Bruno Spagnolini

Bruno Spagnolini is an Italian engineer and businessman who served as CEO of AgustaWestland, the helicopter-manufacturing division of Finmeccanica. After being charged in 2013 with participation in a bribery scandal (also known as choppergate), he resigned from the position as CEO. On October 9, 2014, an Italian court sentenced him to two years in prison for false bookkeeping. As of November 2014, an investigation in India was still underway.

Spagnolini was born in 1950.

Spagnolini was chief executive officer of AgustaWestland from 2004 to 2007 and chief operating officer from 2007 to 2011. He became its chief executive in May 2011 when Giuseppe Orsi, the previous holder of that position, was promoted to chairman of Finmeccanica.

In a June 2011 interview, given shortly after his promotion to CEO, Spagnolini said that AgustaWestland had “always pursued a three-legged strategy based on an evolving product range, enlarging its network of service and training facilities as well as establishing strategic partnerships around the world to pursue market opportunities.” He said that development of the AW169 was “progressing as planned” and that “the rotors, blades, engines, avionics, transmission and electric power generation and distribution systems” all incorporated new technologies. He said that the firm was developing “navigation systems for preferred flightpaths and all-weather capabilities, advanced open architecture, common cockpit technology to be shared among present and future models, and unique collision avoidance and warning systems,” as well as “new rotor and blade technology.” He also described Russia and India as “two of the most promising markets for the future with incredible business opportunities that can be fully exploited through new industrial partnerships with prime local players of mutual benefit, well beyond the usual commercial and services solutions offered.”

Spagnolini unveiled a restored version of the Westland Lynx helicopter, the official holder of the helicopter World Speed Record, at the firm's Yeovil factory in July 2011. “To have held the world helicopter speed record for 25 years highlights what an outstanding achievement it was by all those involved in the project and the development of the rotor blade technology that was key to the successful record attempt,” he said.

On March 14, 2012, Spagnoligni took place in a ground-breaking ceremony at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport that marked “the start of construction of a new helicopter production facility and a new step in the development of the Indian aerospace industry.” He expressed pleasure at the firm's joint venture with the Indian firm Tata Sons, which, he said, would “play an important role in the development of the Indian aerospace industry.”

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