John Elkann

From WOI Encyclopedia Italia
Jump to navigation Jump to search


John Jacob Philip "Jaki" Elkann (born 1976) is a New York-born Italian industrialist and heir to the automaker Fiat. He is currently vice chairman of Fiat's board and chairman of its nominating committee.

His mother Margherita, nicknamed Daisy, is a daughter of the late Gianni Agnelli whose family controls 30 percent of Fiat. John Elkann has also five half-brothers, a younger brother, Lapo, and a younger sister, Ginevra, an aspiring cinematographer. He is married to Countess Lavinia Borromeo Arese Taverna since September 4, 2004.

After the death of his cousin Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, son of Umberto Agnelli, in 1997 Elkann's grandfather decided John was the best choice in the family as a long-term heir. Like his grandfather, John Elkann joined the Fiat board at the age of 22.

After Umberto Agnelli's death, on May 30, 2004 John Elkann, who had been serving as a director of Fiat and family holding company IFIL, was named vice chairman of Fiat under new chairman Luca di Montezemolo, and vice chairman of umbrella family holding company Giovanni Agnelli & C., under new chairman Gianluigi Gabetti who had been chairman of IFIL. As "Jaki" Elkann is 29 years old, di Montezemolo is 56, and Gabetti is 79, Elkann is expected to become head of this empire in coming years.