MentoringNews
02/01/2018

Mentoring to Texas: A new IACC initiative and brain-child of Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development

“Mentoring to Texas” is a new IACC initiative underwritten by Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development. Look out for a new series of posts about the program and the mentors selected to participate. 

Rodolfo Ambrosetti first came from Italy to work in the United States with his family in 1966 and never left. Since that time, he spent more than four decades working as a software development manager in Austin, Texas, where he and his family decided to make their home.

Rodolfo has been selected by the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce Texas to take part in its Mentoring to Texas Project, an initiative intended to help young Italian professionals benefit from the experience of top Italian business leaders (like Rodolfo) currently active or retired in the state of Texas.

The brain-child of Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development, the program is focused on the state of Texas because it has been the number-one state in the U.S. for foreign imports for 14 consecutive years. And its 27 million residents produce the second largest gross domestic product in the country (after California).

There couldn’t be a better place to focus this effort. And we are pleased to publish the first profile of one of the four mentors selected for the campaign.

To learn how you can get involved, please contact Maurizio Gamberucci, IACC Texas deputy director by clicking here.

The following is an interview with Mentoring to Texas mentor Rodolfo Ambrosetti (Austin, Texas).

What led to you having a career outside Italy in the U.S.?

In 1996 I was already a development manager for IBM in Rome when the laboratory’s director asked me if I’d like to be assigned to post in the U.S. A few weeks after I arrived, I was transferred to Austin. A year later, our family decided that we wanted to stay on indefinitely. I was inspired by a desire to work in a highly competitive, cutting-edge environment. And it gave my children the opportunity to live in a dynamic and diversified city that was already in a phase of economic development.

What inspired you to be part of this project?

In my early years in the U.S., I oversaw software development groups and I always worked to share my technical experience. Working with the [Italy-America] Chamber of Commerce in Houston represented an opportunity to extend my efforts. It’s something that I see as my duty as an Italian living abroad. And this program marks yet another step in that direction.

What do you hope to achieve with your participation in the program?

I want to have the opportunity to interact with an entrepreneur who has the ambition and ability to expand their radius of impact beyond Italy. And I want to help her/him to succeed in a highly competitive market.

Image via Rodolfo Ambrosetti’s Facebook.