Vito Pertosa

Vito Pertosa
Born	(1959-04-22) April 22, 1959 (age 66) Monopoli (Bari), Italy
Occupation	Entrepreneur
Children	3
Awards	Knight of the Order of Merit for Labour (2009) Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (2022)

Vito Pertosa (April 22, 1959, Monopoli, Bari) is an Italian entrepreneur, chairman and CEO of MERMEC (since 2006), and founder and chairman of Angel Holding (since 2008). He is a scientific expert on technological innovation at the Ministry for Business and Made in Italy (MIMIT), ^{[1] [2]} and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Sustainable Mobility Foundation (MOST). ^[3] He has been married since 1980 and has three children. ^[4]

Biography

Vito Pertosa is the son of Angelo Pertosa, founder of Meridional Meccanica S.a.s. ^{[5] [6]} and dealer of Lamborghini Tractors. Vito began working formally in the family business in 1980, after graduating as a mechanical industrial expert and teaching at ENAIP. ^[7] In 1997, together with other entrepreneurs, he founded the Sviluppo Polis Association, which gathered more than two hundred companies, assuming the role of its President.

Upon joining Meridional Meccanica, Pertosa began a process of transforming the business toward the railroad sector, which led to the establishment of MERMEC S.p.A. in 1988. ^[8] In 2006, Pertosa became president of MERMEC. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

In 2007, he became Regent with the function of Censor for the Bari Branch of the Bank of Italy. ^[12] In 2008, he founded Angel Holding, a parent company of companies specializing in the research and development of technologies in different sectors, such as rail, aerospace, and digital mechatronics, which are active in 73 countries worldwide. ^{[7] [13]} From 2012 to 2014, Vito Pertosa was a board member of the Italian Space Agency. ^{[14] [15]}

In 2012, he founded SITAEL, an aerospace company with entirely private capital operating in the LEO satellite market and space electric propulsion. ^[16]

He was vice president of the Tecnopolis Science and Technology Park, ^[17] vice president of the Procomp Research Consortium, CEO of the South Space Consortium, sole administrator of the 2M CLIV Consortium, member of the National Technical Committee for Innovation and Research of Confindustria, and CEO of CENTRO LASER S.C.r.l., a scientific research company. ^{[18] [19]}

Pertosa was also sole administrator of ITEL Italiana, chairman of IMAGEMAP Inc. (USA – West Columbia, SC), and president of the Argenta Group (Italy). ^[20]

As the President of MERMEC, in June 2023, he participated in the G7 Transport International Summit in Japan. ^[21] In April 2024, he participated at the G7 Transport Summit in Milan. During this event, MERMEC expressed support for the railways in Ukraine. ^[22] In May 2024, he participated for the fourth time to Choose France 2024, the annual event organized by President Emmanuel Macron to attract the world's leading companies to France. ^[23] In June 2024,he attended the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) in Berlin. ^[24] In July 2024, he participated in the G7 Industry Stakeholder Conference in Reggio Calabria, Italy, on the occasion of the G7 Trade Ministers' Meeting. ^[25]

Awards and honours

Year	Ribbon	Class	Name of the Order	Title
2009 [26]		Knight	Ordine al Merito del Lavoro	Cavaliere del lavoro
2022 [27]		Knight Grand Cross	Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana	Cavaliere di Gran Croce

Entrepreneur Of The Year in the 'Innovation' category. - ribbon for ordinary uniform	Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the 'Innovation' category
	—  Ernst & Young — 2009 [28]

Photonics Prism Award for 'Detectors, Sensing, Imaging, and Cameras', San Francisco, USA

— 2012 [29]

The NIAF Leonardo da Vinci Award in Technology, Washington, DC, USA

— 13 October 2018 [30]

Roma Award for Country Development - Economy, Corporate and Social

— 6 December 2018 [31]

Honorary Degree in Automation Engineering - ribbon for ordinary uniform	Honorary Degree in Automation Engineering
	—  Polytechnic University of Bari — 23 May 2019 [32]

"Il Perugino, Artist and Entrepreneur" Award, Perugia

— 15 April 2025 [33]

