Guido Barilla (born 30 July 1958) is an Italian billionaire businessman, and the chairman of Barilla Group, the world's largest pasta company, which is 85% owned by Guido, his sister and two of his brothers.[1]

Early life

Guido Barilla was born on 30 July 1958 in Milan, Italy.[2] He studied in the United States and in Italy, where he studied Philosophy at the Università Statale di Milano.[3]

Career

He started his career in 1982 in the sales department of Barilla France.[3] In 1986, he became a senior manager and led the international expansion of the company.[3] In 1988, he became Barilla deputy chairman, and since October 1993 has been the chairman.[3]

Since 2009, he has been chairman of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, now Fondazione Barilla.[3][4]

In a 2013 radio interview, Barilla stated his opposition to adoptions by same-sex couples and said that he "disagrees" with homosexuals.[5][6] The comments were viewed as homophobic, and, although Barilla apologized for "having offended the sensibilities of many", critics like Alessandro Zan felt the apology was insufficient and encouraged a boycott of Barilla's company.[5][7] The negative reaction led to changes, and a year later, the company received a top rating from the Human Rights Campaign's list of employers who are LGBT-friendly.[8][9][10]

Parma Calcio 1913

In 2015, Barilla became a part owner of the Phoenix club Parma Calcio 1913[11]

Honours

In May 2019, he was awarded the title Knight of the Order of Merit for Labour.[12][13]

Other activities

Personal life

Barilla is married, with five children, and lives in Parma, Italy.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Forbes profile: Guido Barilla". Forbes. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b "GUIDO BARILLA - Science for Peace". Scienceforpeace.it. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Guido Barilla Biography". Barillagroup.com. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  4. ^ "Fondazione Barilla Official Website". fondazionebarilla.com/. Retrieved 2022-07-08.
  5. ^ a b Cavan Sieczkowski (26 September 2013). "Barilla Pasta Won't Feature Gay Families In Ads, Says Critics Can 'Eat Another Brand Of Pasta'". Huffington Post. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  6. ^ Lizzy Davies. "Pasta firm Barilla boycotted over 'classic family' remarks". The Guardian. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  7. ^ "Italian pasta baron's anti-gay comment prompts boycott call". Reuters. 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  8. ^ Somashekhar, Sandhya (2014-11-19). "Human Rights Campaign says Barilla has turned around its policies on LGBT". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  9. ^ Wallace, Gregory (2014-11-19). "Barilla goes from worst to first on gay rights - Nov. 19, 2014". Money.cnn.com. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  10. ^ Buckley, Thomas (7 May 2019). "Barilla Pasta's Turnaround From Homophobia to National Pride". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  11. ^ "'New chapter' begins for Parma Calcio 1913". ESPN.com. July 2, 2015.
  12. ^ "Il Presidente Mattarella ha firmato i decreti di nomina di 25 nuovi Cavalieri del Lavoro". Quirinale.it. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  13. ^ "Cerimonia per la consegna dell'onorificenza ai Cavalieri del Lavoro". Mise.gov.it. Archived from the original on 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  14. ^ Leila Abboud (June 26, 2020), Danone adopts new legal status to reflect social mission Financial Times.
  15. ^ Danone becomes an “Entreprise à Mission” Danone, press release of June 24, 2020.
  16. ^ Members European Round Table of Industrialists.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_Barilla
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