# Who picks Italy's top executives? Mostly the shareholder

> We coded every CEO and CFO appointment at FTSE MIB companies from 2019 to September 2026. Outsiders took 46 of 80. The share has not risen, and ownership predicts it.

- Canonical: https://www.mvrk.xyz/blog/who-picks-italys-top-executives
- Published: 2026-10-20
- Author: Matteo Muscio
- Method: https://www.mvrk.xyz/blog/who-picks-italys-top-executives/method
- Data (CSV): https://www.mvrk.xyz/data/who-picks-italys-top-executives/aggregate_tables.csv

Since January 2019, 46 of the 80 CEO and CFO appointments at companies in Italy's FTSE MIB went to people from outside the company. That share has not risen. The best predictor is who owns the company: state-controlled companies went outside 23 times out of 29, widely held companies 3 times out of 12.

We built this from company announcements, one appointment at a time, because no public source answers the question for Italy. Consob's annual report on listed companies covers boards and ownership, but not where new executives come from.

## What we counted

Every permanent CEO and CFO appointment at the companies that were in the FTSE MIB at the time, from January 2019 to September 2026. That is 80 appointments at 36 companies, including companies that later left the index. An appointee is an insider if they had worked in the group for 18 months or more before the appointment. Everyone else is an outsider, including board members who had never held an executive job there.

## Most top seats go outside

**Figure: Outsider share of CEO and CFO appointments, FTSE MIB, 2019 to Sep 2026**

![Outsider share of CEO and CFO appointments, FTSE MIB, 2019 to Sep 2026: All appointments 57% (46 of 80, range 47% to 68%); CEO 62% (24 of 39, range 46% to 75%); CFO 54% (22 of 41, range 39% to 68%)](https://www.mvrk.xyz/images/posts/who-picks-italys-top-executives/en-01-overall.svg)

| Group | Outsiders | Appointments | Share | 95% range |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| All appointments | 46 | 80 | 57% | 47%–68% |
| CEO | 24 | 39 | 62% | 46%–75% |
| CFO | 22 | 41 | 54% | 39%–68% |

Source: MVRK analysis of company announcements, 2019 to September 2026.

Outsiders took 57% of appointments (95% range 47% to 68%). The pattern is similar for both roles: 24 of 39 CEOs and 22 of 41 CFOs.

## The share has not risen

**Figure: Outsider share by period**

![Outsider share by period: 2019-21 59% (16 of 27, range 41% to 76%); 2022-23 64% (16 of 25, range 44% to 80%); 2024-26 50% (14 of 28, range 33% to 67%)](https://www.mvrk.xyz/images/posts/who-picks-italys-top-executives/en-02-by-period.svg)

| Group | Outsiders | Appointments | Share | 95% range |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2019-21 | 16 | 27 | 59% | 41%–76% |
| 2022-23 | 16 | 25 | 64% | 44%–80% |
| 2024-26 | 14 | 28 | 50% | 33%–67% |

Source: MVRK analysis of company announcements, 2019 to September 2026.

The outsider share was 59% in 2019-21, 64% in 2022-23 and 50% in 2024-26. The ranges overlap, and in a regression on year, role and ownership the year has no effect (p = 0.68). Workday reports that internal moves fell year on year at 57% of employers, but at the top of Italy's largest companies there is no sign of a shift to outside hiring.

## Ownership predicts it

**Figure: Outsider share by largest shareholder**

![Outsider share by largest shareholder: State-controlled 79% (23 of 29, range 62% to 90%); Family or founder 56% (14 of 25, range 37% to 73%); Widely held 25% (3 of 12, range 9% to 53%)](https://www.mvrk.xyz/images/posts/who-picks-italys-top-executives/en-03-by-ownership.svg)

| Group | Outsiders | Appointments | Share | 95% range |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| State-controlled | 23 | 29 | 79% | 62%–90% |
| Family or founder | 14 | 25 | 56% | 37%–73% |
| Widely held | 3 | 12 | 25% | 9%–53% |

Source: MVRK analysis of company announcements, 2019 to September 2026.

State-controlled companies took 23 of 29 appointments from outside (79%), including 13 of 14 CEOs. Family- or founder-controlled companies took 14 of 25 (56%). Widely held companies took 3 of 12 (25%); they mostly promote.

The gap holds when we account for sector (p = 0.003), when we resample whole companies (the state minus widely held gap stays between 32 and 86 points), and when we drop one company at a time (between 51 and 63 points).

## How state companies choose

In state-controlled companies the shareholder usually chooses the CEO. Of 14 CEO appointments, 11 came on a shareholder's slate at the annual meeting, and 9 in the spring nomination rounds led by the Treasury or CDP. The other 3 were designated by the shareholder mid-mandate. In Consob's 2024 data, state-controlled companies were 12.8% of Italian listed companies but 33.8% of market value, which is why they weigh so heavily in the FTSE MIB.

## The other side

- With a looser definition, counting people who had joined the group less than 18 months earlier as insiders, the outsider share is 46%. The ownership gap remains.
- Among today's 40 index members, outside appointees left early more often: 7 of 35 within two years, against 1 of 25 insiders. The sample is too small to be sure (p = 0.12), and several exits came at the end of three-year mandates or in companies in crisis.
- US research on CEOs finds outsiders no worse on average, but more often at the extremes (Quigley and colleagues, 2019: 40% of outsider CEOs had extreme results, against 27% of insiders).

## What this means for HR leaders

- In a state-controlled company, the next CEO will probably come from outside, chosen by the shareholder on its own timetable. The work inside is to keep the leadership team steady through that change and to have the CFO and the executive committee ready to brief a newcomer.
- In a widely held company, the board usually promotes. The internal pipeline is the plan, so it needs names, gaps and a timetable.
- In a family company, it can go either way. Ask early who will decide.

## What clients tell us

When our clients went outside after trying an internal candidate, the pattern was similar. The person did their current job well and asked for more strategic work, then struggled when they got it. Knowing the organisation well had made them feel ready before they were. An outsider can also make hard calls without that history.

## How we built this

Sources are company press releases, governance reports and reputable press, with one link per appointment. A second coder, working without seeing the first, re-coded a random 20% of appointments: 17 of 17 matched (Cohen's kappa 1.0). The full method, the sensitivity checks and the corrections log are in the [method appendix](/blog/who-picks-italys-top-executives/method). For today's 40 index members only, the figure is 47 of 76 (62%). Our LinkedIn post of 20 October 2026 used 47 of 75, before one missing CFO appointment was added.

*Version 1.0, October 2026. Data: aggregate tables in this article and the appendix; appointment-level data available on request.*