Mario Monti (born 19 March 1943) is an Italian economist and academic who is Prime Minister of Italy, as well as Minister of Economy and Finance; he took office in November 2011.
He served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the Internal Market, Services, Customs and Taxation from 1995 to 1999 and then for Competition from 1999 to 2004. Monti has also been Rector and President of Bocconi University in Milan. On 12 November 2011, in the midst of a financial crisis, he was invited by Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to form a new technocratic government in Italy following the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi. Monti was sworn in as Prime Minister on 16 November 2011, just a week after having been appointed a Senator for Life.
Background
He was born in Varese on 19 March 1943. His mother was from Piacenza and his father grew up in Varese, though he was born in Luján in the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, where the Monti family had emigrated in the 19th century and built up a soft-drink- and beer-production business. Monti's father left Italy for Argentina during World War II, but later returned to his family home in Varese.
Academic career
Monti holds a degree in economics and management from Bocconi University, located in Milan. He completed graduate studies at Yale University,[6] located in the American city of New Haven, Connecticut, where he studied under James Tobin, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics.
He taught economics at the University of Turin from 1970 to 1985 before moving to Bocconi University, where he was its Rector from 1999 to 2001, and has been its President since 1994. He was also the President of SUERF (The European Money and Finance Forum) from 1982 to 1985. His research has helped to create the "Klein-Monti model", aimed at describing the behaviour of banks operating under monopoly circumstances.
Personal Life
Monti is married, and has two children.
Known for his reserved character, Monti acknowledges not being especially sociable; he says his youth was given over to hard study, alongside spare time activities such as cycling and keeping up with world affairs by tuning in to foreign short wave radio stations.
From : www.wikipedia.org
