Renzi appoints women to chairs of Eni, Enel, Poste

(ANSA) - Rome, April 15 - Premier Matteo Renzi appointed women to the chairmanship of three major State-controlled companies on Monday in a top management shakeup aimed at breathing new life into some of Italy's biggest firms. Former industrial employers' association Confindustria president Emma Marcegaglia was appointed to the chairmanship of oil and gas company Eni; tech firm Olivetti president Patrizia Grieco to the chairmanship of electricity provider Enel; and State broadcaster RAI board member Luisa Todini to the chairmanship of Poste Italiane Spa. They will be working alongside Claudio Descalzi, Francesco Starace and Francesco Caio, appointed CEO of Eni, Enel and Poste respectively.
    Italian railway company Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) CEO Mauro Moretti was moved to aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica, where he will hold the same position under the unaltered chairmanship of Gianni De Gennaro.
    The government was expected to announce new appointments for FS and electricity transmission-system operator Terna shortly.
    The appointment of women presidents to three of Italy's main State-controlled companies is part of a push by the Renzi government to increase the number of women holding top positions in the public sphere. Eight out of 16 cabinet ministers are women, while last week the centre-left premier nominated women to head his Democratic Party's electoral lists in European parliamentary elections on May 25. Marcegaglia, Grieco and Todini are expected to receive no more than 238,000 euros gross per year in line with a pledge by Renzi to cap the salaries of all public-sector managers at or below the quarter of a million euros Italian President Giorgio Napolitano gets as part of efforts to forge a leaner and more efficient State.
    Some of the fattest cats in Italy's bloated public sector currently earn three or four times what the head of State is paid.