Finmeccanica North America: Executives
Simone Bemporad, CEO
Simone Bemporad is Chief Executive Officer of Finmeccanica, North America Inc. in Washington DC. He is in charge of managing Finmeccanica’s operating companies and responsible for affirming Finmeccanica’s presence and growth in the US aeronautics and defense market.He began his career in 1991 as a journalist with AGI (Italian Journalist Agency) covering the economics and finance beat until 1995.
From 1995 to 1996, Simone served as head of the Press Office for the Italian Industry and Foreign Trade Ministry, responsible for all of the Minister’s public initiatives both in Italy and abroad, and serving as the official spokesperson for the Minister.
Between 1996 and 2000 Simone headed the Economics and Finance desks of Il Tempo (one of Italy’s leading daily newspapers) and the Liberal, at the time Italy’s first weekly business and economics publication. These positions gave Simone extensive insight into Italy’s political and economic machines and their interconnectivity within the global markets.
From 2000-2002 Simone was first the Director of External Relations and then promoted to Chief of Staff for the Chairman and CEO of IRI SpA (Institute for Industrial Reconstruction). From 1933, IRI was a conglomerate of leading industrial companies that were fully owned by Italy’s Ministry of the Treasury. This public industrial group (the largest in Italian history, counting over 600,000 employees during the eighties) was phased out from 2000 to 2003 after a ten-year process of privatization of all the Italian public companies under its domain, among which were Credito Italiano and Banca di Roma (now Unicredit), Banca Commerciale Italiana (now part of Banca Intesa), Telecom Italia, Finmeccanica, ILVA (Steel Production) Autostrade, Alitalia,
Autogrill, Aeroporti di Roma and Cofiri.
After this wide-ranging industrial experience Simone moved to ENEL SpA, Italy’s leading provider of gas and electric power, working as the Chief of Staff for the Chairman until November 2003.
In 2003, he was appointed Deputy Head of Communications and Institutional Relations for Finmeccanica SpA. In March 2005 he was promoted to Senior Vice President for Finmeccanica
SpA in charge of Media Relations and International Affairs, and served in that capacity until his recent US appointment in October of 2007.
Simone was born in Rome on February 18, 1970 and is married to Maria Gliozzi.
Dr. Stephen D. Bryen, President
Dr. Stephen D. Bryen pioneered the field of technology security as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense from 1981-1988. Responsible for technology security policy and high-tech trade matters affecting national defense, he worked to formulate national policies to protect U.S. military and commercial products, know-how, intellectual property, goods and services. Dr. Bryen founded the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA) and served as its first Director.
Dr. Bryen is the President of Finmeccanica, Inc., the U.S. offices of Finmeccanica, S.p.A. Finmeccanica is a global aerospace and defense and high technology company, based in Rome, Italy. Finmeccanica companies include AgustaWestland, Alenia Aeronautica, Aermacchi, Elsag-Datamat, Thales Alenia Space, Telespazio, Galileo, Selex Communications, Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo Breda, WASS and Oto Melara. Dr. Bryen also serves on a number of Finmeccanica company Boards.
Dr. Bryen served as a Commissioner on the U.S.-China Security Review Commission. He was appointed to the position by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Dr. Bryen is also a Fellow at the Taiwan Institute for Political, Economic and Strategic Studies. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Board of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
Prior to serving in the Defense Department, Dr. Bryen was the Staff Director of the Near East Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Dr. Bryen was the founder and President of Delta Tech Inc. and Secure Communications Inc.
Dr. Bryen received his A.B. degree from Rutgers University and his M.A. and PhD from Tulane University in the field of international politics. He did postdoctoral work at Virginia Technology University and was a National Defense (NDEA) fellow.
Dr. Bryen was twice awarded the Defense Department’s highest civilian medal, the Distinguish Public Service award.