References

1. "Albo Esperti Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico" (PDF). mimit.gov.it. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
2. "Albo degli esperti in innovazione tecnologica - MIMIT" (PDF). mimit.gov.it.
3. "Fondazione". www.centronazionalemost.it. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
4. "Vito Pertosa – Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). niaf.org. Retrieved May 2, 2025.
5. Borrillo, Michelangelo (2018-04-12). "Il manager del satellite tutto made in Italy: "Papà costruiva rimorchi"". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-09-20.
6. "Vito Pertosa il pugliese volante che ha portato i sensori su Marte". la Repubblica (in Italian). 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
7. "Gli imprenditori piu coraggiosi d'italia" [The bravest entrepreneurs in Italy](PDF). bestof.milanofinanza.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-09-20.
8. Vito Pertosa, l'uomo dello spazio: dai macchinari agricoli all'elettronica per le sonde spaziali - Quarta Repubblica Video | Mediaset Infinity , retrieved 2023-09-20
9. "London Underground chose MERMEC Unattended Geometry Measuring Systems (UGMS) for line inspection". Intelligent Transport. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
10. "How much is Italy's economic diplomacy worth? — The economic impact of the Farnesina's support to Italian enterprises. Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale". www.esteri.it. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
11. "MERMEC Once Again Proves Its Status as an International Leader in the Field of Railway Transport". www.railtarget.eu. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
12. "Deliberazioni del Senato Accademico" (PDF). poliba.it. 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
13. "Pertosa (Gruppo Angel): Università volano per la creazione di idee da trasformare in progetti concreti". www.teleborsa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-09-20.
14. "Agenzia spaziale Italiana" (PDF). Italian space agency (in Italian). 2013-03-24. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2023-11-08. Retrieved 2023-09-20.
15. Fuschetto, Cristian (2022-11-21). "I satelliti 100% italiani scelti per la missione dell'Esa". Federazione Nazionale dei Cavalieri del Lavoro (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-09-20.
16. "Aerospazio, visita di Tabacci nello stabilimento Sitael di Mola di Bari: "Qui si prepara il futuro"". la Repubblica (in Italian). 2021-07-10. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
17. "Vito Pertosa and MERMEC: from Paleocapa to leader in railway and aerospace technology". MetalHab.com. March 18, 2025.
18. "CENTRO LASER". TNO.it.
19. A. Martinengo. "Italian Freight Trains: Mermec leads the way! Port of Genoa 2021? Two land-sea videos of the future. Minister of Transport Enrico Giovannini's views". FarodiRoma.
20. "Innovation and Excellence in Southern Italy". i-Italy.org.
21. Economia, Redazione (2023-06-16). "G7 Trasporti, Mermec rappresenta l'Italia al vertice annuale in Giappone". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-03-11.
22. "MERMEC at the G7 Transport: Support for railways in Ukraine". quotidiano.net. 13 April 2024. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
23. "Ferrovie Mermec beats 10 multinationals and buys Compagnie de Signaux for 250 million from Hitachi". Corriere della Sera.
24. "Roundtables at URC 2024". URC International.
25. "G7 Summit in Europe". AP News. GlobeNewswire. 17 July 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
26. Fuschetto, Cristian (2009-01-23). "I Cavalieri del Lavoro del 2009". Federazione Nazionale dei Cavalieri del Lavoro (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-09-20.
27. "Pertosa Dott. Vito". quirinale.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-09-20.
28. "L'Imprenditore dell'anno 2009": sul podio Vito Pertosa". 2009-11-20.
29. "Photonics Prism Award Winners 2011" . Retrieved 2025-01-30.
30. "Cav. Lav. Vito Pertosa - The NIAF Leonardo da Vinci Award in Technology".
31. "Premio Roma allo Sviluppo del Paese".
32. "Politecnico di Bari, laurea honoris causa all'imprenditore Vito Pertosa". la Repubblica (in Italian). 2019-05-23. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
33. "Perugia, il 15 aprile si assegna il Premio 'Il Perugino, Artista e Imprenditore'". LaPresse (in Italian). 9 April 2025.