ROME – A new British managing director at Fiat Chrysler, Mike Manley, has been appointed on Monday following Sergio Marchionne’s health deterioration, as he fell into a coma after an operation.

 Top executive Alfredo Altavilla will also step down in the wake of said CEO change, the company notes in the same statement, “to follow other professional interests.” Altavilla will work with Manley until the end of August to ensure that he is well supported during the transition. The activities of Business Development on a global level will be reorganised by Richard Palmer, the Chief Financial Officer responsible for Systems and Castings.

 Alfredo Altavilla was one of the managers in the running to take over from Sergio Marchionne, the previous CEO of the company, and has decided to resign after the company appointed Mike Manley.

 Born in Tarantino, the 55-year old Altavilla has worked for Fiat for 20 years in close proximity with Marchionne, and went for the post following the administrative advice of Telecom, under the suggestion of American fund Elliott. In the past he was suggested as possible successor of Mauro Moretti as the leader of Finmeccanica.

 Having graduated in Economics and Finance at the Catholic University in Milan with the thesis ‘the cyclic life model applied to the automobile sector: case one’, Altavilla had led Fiat’s department to Pechino and the joint venture Tofas in Turkey. Married with one child and passionate about the car industry, he has also led Fiat Powertrain Technologies.

 FCA’s president John Elkann has written a letter to employees after Manley was appointed as managing director following the worsening health conditions of Marchionne, saying “we are eternally grateful to Sergio”. The letter reads: “it pains me to give the news that Marchionne is unwell and a moment this difficult requires respect for the suffering of his family, his most cherished friends and his colleagues.”

 Moreover, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Luigi di Maio in an interview with ANSA said “I have not yet met with our staff; they were in contact for a few weeks and I’m sorry to not have had a way to speak with him on the future of the electric car – it was my intention to do so.”

 Meanwhile Manley is already at work; his first appointment in the business is a meeting in Turin on Tuesday.

 The new president of CNH Industrial will be a woman, Suzanne Heywood, and the business expressed “great regret that president Sergio Marchionne will not be able to return to work.” In the meantime, Derek Neilson will carry out the role of CEO, who assures that operations will continue, praising “the leadership and extraordinary work that Marchionne has dedicated to the business.”

 Marchionne, born in 1952, presented FCA’s first project in June for the period 2018 – 2022. On June 26 he participated in the handover ceremony from Jeep Wrangler to the Carabinieri in Rome.

 cb