Her appointment came just hours after TIM announced the resignation of Mario Di Mauro, who had been in the role for 17 months.
Romano had been the group’s head of chief innovation and partnership since last November – a similar role to that held by Di Mauro, who was chief strategy and innovation officer before accepting the Sparkle job. Last year she was an advocate for Capacity's Global Women in Telco and Tech Awards and Summit.
As Capacity pointed out yesterday, she becomes the ninth CEO of Sparkle in ten years.
Di Mauro told Capacity last night that his immediate priority after such an abrupt departure was to spend time with his family. “In September I will enter into a new phase and I will start evaluating new options and journeys,” he said.
“As a motivational leader I need to be engaged in high degree challenges where people need to give their best and never give up!”
In a separate communication he told Capacity: “I feel I completed my task both in TIM and in Sparkle. It is almost unbelievable what people can do if you engage them.”
Di Mauro, who had been with the group since 1998, added: “People at Sparkle did a miracle, always with a smile on their face.”
Romano has been with TIM only just over two years, having spent her career since 2003 with Ericsson, in Italy, Sweden and the US, after university education in computer science.
She began her career working as a software developer for Alcatel in 1987, and later became a systems engineer then head of systems engineers, working in Antwerp and Milan.
At Ericsson she was head of operations support systems based in Stockholm, and then head of TV and media, based in Santa Clara, California. She was later head of core network, a department focused on the development of connectivity services, especially those related to 5G mobile broadband.
Romano joined TIM as group CTO in July 2018, with the responsibility of ensuring technological innovation and the evolution of networks and information technology to support digital transformation.
