Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, Longtime Hera Group Chairman and Italian Corporate Leader, Dies at 79

Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, a prominent Italian corporate executive who transformed national telecommunications and steered the multiutility powerhouse Hera Group for more than two decades, died during the night between September 9 and September 10, 2026, in Rome. He was 79 years old.

Early Life and Education

Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano was born in Brescia, Italy, in 1947. He pursued higher education in jurisprudence, graduating with a degree in law before entering the world of corporate management and industrial relations.

Career and Major Accomplishments

Tommasi di Vignano began his career at the Italian telecommunications utility SIP (Società Idroelettrica Piemontese SpA), working within the personnel department. Exhibiting strong organizational capabilities, he rose through the ranks to become the Group Personnel Director in 1989, overseeing a vast workforce of approximately 80,000 employees. From December 1992 to May 1994, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Iritel SpA, where he managed the complex transformation of the former state-run enterprise and guided its subsequent integration into Telecom Italia. Between 1994 and 1997, he held top-level positions across Telecom Italia and its parent holding STET, serving as general manager and playing a key role in the modernization of Italy’s telecommunications network.

He later transitioned into the energy and public municipal service sector, serving as Chief Executive Officer and subsequently Vice Chairman of Acegas. His defining career chapter began in late 2002 with the creation of Hera S.p.A. (Holding Energia Risorse Ambiente), established through the aggregation of municipal multiutility companies across the Emilia-Romagna region.

Notable Works and Hera Group Leadership

As the founding Executive Chairman of Hera Group from November 2002 until the end of his final mandate on April 27, 2023, Tommasi di Vignano became synonymous with the enterprise. He spearheaded Hera’s listing on the Milan Stock Exchange (Borsa Italiana) in 2003, pioneering a mixed public-private ownership governance structure that became an Italian benchmark for the utility sector. Over twenty-one years under his leadership, Hera expanded dramatically through mergers and strategic acquisitions, becoming one of Italy's largest multiutility corporations delivering energy, water distribution, and environmental waste management services.

Personal Life

Throughout his career, Tommasi di Vignano maintained a discreet personal life focused on corporate governance and public-service administration. Following his passing, leadership figures including Hera Executive Chairman Cristian Fabbri, Chief Executive Officer Orazio Iacono, and regional political authorities conveyed their collective condolences to his family and surviving loved ones.

Legacy

Michele de Pascale, President of the Emilia-Romagna Region, praised Tommasi di Vignano as one of the finest public managers Italy has ever known, lauding his rigorous business ethics, far-sighted industrial vision, and mentorship of a whole generation of executives. His creation and consolidation of Hera S.p.A. stand as an enduring model for public-utility integration and regional infrastructure modernism in Italy.