The Tile Council of North America (TCNA) has named the late Dr. Giorgio Squinzi of MAPEI as its TCNA Tile Person of the Year. His children Veronica and Marco, who began working for the company in the early 1990s, have been at the helm as CEOs since his death in 2019.
“It is a great honor for us to receive this recognition on behalf of our father Giorgio, who loved the United States and always considered it the land of opportunity,” stated Veronica Squinzi, corporate CEO and global development director for MAPEI Group. “He approached the U.S. market in the 1980s, finding from the beginning a strong and real support from institutions and the economic environment. After having grown both organically and through local acquisitions, today MAPEI Group has an important footprint in America with 16 MAPEI facilities and six Polyglass facilities all over the country, and we’ll keep on investing.”
Marco Squinzi, corporate CEO and research & development director for MAPEI Group, added, “Staying with our strategy, we have some new, ongoing projects in the U.S. for the development of products with high-quality standards that meet the needs of the local market. Beyond establishing and updating strategic manufacturing and distribution facilities, our business strategy aims to grow customer distribution and product-line offerings, positioning MAPEI as a system solution and complete-project provider.”
Luigi Di Geso, president and CEO of MAPEI North America, noted, “It was a great privilege that TCNA took time to honor Dr. Squinzi and to reflect on his contributions to the industry—in the U.S. and around the globe.”
Dr. Squinzi was a chemist and forward-thinking businessman with great humanitarian and entrepreneurial qualities. Born in 1943, Dr. Squinzi was raised in Milan where, in 1937, his father Rodolfo founded MAPEI, a small company that manufactured auxiliary materials for construction and industry
In 1969, Dr. Squinzi graduated from the University of Milan with a degree in Industrial Chemistry. He immediately joined his father at MAPEI, contributing to the innovative development of adhesives and chemical products for the building industry.
After initially breaking into the Canadian market in 1976 by supplying products for laying the athletics track for the Montreal Olympics, MAPEI opened its first factory outside Italy, in 1978 near Montreal.
In 1984, after the death of his father, Dr. Squinzi took over the reins of the family business and guided it into a new phase in its growth: internationalization. MAPEI Group decided to enter the United States market by opening a plant in Tempe, Ariz., and creating the subsidiary MAPEI Corporation. The Arizona plant was quickly followed by a facility in Chicago, in 1985.
Dr. Squinzi’s idea of building a number of manufacturing facilities that were located close to consumers on every continent led to a period of international expansion for MAPEI, which, over the years, would see exponential growth as the company opened new plants on every continent. In this endeavor, Dr. Squinzi had the backing of his sister, lawyer Laura Squinzi, and his wife, Adriana Spazzoli, who led MAPEI Group’s marketing and communication operations.
Dr. Squinzi also expanded the growth of the corporation with the acquisition of L&M (1996), North American Adhesives (1996), VINAVIL (2002), Polyglass (2008), GRT (2014) and, in the 2000s, being awarded the business of both Lowe’s and Floor & Decor. Under the leadership of Dr. Squinzi, MAPEI’s commitment to research also continued, earning him an honorary degree in Chemical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano in 2002.
MAPEI’s contributions to the chemical industry also helped get Dr. Squinzi elected as president of Federchimica (from 1997 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2011) and president of the European Chemical Industry Council – Cefic (from 2010 to 2012). Dr. Squinzi also served as president of Confindustria from 2012 to 2016.
Dr. Squinzi was awarded numerous honors both abroad and in Italy. In 1998, he was made a Cavaliere del Lavoro (Order of Merit for Labour). In 2013, he was awarded the title of “Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy” by the President of the Italian Republic.
Like his father Rodolfo, Dr. Squinzi was passionate about cycling. He established a professional MAPEI cycling team from 1993 to 2002, which was at the top of all the international rankings for many years. In 2003, Dr. Squinzi took over Sassuolo Football Club. Under his guidance, this football-club sponsorship has become a larger project focusing on sporting and personal development of not just the professional Sassuolo men’s team, but also women’s and youth teams.
A firm believer in “clean” sport, Dr. Squinzi contributed to the fight against doping by setting up the MAPEI Sport Centre. Still involved in scientific research, the Centre provides assistance to athletes of all abilities to help them improve their performance through training programs and personal biomechanical assessment.
“Never stop pedaling,” Dr. Squinzi’s famous motto, has remained firmly imprinted in MAPEI’s DNA. MAPEI Group is now a multinational company operating in 57 countries, with 91 subsidiaries and 11,000 employees. Its revenue for 2022 is forecast to be over 3 billion euros.
For more information, visit https://www.mapei.com.
