Vittorio Colao Named CEO of Omnitel Pronto Italia At Meeting of Shareholders and Board of Directors

Milan, Italy -- At a morning meeting of Omnitel Pronto Italia shareholders, Chief Operating Officer Vittorio Colao was named to the company's Board of Directors. The new Board of Directors, which convened following the shareholder meeting, named Colao CEO of Omnitel. The shareholders had nominated Colao for the CEO position on July 29, 1999.

The Board of Omnitel now includes Carlo Peretti, Chairman; Vittorio Colao, CEO; and members Tom Bartlett, Giancarlo Ferrero and Ted Hoffman of Bell Atlantic; Klaus Esser, Lars Berg, Francesco Gianni, Frank Esser, and Kurt Kinzius of Mannesmann; Keith Cornell and Vern Tyerman of Vodafone-AirTouch; and Riccardo Ruggiero of Infostrada.

Vittorio Colao, 38, was born in Brescia, Italy. He holds a Business Administration degree in Finance from the Bocconi University in Milan (1986) and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business in Boston, Massachusetts (1990).

Colao started his career in management consulting in 1986 at Mckinsey & Co. as a Business Analyst and Associate. In the summer of 1989 he moved to Morgan Stanley International in London as an Associate in the Corporate Finance division.

After one year as Assistant to the Group General Manager at Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, a leading Italian publishing house, Colao returned to McKinsey & Co. in Milan where he was named a Partner in 1994.

Paol Galli, 39, today was named Omnitel's new Chief Operating Officer. Born in Milan, Galli holds an MBA from the Bocconi University (1987). After his graduation Galli spent seven years in the consulting business working at Arthur D. Little and Bain, Cuneo e Associate, an office of Bain & Co. In June 1994 he joined Omnitel as assistant to the CEO, and in the spring of 1995 he was named Director General for Central Italy.