
October 2003 – awarded “Honorary Citizen of Singapore” by the Government of Singapore
June 2004 – awarded the “IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership Recognition” for exceptional managerial leadership “in revitalizing the semiconductor industry in Europe and increasing its influence worldwide”
January 2005 – recipient of the “Green Hero Lifetime Achievement Award” from AnalogZONE magazine
September 2005 – nominated “Officier de la Légion d’Honneur” from the French Republic
March 2009 – nominated “Commandeur de l’Ordre National du Mérite” by the President of the French Republic
April 2010 – awarded “ACE Lifetime Achievement Award” from EETimes magazine
August 2011 – recipient of the 2011 “IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal Award” for “contributions to, and leadership in, the technology, business and environmental development of the global semiconductor and electronics industry”
May 2012 – Recipient of the “Ellis Island Medal of Honor” by NECO, New York
Honorary Degrees
Pasquale Pistorio has received eight honorary degrees from the Universities of Genoa, Malta, Pavia, Catania, Palermo, Benevento, Bicocca in Milan, and Bristol, U.K.

 

Past Memberships

  • Confindustria, the Confederation of Italian Industrialists, Vice President for Innovation and Research
  • Telecom Italia, Member of the Board
  • “Comité Stratégique pour l’attractivité de la France”, a group of industry consultants to the Prime Minister’s office to create better conditions for inward investment
  • Government of Singapore’s International Advisory Board, Industry Advisor
  • United Nations ICT Task Force
  • International Business Council of the World Economic Forum
  • World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Member of Executive Committee
  • European Union’s Nanotechnology Platform (ENIAC), Chairman of Advisory Council
  • Conseil Stratégique des Technologies de l’Information, France
  • Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Advisory Board
  • European Round Table (ERT) of Industrialists
  • Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Singapore), Member of the Board
  • Agence pour l’Innovation Industrielle (AII), France, Member of Supervisory Board
  • Fiat, Member of the Board
  • Brembo, Member of the Board
  • ATOS, Member of the Board
  • XID, Board Chair
  • Stats ChipPac, Member of the Board

 

Current Memberships

  • XID, Board Chair