Claudio Dematté
Was born in Trento on 4th March 1942.
In 1966 he graduated with a degree in Economics from Università Commerciale “L. Bocconi”, and in 1970 he obtained a Master in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
He started working at Bocconi as a “Graduate in charge of exercises” on the Corporate & Investment Banking course.
In 1971 he became Assistant Professor and from academic year 1976/77 until 1981/82 he was internally appointed to the tenure of “Economics of Financial Intermediaries”.
From 1st November 1982 he took up the position of Full Professor of “Economics of Financial Intermediaries”, following a transfer from his tenure at Università degli Studi in Venice responsible for “Economics of Credit Institutions”.
From 1992 he taught “Internationalization Strategy” and he was in charge of the major in “International Companies”.
In 1971 he founded SDA Bocconi and was its Director from 1984 to 1989 and then Chairman from 1996.
In parallel to his academic work, he also built a vast professional experience in Italy and abroad across a number of sectors.
From 1st January 1994 until 30th June 1994 he was Chairman of RAI - Radio Televisione Italiana (Italy’s national television network).
From 1998 until 2001 he was Chairman of Ferrovie dello Stato (Italy’s national railway network).
From 1996 until 2000 he was Chairman of Banca CARIME.
Dematté was also Chairman of Banca di Trento e Bolzano, Deputy Chairman of Telefono Azzurro (a charity dedicated to the prevention of child abuse), and Chairman of E-Capital Partners. Moreover, he was a member of the board of directors of Winterthur, Laterza, DS Data System, Natuzzi, De Rigo, Poligrafica San Faustino, Art’è, Etnoteam, and IT Holding.
Dematté was the author of many publications, and he worked as freelance journalist for several economics journals and newspapers. He was also founder and Editorial Director of Economia & Management, a scientific journal of general management published by SDA Bocconi.
Personality
While Professor Dematté’s curriculum is certainly impressive, we would also like to remember him for the person he was, and offer an insight into his extraordinary personality and great versatility.
Claudio Dematté was a man of style, but also a very determined individual, and everyone who met him over the past 30 years (students, colleagues and staff from SDA Bocconi) will no doubt always remember him.
Claudio Dematté was revered by generations of students. International postgraduate students with a few years’ professional experience were particularly inspired by him, and almost devoted to him.
His characteristic trait, which he used first as manager and then as Chairman of the Scuola di Direzione Aziendale Bocconi, was his ability to marry specialised skills drawn from various entrepreneurial sectors with the need for in-depth and rigorous academic knowledge. With this approach, Dematté led the School to become one of the most recognised Italian academic institutions in the world.
Everyone who met Claudio Dematté loved his personality, his smile, his impressive breath of knowledge, his enthusiasm and sense of humour, as well as his kind manners, his ability to analyse problems, his international experience and the respect he showed for everyone. Anyone who spoke to him had his full attention. They may have received words of encouragement, praise or reprimand from him, but they never received a vague, opaque or unnecessarily diplomatic answer. His humbleness went hand in hand with his sophistication and his sharp mind. His vision always stretched further than anyone else’s. And no one here at Bocconi will ever forget him.